UBC Phar400 Business Plan Essentials-20Sept2013
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The document provides guidance on creating a business plan for a new clinical service. It discusses key elements to address in a business plan, including defining the business concept, establishing goals, identifying the market, determining sales strategies, developing financial projections, and creating an effective presentation. The document emphasizes starting with the end in mind by understanding customer needs and developing a unique value proposition. It also stresses the importance of conducting market research and a competitive analysis to support the business plan.
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UBC Phar400 Business Plan Essentials-20Sept2013
- 1. UBC – Phar400 | Pharmacy Management pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner September 20, 2013
- 2. The hardest part is starting. Once we get that out of the way, you’ll find the rest of the journey much easier. Steps to creating a business plan Define business concept and unique value proposition Establishing goals Identifying your market Determine sales strategies Management systems Develop financials pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 2
- 3. To guide and inspire a strategic process for your clinical service Business Plan and presentation. ◦ Help you with tools and a strategic framework to create and document the key elements of your Business Plan. ◦ Share an approach to planning with proven concepts. ◦ Take these ideas to share a simple 3 step presentation strategy at “The Pharmacy Moguls Den” in 5 minutes (or less) to communicate a new clinical service that produces strong financial results. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 3
- 4. Thoughtstarters/important insights Planning in its Larger Context The Business Model Canvas Initial Considerations to Address Market Research Financial Plan The Business Plan Your Presentation pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 4
- 5. Or… Why should the business come to you... rather than someone else? pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 5
- 6. Why do you do what you do? Why does it matter? Why should a patient care about your clinical service? ◦ Your clinical service is not about selling something; rather it is to fulfill an intention. ◦ Fulfilling a customers intention is a motivator to buying. ◦ Value is in the applied benefit of the benefit. ◦ Never about what you can get; always about what you can give. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 6
- 7. What problem does my professional service solve? What is the purpose? What are you known for? What are you a solution for? ◦ Doesn’t make sense to dream up ideas without speaking with patients/customers. What do they need and want? ◦ A need alone does not necessarily mean there is a market ◦ Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate ◦ Develop your unique value proposition pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 7
- 8. Profit isn't a purpose, it's a result. To have purpose means the things we do are of real value to others. Value is not determined by the people who set the price, it is determined by those who choose to pay the price. Value is the bundle of perceived benefits offered at a given price. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 8
- 9. Lets share what makes us different because everyone can already see what makes us the same. When we have a clear sense of our destination, we can be flexible in the route we take to reach it. Achievement happens when we pursue and attain what we want. Success comes when we are in clear pursuit of WHY we want it. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 9
- 10. Understanding the overall context for planning can help you to design and carry out the planning process in almost any planning application. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 10
- 11. Simply put, planning is setting the direction for something -- some system -- and then working to ensure the system follows that direction. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. ◦ Inputs to the system include resources such as raw materials, money, technologies and people. ◦ Inputs go through a process where they're aligned, moved along and carefully coordinated, ultimately to achieve the goals set for the system. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 11
- 12. Outputs are tangible results produced by processes in the system, such as products or services for consumers (patients/customers). Another kind of result is outcomes, goals for the business or the benefits for consumers. ◦ i.e. jobs for workers or enhanced quality of life for patients and customers. Systems can be the entire organization, or its departments, groups, or processes. Or your project. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 12
- 13. Work Backwards Through Any "System“; always begin with the end in mind. ◦ Whether the system is an organization, department, business, project, etc., the process of planning includes planners working backwards through the system. ◦ They start from the results (outcomes and outputs) they prefer and work backwards through the system to identify the processes needed to produce the results. ◦ Then they identify what inputs (or resources) are needed to carry out the processes. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 13
- 14. Business model Canvas is a way to think about the business in a visual and intuitive way. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 14
- 15. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Problem (customer painpoints) Solution (your magic sauce) Key Activities (what you do to give the customer value) Unique Value Proposition (what customer actually gets) Competitive Advantage (secret sauce to protect yourselves from competition) Channels (how do you reach the customers) Customer Segments (who are your customers) Cost structure (what are your costs and how much you need to charge) Revenue Streams (in what ways you make money) pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 15
- 16. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 16
- 17. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 17
- 18. How to use the Business Model Canvas… ◦ Go to the DocStoc video series ◦ The link is in the doc titled UBC Phar400-Business Planresource videos 20Sept2013 ◦ Look for the #5 video titled “The Lean Canvas Business Model - Creating The Killer Business Plan” ◦ It will give you a prioritized step by step process to fill in your canvas for maximum effectiveness and flexibility. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 18
- 19. Go to Google search Search for *business model canvas template* Helpful resources you can use for creating a canvas Recommend using the Google Docs template also available on Google Drive for online collaboration. Or go to; www.leancanvas.com and download pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 19
- 20. Overall, you’ll need to consider and answer these questions in your business plan presentation and business case. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 20
- 21. If you'll need funding to start your new clinical service, investors or funders are much more likely to provide money if they see that you've done some planning. ◦ How much money will you need? ◦ What will the return on investment (ROI) be? ◦ How long will it take to break even and make money? ◦ What are the barriers to entry? Us & our competition? ◦ What are your assumptions? ◦ What is the product or service being sold? pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 21
