Ask the Coach: How Important is a 90 Day plan?

How important is it for my business to develop a quarterly plan for my business?

It’s a challenge to find time to do the push-ups in your business- but everyone will make time and money for what’s important to them! Are you working ‘below or above the line’ in your business? Do you hear excuses? Are you in denial or do you blame others? Or…do you take responsibility, ownership and accountability?

What are the excuses YOU use to avoid working on your 90 Day Plan? How are you working ‘Below the Line’? Here are a few ideas to get you thinking...

• Not enough time


• Too much travel


• Phone not working


• Too tired


• Lack of resources


• Caught in traffic


• ‘That’s not my job’


• Jury duty
  Need new equipment


• Pricing


• Communication


• Assistant out sick


• Server down


• Children


• Not focused enough


• Marketing not productive – not producing correct results


• Constantly taking phone calls


• ‘Gotta check email”


• Life situations to deal with

What a difference it makes when we work above the line, and take Responsibility, Ownership, Accountability!

At last week's GrowthCLUB, ActionCOACH Business Community members shared how they successfully made their 90 Day Plan work for their businesses this past quarter:

• Schedule time better – more efficiently


• Bring in part-time personnel or interns


• Delegate more often


• Schedule weekly team training


• Focus on being a better manager


• Work on the higher priorities – do what you most dislike most first – get the stuff you really don’t want to do out of the way


• Set schedule for certain time of the day for what you need to do (they may be painful and not fun…and may not want to do!)


• Put systems in place, and then stick with it!


• Cutting back extracurricular activities


• Look for an accountability partner


• Follow up with clients instead of waiting for them to call you back


• Test and measure


• Say ‘no’ when it’s in my best interest – follow my priorities, be intentional in my day


• Prioritize my to-do list


• Delegate


• Change email inbox to check manually – rather than the tempting and distracting frequent interruptions


• Decide where ‘saw sharpening’ is most important and take the time to learn it! (Excel, FaceBook, etc)


• More employee team meetings and communications to improve accountability. Ask them questions and see what they come up with.


• Setting daily goals and following through


• Train team in new sales tactics – practice, rehearse, sharpen their saws.

Take a look at your 90 Day Plan to set your monthly and weekly priorities!