#16 5 Secrets of 100 Day Planning

In this episode Graham and Kevin reveal the 5 secrets of 100 day planning that will make the next 100 days great. Obey these 5 simple rules and 100 day planning will become much easier and will help you achieve great results. Secret #1 Work on one key business “THEME” that will do the most to take you forward. Kevin makes the point on the podcast that you can go an inch in a hundred directions or a mile in one direction.What is the most important thing that will take your business forward? What is your MAIN problem at the moment? Lead generation Converting leads Upselling / cross selling Product development Systems & automation The list itself could be extended to financial, customer service, branding etc. The important thing is whatever the one key business theme, it is YOUR PRIORITY. Both Kevin and I are focused on lead generation in the next 100 days, within our respective businesses AND for the podcast itself. For us, lead generation is about attracting people who are both ready now and not quite ready, but will be soon, to our respective businesses. Equally, we would wish to REPEL people who are not suited to our business. It’s a GIVERS GAIN mentality. Give value before your customer spends with you. Secret #2 Is the period of 100 days the right period? Any longer you get diminishing returns. Yesterday, it was 100 days until the first day of the Rio Olympic Games. As athletes get themselves into tip top shape, it’s like us having the same time period for our own Medal hopes. 100 Days is long enough to get real change & momentum, but not too long to get diminishing returns & lack of focus. That first 5 days, where you are focusing on planning. The quality time upfront is SECRET No 3… Secret #3 The heavy lifting thinking time: spend time to think through your strategy and tactics; the who, what & when in those first 5 planning days!Think through what you should do yourself and what you delegate or outsource. Find ways to get other people to support you.Get to a crystal clear path, so you can execute effectively. You will have one MAIN theme, but the other things that need getting done. Forgive yourself. You cannot do everything. So don’t. Only do the stuff where you add your best value.Take time out. Get away from your desk. Think it through.Think what success looks like as you reach the 100th Day? Kevin pointed out that that nicely brings us to SECRET No 4 Secret #4 A plan on a page is sufficient What goes on a one-page plan?- Get clear about “What problem this theme will solve?” - What is the benefit is there to your business? - What budget, resources do I need? - What are the associated milestones, weeks, months, 100 days - What are the stumbling blocks you can foresee? - What are the risks of focusing upon your THEME? - What metrics will you put in place to measure the achievements made towards your 100 day goal?So, identify the key things that need to happen, the key next steps, the unknowns you need to explore. This is not an investment case so it doesn’t need to be 50 pages.Remember if your plan is failing, then FAIL FAST, FAIL FORWARDS, FAIL FREQUENTLY – so you continue to learn from the process. Equally, make sure you are reviewing successes too. You’ll want to repeat these. Secret #5 Break the plan down into milestones and weekly plans Have achievable stages. Break down the big goals and create a TO DO LIST from the elements of the overall goal. Example Lead Generation: magnetically attract people to your business. STRATEGY Review where you have been and where you want to get to. How are you going to attract people to you? Who is it you want to attract and who do you want to repel? PROFILE YOUR DATA Look at your data you already hold. Apply the Pareto Law. Which 20% of your customers are delivering 80% of your revenue? So your ideal NEW client, is likely to be a ‘lookalike’ of your top customers. Whether Business to Business or Business to Consume...