8( a ) Business Development Training: Strategic Planning

1. 8(a) Business Development Training: Strategic Planning The Small Business Administration’s Office of Native American Affairs

2. Our Mission • ONAA Mission: The Office of Native American Affairs (ONAA) mission is to ensure that American Indians, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiians seeking to create, develop and expand small businesses have full access to the necessary business development and expansion tools available through the Agency's entrepreneurial development, lending and procurement programs. www.sba.gov/naa

3. Our Mission • CNTS Mission: The mission of Cherokee Nation Technology Solutions (CNTS) under this contract is to provide training services to Tribal Corporations, Alaska Native Corporations, and Native Hawaiian organizations in the developmental and transitional stage of the 8(a) Business Development Program. CNTS is a Native American operated technical assistance firm that helps transform and build strong tribal nations, enterprises and organizations. Through CNTS’s experience, we will provide advice, resources, and practical tools to help your organization meet the challenges facing tribal communities today.

4. SBA 8(a) Program Mission • Provide a logical, systematic approach to Federal market access and enterprise growth to 8(a) businesses • Assists firms by facilitating the award of sole-source and limited-competition contracts “Participation by Native Businesses in the 8(a) program has helped Native communities develop their own business tools and become active participants in the U.S. economy – across all states.” - Native 8(a) Works

5. Session Overview • Purpose: To assist entity-owned businesses in Native American communities throughout the United States to understand federal government contracting programs and plan to seek opportunities that will lead to contract awards. • Focus: Understanding of how the planning provides a roadmap to success for selling to the government through the 8(a) program. • Objective: Have a general understanding of federal contracting, markets and how to strategically pursue 8(a) and non-8(a) contracting opportunities.

6. Agenda • Strategic Plan purpose, and where it fits in your business processes • Steps in the strategic planning process • Benefits associated with strategic plan • Tips for better strategic planning • Strategic planning pitfalls • Strategic plan versus the business plan or long-range planning • Setting and mapping goals • Wrap up

7. Do these describe you? • We don’t know where to begin. If you don’t know where to begin, you don’t know how to get started. Strategic planning helps define your objectives and criteria for success and provides a roadmap for actions and activities. • We bid on anything.If you are bidding anything, it’s because there is nothing telling you not to. Without specific criteria that are used like a filter, companies are usually incentivized to bid everything they find. • We’ve used up resources chasing leads. If you don’t strategically apply a filter to what you bid, then it’s easy to wake up and realize you have no budget left to pursue more leads, because you wasted it all chasing low-hanging fruit. Now you have no wins, and no budget to go after better leads. • We occasionally get lucky. Sometimes an opportunistic company shows up when a customer is ready for a change and gets lucky. They win just enough business to get by and reinforce their bad habits. But they don’t prosper and they don’t have the strength to weather a bad business cycle.

8. Why do I need to develop a strategic plan? • The Small Business Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 644(a) requires that a fair proportion of Government contracts in each industry category be placed with small business concerns. • Government policy provides ‘maximum practicable’ opportunities to small firms as prime and sub contractors • There is more than $700B available to federal contractors. The result? More opportunity than you know what to do with!

9. Why do I need to develop a strategic plan? • Non-8(a) Business Activity/Competitive Business Mix Targets in the out-years of the program can be met and maintained through proper strategic planning

10. Strategic Planning Gets Results!

11. Objectives • Be able to explain the strategic planning process steps and the advantages of strategic planning to the small business owner • Be able to understand where strategic planning fits in the business process cycle • To understand the importance of strategic planning • Comprehend strategic planning benefits and pitfalls • Understand the difference between strategic planning and business planning, and long-range planning

12. Why A Strategic Plan? • Your Vision • Why my company exists; it’s purpose • Define your Purpose • Define your Mission • Define Core Values • Identify three to five strategies that are borne out of your greatest strengths, all highly focused on achieving your Mission. • “Strategy Planning Methodology” breaks down your current Mission into the annual and quarterly priorities you need to complete in order to achieve your Mission

13. Where Strategic Planning Fits Source: willswann.com

14. Planning Steps • Identify core values and culture. • Craft vision and/or mission statements. • S.W.O.T. • Evaluate internal and external influences. • Design Initiatives and Goals to achieve improvement and desired results. • Engage and deputize all involved. • Celebrate and revise

15. Benefits • Clearly defines the purpose of an organization or individual. • Establishes realistic goals and objectives. • Communicates to all affected. • Gains buy-in and ownership. • Blueprints the use of resources. • Creates measurement and evaluation. • Focuses efforts and results.

16. Strategic Planning Framework • Where are we now? • Review your current strategic position and clarify your mission, vision, and values. • Where are we going? • Establish your competitive advantage and your vision. Clearly see the direction your organization is headed. • How will we get there? • Lay out the road to connect where you are now to where you’re going. Set your strategic objectives, goals, and action items and how you’ll execute your plan.

