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Training / Presentations: Why You Need a Lesson Plan
LESSON PLAN DEVELOPMENT: Lesson plans, believe it or not, are a lot like the maps you have in the back seat of your car. They’re probably not covered with the ketchup and pencil marks that your maps are, but they are directional guides. You need some way of checking to see if you are on the right road in your classroom or on the highway. A lesson plan is really nothing more than a map of where you and your students will be heading for the time you are together. To paraphrase the American Express Card commercial, “Lesson plans -- don’t leave home without them.

ect your ‘internal’ costs of quality control, communication and re-work. Be prepared with a ‘plan B’ and re-take these make-buy decisions at least once a year to keep people on their toes.

Understand the balance points in your business. But only re-organise once in three years – even small changes take several months to work through a business.

Look for results

Before you finalise the draft of your business plan, you need to answer four questions honestly:

Do you tell a clear story in simple business terms?
Do you show where extra investment (of money or effort) will lead to increased returns?
Do you show where unique value is added for your customers?
Do you describe how you expect to maintain your competitive edge even as your market changes? Don't Be Fooled: Marketing Is Not About Meeting Customer Needs
When I was being trained in marketing (more years ago than I care to recount), marketing was defined as anticipating and meeting customer needs. Today this definition of marketing is redundant and if you follow it, there is every chance you will fail.The average consumer today has all his or her basic needs already met. In fact, they are totally overwhelmed by the vast array of product choices.To illustrate this, take a stroll down any supermarket aisle and count the number of brands and/or product variations in any given product category.
Every company needs a sound and robust business model that scales as life changes. Many small businesses start with a business plan based on guesses.
Then as life rolls on, there is never time to update it to reflect your evolving situation. When your accountant nags you, you just feel bad. And your bank manager makes a new business plan a condition for any money discussions so you rush into guessing again.
As I coach my clients, I encourage them to create a simple, effective Business Plan that will earn them money as their business grows and their market changes.
Be succinct and clear
I encourage the owner to write their Business Plan in less than two sides of A4. In my experience with small businesses, briefer is better. The four sections should each have a couple of paragraphs to say:
- Why are we in business? – your purpose and intentions in running the business
- What do we sell? – your products, services and the combinations that customers want to buy
- Who do we sell to? – your clients’ demographics, locations, spending habits and interests
- How do we plan to run the business? – staff, structure, targets, management and a simple cashflow table (in an appendix) predicting the income and expenses for the next 12 months
Stay flexible and customer-centred
You need to consider the Scale, Scope and Structure of your business and align them with your long term Mission. Then you can include this detail in the right paragraphs of your Business Plan.
Your mission is simply "Why are you running the business?" State who your customers are, the needs you satisfy with products and services and your unique approach to your market. A strap line of 15 words is ideal.
Your scale describes your team – whether you employ them, associate with them or do sub-contracting. You might also show how the effort will flex as your sales levels change.
Your scope outlines the customers you want to work for and the key products and services you expect to sell to them. Where your market has a number of niches, each could be described individually.
Your structure defines how you sell to clients, the experience and skills needed for purchasing, production and delivery and how you manage your cash flow.
Being small, you are unlikely to have departments but you will have individuals following processes within a team. On the one hand, organising your firm will always be an exercise in frustration because the supply of your products and services rarely equals the customers' demands. On the other hand, small companies thrive by picking off market opportunities to which their bigger competitors cannot respond quickly:
- Time and market events overtake even the best organisation - so design flexibility into your business ready for when you need it.
- Unintended consequences grow with time – so keep watching for the unexpected. Set up triggers to flag possible issues, agree who monitors each flag and make the most interested person responsible for fixes.
- Make-buy decisions always trade-off costs against co-ordination – so monitor how the actions of your suppliers and associates effect your ‘internal’ costs of quality control, communication and re-work. Be prepared with a ‘plan B’ and re-take these make-buy decisions at least once a year to keep people on their toes.
- Understand the balance points in your business. But only re-organise once in three years – even small changes take several months to work through a business.
Look for results
Before you finalise the draft of your business plan, you need to answer four questions honestly:
- Do you tell a clear story in simple business terms?
- Do you show where extra investment (of money or effort) will lead to increased returns?
- Do you show where unique value is added for your customers?
- Do you describe how you expect to maintain your competitive edge even as your market changes? Outcomes and Processes – What Makes for a Great Restaurant?
  When I was doing some work for Business Link in Kent, one of our evenings was spent at a hotel that reminded me so much of Ron Zemky’s work.Ron is the author of the “Tales of Knock Your Socks Off Service” books. Ron describes customer service as being made up of two dimensions – outcome and process.What Ron is saying is that there can be a range of product outcomes. From expectation not met, through met and up to value added. There are also a range of processes ranging from dissatisfied, through satisfied and up to delighted.Ron charts

You need to consider the Scale, Scope and Structure of your business and align them with your long term Mission. Then you can include this detail in the right paragraphs of your Business Plan.

Your mission is simply "Why are you running the business?" State who your customers are, the needs you satisfy with products and services and your unique approach to your market. A strap line of 15 words is ideal.

Your scale describes your team – whether you employ them, associate with them or do sub-contracting. You might also show how the effort will flex as your sales levels change.

Your scope outlines the customers you want to work for and the key products and services you expect to sell to them. Where your market has a number of niches, each could be described individually.

Your structure defines how you sell to clients, the experience and skills needed for purchasing, production and delivery and how you manage your cash flow.

Being small, you are unlikely to have departments but you will have individuals following processes within a team. On the one hand, organising your firm will always be an exercise in frustration because the supply of your products and services rarely equals the customers' demands. On the other hand, small companies thrive by picking off market opportunities to which their bigger competitors cannot respond quickly:

Before you finalise the draft of your business plan, you need to answer four questions honestly:

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Add You - Business Plan Organisation Management: How Do You Organise Your Business For Profit And Growth

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