- 22. You’ll also need to answer these questions... ◦ Is there a need for the service and is there a market? ◦ What type of new product or service will you be starting? ◦ What Are Your Initial Plans? ◦ What Planning and Financial Skills Do You Need? ◦ What Human Resources Will You Need? ◦ What Facilities and Equipment Will You Need? ◦ How Much Money Will You Need? pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 22
- 23. What is the nature of your new product or service? ◦ Whether you're starting a new product or service, there needs to be a strong market for it. How do you know there is a need? ◦ You'll have to do more than "sense that there is a need" or claim that "it's common sense that there is a need". Who are your competitors? ◦ Go visit them; ask to use the service. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 23
- 24. What is the basic purpose of your product or service? ◦ This is your mission statement and your value proposition. ◦ Basically, the mission statement describes the overall purpose of the product or service. ◦ When wording the mission statement/value proposition, consider the product or services’; markets, values, concern for public image, and priorities of activities for survival. ◦ Focus your efforts on applied benefits and why it matters. ◦ Use the value proposition worksheet provided in pre-reads. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 24
- 25. What are the major goals for your product or service over the next 24 to 36 months? What do you need to do to reach those goals? What objectives do you need to reach along the way to each goal? How will you know that the organization is efficiently pursuing its goals? ◦ Knowledge of these goals will help you a great deal when thinking about what resources/skills you will need right away. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 25
- 26. You need more than a good idea to verify and fund your proposed product or service. ◦ Just because it seems like a great idea doesn't mean that it can become a product or service. ◦ A viable product/service needs to be profitable and sustainable, including being “producible” and marketable. ◦ Also, the product/service should be related to the purpose, or mission, of the business. ◦ Businesses can go bankrupt by trying to be too many things to too many customers, rather than doing a few things very well. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 26
- 27. Ideas can come from many different sources... ◦ Complaints and feedback from customers. ◦ Requests for proposals (RFP’s) from large businesses, government agencies (BC Bid), or LTC facilities. ◦ Modifications to current products; i.e. diabetic meters ◦ Suggestions from employees, doctors, inter-professional healthcare, wholesalers and suppliers. ◦ Healthcare publications, magazines, media; i.e. Dr. Art Hister ◦ Competition pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 27
- 28. At this point, you will benefit from understanding the basics of marketing, particularly how to conduct market research and a competitive analysis. If your idea still seems like a good one, then it's important to know how you will position and identify your new product/service to the market. You'll certainly want to know how much you might charge for it , its price to the customer/consumer). pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 28
- 29. It is extremely difficult to develop and provide a high-quality product or service without conducting at least some basic market research. Capture behavior, not just data. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 29
- 30. The results of quantitative research will generally be a numerical form of data collection and analysis Key data points to consider are… ◦ ◦ ◦ ◦ Overall market size Growth Target market or market segment Ideal customer segment Sources Summarize using graphics; pie charts, bar graphs etc. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 30
- 31. Market research usually involves doing a periodic study of some sort. Quantitative market research generally probes a few topics; by itself doesn’t yield a deep understanding of the customer. The periodic nature merely offers a snapshot of customers at a moment in time. Adopt a customer learning approach to find out who your customers are, what they want, how and why. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 31
- 32. As opposed to periodic studies, customer learning is a continuous process of probing customers. ◦ It’s a process that fundamentally incorporates the fact that every customer is truly unique and that their needs, wants and expectations are never static. ◦ They change with the life forces affecting the individual or the business and the environment in which they exist. Who is your ideal audience, where do they do business, and why? Work your clinical service backwards from them. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 32
- 33. Who are your competitors? ◦ What customer needs and preferences are you competing to meet? ◦ What are the similarities and differences between their products/services and yours? ◦ What are the strengths and weaknesses of each of their products and services? ◦ How do their prices compare to yours? ◦ How are they doing overall? pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 33
- 34. How do you plan to compete? ◦ Offer better quality services? (value) ◦ Lower prices? ◦ More support? ◦ Easier access to services? ◦ How are you uniquely suited to compete with them? Gather competitive intelligence from as many sources as possible; include your data, ideal customers and competition. Then do a S.W.O.T. analysis. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 34
- 35. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 35
- 36. Go to Google search Search for *swot analysis template* All the resources you need for your creating a SWOT Recommend using the Google Docs template; use Google Drive for online team collaboration. Go to Google Docs; search for *google docs swot analysis template*; for a selection of templates pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 36
- 37. Focus on the vision and the numbers will thrive. Focus on the numbers and the vision will struggle (and so will the numbers). pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 37
- 38. The financial section is not the same as accounting Forecast best guess based on past results or on market research Forecasting is a forward-looking view, starting today and going forward into the future Also, allow for some small percentage of financial flexibility in your financial planning. Contingencies. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 38
- 39. A financial business plan for a start-up is based on realistic projections ◦ Finish conducting market research first ◦ Describe your products, services and marketing strategy ◦ Set your organization's operating principles ◦ Identify all items that pertain to your service as an expense ◦ Determine fixed costs and variable costs ◦ Zero based budgeting ◦ Always use the principle of best guess from research pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 39
- 40. Recommend using the template provided Estimate your one time start-up costs Estimate your regular expenses Forecast your sales Cash flow projection will auto-populate A financial forecast isn't necessarily compiled in sequence. It's typical to start in one place and jump back and forth. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 40
