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Strategic Planning During COVID-19: Business Planning for 2021

Strategic Planning During a Pandemic

To successfully recover your business from the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, you will need a strategic plan. None of us know exactly what's coming around the bend, but you need to be proactively planning for the future to keep your business afloat and thriving.

With the pandemic, there are many unknowns. We don't know how long it will be until the spread of the virus slows, when or if there will be more lockdowns, or if the government will provide additional financial support for businesses. While we can't predict the future, every company needs a solid business forecast and plan. You can project with reasonable certainty a few possible scenarios for your company, evaluate the risk of following the status quo versus making investments, and create a strategic plan from there.

Here is some advice on managing uncertainty and coming up with a business planning strategy:

  1. Develop only a limited number of alternative scenarios. The complexity of juggling more than four or five tends to hinder decision making.
  2. Avoid developing redundant scenarios. Make sure that each scenario offers a distinct picture of the industry's structure, conduct, and performance.
  3. Develop a set of the most probable scenarios. The scenarios you focus on should collectively account for the most probable range of future outcomes, not necessarily the entire possible range.

    Here are some possible scenarios to consider:

    • Supply chain disruptions: If any of your key suppliers are at risk of going out of business, you need to have a plan B. Identify other possible vendors so you don't end up with any disruptions in your supply chain. You can also look into forming a partnership, making an acquisition, or finding some other way to control more of the supply chain yourself.
    • Absence of key employees: The longer the pandemic continues unsuccessfully contained, the more likely it is that your employees will be exposed and need to take time away from work to quarantine. You need to ensure you have multiple people trained to complete essential tasks. It is also important to have a plan to keep your team safe, healthy, and productive.
    • Impact on customers: If your customer is financially struggling or is concerned and cutting expenses, how can you keep your business going? Consider discounting or delaying the collection of payments for your existing customers who are impacted. By mitigating the risk, your customers will be more willing to continue buying from you. Figure out how to make your product or service indispensable to them so they don't consider leaving you. Talk to your customers and find out about their concerns, what they are willing to spend money on currently, and what they are excited to spend money on in the future. Get an idea of what aspects of your products or service they value most. If those avenues are not possible or practical for your situation, it may be necessary to devise a new marketing plan or shift to a new market of customers altogether.

    As you identify scenarios and contingency business plans and evaluate whether to hunker down on existing strategies or develop something new, determine some leading indicators you should be tracking. Identify early warning signs you can watch to let you know whether to put your contingency plans in place. Develop some key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor changes in data and quickly react to them. Pay attention to customer reviews, social media comments, testimonials, and direct communication with customers, so you have qualitative data to help you understand when and how to pivot.

    Strategic planning during these unprecedented times is a challenge. If you need help planning for the rest of 2021 or making adjustments to your existing strategy, it's a good idea to talk with a business consultant. ROA Solutions Group can help nail down an operations plan. We have a team of expert planning consultants that can quickly identify problems and find solutions for our clients in Cleveland, Akron, and Cuyahoga County. Call or email us to set up an appointment today!

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    ROA Solutions Group

    ROA Solutions Group is a results driven consulting organization focused on delivering process and technology solutions to improve our client’s business performance. Since 2002, our experienced former Big 5 consultants bring proven methodologies and best business solution practices. We have deep industry and functional expertise that helps us quickly identify problems and prioritize solutions for our clients.

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