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Education
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Time to plan for 2014 planning, mirrored by myriad companies no matter their
size. The purpose is to set a destination for the coming
year.
By Jeff Fortney
Clearent LLC Like a road trip

In my early days in the business world, a mentor once
he crisp fall air brings with it a time of planning, likened these goals to the end of a road trip. For illustration,
something I like to refer to as decision time. This he would say, "Over the next year, I want to drive from San
is when companies big and small hold meetings, Francisco to Maine."
T gather information and make decisions about
the coming year. They set goals, establish timelines and He noted that just as there are many routes from San
develop plans that they believe will help them reach the Francisco to Maine, there are many potential action steps
growth targets they have set for the year ahead.
to lead a company to its goals. He told us our job was to
develop the road map that would help our company reach
Although it may seem too soon to focus on 2014, the logic its destination.
of making decisions now about the approaching new year
is sound. Setting goals is only the first step. Establishing Smaller ISOs and merchant level salespeople don't have
the action plans that will help companies reach their goals others available to design such road maps for them. They
is also critical – and time consuming. Putting off this task must set their own goals and then determine the steps
to the start of the next calendar year will likely result in toward achieving them. Not only that, they are also driving
lost sales.
the car. However, though they begin each trip with good
intentions, they often end up taking unnecessary side trips.
Although planning sessions vary greatly, they all entail
a similar process: examine what is going well within the
company; then examine what isn't working, or what is not What if?
reaching its full potential. These are obvious steps in goal
One exercise that can help avoid detours is called "What
if?" The process is straightforward. After setting a goal
– such as growing production by a certain percentage in
the coming year – and then brainstorming about possible
ways to attain the goal, participants take a step back and
ask, "What if?"

For example, let's say you decide the only way to grow
your business is to focus your outreach in a specific market
segment. The common action at this point would be to
just jump in and test the waters. Instead, ask, "What if I
concentrate on this particular segment?"

This isn't a simple question. The answer is not, "I've had
some success in that segment, so I can easily expand on
my success by concentrating my efforts even further."
Although that may be part of the answer, it's critical to dig
deeper.

In-depth answers
Drill down into the impact of the action by answering
these specific questions:
• Is the change sufficient to support my long-term goals?
This seems obvious, but it is the most commonly
missed question. For example, the answer isn't solely
about whether a given vertical has enough business
locations. The response must also address the ongoing
viability of the industry as a whole.

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