Masonry Magazine June 1997 Page. 8
Business Planning
Your Long Term Survival
by William E. Matthews
Dr. William E. Matthews received his MBA and DBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1968 and 1972 respectively. He is a management consultant with more than twenty years experience. His company, Counselors in Effective Management, provides assistance to small and medium sized companies in five basic areas: Reinventing Your Company (i.e., strategic and operational planning), Knowing Your Customers (i.e., customer evaluations and attitude studies), Evaluations of Acquisitions and Mergers, Development of Policies and Procedures Manual, and the Preparation of Corporate Histories.
Dr. Matthews also offers an ongoing coaching program for firms up to $500,000 in sales with two highly effective tools: the Marketing Action Plan (MAP) and The Living Business Plan. An Associate Professor at William Paterson College in Wayne, New Jersey, Dr. Matthews teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in the marketing and management areas.
Try to visualize the following scene: Joe Contractor is being interviewed by a stringer for the local newspaper about the contract he has recently been awarded for work on a local landmark building. Because of the age and nature of the building, it is a topic likely to be of considerable interest to the readers and the interviewer has a series of questions to which he/she is given the following answers:
How much is it going to cost? No idea!
What exactly are you going to do? Don't know!
What materials will you be using? No idea!
Who is going to be in charge of the project? Don't know!
When will the project start? No idea!
When will the project be completed? I don't know!
Does this sound familiar? Of course not! If you were the interviewer, you would rapidly conclude that you were dealing with either an idiot or somebody who has something to hide. In all probability, you would also be asking yourself: how in heaven's name did Joe Contractor get this particular contract?
After all, the vast majority of contractors have answers to these and many other questions before they even submit a bid. They know, for example, exactly what is involved in the project, how it is going to be done, and what it is going to cost (in terms of time and materials). They see this as vital information associated with preparing the bid. They also know, if not in the same detail, who is going to be responsible for ensuring the successful completion of the project and how long it will take (assuming a specific starting date). In many cases, they will have a thick file of materials relating to the project. They are, in a very real sense, prepared for success. Ask this same contractor essentially the same questions with regard to their own business (i.e., ask them to show you the plan for their business for the coming year) and, in most cases, you will get a blank stare. They may be able to pull a budget out of the top draw... and they will probably be able to talk (at some length) about their hopes and aspirations. But ask for a copy of their business plan and you will be out of luck.
Why? Isn't the future of the business equally important with that of a specific project? Now, some will argue that the project is more important than the company. "If we make a mess of this project, we're out of busi-