The Simplified Strategic Planning process is a step-by-step roadmap for answering the questions at the heart of the matter. The three key questions:

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO SELL?

TO WHOM ARE YOU GOING TO SELL?

HOW CAN YOU BEAT OR AVOID THE COMPETITION?

The first two questions define the breadth, scope and focus of your business. You must decide what you will do or will not do, and then you must decide who you will serve in the marketplace. These questions help you determine an appropriate focus.

 

We have found that many companies do not want to be focused and seem to go out of their way to avoid narrowing things down. The leaders of such companies usually can’t stand the idea of not pursuing a sale. Often, when asked the question, What are you going to sell? such leaders answer “Everything we can.” That’s not focus. That’s a pursue-everything approach – that person will also answer “Everyone we can,” to the question, To whom are you going to sell? The problem with the two answers, of course, is that there is a third question that really defines what you are capable of doing.

It’s that third question that brings a sense of realism to your planning process. When you get into the third question and begin examining your competencies, strengths, capabilities and infrastructure, you will really understand the importance of focus. You need to focus on applying your strategic competency and specific capabilities to what to sell to targeted markets. This will allow you to use your resources to gain a sustainable competitive advantage instead of just using them up.

These questions are the heart of the Simplified Strategic Planning model because at each step along the way you will be working towards answering them. As you do you will learn and grow. And as you learn and grow, you will create a well-considered plan. In the end, you will have a strategy that works and gives specific answers those three questions.

Preliminary to beginning the process is the appointment of the team and the scheduling of the sessions. The team should be the top management team, those reporting to the CEO who represent all areas of activity at the company

At the broadest level, the Simplified Strategic Planning process is a series of structured meetings in which you start by gathering some basic data and facts about your external and internal situation. Then, you try and build a consensus about some assumptions for the future, including opportunities, threats and scenarios. After you’ve researched the necessary facts and developed assumptions, you sit down and review them with your team and make sure everyone understands and agrees. This is one of the key parts of any strategic planning process because the information and assumptions shape all further discussion about strategy.

From there, you will go on to develop your strategy (course and direction). Then you define goals and objectives and get into the questions of:

How do we get there?

How much is it going to cost?

When will we get there?

Who is responsible?

Who will be involved, and will they have the time required?

These questions - the EXECUTION part of your plan - are the most critical to actually making the changes you need to succeed.  Most companies achieve about 30% of their objectives.  Our clients average completion of 85% of their objectives.

How the Schedule works

The Simplified Strategic Planning process covers nine items in three meetings. In our original process, the first meeting is two days, the second is three days and the third meeting is two days.  In the monthly process, we spread this activity to 2-4 hour meetings once a month.  In those meetings, you will do the following:

Gather information

Assess capabilities,

Make assumptions,

Make strategic assessments 

Develop core business strategy, competitive strategy, development strategy and financial strategy,

Establish goals and objectives,

Develop action plans to turn your objectives into results,

Schedule action plans based on resource availability,

Schedule reviews of developments, progress and performance.

The point of the Simplified Strategic Planning process is to make the plan manageable. If you want to create a beautifully-bound 700-page bookend that everyone has and no one uses, you’ll probably need a lot more meetings. But if you want to create a real, workable plan that you will USE, – the Simplified Strategic Planning process is for you.

It starts with situation analysis – understanding your current situation and what your assumptions might be going forward. Then there is strategy formulation – making decisions based on those inputs.

Finally, there is implementation planning – taking your decisions and driving them home in the organization to get results.

Remember the whole reason to do this is to get results. Because implementation must be specific and scheduled, it will inevitably fail if you don't do this. Because of this, the Simplified Strategic Planning process leads to specific implementation of a strategy.

In total, the Simplified Strategic Planning process works out to about 40-50 hours of meetings, spread out over the year so that it won’t interfere with your day-to-day business. There is also work to be done by the team between sessions - and you will get one-on-one online help sessions for that homework for FREE as part of the process.

