A 5-year strategic plan helps businesses stay organized and meet the necessary goals to stay profitable. Strategic planning takes time and effort, but when executed, a well-thought-out plan can increase sales, increase customer awareness and increase the reputation of any business, large or small. When writing a strategic plan, it's important to decide in which direction the business should go and what it will take to get there. You will also need to consider internal operational and procedural changes when creating a plan.
Instructions
Write a 5-Year Strategic Plan
1. Put together a team that represents all departments within your business. Depending on the size of the business, strategic planning teams should not exceed eight people.
2. Create a vision and mission statement. A vision statement is a short one- or two-sentence statement that expresses where the business would like to be in the future. A mission statement may be a paragraph or more. This statement explains the values and intentions of a business.
3. Create a list of short-term goals. These goals can include increasing the number of employees, moving to a larger space, increasing customer awareness of goods and services, or making internal changes to operations or management. Short-term goals are those that can be accomplished within the first year or two of a 5-year strategic plan.
4. Create a list of long-term goals. These goals are to be met within a 5-year time period and can include increasing sales by a certain percentage, creating new goods and services, implementing new procedures or operational tasks, company expansion or, in some cases, downsizing. Long-term goals may be implemented in phases (for example, if you want to expand your company, leasing new warehouse space, hiring additional employees or introducing new products may be completed over the span of 5 years).
5. Set measurable goals and time limits to meet these goals. These are short- and long-term goals that can be measured through increased production, increased sales or increased customer interest. Measurable goals help keep employees motivated and allow team members to make changes if goals are not met at a predetermined time.
6. Outline possible ways to meet both short- and long-term goals. Brainstorm with team members for new ideas and concepts. Even though some ideas will not be used, brainstorming is the best way to involve every department within the company. Make sure every member of the team is allowed to contribute to brainstorming sessions.
7. Put vision and mission statements, short- and long-term goals, and ways to meet these goals into a report that also includes budgets, financial forecasts and other overhead information. This is your 5-year strategic plan.
