CFO Plus: Five Important Steps for Effective Growth

Step 1: Comprehensive Analysis and Planning

As important as it is to know where you want to take your business in the future, it is equally important to establish where you are starting from. Only then can we accurately determine the time and resources necessary to help you reach your goals.

For that reason, we often start by conducting a Business Performance Review, Industry Comparisons, Benchmarking, and/or Trend Analysis to establish your company's current level of performance. This analysis will establish not only how your company is performing against others in your industry, but also relative to your own past performance. Information revealed in this step will serve as a foundation for goal setting during your Planning Session.

In preparation for your Planning Session, we'll work with you to complete a simple questionnaire that will highlight the financial, operational, management, marketing, and industry forces that are present or likely to emerge in your business.

The Planning Session

The Planning Session is a comprehensive diagnostic process to determine the current state of your business, to identify opportunities for improved profitability and growth, as well as identify any potential obstacles that might sidetrack your progress.

During the Planning session we will work with you and your team to review your current business scenario by facilitating a detailed SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) Analysis.

Then we will develop an on-the-spot Action Plan that will integrate your present goals with any new ones resulting from the analysis we do together. This will enable you and your team to go forward with clearly defined and prioritized objectives. This Action Plan will also include measurable benchmarks and create a high level of accountability for those involved with the implementation of the plan.

On to Step 2: Key Performance Indicators

Back to Five Steps for Effective Growth