I\u2019m not suggesting we abandon the Planning process.\u00a0 Instead, I would argue that we need to lock down the Plan and not touch it.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t matter how much we want to adjust it for <insert: market change, fuel increases, a new roof;> changing our Plan only makes us feel better, it does not improve our business!\u00a0 In order to improve we need to measure progress, and the Plan is our guide and measuring stick.<\/p>\n
But if we aren\u2019t changing the Annual Plan, how do we adjust and respond to changes? <\/strong><\/p>\n We should base strategic changes on periodic Forecasts (month, quarter, etc.)\u00a0 While a Plan<\/em><\/strong> sketches out the overall strategic vision of how to get where we want to go<\/span>, a Forecast<\/em><\/strong> is an analysis of what we really expect to happen<\/span>.\u00a0 To put it another way, the<\/em> Plan<\/em><\/strong> is our mapped route while the Forecast<\/strong> is what we see on the road ahead<\/em>: the Plan tells us that we need to head west along Interstate 80, but our Forecast tells us we have to account for 10 miles of traffic that will impact how long the trip will take (and maybe that we need to detour.)<\/p>\n To get the total picture, we want to continuously review two sets of numbers: \u00a0A) \u201cActual\u201d and B) \u201cActual + Forecast\u201d:<\/p>\n A.<\/strong> \u201cActual\u201d results are reviewed against the original \u201cPlan,\u201d to measure (map out) progress toward our original Goal, and The forecaster delicately balances conservative realism with the optimism of sales and operations management. But that\u2019s a discussion for another day\u2026<\/p>\n Warning<\/span><\/strong>: The old way of changing the Plan to meet the Actual results is certainly a lot easier than changing your Business Operations.\u00a0 But if you value the time to create that Plan, periodic Forecasting can help you make the decisions to get to your grand Vision.\u00a0 Our job at Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate is to support that effort.<\/p>\n What are your thoughts on how the Plan and\/or Forecast can be used to improve business?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" These are the \u201cDog Days\u201d of March:\u00a0 we still feel winter\u2019s chill (especially here in the northeastern US,) the next major holiday is Memorial Day, and we\u2019re just getting a feel for the 2010 sales market.\u00a0 We are also inching closer to our first tweak of the Operating Plan, or even possibly, that time when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":141,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1351,5761,6161,13941,15311,21651,23631,25641,26541,30351,30361,31951,32811,33981,36601,36781,37601,41491,44721,45681],"class_list":["post-4592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brokerage-operations","tag-agents","tag-brokers","tag-business-development","tag-expenses","tag-forecasts","tag-investments","tag-lease","tag-market","tag-memorial-day","tag-operating-systems","tag-operations","tag-planning","tag-prius","tag-real-estate","tag-results","tag-revenue","tag-sales","tag-strategy","tag-united-states","tag-vision"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nB.<\/strong> \u201cActual + Forecast\u201d versus the \u201cFull Year Plan,\u201d which helps make decisions that direct us back to the original Goal.\u00a0 In the example below we need to either reduce $1,483 in expenses over the next 11 months, or find a way to raise the revenue, or resign ourselves to a lower level of profitability than we targeted in our Plan.<\/p>\n![\"Forecast\"](\"https:\/\/bhgrecareer.com\/bebetterblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2010\/03\/JeffForecastGraph.jpg\" "\\"Forecast\\"")
<\/p>\n