Have a Plan Philadelphia PA

The recent ISSA Regional Sales Meeting, "Seven Industry Megatrends Impacting Your Business," shared the results of the association's two-year, strategic industry forecasting project. It also attempted to provide a strategic plan to leverage these trends into business growth opportunities.

According to workshop facilitator John Delaney, who is founder and president of Giraffe Consulting, a strategy is different than a strategic plan. A strategy is a unique way of creating and delivering value to customers, while making it hard for others to imitate you.

The key is to create value that is indispensable to the client. If you can't differentiate your products or services, then you can't charge higher prices or demand better margins. The strategy should be easy to communicate to customers and pervade throughout the entire organization.

A strategic plan develops the tactics to how you will execute your strategy. It is a cause and effect model of how the business will grow. According to Delaney, many businesses get it wrong because they "ready-fire-aim" and then figure out what went wrong instead of just having a plan.

The value of planning ahead lies in the present. It leads to better alignment of your strategy and plan. For example, you can decide whether new business growth opportunities (such as the one discussed in the cover story on Food Service Products, p. 12) fit or not. More importantly, it can result in more profitable decision making. It gives the business the ability to say no and the opportunity to correct and change course if the conditions dictate it.

The plan, of course, has to consider the current market. After starting with a list of over 350 initiatives influencing the industry, the ISSA narrowed it down to seven that they deemed the most important. They are:

1. E-enables cleaning — New computer technology is being used in the industry. For example, GPS makes it possible to know where the crews are at all times.
2. The global stage comes to you — With new players from different countries, come new challenges. It is becoming hard to win on product alone.
3. New partnerships, new relationships — The marketplace is changing. People who once were suppliers might now be a competitor.
4. More diverse diversity — The workforce is becoming more diverse. There is great pressure on finding and keeping the right people.
5. Power to the occupant — More building owners are now dictating how the building should be cleaned.
6. Cleaning becomes a science — There is a growing demand for measurement. How do you measure and prove clean?
7. Reinvent the business — People are requiring more innovation at a lower cost.

It is important to know the latest issues influencing the industry, and plan accordingly.