PLan For Success in 2010

By:  Lawrence S. Searcy, Jr.

I had the pleasure recently of listening to Rapides Parish Sheriff Chuck Wagner give a speech to a group of sales professionals about his first two years in office. He emphasized his business background and how his training in business planning helped him transition into his leadership role at the Sheriff’s department. When Sheriff Wagner was elected, the sheriff’s office did not have a written business plan. One of his first tasks was to assess the department’s needs and then write a business plan to address those needs. He used his professional sales experience to set measurable goals for his department. He then measured his successes and failures throughout the year according to the benchmarks that he set. Finally, at the end of the year, he reviewed the plan for the past year and proposed a new one for the coming year.


Every business, regardless of whether it is a governmental agency, private enterprise or non-profit organization, needs to follow the fundamental rule that Sheriff Wagner adopted. Make a plan. Follow the plan. Measure the success and failure according to the plan, and modify the plan as needed.

Make a plan:

Write your plan down. An unwritten plan is no plan at all.

When I was practicing law, I was measured by the number of billable hours that I billed to clients each month and for the year. In the car business, we measure monthly vehicle sales, repair orders written for service and parts sales. Regardless of what is being measured, the fundamentals are the same. You must know what measurements are critical to your success and how you plan to achieve the goals. The only way to do this is to write it down as a constant reminder.

By now, your 2010 business plan should already be in place. If not, it is not too late to start. Begin by looking at the past year, examining the past and current economic environment and setting realistic goals for success based on those observations. While the goal should be achievable, it should not be easy. Objectives should be set for short and long measurement. Start first with weekly and monthly benchmarks. Compare these at the end of each month to determine if you are on track for yearly goals. If not, then modify the plan as needed to reach new and achievable goals.

Follow the Plan:

Your plan is a long-term projection measured in short-term segments. While it can be modified, the fundamentals should be followed throughout the year. Think of your strategic plan like a roadmap. While you may use different roads to get to a final destination, the result is always the same – you arrive at the destination. When analyzing your plan throughout the year, it is ok to modify the way you get to the final result but the original outcome should remain the same. The final outcome should only be changed when it is clear that the original forecast is impossible to achieve. When that becomes necessary, amend the plan by re-forecasting for the remainder of the year. Do the same thing you did in the beginning of the year by setting realistic estimates you can achieve by the end of the year.

Measure success, failure and modify:

A business plan means nothing if the results are not measured. Again, like a roadmap, you cannot know where you are going without knowing where you are during the journey. Every day, week, and month, all measurements need to be reviewed to determine if the plan is on target. In many cases the plan may need to be modified because the goals are either too easy or unrealistic. If success comes too easily, then the original goals were not challenging enough and they need to be strengthened. If your numbers fall short, then the original expectation may not have been based on realistic economic conditions and should be scaled back.

Forecast for success and write a plan to meet your goals. Do this and 2010 will be a successful and profitable year.