What is ePSP to Strategic Planning?
As the name suggests ePSP is about “painless strategic planning.” Our ePSP is a strategic planning process designed specifically for small to medium-sized organizations. Start-ups, call centers, manufacturing, service companies and assembly facilities and many others could all use a strategic plan, but they don’t need a $60,000 strategic plan. Over the course of nearly 24+ years The Strategic Planning Group (TSPG) has designed this strategy process that enables an organization to develop a strategic plan for the next three years, very quickly. It follows a logical thinking process and forces you to make the best decisions possible at each step of the way. There are eight section that each cover an important part of the process.
What is a strategic plan and how does it differ from a business plan?
A strategic plan is the first step in developing a comprehensive business plan. Our strategic plans will set a clear, consistent direction for their businesses through a strategic vision & mission, critical success factors, gaps business objectives and clearly defined strategic initiatives and actions to match this direction. Generally a strategic plan will be for 3 years or longer. The entire leadership team must be on side.
A business plan is generally for budgeting purposes and will include specific metrics for each area of the company. A business plan is driven by the CFO.
Isn't the Secret to Creating a Great Strategy Plan Simply Following an Outline in Some Book?
An outline in a book is like a check list for a pilot. It is a wonderful reminder, but insufficient. How would you feel if you boarded a plane and the pilot said, I have read the manual and reviewed the checklist four times, but I have never flown a plane before? Likewise, creating a strategic plan takes know-hw and process which is different from running a business.
There are lots of books on how to do strategic planning. But few actually help you do it effectively and painlessly. Leaders and a senior management team are necessary to create a strategic plan, but they likely need a good step-by-step process. Our ePSP provdes that and also has telephone support if you need it.
Give it to me straight — what’s the catch? I don’t have time for a sales pitch.
Well, that’s good because we’re not salespeople either. We’re strategists. In the ePSP process you will get the entire planning process of T.S.P.G.— and at a very cost efficient price. We’re giving you a manual which includes chapters for each of the 8 sections and the video instruction exactly as you would receive it in one of our workshops. No bait and switch. No sneaky plot twist. The process is broken into two parts – Strategic Framework and the Strategic Initiatives. You can have all or any of the two parts.
Why are you giving away an entire strategic planning process for such a low price?
I’m glad you asked! The truth is, when we facilitate the process it cost between $35,000 & $50,000. Over the years we have been asked by many smaller companies to do it for less. We cannot facilitate two days with smaller organizations for less than that amount. Smaller organization – NFP or ownership firms cannot pay that. So we developed a do-it-yourself version with videos and a end-to-end manual as well as telephone support to have smaller organizations try to do it themselves. It gives you incredible value. And if you need us we can still be available.
Will you be providing materials for the ePSP process?
Of course! Not only will we provide video by our Senior Partner Dobri Stojsic but we also provide a full manual with work pages to help you get the most out of your effort. The manual and templates contain all the pages we use when they run our SMP strategic planning working. These forms have been developed and improved upon over 24+ years with our clients.
If I need your services, can I get onsite services and how would that work?
Our experienced team has facilitated strategy sessions for 24+ years, advised clients on how to run strategy sessions, written strategic plans, built project and business plans (big and small), conducted due diligence and assisted in hundreds of plans. We have learned secrets along the way that we have integrated into this process.
First, we need to know how many people in your leadership team and at the management levels. We will plan for two days of facilitation. There is some pre-session work that has to be done on a vision/mission and a SWOT analysis. Then we take your team through each step of the process making decision as we go. At the end of the first day you will have a strong strategic framework which includes the strategic and gaps. The second day is about initiatives and tactics. We do that with breakout teams. Each team presents their recommendations to the larger group. At the end of the day we match up strategies with the tactics and you will have 80% to 90% of a great plan created by your team. Following the workshop, details of the plan need to be ratified.
What is Difference Between Strategy & Financial Goals?
Long term financial goals are the What. They usually include revenue, profit, and cash flow. Strategy is the How. It tells how you will achieve those long term goals. A strategy might include brand positioning, new products and services, operational efficiency, acquisitions, cost optimizations, people & culture… etc.
Who should be involved in the strategic planning process?
The strategic planning process should be sponsored by the CEO or the leadership team. They have a responsibility to guide the direction of the business for the next few years. The select management should be involved to determine the things that need to get implemented because they are the ones that will have to do it. Management cannot decide strategy and leadership should not be dictating tactics.
Do you guarantee the plan?
Of course not. How can anyone guarantee the future? You might design a very effective plan today; however, tomorrow two competitors might merge and a major supplier in your industry may declare bankruptcy, thus changing the entire industry. While we will provide you with an efficient tool, we can’t guarantee any outcomes that you put into your plan or the results other than we will provide you with the templates to do it right.
Because we have done so many of this plans, we can help guide you in the right direction if you want our personal advice. We can do it via telephone or email. Then if you still want us to help actually guide a process we can talk further about our consulting services.
How will we measure the success of the Strategic Plan?
Our planning model has two levels of performance measures. We subscribe to “what gets measured, get done.” Early on we have SPIs Strategic Performance Indicators that measure overall company performance. Then, later on we have KPIs Key Performance Indicators for each key note strategy that you will have.
Generally about 4 to 6 strategies are typical. With each strategic 3 or 4 KPIs should do it. The reason why we limit them is to force people, during the strategic planning process to identify the important, critical goals. Of course, it’s up to you. Few strategic goals make the strategic plan clearer and easier to understand, and less overwhelming.
As the name suggests ePSP is about “painless strategic planning.” Our ePSP is a strategic planning process designed specifically for small to medium-sized organizations. Start-ups, call centers, manufacturing, service companies and assembly facilities and many others could all use a strategic plan, but they don’t need a $60,000 strategic plan. Over the course of nearly 24+ years The Strategic Planning Group (TSPG) has designed this strategy process that enables an organization to develop a strategic plan for the next three years, very quickly. It follows a logical thinking process and forces you to make the best decisions possible at each step of the way. There are eight section that each cover an important part of the process.