- 41. A business plan is your documented blue print and road map to implement your idea. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 41
- 42. 1. Business summary ◦ Describes the organization, business venture or product (service), summarizing its purpose, management, operations, marketing and finances. 2. Market opportunity ◦ Concisely describes what unmet need it will fill, presents evidence that this need is genuine, and that patients or customers will pay for the costs to meet this need. ◦ Describes credible market research on target customers (including perceived benefits and willingness to pay), competitors and pricing. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 42
- 43. 3. People ◦ Arguably the most important part of the plan, it describes who will be responsible for developing, marketing and operating this venture, and why their backgrounds and skills make them the right people to make this successful. ◦ This section is also where you should include your advisors (board of advisors) and other healthcare professionals such as doctors, NP’s, nurses, LTC administrators etc. ◦ Also consider others you may need to make the plan a success; suppliers, corporate sponsor, associations, advisors pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 43
- 44. 4. Implementation ◦ This is the how-to of the plan, where the action steps are clearly described, usually in four areas: start-up, marketing, operations and financial. ◦ Marketing builds on market research presented, include your competitive niche. How will you be better than your competitors in ways that matter to your ideal customers ? ◦ Financial plan includes, costs to launch, operate, market and finance, along with conservative estimates of revenue, typically for 2 to 3 years; a break-even analysis is often included. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 44
- 45. 5. Contingencies ◦ Outline the most likely things that could go wrong with implementing this plan, and how management is prepared to respond to those problems if they emerge. ◦ What will your recovery plan be when (not if) something goes wrong. ◦ It’s not so much about trying to identify and avoid all the things that can take you off track or go wrong; it’s usually more about how you will recover. ◦ Always plan for the fact that no plan ever goes according to plan. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 45
- 46. You have 5 minutes to communicate your product/service strategy that must result in action; so, keep it simple and get to the core issues quickly. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 46
- 47. Prepare and answer just three questions and you have your presentation strategy... HOW BIG do we want to be? ◦ The Financial plan. Sales/expenses/cash flow WHO do we want to SERVE? ◦ The Marketing plan. Ideal audience and Customer awareness HOW will we COMPETE and WIN? ◦ The Operations plan. Competitive advantage &Customer experience pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 47
- 48. Means the Financial plan for your Business Plan and product or service idea. What are the financial goals to satisfy the owners of the business? ◦ Financial goals determine the character of your strategy. ◦ Morph from a strategy-drives-financials paradigm to a financials-drive-strategy one. ◦ Don’t try to squeeze better numbers out of a given strategy. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 48
- 49. Means the Marketing Plan of your Business Plan. Who are the ideal customers to whom you intend allocating scarce resources because you believe they represent the best economic opportunity? ◦ There is no such thing as a bad customer; it’s just that some are better than others. ◦ If a customer segment (audience) can’t deliver your financial goals why would you bother with it? ◦ Consider the Lifetime Value (LTV) of a customer as a way of making a choice of who to serve. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 49
- 50. Means your daily Operations Plan and how you will “deliver the promise” of all parts of the Business Plan. How do you intend to compete with other companies available to your ideal customers and win? ◦ The most critical aspect; as it puts words to why someone should do business with you instead of with your competition. ◦ Too many objectives paralyzes progress; define the critical few and outline them. ◦ Find the three things that will achieve 80% of the strategy. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 50
- 51. Step by step approach to create HOW to WIN... ◦ Select the customer needs and expectations you intend to satisfy from the segment you have chosen to serve. ◦ Examine the internal opportunities; look broadly at the competencies your organization currently has to deliver. ◦ Evaluate exactly where the competition is focusing their efforts; Which segments? Their value proposition? Market success? Vulnerabilities? (use the SWOT results) ◦ Decide on what basis you intend to compete/win and create a HOW to WIN position statement to say how you will do it. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 51
- 52. Here’s an example... “Our basic competitive approach will be to develop intimate one-to-one relationships with our diabetic patients (customers) and be the only Pharmacy in our community that delivers disease management, healthy living and nutrition counselling offers to match each one’s unique needs and preferences.” pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 52
- 53. HOW BIG? WHO SERVE? HOW WIN? Once the answer to each of these questions is clear the Strategic Game Plan Statement needs to be created. It’s developed from the answers to the 3 questions above and looks something like this... “We intend to (HOW BIG) by [desired time frame] by focusing our scarce resources on (WHO to SERVE). We will compete by (HOW to WIN).” pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 53
- 54. We intend to grow Pharmacy revenue from the rapidly increasing diabetic market segment from 500K to 750K by the end of 2013. We will focus our resources on working with our local 1st Nations Bands with a view to expand into other Lower Mainland bands in the 1st Quarter of 2014. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 54
- 55. We will COMPETE and WIN by... ◦ Leveraging the intimate understanding we have of the patient and their current situation with disease management and medication adherence. ◦ Providing personalized holistic health & wellness based solutions combined with nutritional solutions to improve daily living and promote healthy outcomes. ◦ Matching our 4 CDE Pharmacists specifically with each patient, and delivering the services to our patients and customers onsite in their community. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 55
- 56. Overall, we help First Nations diabetic patients improve their quality of life and manage their disease by combining nutrition counselling with medication review and adherence. Specifically, we want to develop strategies to identify at risk women in their child bearing years and educate them about healthy lifestyles resulting in improved health outcomes for patients and infants. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 56
- 57. Want an electronic copy of this presentation? ◦ Email me; gerry@pharmacySOS.ca To your business and professional success, thank you for your attention. Questions? pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 57
