Top Sales Success Group
Annual Strategic Planning & Business Review
Preparing for the Year Ahead
Purpose: Step out of the day-to-day operation of the business, evaluate where we are, determine what has changed, and establish the strategic priorities, objectives and execution plan for the coming year.
This is not about creating an entirely new strategic plan every year. It is about refreshing, recalibrating and advancing the plan we already have.
- Look Back: How Did We Perform?
Before planning the next year, we need an objective assessment of the current year.
Financial Performance
☐ Revenue: Actual vs. Budget
☐ Gross Profit / Gross Margin
☐ Net Profit / Operating Profit
☐ Cash flow
☐ Major expense variances
☐ Revenue by business line/service/product
☐ Revenue by customer/customer segment
☐ Average transaction/job/account value
☐ Pricing performance
☐ Productivity/labor performance
☐ Other financial KPIs specific to the business
Operational Performance
☐ Capacity/utilization
☐ Productivity
☐ Quality
☐ Customer satisfaction
☐ Rework/warranty/issues
☐ Scheduling/on-time performance
☐ Process improvements
☐ Technology implementation
☐ SOP development
☐ Operational bottlenecks
Sales & Marketing Performance
☐ Leads generated
☐ Qualified opportunities
☐ Conversion/close rate
☐ Pipeline performance
☐ New customers acquired
☐ Customer retention
☐ Referral activity
☐ Average sale
☐ Sales by salesperson
☐ Marketing ROI
☐ Major wins and losses
People & Leadership
☐ Hiring
☐ Turnover
☐ Employee retention
☐ Leadership development
☐ Promotions
☐ Performance issues
☐ Organizational changes
☐ Employee engagement
☐ Training and development
☐ Succession/readiness
Key question:
Did the business perform the way we expected it to perform? If not, why?
- Review the Existing Strategic Plan
Now go back to the Strategic Success Navigator™ rather than automatically creating something new.
Vision
☐ Is our long-term destination still correct?
☐ Has anything occurred that changes where we want the business to go?
☐ Are we ahead of or behind the trajectory required to achieve the Vision?
Mission
☐ Does our Mission still accurately describe why we exist and whom we serve?
☐ Has our business model changed?
Core Values
☐ Are our values actually demonstrated in the organization?
☐ Are there behaviors occurring that contradict them?
☐ Are we using our values when making hiring, promotion and leadership decisions?
The objective should normally be validation, not annual rewriting.
- Review This Year’s Strategic Objectives
For every major objective established for the current year:
☐ Accomplished
☐ Partially accomplished
☐ Not accomplished
☐ No longer relevant
Then ask:
What did we say we would accomplish?
What actually happened?
Why?
What worked?
What didn’t work?
What did we learn?
What needs to carry forward?
This is particularly important. An unfinished objective should not automatically become next year’s objective. First determine why it wasn’t accomplished.
- Review the Strategic Initiative Matrix™
For each major initiative:
| Strategic Initiative | Target | Actual | Status | What We Learned | Carry Forward? |
| Initiative #1 | 🟢 🟡 🔴 | Yes / No | |||
| Initiative #2 | 🟢 🟡 🔴 | Yes / No | |||
| Initiative #3 | 🟢 🟡 🔴 | Yes / No | |||
| Initiative #4 | 🟢 🟡 🔴 | Yes / No |
I would force the discussion beyond simply “completed/not completed.”
The question is:
Did accomplishing the initiative produce the business outcome we expected?
An initiative can be completed and still fail to produce the intended result.
- Review the Performance Management Matrix™
Examine the KPIs you established during the previous planning process.
☐ Which KPIs improved?
☐ Which deteriorated?
☐ Which stayed flat?
☐ Which KPIs proved valuable?
☐ Which KPIs weren’t useful?
☐ Which KPIs were difficult to measure?
☐ Which leading indicators actually predicted results?
☐ Which lagging indicators should remain?
☐ What should we stop measuring?
☐ What aren’t we measuring that we should be?
