The 1 Hour Plan for Growth

How a Single Sheet of Paper Can Take Your Business to the Next Level

by Joe Calhoon

Number of pages: 208

Publisher: Wiley

BBB Library: Operations Management

ISBN: 9780470880968



About the Author

Joe has delivered more than 2,500 experiences to over 500 organizations, providing the tools and guidance needed to develop higher performing organizations. His clients include a wide range of small and midsize organizations plus Fortune 100 companies.

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Editorial Review

A companion to the 1Hour2Plan.com web tool, this book will take the mystery and drudgery out of creating your business growth plan. The 1 Hour Plan for Growth provides a proven system for any business to create a clear and compelling business growth plan that fits on a single sheet of paper. This book is a quick read, but don’t let that fool you. The principles you learn, and the stories you read, will help you stay energized and focused. You’ll understand and create the six essential elements of your dynamic business growth plan: Vision, Mission, Values, Objectives, Strategies and Priorities. Simply. Painlessly. On a single sheet of paper. In about 1 Hour!

Book Reviews

"The 1 Hour Plan for Growth presents a three-step approach for planning and growing small businesses. Calhoon proves that entrepreneurs can reinvent, revitalize and restart the economy by improving their own companies and striving for the American Dream." PR Web

"The 1 Hour Plan for Growth (official site to launch soon) capitalizes on the notion that small business—not the government—will save American jobs through the individual bootstrapping techniques of hard work and ingenuity." PR Web

"The 1 Hour Plan for Growth: How a Single Sheet of Paper Can Take Your Business to the Next Level; to emphasize the importance of a simplified planning process and to provide a proven system for any business—whether in Kansas City or San Francisco—to create a compelling one-page business plan in one hour." Examiner

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Wisdom to Share

When you ask for people’s opinions, you make them feel important and give them a sense of ownership and commitment to the plan.

You can create a plan without any involvement from your team. But, you won’t have as much buy-in. You know the principle: no involvement, no commitment.

In order to engage the best efforts of today’s workers, involve your team in this planning process.

If you choose to engage your team in the process, you will experience the exhilaration of being on the same page and achieving extraordinary results that can only be achieved as people work together.

Action Plans help you achieve Priorities. Priorities help you achieve Strategies, and Strategies help you achieve your Vision.

Although action plans won’t fit on a business growth plan, they will provide the necessary clarity to take action, manage your time more effectively, and make progress.

An action plan is simple and powerful. If achieving a priority is like climbing a mountain, the action plan details each individual step you must take

An Action Plan is a list of specific steps with due dates to achieve a priority.

Assign a priority to one person. That doesn’t mean one person does all the work; it just means that one person is responsible for seeing that the work gets done.

Priorities are the specific tasks to be accomplished by individuals. Priorities are important, but usually not urgent. Priorities may include goals to achieve, problems to solve, or capacities to develop.

It costs about 10 times more to find a new customer than to keep an existing one.

Both marketing and sales focus on creating an expectation that the customer will receive a desired benefit from doing business with you. That expectation is your brand—a promise you make.

Marketing is the process by which you get prospects to contact you, whereas sales convert those prospects into customers.

Strategies are the high-level choices you make that determine the course your company is going to follow. They answer the question, “How are you going to get from where you are now to realizing your vision?”

Why Set Objectives? Because the game of business is more productive, rewarding, and fun when you keep score.

Objectives are measures of your success and organization performance. Growth-focused objectives include customer measures, employee measures, and financial measures.

Values define your standards of behavior, your code of conduct, how people want to treat each other. Values help your team enjoy working together. They are commitments regarding how our team will treat others.

A mission statement is a clear and compelling statement of why your organization exists. A good mission defines the ultimate benefit, the unique contribution you make to your customers’ lives.

A vision is a concise word picture of your organization’s ideal future. Your vision should be measurable, achievable, and inspiring.