Writing your company’s business plan – business objectives statement

Hi there brave entrepreneur!

I hope things are going well in your businesses and that you are surviving. If things are really going tough, please check out our business plan information on survival planning.

Today I would like to discuss what you can expect by using our business plan software (Business Plan Pro), while writing/developing your business objectives section - found under the Executive Summary in Business Plan Pro.

As risk and control expert I know how important it is that a business writes clear mission, vision and objective statements.

You need to be able to formulate your reason for being in business into a mission statement. Preferably, you should be passionate about what you are doing (see our mission statement cartoon as an illustration).

Normally, your vision statement deals with the future – e.g. you want your company to be the best Internet marketing company in the USA or world or you want your business to play a major role in the social responsibility arena of the world etc. etc.

Now, your mission statement (more about your mission statement in my next blog) needs to be broken down into practical, achievable business objectives. The reason for this is that you can actually use your business objectives to measure yourself (or rather the success of your business). By achieving objectives, you become more effective (please don’t confuse it with efficiency).

However, there is another reason why you need to formulate objectives. Objectives should eventually be broken down into tasks that are needed and should be executed in order to achieve the formulated objectives and eventually the mission.

But even more important: Tasks should be regulated and controlled by means of business policies, procedures and standards; in my terms it is called business controls.

Business controls are used to reduce risks, with the potential of causing harm or damage, and eventually profit erosion. (Any risk has a negative financial impact on a business and results, eventually, in profit erosion.)

Finally, Business Plan Pro’s Help file states the following:  ”Your plan objectives should be specific goals that can be measured. Keep the list to three or four because long lists make it harder to focus. For products, you might watch gross margin or unit sales, so you should set objectives for these key factors. Other specific objectives will depend on your type of business.“

For example, where general or intangible goals are critical to your business, we recommend that you try to make them as specific as possible. Business Plan Pro advises the following:

• If service to the community is a priority, put your objectives in terms of percent of people served, specific numbers of complaints, or letters of praise.
• If image or awareness is a priority, build a customer satisfaction survey into your plan, set the sample size and satisfaction scores you want to achieve, then carry out the survey to check on success.

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact us at blog@business-around-the-globe.com

Warm regards

Michiel Jonker, CISA

PS: Here is another great entrepreneur blog I have discovered. Please check it out when you got the time.

Tags: business objectives, Business Plan, Business Plan Software, business policies, business procedures, business standards, mission statement