August 21, 2014- ISSN# 1545-2646
Trigger Points
If you stop and think about your business, there are very specific points at which you need to take some action. Some of these are planned (or should be planned) and others are reactionary (unplanned). Planned might be the hiring of a particular resource once sales volume get and stay at a particular level so the role is cost justified. Unplanned might be that one of your top performers turns in their resignation and moves across the country to pursue some other life adventure.
The challenge is that in most businesses the number of planned trigger points and the number of unplanned reactionary points are out of balance with the unplanned overwhelming the planned. This causes major disruption in the flow of the business and impacts overall financial performance.
We can’t know everything coming downstream and plan for every unknown item. There are going to be a certain number of unplanned occurrences which the business will need to deal with every year. That does not give leadership the green light to be lazy and not do a very diligent job of planning for the many things they can control and influence in the business and marketplace.
We are already in August of this calendar year. If you have not already started to build your plans for 2015 then let this contact be the nudge or push to get that going in your business. If your fiscal year is not aligned with the calendar year then put your planning duties on your to do list in the correct timeframe – about 3 to 4 months in advance of your fiscal year start.
Being 8 month into a year, you have a pretty good idea of what has happened and what has the possibilities of happening based on your forecasts and actual performance so far this year. (As a side note, I suggest you do course corrections every quarter to your plan so the most recent data can help you set new trigger points as needed)
Part of the objective in the planning is setting goals and objectives. These must be based in real data and not some wish. If you plan on increasing revenues by X% then what is going to cause that to happen? Can the market you deliver your goods and service into support that growth? Do you have the people and equipment to deliver on the products and services to support that growth?
Each of these items relate to trigger points. Some trigger points are investment based. When the business reaches X dollars then the hiring of a new person to accomplish this set of duties can be sustained and it will contribute to the performance of the business. Other trigger points which are investment based require advanced investment such as having certain equipment or facilities in place before the revenues can start to be sold and realized. The investment to purchase in advance of the revenues must be based in solid historical performance that the available market share is available to not just pay for the investment but to return additional dollars to the business for the investment or typically referred to as (ROI).
Most of the items in this weeks call to action are not new and many of you reading this will say that you already know this. I agree that you should or do know this. The difference this week is to have you start to do something to move what you know into action. This communication is the trigger point to move you forward. If you already have your next fiscal year plan in place – congratulations. Now is the time to pull it back out and insert the key trigger points if they are not in the plan. If your plan is not in place then now is the time to get started.
Need help moving from ideas to actual strategy and then execution? Give JKL Associates a call at (313) 527-7945
Questions or comments – email us at partners@jklassociates.com or call our Office at (313) 527-7945
Copyright – JKL Associates 2014
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