- 58. Follow Twitter: Connect LinkedIn: Web: Blog: Email: Online Biz Card: @passion4retail Gerry Spitzner pharmacySOS.ca gerryspitzner.com gerry@pharmacySOS.ca gerryspitzner.tel pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 58
- 59. Gerry Spitzner is an optimist with a natural "kid-like“ curiosity for improving life and business results. He believes in a bright future and our ability to build it together and is passionate about making the public aware of the great things Pharmacists do. Drawing on 35+ years experience in multi-site retail Pharmacy operations, drug store ownership and the Pharmaceutical wholesale supply-chain; Gerry brings the leadership, knowledge and market awareness of business development to retail Pharmacy owners helping them achieve growth objectives. He teaches and inspires Pharmacists to achieve results by aligning their vision with marketing strategy and operational execution. Fascinated with a lifelong curiosity for why customers buy and a passion for retail Pharmacy; Gerry guides leaders and organizations to create, engage and keep great customers by delivering the promise of an extraordinary customer experience. He has devoted his life to sharing his thinking with other Pharmacy leaders to manage market analysis and build business plans that increase profitability and create competitive advantage with systems to implement. His company is pharmacySOS.ca, a Vancouver-based business management consultancy with a suite of business services focused on supporting Pharmacy owners starting, buying or strategically realigning their practice. With a clear understanding of the business of Pharmacy he uses a solution oriented focus with ideas and alternatives that clients can use to address the changing practice issues they face right now. Gerry understands who they are, what they need, and where to find it; helping them market and strategically realign their professional and clinical services to integrate the business activities of optimal drug therapy outcomes through patient centered care. pharmacySOS.ca | Gerry Spitzner 59
Editor's Notes
- How many of you have ever been involved in Strategic Planning?Most business owners I know struggle to find time to work on, develop, and refine the concepts at the heart of their business.If you aren’t clear on your goals, or you don’t have words to bring them into the world, you risk sounding run-of-the-mill, when you really are not.You risk missing the connection with your perfect people because they can’t dig into, hold onto, believe and have faith in what you are trying to achieve.At the start of creating a business concept...the challenge is not so much what you’re going to do, or how you’re going to do it, but why it matters.A question for you to consider; Is my clinical service idea something people care about? (People is everyone out there in the marketplace; customers, staff, your boss, your peers.)Tough question isn’t it? Where do you start?Today, we are going to cover the essential building blocks for your business concept, preparing the Business Plan and making your presentation.
- Defining the concept and business model is the hardest part. But once you get going the road opens up.
- My goal for you today is the business plan; how do you create it; what are the key components and how do you pitch it.I’ll also share a 3 step simple approach to present your pitch... One which you can use to clearly articulate and communicate to the Moguls panel, to your peers and to others in the future (like customers and especially staff).
- Here’s a Roadmap of our journey today…I like to start my presentations with a fewthoughtstarters and important insights to open up your mind to what’s possible and what’s next.Recently I was speaking to a service provider at a networking event. I asked him, Why should someone do business with him? What was his point of difference? His answer struck such a deep cord with me that I wanted to share it with you.He replied, "When you take price out of the equation, what have you got? I make sure that I provide that extra to my customers. I make surethat my people and I do it right the first time and every time, and then we make sure we are best on at least one thing we do." He went on to say, "when a customer really wants something, price becomes secondary. It is then that your extra value comes into play. It builds customer confidence, customer trust and that creates customer loyalty. Its the only way to grow your business."We all need to ask ourselves, what have we got when price is removed from consideration?What extra value will your project team present for your clinical service?
- In the business of Pharmacy; with so much competition, customers have a lot of choices of where they can take their prescription. Their prescription business is essential to their healthcare and gives Pharmacists the opportunity; to engage patients in professional services beyond dispensing. So, first things first; at it’s basic fundamental level, in order to successfully provide a professional service that is sustainable, Pharmacists have to sell it; have the right customer in front of them; willing to pay for it and have a profit left over. This WHY question really matters from the patient’s perspective when determining value. Value is a perception; it means different things to different people. Their perception is their reality. Therefore, it comes down to the perceived value the combination of the professional service offering and the Pharmacist; holds in the customers mind.Why should the business come to you? Why should a patient spend their hard earned money and valuable time with you? Recall that last week… Business success and profitability is in the repeat business not the single one time transaction. Getting a patient to work with us once is easy. Twice takes work. Inspiring them to work with us without asking; starts with Why.In the pre-reads I provided a video link to SimonSinek and the concept of Start with Why… I believe this approach will help you create the foundation for a strong business case and a unique value proposition for your clinical service project.
- Your clinical service is an element of the business. When starting with why, these three questions will give you a head start. First and foremost; patients are always seeking to fulfill some intention. What does that mean? On the surface, it means and looks like they came in to the Pharmacy only to get their Rx filled by a competent trusted professional; but there is an underlying reason that motivated them to come to the business in the first place. There is something in their unspoken action and life that brought them to the Pharmacy to have that Rx filled. What benefit; what extra value does a Pharmacy professional clinical service really provide?One way to look at that extra value is…Value for the customer is in the applied benefit of the benefit; ie Diabetes patients ; a Mom with an asthmatic child; BHRT for menopause. (describe applied benefits).Why is never established in what you can get from accurately filling a script and counseling a patient... Rather it is what you give patients (or the payer) from your clinical service that benefits them and fulfills their intention. In the case of the govt; will you provide optimal drug therapy that will save them money; or in the case of the patient will you lead them to wellness resulting in greater independence? When the applied benefits are researched, understood and confirmed; you are starting with why. And it begins with great questions; Why do you do what you do??? What do you believe?
