QHA_February_Mag_Web

Paul St John-Wood
PUBTALK
THE IMPORTANCE OF A STRATEGIC PLAN
By now all the holiday festivities have concluded and
you are back to business as normal. From all reports,
most pubs have enjoyed a positive January to kick off
the year which has been very pleasing to hear. I have
assisted a number of hoteliers with formatting strategic
plans for the year ahead – the below information was
provided to hoteliers last year and again it may prove
timely to ask yourselves these questions to ensure you
are focused for the challenges which may lay ahead;
Developing a strategic plan - nine questions publicans
should never stop asking themselves
Your strategic plan should at least prepare you for,
if not predict this evolution based on responses to
the following simple questions. Your responses may
change as rapidly as year to year so it is important
to frequently revisit this strategic process and adapt
where necessary.
1. What business are you in? What business are
you really in?
A typical publican will answer this question by
explaining their alcohol product range or list the
counter meals that they sell. But this is not the
business that you are in. The business that you are in
is customer satisfaction. As a hotelier, you must always
define your business in terms of what your products
and services do to improve the life of your patrons
through their experience and interaction at your hotel.
2. What business will you be in the future, based
on current trends?
In business, the trends are everything. Which way is
the market going for you today, and what changes
do you need to make in your strategic direction to
continue to exceed the expectations of your target
market tomorrow?
3. Who are your patrons? Your ideal patrons?
Your perfect patrons for what you sell?
You can’t hit a target that you can’t see! As society
and culture changes, your ideal customer profile
changes as well.
4. What does your patron consider as value?
What do your patrons want to enjoy or receive from
your products and services more than anything else?
What must your customer be convinced of in order to
frequent your hotel rather than that of someone else?
5. What do you do especially well?
In what areas do you excel? What is your competitive
advantage? What makes your products and services
superior to that of any other offered by the competitors
in your region?
6. What are your goals?
You know the importance of detailed, business
development planning 12, 18 or 24 months ahead.
Before you create a strategic plan of action, you must
know the answers to the following questions: What
are your sales goals for the next year, broken down by
month, or even week and day? What are your goals
for profitability? Most of all, does everyone in your hotel
who is responsible for achieving those goals know
exactly what those goals are?
7. What are the constraints on your business today?
What is holding you back from achieving your goals of
sales, cash flow, and profitability?
Of all the factors that are holding you back from
achieving successful business development, what is
the biggest single factor, and what could you do to
alleviate this constraint?
8. What are the 20% of your activities that can
account for 80% of your results?
What are the 20% of your products or services that
can account for 80% of your sales? What are the
20% of your patrons that account for 80% of your
business? What are the 20% of things that you can do
personally that can account for 80% of your results?
9. Based on your answers to the above
questions, what strategic plan of action should
you take immediately? What should you do now?
What should you stop doing? What products or
services should you discontinue altogether so that
you have more time to work on those few things, that
20%, that can make an enormous difference in your
business?
QHA REVIEW | 49