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PUTTING KNOWLEDGE INTO PRACTICE
WHAT IS AN ACTION PLAN?
An action plan is an organized way of analysing your business and deciding what to do to solve any problems.
How can you improve your business and increase your profit? By finding the main problems your business is facing and by solving those problems. Use the action plan on the next pages. It follows the six topics in IYB Basics and can be completed after reading each chapter or after reading the whole book.
When you have filled in the action plan, make sure that you follow the plan to solve your problems. Display a copy of the plan on the wall to remind yourself what you intend to do to improve your business.
How to do the action plan
Follow these steps to complete the action plan for each topic:
1. Identify the main problems the business faces
For example, a chocolate factory has for some time noticed that customers buy less and less of their chocolate bars and sales are falling. The owner of the factory writes down falling sales as the main problem in the action plan.2. Identify the cause or causes of those problems
The factory owner contacts a number of retailers and interviews them to find out why their customers no longer buy the chocolate bars. She learns that customers no longer want the plain chocolate bars the factory makes. They have started buying chocolate with nuts, raisins and so on. As the cause of the problem, she writes down that the factory does not make the kind of chocolate the customers want.3. Decide how to solve the problems
The factory will start making the type of chocolate that the customers want. The owner lists what she needs to do. For example, the factory will need to buy new ingredients and new wrappings. And they need to promote their new chocolate bars.
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MY MAIN PROBLEMS |
CAUSES OF THE PROBLEMS |
HOW I WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEMS |
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MARKETING | ||
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BUYING | ||
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STOCK CONTROL | ||
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COSTING | ||
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RECORD-KEEPING | ||
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FINANCIAL PLANNING | ||
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