Strategic planning for growing Missoula Area businesses is like a whitewater rafting trip:
·Preparation is essential. Paddlers learn or practice skills they don't use every day. It takes a full team effort to be successful. And it's always exciting, usually with an element of the unexpected.
Whether we train you, coach you or guide you, the diagram above is your planning model. It was developed by incorporating our experience guiding strategic planning for every sector of our economy, in more than 40 industries and a dozen countries. Management teams from small entrepreneurial businesses, growing privately-held firms, corporate captains of industry and not-for-profits of every size have enjoyed the simplicity of this process. It’s easy to learn, easy to follow, and it flows naturally from planning into plan implementation.
Learning to Lead Strategic Planning
Powerful Customer-Centered Professional Development Workshops
for Missoula Area Privately Held Businesses
Online Training Workshops for Missoula Chamber Members
Sept xx or OCT xx
You'll learn to develop a Growth Management Plan, balanced between strategic objectives and operational goals which will implement growth strategies. 9:00 am to noon. Registration closes one week beforehand.
Normally $750, Missoula Chamber current members receive a 40% discount to $450.
In-Person Training Workshops at Missoula Chamber Offices
Sept xx or OCT xx
This workshop offers the same agenda, participant kits and follow up benefits as the online workshop. Some participants find the in-person offering a more convenient option.
9:00 am to noon.
Normally $750, Missoula Chamber current members receive a 40% discount to $450.
With your senior team gathered online, we’ll guide you to identify the timely Crossroads Issues which your business faces, the first of five River Trip℠ strategic planning processes.
Normally $2500. Missoula Chamber current members receive a 40% discount to $1500.
Timeless Planning Advice
Growing a privately held business is never easy.
Unlike public corporations with access to investment capital, most privately held businesses fund their own growth through profitability of current products and services. Strategic planning brings your management team into consensus on customer opportunities most ripe for investment and growth. Your River Trip℠ planning can also identify potential sources of internal growth resources, with a realistic sequence for implementing growth programs, without stealing much time from your already-packed calendars.
That’s the idea behind our Growth Management River Trip℠, customer-focused strategic planning, simplified. It’s a proven visual planning system developed specifically for management teams of growing privately held businesses. With this approach, planning for business growth can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable parts of your career.
Here’s the best planning advice I’ve run across in the 40+ years that I’ve been guiding management teams:
“Keep things simple and in the same routine.”
Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson said “our approach to the week of preparation for our Superbowl game against the 49ers has been exactly the same as what we’ve done to prepare for the past seventeen games. One of the keys to developing a team that performs with consistency on the field under pressure is to maintain consistency and continuity in everything you do off the field."
Our most successful clients use the River Trip℠ process to update their plans every year. And when unexpected issues arise, they use the same DESCRIBE process to initiate the discussions; They get very good at describing, concluding, committing, creating and integrating. It just works, to keep the growth planning cadence going over the years. It brings an agility (think Zodiacs) and becomes a part of the culture in a way that larger corporations can’t duplicate (think cargo ships).
Degree
University Name
“Distribution may be one of the most powerful tools that any business has, making sure that your product or service is available where your target customers are already shopping.”
This quote is from my father, Bob Eskridge. He was one of America’s first marketing professionals, back when Ralston Purina decided to move into consumer markets with Chex cereals. I had the opportunity to work with him for several years, forecasting new product consumer demand. That’s where I learned about the powerful revenue value of distribution growth.
Dad was right – growing through distribution, like the other four elements of your marketing mix, relies on clarity of targeted customers. That’s a key elements of the River Trip’s CONCLUDE phase - defining your target markets.
“Make a little; sell a little; make a little more.”
From Dick Carruthers, president of Bioproducts and a member of the Bar Pilots’ Association at the mouth of the Columbia River in Astoria, Oregon. Both tasks were tough duty. But Dick practiced what he preached, in his business and on the water.
Privately held businesses typically plan for incremental growth, selecting their best customer, product or service opportunities for implementation. Be careful about setting overly ambitious objectives during the River Trip℠ COMMIT phase. You teams are already busy before you ask them to tackle growth initiatives.
“You have to work hard to get your thinking clean and make things simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”
Steve Jobs doesn’t need an introduction. When I was guiding planning for an Apple team to startup Macintosh service capabilities, he had not yet published that quote. But his organization was already living it. The service policies and operations that the team came up with were simple and straightforward, for Apple and for their customers.
Ryan Stock and I worked hard to get the River Trip℠ model and product line to pass the simplicity test. Five simple processes flow planning information from one to another. That’s why “strategic planning, simplified” is our value proposition. The CREATE Action Plans phase is especially practical. It’s easy to learn, easy to teach, easy to use and easy to update.
“Good is the enemy of the great.”
From Loren Smith, my mentor. We co-developed the Growth Management Process℠ early in my career. Loren went on to become Chief Marketing Officer for Citibank Retail and for the US Postal Service. He brought retail banking and America’s local post offices into the digital age. I’ll never forget the agony he triggered for clients, debating which programs were good and which ones were likely to be great.
Before committing resources to new opportunities during the INTEGRATE phase of planning, privately held businesses often “steal” resources from legacy programs that still make sense but don’t have the growth possibilities of new growth initiatives.
During the River Trip℠ workshops, we frequently offer other examples that might be relevant for current participants.
Rob Eskridge
Strategic Planning Guide
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