Since 1981 the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning has provided client organizations the tools and leadership required to obtain superior strategic results. We are strategists with a strict focus on competitive strategy and strategy implementation for the mid-sized company. We wrote the book on strategic planning for the small to mid-sized company – Simplified Strategic Planning: A No-Nonsense Guide For Busy People Who Want Results Fast!

Here are five points that differentiate us in the marketplace:

Our thousands of clients worldwide achieve real results with clear plans, accountability, resource allocation and control. They have collectively added over 50 billion dollars to their earnings.

​Our process has been refined over our 38 years of experience.

​Our professionals not only have many years of strategy consulting experience but also hands on experience as CEOs

​We only do strategy work, and we are very good at it.

​We focus on competitive strategy – beating or (better yet) avoiding competition and strategy implementation.

Our work with clients is built around our proprietary process: Simplified Strategic Planning. It is a streamlined, hands-on methodology designed to ensure that course and direction are well thought out, and that the limited resources of the organization are sharply focused for results.

We do not tell you the strategy for your organization. We stimulate good strategic thinking and lead your team along a logical path that will allow you to discover and communicate your unique vision of the future.  Then, we take the steps necessary to turn that vision into realty. It is the unique combination of our process expertise combined with your team’s knowledge that will produce a strategy which will set you apart from your peers.

Focus  - You will sharply focus your efforts on what is most important to your future success.

​Results - You will improve tomorrow’s results through efficient and effective strategic management.

​Control - You will take control of your destiny by establishing a lean, effective strategy process that fits your business.

​Growth - You will reach and stretch for higher levels of attainment.

Flexibility - ​You will deal with rapidly changing developments that will confront your business in the coming years.

​Vision - You will translate the company vision into personal involvement and alignment for your employees.

​Engagement - You will generate motivation, enthusiasm and commitment.

​Realization - You will achieve your highest potential.

Operational effectivenesss - ​You will accomplish all of this without interfering with the conduct of your business.

-Strategic planning consulting is all we do.

-We focus on developing your competitive strategy – how to beat or (better yet) avoid competition.

-Additionally, we emphasize strategy execution with clear plans, resource allocation, accountability and control.

-We have both a depth and breadth of experience. Indeed, we have codified the strategic planning process.

-Also, we have developed a vast library of strategy concepts which is at our command.

-We can customize the process to your exact requirements.

-All of our consultants are full time strategists.

-They have extensive executive level hands-on experience and strong academic degrees.

-They have led strategic planning in hundreds of companies worldwide and have a wealth of strategy insights.

-They are strategists who know how to stimulate your strategic thinking.

-They ask the right questions.

-They know how to bore down to the heart of the issue.

-They understand the many strategic management pitfalls and how to avoid them.

-They will bring you leading edge strategic planning and proven methodology to assure success.

Our consultants are uniquely qualified to help you:

-attain a stronger market position

-identify and obtain the information you need

-identify and measure your key success factors

-​identify and exploit your unique Strategic Competencies

-​make valid assumptions

-select and develop your best opportunities

-​protect your company from potential threats

-​select an appropriate strategic focus

-allocate your resources to meet your objectives

-​align and energize your organization to make it all happen.

Strategists – not facilitators who do strategy

All of our consultants are full time executive strategists at the Center for Simplified Strategic Planning. They have years of executive experience and strategic planning consulting. So you are assured of working with a professional who has extensive hands-on experience at the executive level in leadership and strategic planning. In other words, someone who knows what it is like to walk in your shoes. Also, they have ivy league academic degrees. They have used their experience to manage change and growth in hundreds of companies nationwide in a wide variety of industries and company sizes – from “mom & pop” to the world’s largest corporation. They have an average of over 35 years experience in strategic planning and senior executive management. They stimulate good strategic thinking, challenge subjective thinking, foster collaboration, obtain balanced input, build consensus and develop commitment to implementation.