I’m a big fan of the plan. I truly believe it’s a vital tool to drive your business in the right direction. It’s your roadmap to success. But how do you know how to get somewhere if you haven’t planned the route or even set the your destination?
An effective business action plan will set realistic goals to strive for within a specific timeframe. A 90 day business plan hits the sweet spot timewise. If you set an annual plan, some of the goals feel irrelevant towards the end of the year as things have changed. A monthly plan seems to come round too fast. A 90 day business plan evolves with the seasons. It gives you enough time to make an impact and implement action plans, and provides focus and clarity for the upcoming quarter.
What is a 90 Day Business Plan?
It’s a written document that commits you to working on business priorities and striving for set goals. It could be an online document or spreadsheet. You could use a planning tool. Or write notes in your diary if that works best for you.
In your action plan, you’ll define 90 day goals – the milestones that you aim to reach within that timeframe. They need to be SMART goals (specific, measurable and timebound) with precise metrics tied to them so that you can clearly see if/ when they’ve been reached. For example, you may aim to bring in 4 new leads or launch a new marketing campaign within your 90 day timeframe.
There’s no point looking for an off-the-shelf solution. Your action plan needs to be tailored to your specific business and priorities. You can include personal goals in there too (in fact, I encourage this!). That could relate to upskilling, personal development, or not working every weekend so that you can actually have some sort of personal life.
Who Should Create a 90 Day Business Plan?
Small business owners and entrepreneurs often find it hard to get their heads out of the day-to-day running of their business. Daily tasks take priority over longer term planning. Adjusting this mindset is the way to drive your business forward.
A step-by-step, practical, relevant, tailor-made actionable business growth strategy, covering the next 90 days, will focus your attention on driving more profit into your business.
This plan works for all senior managers and leaders whatever the size of business you work in. It can be really beneficial to work on this action plan as a team, so that everyone is on board with the priorities and key focus areas for the next 3 months.
What are the Benefits of 90 Day Planning?
- Sets clear timebound objectives
- Helps with setting goals
- Reminds you of your business priorities
- Clarity for all team members
- Regular performance reviews to see what’s working and what’s not
- Gives direction and focus
- Puts you in control
- Enables all stakeholders to track progress
- Organises your mind and work.
Your Step-by-Step 90 Day Plan
Wondering how to get started? Follow these steps to create your action plan.
Review your overall business plan: this is your big picture strategy document that shows what you want to do and how. Remind yourself of your high-level business goals before setting out the steps to achieving them.
Decide on your key priority: over the 90 day period, do you need to sort out your finances, boost your marketing efforts or review your product offering for example? Perhaps it’s a more personal goal such as improving your work-life balance. This sets the direction for the next 90 days.
Choose your goals: be realistic with this one. If you’re brimming with enthusiasm for this exercise, it’s easy to get carried away and add multiple goals to your plan. Less is more. It’s better to focus on a couple of goals and actually achieve them.
Make the goals measurable: I mentioned SMART goals earlier, and it’s a super important point. Define the metrics you’ll use to see whether you’ve achieved your goal. Instead of saying, ‘increase customer retention’. Add a specific metric, such as ‘by 3%’.
Create an action plan for the goal: how will you reach your target? Plot the series of steps you need to take to get there.
In the first month, I will do x. This stage usually involves research, info gathering and learning.
In the second month, I will do y. Apply the learnings gained in the previous month.
In the third month, I will do z. Implement the initiatives or changes needed to realise the set goal.
Review the process: did you achieve the goal? What happened? Learn from it and progress to your next 90 day plan.
If you’d like my expert help with business planning, join my one-day 90 day business planning session and we can create your plan in person.
The 30 60 90 Day Plan for Onboarding New Employees
This model is really useful for new hires, not just business owners and senior team members. When someone starts in a new role, it can feel overwhelming. Having a clear plan really helps them with onboarding and settling into their new role, in a new team, with a new manager, in a new company. It’s a lot that’s new!
A 30-60-90 day plan clearly sets out an action plan of tasks to complete within those 3 timeframes, from the first day to their 3 month review date. It’ll include learning goals and performance goals. It gives a clear picture of the new role (beyond the job description). Done well, the new hire will have a better insight into how their role fits into the wider company mission and it’ll help them acclimatise to the company culture.
Setting plans for the next 30, 60 and 90 days helps the new hire and their manager to keep things on track. They’re both kept accountable, with regular times to follow-up on progress. It removes the uncertainty that people often feel when they start a new job. Ideally, it’ll support a new hire to hit the ground running. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
Ready to Write Your 90 Day Business Plan?
Do you want to take control of your business and get organised? An effective 90 day business plan will set you on the path for success. But tearing yourself away from everyday business activities to focus on an effective strategy is a battle.
It can really help to have somebody on your side. Somebody to guide you, keep you accountable and encourage you to focus on the things that’ll make the biggest impact on your business and personal life. That’s where I come in. As an experienced business coach, I’ve helped hundreds of businesses to create winning action plans, and I can help you too.
Let’s map out your next 90 days together. See real results for your business with a roadmap for success.
“[Phil] is very personable and easy to work with. In the GrowthClub – which works to set your business objectives and an action plan for the next 90 days, he works with you to set your actionable objectives. He also adds an extra level of accountability to ensure you achieve these. I would highly recommend working with Phil.” Liz Hamlet, Director & Founder at Spark Succeed.
