Small Business Recovery. Workbook STRATEGICALLY REBUILDING. What s inside?

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "Small Business Recovery. Workbook STRATEGICALLY REBUILDING. What s inside?"

Elwin Skinner
8 years ago
Views:

1 STRATEGICALLY REBUILDING Small Business Recovery Business Disaster Recovery Workshop Participant Workbook Workbook What s inside? Part I: Mission Statement Part II: Big Picture Plan Part III: Understanding the Market Part IV: Coming up with a Marketing Plan Part V: The Numbers Before and After A Disaster Part VI: Other Considerations On every page: Quick Tips and Suggested Resources

Part I: Mission Statement Part II: Big Picture Plan Part III: Understanding the Market Part IV:

2 Part I: Mission Statement Adhering to your mission statement can help your business recover from disasters faster and stronger. Describe the three main parts of your business: Who are you? What do you do? Where are you? Then answer: What do you want to be to your customers? Sample Mission Statement: The Dollar Store provides a variety of merchandise at bargain prices. Dedicated to customer service the Dollar Store will give its patrons the kind of service that is respectful and prompt. Employees will also be treated in a professional manner with a rewarding work environment and fair compensation. The Dollar Store wants each customer to feel as though s/he has gotten Fifth Avenue treatment at a bargain price Who are you? 2. What do you do? 3. Where are you? 4. What do you want to be to your customers? KEE P YOUR MISSION ST ATEMENT I N MIND AS YO U COM PLETE T HE WO RKBOO K Visit the SME Toolkit website for more help with mission statements IBM Corporation

Dedicated to customer service the Dollar Store will give its patrons the kind of service that is respectful and prompt.

3 Part II: Big Picture Plan Taking a look at the big picture can help you prioritize your recovery actions, and determine the most efficient way to utilize your resources, including time and money. What can you do? Sample Mission Statement: The Dollar Store provides a variety of interesting Consider the following: Where was your business before the disaster? Where is it now? Where do you want to be in a year? - 1. About how much money did you lose (including physical damages, loss of inventory, and loss o f sales)? 2. How much money do you need to get your business back to normal? What is normal? How will you track / measure progress? 3. What do you need to get things back to normal (e.g. customers, replacing inventory)? Rank these things by priority. C REATE A BUD GET TO BE TTER UNDERST AN D W HERE Y OU RE HE ADING CO NTACT T HE IRA WITH Y OUR TAX ID NUMBER TO O BTAI N STORM-RU INED DOC UMENTS Use the SME Toolkit Website to learn more about managing your finances IBM Corporation

Where do you want to be in a year? - 1. About how much money did you lose (including physical damages, loss of inventory, and loss o f sales)? 2.

4 Part III: Understanding the Market Disasters cause target markets to change. You need to re-evaluate your current market and determine how it has changed, for example, construction crews, FEMA, or volunteers may need your goods or services. Consider the following: Who are your customers (elderly, youth, boys, girls, parents)? Who is your competition? Are you the only store? Is your pricing competitive? How do you target your customers? Sample Market Analysis: The Dollar Store s target market is the lower income portion of the Bend and Redmond community. This includes working class individuals, the elderly, and students, many of whom are price conscious and looking to find a value for their dollar Describe your target markets. 2. What near-term and long-term steps need to be taken to reach new customers or to maintain current customers? What do you depend on? How will you measure your progress? What changes to your approach will you make if you do not meet your objectives? CO NSI DER SIMILAR BUSINESSES NE AR BY: WHAT MAKES YOU UNIQ UE? Use the SME Toolkit Marketing Plan Section IBM Corporation

Consider the following: Who are your customers (elderly, youth, boys, girls, parents)? Who is your competition? Are you the only store? Is your pricing competitive? How do you target your customers?

5 Part IV: Coming Up with a Marketing Plan A marketing plan can help you develop a method to retain current customers and attract new customers. Developing a plan can also help you stay within you budget and help you continue to be consistent with your mission statement. Consider what makes your company different than other companies. Describe your advantage. Why is it important to have a marketing plan? Sample Marketing Plan: We are focusing our marketing effort on the community of consumers that want a store which has an interesting variety of merchandise at bar gin prices. We will implement a strategy that treats these customers as a community. This means our marketing resources will be centered around both sales promotions (events, displays) and personal sales (customer service, friendly atmosphere). 1 ````` 1. What was your marketing plan the disaster? 2. What s different (i f anything) about your new target market? 3. How much money/time do you spend on marketing annually? 4. What will it take you to be able to reach your new target market? THI NK ABO UT USI NG S OCI AL MEDI A DEVELO P YO UR PLAN BASED O N S HORT TE RM AND LONG TE RM F ACTORS Utilize the Market Research and Planning tab in the SME Toolkit IBM Corporation

Describe your advantage. Why is it important to have a marketing plan?

6 Part V: The Numbers Before and After a Disaster The balance sheet is the most important aspect of a business As you know, your business depends on cash flow. Consider your financials, including cash flow, employees, and daily responsibilities. 1. What will it take to return to pre-disruption levels? 2. How long will it take? How can you get there? What if it takes longer? 3. Will you need a loan; if yes, what is your anticipated repayment plan? A LTHO U GH MANY F ACTORS ARE O UT O F YOUR HAND S, KEEPI NG S ALES AND REVENUE GOALS I N MIND WILL HE LP YO U PLAN ST RATEGICALLY TO MEET SHORT AND LO NG TERM GO ALS Consider using the Financial Literacy resource on the SME Toolkit IBM Corporation

How can you get there? What if it takes longer? 3. Will you need a loan; if yes, what is your anticipated repayment plan?

7 Part VI: Other Considerations Continue to consider other options. Think outside of the box. You can make your business even stronger than it was before the disruption. ```````` 1. How much do you want to increase revenue in 6 months? In 12 months? In 18 months? 2. Have you considered using social media ( i.e. Facebook or twitter) to support your business? How? 3. Evaluate your staff: Do you need more Employees? Do you have too many Employees? How will you know? 4. Other Ideas? USE T HIS SOCI AL MEDI A TOO LKIT TO LE AR N MORE: HTT P:// N YCBIZ/ HTML/LI BR AR Y/LIBRARY.SHT ML Want your business to Go Green? Visit the Green Business section on the SME Toolkit 1 Palo Alto Business Plan Software IBM Corporation

Evaluate your staff: Do you need more Employees? Do you have too many Employees? How will you know? 4. Other Ideas? USE T HIS SOCI AL MEDI A TOO LKIT TO LE AR N MORE: HTT P://WWW.NYC.

Louisiana Small Business Development Center

Ready for Anything Plan to Stay in Business Louisiana Small Business Development Center Southeastern Louisiana University Ready for Anything Plan to Stay in Business How Long Can You Tread Water? Presented