- By now you’ve probably given your clinical service idea some thought; this is your BIG idea. It means your vision.As we go through this afternoon consider these points...think about creating a unique value proposition (your why); and build it around your clinical service dominant strength. The key to business success has always been the same; find a need and fill it.Your business concept goal is to find outwhat people (customers) really need and WANT (what they desire), and then give it to them better and with more value than anyone else. A need alone does not = a market. Only when there is desire by customers to meet a need; then there is a market. To find out you’ll have to ask them.Think different, be different… Your service has to be better than anyone else on at least one element of value. It means be as good as everyone else on everything; but be better than everyone, on at least one distinctive point that makes you unique.This is perhaps the most important strategic planning principle of all. All business success requires a differentiation of some kind. All business success requires that you be both different from and better than your competitors in some clear, distinct way.Your vision should be the basis of your unique value proposition. The UVP is a single clear compelling message that states why your clinical service is different and worth buying. Nothing more. Nothing less.In the resource pre-reads I provided a worksheet to help you craft your UVP.
- Before we jump into a recommended planning process, let's stand back and minute and briefly look at the role of planning in its overall context. This is about how and what.And it’s more than an academic exercise... Wouldn’t you rather grow your clinical service business idea the right way... from the ground up?Most business planners leap to the “doing” part of the plan; and don’t spend enough time on the “designing” part; the how and what.An architect imagines what if. A builder figures out how to. Great structures only emerge when the two work well together in pursuit of a shared vision. Its a balanced approach; after why.For example, take architecture and this building; the preparation of the land and then the foundation for the posts and beams holding the walls, floors and ceilings. We can’t see them but they are holding the building up. A lot of time was spent designing this space; before it even went to construction to allow us the opportunity to use this lecture hall for the purpose it is intended for.A flawed foundation makes for a poor structure. Spend more time on the architecture and designing of your clinical service than leaping to the doing part. Because architecture allows a business to expand; and it provides the necessary environment for change to succeed and be sustainable. The doing part will emerge; be much easier, efficient and effective.Architecture is the key to sustaining the business model over the long term and getting stuff done without having to go back and rework the infrastructure when the business really gets going and there isn’t enough time to go back and change things. Going back to change things is costly in terms of time and resources. And it almost always ends up in a Band-Aid approach.
- One of the most common sets of activities in management is planning...Very simply put, planning is setting the direction for something -- some system -- and then working to ensure the system follows that direction. Systems have inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes. To explain, inputs to the system include resources such as raw materials, money, technologies and people. These inputs go through a process where they're aligned, moved along and carefully coordinated, ultimately to achieve the goals set for the system. Systems and processes are essential to keep the crusade going, but they should not replace the crusade.
- Outputs are tangible results produced by processes in the system, such as products or services for consumers. Another kind of result is outcomes; or a goal we are trying to achieve; it should be measurable and tied to the applied benefit of the benefit; the benefit for healthcare consumers, jobs for workers, enhanced quality of life for customers, savings to the healthcare system, etc.Our goals should serve as markers; measurements of the progress we make in pursuit of something greater than ourselves. Our objective; our vision.Systems can be the entire organization, or its departments, groups, processes, etc. Organizations are like cakes: it's the sum total of ingredients that makes each one different. Add, subtract or change the proportion of ingredients and we end up with something entirely different.The cake is your clinical service project.
- Work backwards through any system...always begin with the end in mind.Share The Everest expedition story.Start with your ideal customer audience or patient and work backwards from them to identify the outcomes and outputs, then create your clinical service to deliver it; the processes;then identify the inputs in your business case/business model needed to carry out your clinical service.
- Traditionally, when entrepreneurs think of a business, the first thing they think of is the business plan. A business plan details the business models and key things a business does. However, the problem now is that things are moving so rapidly; that by the time you finish your business plan, the market reality or your original idea might have changed. For many people business plan creation is such an intimidating task that they use this as an excuse to procrastinate the starting of their business or project.There is a widely used and proven tool that will help your team get started…it’s called the Business Model Canvas; sometimes referred to as the Lean Canvas.The Business Model of your clinical service project is the foundation for everything. And it feeds information to your pitch and all parts of your Business Plan.
- The Canvas consists of 9 key elements:The idea is to get all the key elements of your business in a single page. I am using a slightly modified version of the Business model canvas typically used by lean startup guys.
- The canvas is designed in a way that the left half of the canvas is about your product and which is mostly under your control, and the right half of the canvas is about the market - many of which are not under your control. What used to fill an entire 40 page business plan report could be condensed in a single page and used as a living document. Now, the whole team can see what your business is and where you are going. Periodically you want to revisit the sections to do course corrections providing maximum flexibility.What are the advantages of using a business model canvas?It forces you to think of your business in a more scientific and formal way.It reduces your business model into a set of assumptions that you can then test to either validate or reject. The overall design and layout forces you to think about the various key aspects of the business. When you see one part of the canvas empty, you know where you need to put more effort. It is visual and intuitive. This makes it easier to communicate the ideas.It is easy to create and maintain. This makes the business model very agile that can be constantly adapted to be in sync with the business realities.
- Printed out and put up on a big bulletin board or drawn onto a white board, it gives your team a nice visual layout of key factors of strategy and how the business will operate.
