What makes for a good health club business plan is the same things that make for any good business plan, which just a few differences. The most important thing to remember in any plan, though, is that having A plan is better than having NO plan at all, even if the plan is a little hazy, to start. This can always be corrected down the road. What’s a fact, though, is that businesses that start out with no written plan often go down to defeat within their first three years.

Business plans are like narrative stories. They’ll have a beginning, then a middle, and then an end which will lead to a new beginning. This goes on in what’s called a continuous planning cycle. And no health club plan succeeds well without having a mission, vision and goals, not only for the business but also for its customers.

Like any good plan, a health club’s will address every traditional business metric or benchmark which helps to gauge success. These can include funding sources and short-to-long term planning horizons. Keep in mind that the farther out a horizon is, the more flexible the intermediate steps need to be in getting to that far off destination.

Probably the one area where health clubs go the most wrong is in not understanding how vital marketing itself needs to be. If they think on it at all, it’s as a part of some undefined “advertising” section in the plan.

Failing to get that advertising is one part of an overall marketing strategy fails to fully harness the ability of a plan to coordinate all the little parts into a seamless marketing whole. At a minimum, marketing strategies include short and long-range advertising programs, with quantifiable measures of success.

Successful business plans also account for the ever-changing nature of technology. What many people don’t get is that specific models of computers themselves become obsolete within two years of their introduction. So if that’s the case, why isn’t a savvy business designing its plan around such facts about technology? When it does, it can better position itself for rapid technological change in its advertising and marketing programs.

Look at it this way: Failing to grasp that what is effective marketing today may be redundant and boring a year or even six months from now is a recipe for failure. A smart health club marketing plan, as part of a wider business plan, accounts for this. That way, it can be adjusted quickly to take advantage of the new advertising or marketing environment it encounters.

A commercial real estate agent needs a plan. In that way you can build your systems and focus on the things that need to be done.

It is interesting to note that many ordinary or new agents struggle with the entire job structure for some time until they find something that works for them. The longer they struggle the greater the frustration in getting clients and listings. They need a plan.

In this market you need quality clients and good listings. It is the good listings that will bring you better inquiry and over time that will help you with market share and completed transactions.

It is worthwhile remembering that the industry is based on relationships. Grow your relationships at every opportunity. Your relationships and your listings should feature in your plan.

So if the commercial real estate market is a bit difficult for you, or you think things can or should be better, it is time to look at your personal business plan. Here are some ideas to help you.

1. Determine where you are right now when it comes to listings, clients, market share, and knowledge. If you have any shortcomings with these things, then the gaps need to be filled with better processes and or knowledge. Practice in our industry is a good thing. That is practice in prospecting, pitching, listing, and negotiating.
2. Look around your market to determine the things that you are up against and also those things that are opportunities for you. Make sure that the market has enough growth and vibrancy to allow you to grow your income and market share.
3. What are your competitors doing? Are they any good at what they do? Can you be better than them? Your answers will help you set some priorities in your business planning.
4. Relationships and knowledge in our industry are quite important. You must have good relationships with prospects and clients, and you should have a solid base of knowledge when it comes to the local area and doing the deals. Our clients and prospects don’t like to be an ‘experiment’ in property marketing; they need to see that they have chosen a top agent that really knows how to deal with the challenges of the property. Put your clients and your prospects into your plan.
5. Determine where you are now when it comes to effectiveness and getting to the things that really matter. If you are not in control of your working day then a plan will not give you traction. Set your rules of ‘control’ and put your plan into it. Do not let others disrupt your focus and actions. Their plan or their priorities are of no benefit to you (unless they employ you).

It should be said that the critical part of planning in commercial real estate agency is in taking action. Without taking action a plan is useless. Things only start to change when you create the action that you need and you build that action into a ‘habit’.

Angela had heard it so often that it sounded like a mantra: Write your business plan!

The business itself was not an issue. It was going to be a business featuring her handmade butterfly inspired caftans. Her creativity was inspired by the spectacular Monarch butterflies that settled in her home town every year. She had the colors and designs ready. Now she needed to open her business.

That was the first thing that stopped her. What kind of planning did she need to do before opening her business? What licenses did she need? What taxes would she have to pay? Who were her clients going to be? What kind of profit could she make? Where could she go to get information? She got dizzy thinking about it. She was an artist, not an entrepreneur!

SCRIBBLES AND NOTES

So she sat down to write her business plan. She figured costs and taxes and leases and employees and advertising, working through a series of worksheets, step by step. She busted a few pencils, but never got near a computer. She even went to her local banks and met with two different bankers. And when she finished, she had an amazing discovery: she didn’t even want a real store to start out. She wanted to start out on the internet. She figured that the international potential of millions of customers, plus the low overhead of an internet business, made it a better option than opening her own brick and mortar store.

So that is exactly what she did. That was nearly two years ago, and she has done very nicely.

THE FORMAL PLAN

But now she is writing a second plan for her business. Now she needs to expand and hire seamstresses, probably contract workers. And so many people have asked if they could come by her store that she now needs a store/workshop. She is really looking forward to the store as a way of working directly with some of her clients.

But now she needs financing, so she is writing a new plan for her business.

Rightfully, Angela knew that the plan that she created for herself just will not do for bankers. The one she wrote for herself was very analytical, with lots of options explored and lots of worksheets. Now that her direction is in place, and a successful track record backs her up, the business plan she is writing is of a very different sort. This one is a sales presentation for the banker. She is even putting lots of photos of her designs.

Angela instinctively knows what many entrepreneurs struggle with: The business plan that you do for yourself is NOT the business plan that you can use for funding.

APPLES AND ORANGES ARE BOTH ROUND, AREN’T THEY?

This sounds so very basic, but many entrepreneurs simply miss the mark. For example, in the business plan you do for yourself, you want to list out all the competitors that you might have, and compare your own business to theirs. Some of them, truthfully, might even be better than your company. But in a business plan for financing, the object is different. Here you acknowledge that there is competition, but the focus is on your business with your clientele base.

Or in your own business plan you may list that you have money in a credit card that you can pull if necessary. But bankers don’t want to hear about that: it is poor business to use your credit card to finance your business.

The two types of business plans are a different mind set, a totally different approach. One you pick right off the tree, and the other you wrap into a fresh hot tart.

WHY, O WHY, O WHY O?

So your first job is to answer the question: Why am I writing this business plan? Am I investigating a business, and looking for the best options? Or am I writing this for a banker/investor?

Once you’ve got the answer to that question, the rest falls into place.

… PUTTING ON THE RITZ

Once you have your scribbles and notes, getting everything together for the formal plan is much easier. You know where to look, what information is valid and what is not, and you probably have a track record behind you that you can flaunt a bit.

VARIATIONS ON A THEME

Sometimes entrepreneurs will look for microloans, or approach Aunt Lizzie for a loan, or do any number of other things that need a more refined business plan. That is great. Just target the business plan to the intended audience, and you will hit all the right notes.