Business Planning 2024: 5 important tips

With the arrival of the last quarter of the year, many companies are already starting to plan goals and strategies for the following year. The complexity of this process depends on several factors, ranging from the size of the company and available budget to the country’s economic situation.

Therefore, planning intelligently makes all the difference in achieving goals and the results obtained throughout the year. Therefore, in the following article we list 5 important tips for good business planning that brings real results.

1. Create realistic goals

First of all, define objectives and goals that are attainable and tangible for your company. Check whether your company can actually meet the objective defined in the planning.

For example, doubling the company’s revenue next year is a desired goal for any company, but can you, with your current structure, realistically achieve this goal? Therefore, when making your annual planning, rely on data and information that confirm your ability to achieve the desired growth.

A methodology that can help in building more consistent goals and objectives is the SMART method. With it you will be able to set goals that are specific, measurable, relevant and achievable for your company.

2. Map your resources

Carrying out a general mapping of resources is an essential step in any annual business planning. Clearly and objectively define the financial, technological and structural resources available for the target year of planning.

More than a financial budget, it is also necessary to know the time and personnel resources that your company has. This way, you direct investments and efforts to the right places and avoid wasting these resources.

If necessary, seek specialized consultancy that will allow you not only to map this set of resources but also to direct them appropriately. This way, you will ensure the efficient use of your company’s resources in the target planning year.

3. Prepare your team

Companies that want to grow need to have a team prepared and qualified not only to receive but also support changes. Every year, the market changes in many ways, and it is currently changing faster and faster.

Therefore, make sure your team is up to date not only from a technical point of view but also from a behavioral point of view. Invest in qualification and create incentives for your employees to also be part of the company’s innovation processes.

Finally, including your entire team of employees, not just leaders, in the annual planning process can also be highly beneficial for results. After all, your team is the one who knows the main problems and possible common solutions in the company’s processes.

4. Eye on the market

Monitoring the market, including your main competitors, is another crucial element in any annual business planning. Part of the annual planning process consists of carrying out an adequate analysis of the scenarios and observing the market to understand how to strategically prepare for the following year.

In this sense, in addition to organizational learning, it is also possible to learn from competitors, observing how they overcome common problems in their sector. Another alternative is to define whether it is possible to establish cooperation with other companies, as an opportunity for growth and achieving common objectives between those involved.

This way, you ensure that your company is actually following market changes and prepared to face the challenges of next year.

5. Monitor results

The use of tools for monitoring and controlling results is another essential part of annual planning. This is because it is ineffective to define a set of well-structured goals and budgets without efficient ways of measuring and verifying whether these objectives are actually being achieved.

Therefore, monitoring and control methods must be part of all stages of your planning. This way, you will not only be able to monitor throughout the year, but also take stock of the results and plan actions for planning the following year.

This way, you will be able to build more consistent strategies that consider what your company can actually achieve in terms of objectives in its annual planning.