- Here are some key questions to help you get started.
- Somewhere along the way you’ll need funding or a budget from an investor or Pharmacy Manager or Pharmacy owner. Without that your start up idea is a pipe dream. And probably, you won’t even get it off the launch pad. ROI...when will the clinical service start making a profit?Cash Flow, Cash Flow, Cash Flow What’s the Break Even Point...At what point in time does it become cash flow positive? 1 month, 12 months?What are the barriers to entry? For you? For your competition? Barriers to entry can be a strength or a weakness; an opportunity or a threat.Clearly identify all the assumptions in your business plan. Assumptions are the details about your start-up costs, such as how much you’ll invest in marketing, how much staff or how much inventory you need to have on hand. Some may be estimates, but you need to demonstrate that you’ve thought about all the little details to deliver the promise.What is the product or service being sold? Be clear about what you are selling and pitching.Your business plan needs to show the lender that you’re clear about what you’re selling, who’s going to buy it and why and how you’re going to reach those buyers. Explain what you’re selling in plain English. This may seem obvious, but a lot of plans leave lenders guessing what the product or service being sold is, or why anyone would buy it.
- A word of warning: There is an overwhelming temptation at this stage to come up with as many objectives as you can think of that are related to getting the strategic game plan implemented.Which tends to be more about volume of activity (the tasks) than effectiveness. And it chews up a lot of resources.Too many objectives paralyzes progress; so define the critical few and do them.It’s critical that objectives be carefully evaluated and prioritized in terms of their relative impact on delivering the game plan.How will you manage your finances? How will you monitor and record your income and expenses? What system will you use for bookkeeping and accounting? What system will you use to document patient counselling? How will you adjudicate with Pharmacare? How will you bill the patient? (if it’s not a covered benefit)What skills (and people) are needed by your organization to deliver the product or service? How will you attract and retain the best people? How will you organize your staff?What equipment needs will you have? Ie compounding?? What computer equipment will you need?What is the Cost of Needed Resources? What are your start up costs?Now...Let’s break down the first three questions...they are the first questions that will be on the minds of the people you present to.
- 1. What is it? Your product or service…Is it retail; (patient counselling on Rx’s)? Manufacturing (compounding)? Production (central fill)? Service (home visits, lab results, immunization)? Wholesaling (creating your own product,ie George’s Cream)?2. You'll have to do more than "sense that there is a need" or claim that "it's common sense that there is a need". You'll have to have enough evidence to convince an investor or funder -- and yourself. Your investor or funder could be your Pharmacy Manager or the owner of the business.3. Go visit them; ask to use the service. What was the experience like? Ask their customers; if there was one thing that could be improved on; what would that be? Don’t ask where it fell short.
- To paraphrase an old saying, "Value is in the ear of the beholder." (Value is the bundle of perceived benefits offered at a given price)All too often, professionals communicate their value to a prospective customer with lots of great attributes and data points about their company and its services in an attempt at differentiation. They focus on the how and what.The problem is that all of these comments are from the service provider's perspective. At no time has anyone mentioned what problem the prospective customer is trying to solve or what goals they are trying to reach. This is the why. The applied benefit of the benefit.And it leads to developing a strong value proposition.Once again;Let's define value proposition. A value proposition is a compelling, tangible statement of why a company or individual will benefit from using or engaging your services. No more, no less.If value is in the ear of the beholder, then listen to your own words from the patients perspective and realize it's all about what they are buying, not what you are selling.
- You need to think about some strategic decisions. While you may not have to know the detail to answers about the near future of your new product or service, you should have some impression about the overall goals to accomplish. Think about your answers to these questions when identifying your clinical service plans.Note; in this context; the first question is NOT a financial question; it is a vision question.
- Re the last point on the slide: Trying to do too many things...find the three things that will achieve 80% of the overall vision and do them.Pick the top 3 things that matter most and do an exceptional job on them.If you are not focused, you are wasting precious time and money.Strategic business planning is all about determining your future direction and allocating your scarce resources to the fewest steps that will get you there. Directions are instructions given to explain how. Direction is a vision offered to explain Why.
- Are you still looking for an idea for your clinical service project? The best ideas are the honest ones. Ones born out of personal experience. Ones that originated to help a few but ended up helping many.Consider these potential sources…
- To verify your service idea; you need to make the end consumer aware of it and make sure someone is willing to pay for the extra value it brings.This is where Market Research, Analysis and Feasibility come into play. Break…
- There are three good reasons to do market research:1. It will provide objective evidence to determine if your business idea is viable. It can tell you if there are enough of the "right people" in your market.2. It will help you identify your customer, tell you how big the market is and what the trends are.3. It will help you make an informed decision about the "4 Ps" of your business: product, price, placement and promotion.Odds are that you have already conducted at least some basic forms of market research for your project. For example, you have listened (a research technique) to others complain about not having enough of something -- that alone should suggest providing what they need in the form of a product or service. Generally though...market research looks at the customer from a narrow perspective; data collection on simply products and services. Called Quantitative Research.Since, your team has a limited amount of time to do market research. I recommend making customer learning the cornerstone of your market research for this project. Qualitative research.Not saying you shouldn’t spend time on data based market research; you’ll need that data; simply I’m recommending more of a focus on customer research as a foundation. Qualitative research aims to gather an in-depth understanding of human behavior and the reasons for that behavior. The qualitative method investigates the why and how of decision making, not just what, where, when. Smaller but targeted focused samples are more often used than large samples in qualitative research.