17. The Framework • Strategic planning involves vision, mission and outside-of-the-box thinking • Strategic planning involves "feel" just as much as it depends on management science • Since it depends on creativity and outside-the-box thinking, there is no perfect way to design a winning strategic plan • The more you understand your company, your industry, and your corporate "wish list," the better a winning strategic plan you'll create.

18. Tips for Better Strategic Planning • Pull together a diverse, yet appropriate group of people to make up your planning team. • Allow time for big-picture, strategic thinking • Get full commitment from key people in your organization • Allow for open and free discussion regardless of each person’s position within the organization • Think about execution before you start • Use a facilitator, if your budget allows

19. Tips for Better Strategic Planning (Cont.) • A SWOT -- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats -- analysis is a wonderful way to prepare for developing a strategic plan • Make your plan actionable • Don’t write your plan in stone • Clearly articulate next steps after every session • Make strategy a habit, not just a retreat • Check out examples online

20. Strategic Planning Pitfalls • Relying on bad info or no info • Ignoring what your planning process reveals • Being unrealistic about your ability to plan • Planning for planning’s sake • Not having your house in order first • Copying and pasting • Ignoring your culture and organizational readiness

21. Strategic Issues • Typical strategic issues include answers to the following questions: • How will we grow, stabilize, or retrench in order to sustain our organization into the future? • How will we diversify our revenue to reduce our dependence on a major customer? • What must we do to improve our cost structure and stay competitive? • What is our new value proposition given that our customers are buying substitute products and we have new competitors? • How and where must we innovate our products and services?

22. Why is a Strategic Plan Important? • There is a clear vision and direction • Helps build your competitive advantage • Communicates your strategy to staff - Everyone understands the direction and is “on the same page.” • Prioritizes your financial needs • Provides focus and direction to move from plan to action • Hardest part - start the process and follow-through

23. Strategic Plan VersusBusiness Plan • A business plan • Is a planning tool • Helps define the purpose of your business • Helps plan human resources and operational needs • Is critical if you’re seeking funding • Assesses business opportunities • Provides structure to ideas

24. Strategic Planning Versus Long-Range Planning • A matter of emphasis • Long range planning: • A major assumption in long-range planning is that current knowledge about future conditions is sufficiently reliable to enable the development of these plans • Emphasis is on the articulation of internally focused plans to accomplish agreed-on goals

25. Strategic Planning Versus Long-Range Planning • Strategic Planning: • A major assumption in strategic planning is that an organization must be responsive to a dynamic, changing environment • Emphasis is on understanding how the environment is changing — and will change — and on developing organizational decisions that are responsive to these changes

26. Goal Setting • Use the S.M.A.R.T. goal setting strategy to determine if your goal is Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time -Bound

27. Map your goals: Strategic Planning model Where are you now? Example: I help friends plan parties but I want to formalize my services for extra income. What is your S.M.A.R.T Goal? Example: I will launch the business and have 2 events lined up by June. Source: STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR SMALL BUSINESS, empowerment group How will you get where you want to be? What is your strategy? Example: I will launch a part-time home-based event planning service. What steps must you take? Example: Action 2:Create a compelling value proposition. What steps must you take? Example: Action 3: Collect testimonials and references from past clients. What steps must you take? Example: Action1: Refine offerings and consolidate contacts for other referrals. What steps must you take? Example: Action 4: Create marketing materials and communicate my services via my personal network.

28. The One-Page Plan Source: Strategic Planning for Your Small Business in Eight Simple Steps, Gregg Stocker of The Praecedo Group

29. When to Change the Strategic Plan • In mature markets, a strategic plan can be valid for a long time • In more dynamic markets, which is the case for many small businesses, a strategic plan's shelf life is usually a lot shorter • Several warning signs that potentially spell the need to change one's strategic plan • Declining sales from a small business' core customers • A change in market position by competitors • Entry of new competitors • Evolution of the market

30. Strategic Thinking VersusStrategic Planning • Counter-argument: Strategic Planning is appropriate for large businesses only • Small businesses: • Don’t have the time or the resources to invest in days of planning • Can’t justify the expense in personnel and time away from normal and more productive duties • See it as only a small payoff • Require continual strategy adjustments; strategies are short-lived due to factors beyond their control. • Small businesses win because they are nimble, quick to seize unexpected opportunities than their larger competitors. Long term planning can slow them down…..

31. Strategic Message “If you don’t know where you are going, that’s probably where you’ll wind up, no where.”

32. Links • http://mystrategicplan.com/examples/ • GSA Vendor Support Center- www.vsc.gsa.gov • Small Business Administration (SBA) http://sba.gov

33. For more Information For more information or to register for additional webinars please visit: www.Native8aTraining.com If you have questions or would like to receive a copy of this webinar presentation and/or recording: Marcia.Watson@cn-bus.com 410-350-4903