- Your team will need to do at least some high level quantitative research for your business plan. Data collection and analysis. There are two main ways to get information about your market:1. Primary research: the information that you can get directly from your clients. You can get this information by conducting personal interviews, focus groups and surveys. It's important to ask the right questions so that your clients' responses can provide you with relevant data.2. Secondary research: the information that has already been compiled by different agencies. You can find it at the B.C. government website, Statistics Canada, libraries, city hall, business centres and chambers of commerce. Contact or search drug suppliers,google, BCPhA, College.Market research is all about getting really curious about your type of business. It is an important key to starting a successful business or launching new products or services.Many sources for quantitative research; some others are… in the resource doc I sent you, with working links to help you get started and you save you some time. Get your virtual shovel out and start digging!!! Use multiple key words and your favorite search engines.
- Customer learning is a qualitative approach to market research. It takes a holistic view of the customer; it avoids the narrow silo questions of quantitative research and asks broader ones.Speak with the people who will use your service. What can you learn from them? It simplifies the process and will get you the information you need in the shortest period of time.Design a list of questions that will get you the information you require. Make them open-ended; so you can generate conversation to ask more questions.For example; What are the customers total needs? What are their personal lifestyle characteristics viewed from within their family context?Find out and consider; what are the applied benefits of the benefit for your ideal customers? Why would they use your clinical service and how? What benefit would bring them back and tell others or refer your clinical service to others?
- Comment about…Target customer vs ideal audience. Target customer has no soul...and sounds like a game at the PNE or a dart board. Stand for people. Not a product or service or metric or number. If we stand for real, living, breathing people we will change the world.Ideal audience is the group of people you market your message to and has a greater chance of being meaningful to them so that they remember you; when they need you.The ideal audience gives your idea a greater chance of success because customer learning studies small groups of customers to reach a deep understanding of each person in the group.There are two practical ways to implement customer learning; ask the customer and understand customer behaviour. Go to where they go and observe them and ask them. Ie; “You can observe a lot by watching” – Yogi Berra, baseball great famous for mixed up quotes.Then work backwards back from them.
- Every business has competition and business owners ignore competitors at their peril. Unless a business has an absolute monopoly on a life-essential product, there will be competitors offering alternative and substitute products/services. That level of competition is revealed in the competitor analysis section of your business plan.A competitor analysis is an important requirement in any business plan because it (a) reveals the firm's competitive position in the marketplace and "marketspace" (on-line marketplace), (b) assists you to develop strategies to be competitive, and (c) investors and other readers of the business plan will expect it. If you ignore or minimize the impact competition will have on your business prospects, then you have an unrealistic business plan. Go to the competitions location, look around and look at some of their literature. Notice their ads in newsletters and the newspaper. Look at their web sites. Use their services. Ask their customers.Clear it with the owner first.
- After gathering some background about data, customers and the type of competitors your service will face -- you identify and analyze your major competitors -- those most likely to impact on the success of your business. Identify if there is a barrier to entry for them; that will be a competitive advantage. Then come up with at least one value, one point of distinction where your clinical service will excel; this will become a key part of your unique value proposition.What makes your service any different or more needed by customers?The answers to the quantitative and qualitative market research questions feeds into the competitive advantage section of your business plan.One technique that’s frequently used to assess a business opportunity is a S.W.O.T. analysis. The acronym stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.A SWOT analysis is commonly used in marketing and business in general as a method of identifying all of the positive and negative elements that may affect any new proposed actions.
- Here’s what it looks like; it s a simple matrix of four quadrants.Top half is internal; bottom half is external. Left side is favourable; right side is unfavourable.The strengths and weaknesses are those within your business—what you are good at and where you are somewhat lacking. Opportunities and threats refer to positive and negative factors outside of your business—factors that you have less control over.All your market research comes together on the SWOT template, to help you identify strengths and weaknesses of competitors, and then opportunities and threats for your business.
- A business plan is all conceptual until you start filling in the numbers and terms. The sections about your marketing plan and strategy are interesting to read, but they don't mean a thing if you can't justify your business with good figures on the bottom line. You do this in a distinct section of your business plan for financial forecasts. An outline of your project’s vision and growth strategy is essential to a business plan, stay focused on why your service is needed and wanted, but it just isn't complete without the numbers to back it up.To examine the business from a financial point of view means determining the amount of money needed to get the clinical service running and to carry it until it can support itself through positive cash flow.The financial section of a business plan is one of the most essential components, as you will need it if you have any hope of winning over investors or obtaining a bank loan. Even if you don't need financing, you should compile a financial forecast in order to simply be successful in steering your project.
- The financial plan is the language of business… let's start by explaining what the financial section of a business plan is not. Realize that the financial section is not the same as accounting. Many people get confused about this because the financial projections that you include -- look similar to accounting statements your business generates. But accounting looks back in time, starting today and taking an historical view. Business financial planning or forecasting is a forward-looking view, starting today and going forward into the future.Keep in mind that a financial business plan for a start-up is based on realistic projections. Conduct adequate industry-based research, and define your business operational costs — month-by-month — to create an accurate estimate. Also, allow for some small percentage of financial flexibility in your financial planning.
- Your financial business plan is calculated after you have finished conducting market research; described your products, services and marketing strategy; and set your organization's operating principles in place. The way you come up a credible financial section for your business plan is to demonstrate that it's realistic. One way is, to break the figures into components and provide realistic estimates for startup, sales &revenues and expenses.Before forecasting sales; first identify all items that pertain to your business as an expense; they should be defined by variable and fixed costs before you set out to create your business financial plan. The principle of Zero based budgeting is what is required at a minimum to deliver the service. It is just the essential must haves; without them your service will not get started.The goal is to be able to operate your business on a predefined budget, so there are no hidden or undefined costs that may threaten your business operations over a certain period of time.
- Use the Financial Plan template provided.The template has four tabs; start-up costs, sales forecast, expenses budget, and cash flow statement.The template has macros that will auto-populate in each of the excel sheets. Work in the blue areas only.First estimate your start up costs. Then enter your expenses. Use your best educated guess to forecast sales.Note; this is not the order they are layered on the excel spreadsheet.You’ll find that you will bounce back and forth between the sheets; this quite normal when estimating, to “play” with the numbers especially when you’re considering the “what ifs”.A financial forecast isn't necessarily compiled in sequence. And you most likely won't present it in the final document in the same sequence you compile the figures and documents. It's typical to start in one place and jump back and forth. For example, what you see in the cash-flow plan might mean going back to change estimates for sales and expenses. Still, it's easier to explain in sequence, as long as you understand that you don't start at step one and go to step four without looking back -- a lot -- in between.Let’s take a quick look at it… (bring up on screen)
- Having clear, written goals sets the path and the process of the overall strategic game plan.From your Business Model Canvas…Describe the inputs, processes and outputs required to achieve the desired outcome.
- Most business plans address the following five general topic areas for the overall content in one form or another.Business plans appear in many different formats, depending on the audience for the plan and complexity of the business. Use the Business Plan template provided to organize and summarize these key points into the appropriate sections.
- Re: Advisors...Highlight that “people” isn’t just the internal staff.
- When you get to the pitch; or your presentation; you only have 5 minutes. That’s not much time and it will go by fast.With such a short period of time; keep it simple and get to the core issues quickly.I’ve used this presentation style in this situation and it’s based on the notion of “dumbing it down”; that simple is good, simpler is better. Less is more.
- HOW BIG is a question about your financial growth aspirations.The answer should drive strategy development but very often it is the last thing considered. Very often, the marketing or operations strategy is created first and then the financial results are determined.Then what happens is it doesn’t fit and the overall strategy is not good enough because the financial results are unacceptable.This becomes an exercise in circular logic and takes much longer to than it should.The character of your strategy depends on how bold your financial goals are. A strategy with aggressive annual targets will require higher risk and choices that will be completely different than a strategy built to achieve modest financial goals.Don’t try to squeeze better numbers out of a given strategy. Change the overall strategy to achieve a higher level of financial performance.Present this part first.
- Not all customers are created equal. Some have a higher profit potential than others.So, it is extremely important that you carefully choose the customers you want to attract. This question is all about choice. You can’t be all things to all people. Rarely does an organization have infinite resources to address and serve every group of customers. The Lifetime value of a customer is the most meaningful way to look at the financial benefits a customer brings to the organization.Consider the Lifetime value of a customer. It separates the good customers from the great ones. LTV=present value + strategic value. Present value is based what they currently spend with you. Strategic value is based on their potential spend with you over some future period. Think about it another way: Strategic value = Current spending + Future spending. The choice you make about WHO to SERVE must be consistent with your financial goals. The financial targets must drive every aspect of strategy.Targeting a customer who has a sales growth potential of 5% makes little sense if the financial objective is to grow top line sales revenues by 15%.Present this part second.
- Create a statement that describes what unique value benefits you promise your chosen customers.Use this step by step appraoch.
- This example is based on the surge in Diabetes; in this decade the patient diabetes population is projected to increase 68%; mostly on 1st Nations reserves. It’s costly in terms of human and benefits costs. To peoples lives, to government, and 3rd party payers.This is your internal statement, and it addresses your initial plans. The what.After creating the how to compete and win positioning statement ...create a strategic game plan statement.
- Your strategic game plan statement not only provides succinct strategic direction for your organization, it also provides an excellent communications vehicle for the rest of the organization.To successfully execute your strategy you need detailed objectives and action plans, with people held accountable to complete them.Don’t create too many objectives as you develop your game plan. Don’t overwhelm; complexity freezes people.Refine objectives to a critical few that will have maximum impact on your clinical service implementation.
- This is also an internal document....and it addresses the how.The game plan statement without a navigational chart to execute it; is a pipe dream.
- Imagine the action with such a game plan statement.Is it clear? Do you think employees would get it? Do you think the moguls panel will get it? Does it direct the resources of the Pharmacy? Does it drive a stake in the competitive ground?This is how to capture the hearts and minds of the people you need to carry out your game plan and make you and your clinical service idea successful.Present something like this for your 5 minutes at the Moguls Den; along with your How to Win positioning statement and value proposition and you’ll have a compelling presentation.
- Here’s an example of what the value proposition might be; crafted from the How to Compete and Win positioning statement and the strategic game plan statement.It answers the why question...with an applied benefit of the benefit and fulfills an intention of the Canadian Diabetes Association.Remember Start with Why, then how and what. The golden circle.This is the statement I would start my presentation with. And it would be at the top of the Executive Summary.
- To your business and professional success, thank you. As always; I’ll stick around as long as you want to.
- Or you can find me at any of these contact points.