This becomes the basis for the next year’s PMM.
- Update the SWOT
I would absolutely revisit SWOT annually—but do not start over.
Put the previous SWOT on the screen.
Strengths
☐ What strengths have become stronger?
☐ What new capabilities have we developed?
☐ Have any previous strengths weakened?
Weaknesses
☐ Which weaknesses have we corrected?
☐ Which remain unresolved?
☐ What new weaknesses have emerged?
Opportunities
☐ What opportunities have emerged?
☐ Which previous opportunities are still viable?
☐ What opportunities should we stop pursuing?
Threats
☐ What threats have increased?
☐ What new competitive, economic, technological or regulatory threats have appeared?
☐ What previous threats are no longer material?
Then ask one additional question:
“What has changed in the last 12 months that could materially affect this business over the next 12–36 months?”
That is often where the best strategic discussion occurs.
- Assess the Business Today
I would introduce a simple Business Health Check.
Rate each area from 1–10:
| Business Area | Rating | Trend | Priority? |
| Financial Performance | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Sales | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Marketing | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Customer Experience | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Operations | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| People | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Leadership | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Accountability | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Systems & Processes | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Technology / AI | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Owner Independence | /10 | ↑ → ↓ | |
| Strategic Execution | /10 | ↑ → ↓ |
Then ask:
Which three areas, if materially improved next year, would have the greatest impact on the business?
Now you’re beginning to identify next year’s strategic priorities.
- Establish Next Year’s Financial Destination
Before establishing strategic initiatives, define the destination.
From X → To Y → By When
☐ Revenue: $_____ → $_____ by 12/31/____
☐ Gross Profit: $_____ → $_____
☐ Gross Margin: _____% → _____%
☐ Net Profit: $_____ → $_____
☐ Net Margin: _____% → _____%
☐ Cash / Working Capital: _____ → _____
Then establish the operational drivers necessary to produce those outcomes.
For example:
Revenue Target
↓
Customers / Jobs Required
↓
Average Transaction
↓
Opportunities Required
↓
Conversion Rate
↓
Lead Generation Requirement
That prevents the annual revenue goal from becoming merely an aspirational number.
- Determine Next Year’s Essential Impact Objectives
I would resist the temptation to create ten major objectives.
Ask:
“If we could accomplish only three to five major things next year, what would have the greatest impact on achieving our long-term Vision?”
For each proposed EIO:
Essential Impact Objective #___
Current State — X:
Where are we today?
Desired State — Y:
Where must we get to?
By When:
What is the deadline?
Business Impact:
Why does this matter?
Executive Owner:
Who owns the outcome?
Measurement:
How will we know it has been accomplished?
This creates the strategic bridge:
Vision → Annual Objectives → EIOs → Initiatives → KPIs → Execution
- Stress-Test the Plan
Before finalizing the objectives, ask:
☐ Do we have the people?
☐ Do we have the leadership?
☐ Do we have the capacity?
☐ Do we have the capital?
☐ Do we have the systems?
☐ Do we have the technology?
☐ Do we have the sales capability?
☐ Do we have sufficient lead generation?
☐ Does our organizational structure support this?
☐ What assumptions are we making?
☐ What could prevent us from accomplishing this?
☐ What must we STOP doing to create capacity for these priorities?
That last question is particularly important. Most annual planning adds initiatives without removing anything.
- Convert Strategy Into Execution
This is where I would differentiate your planning process from a conventional strategic planning session.
The planning session is not finished when the objectives have been selected.
Each EIO needs:
☐ Executive owner
☐ Strategic initiatives
☐ Milestones
☐ Leading indicators
☐ Lagging indicators
☐ Quarterly targets
☐ Due dates
☐ Resources required
☐ Accountability cadence
Then incorporate these into the:
Strategic Initiative Matrix™ (SIM)
and
Performance Management Matrix™ (PMM)
- Establish Q1 Priorities
Don’t leave the annual planning meeting with twelve months of strategy but no immediate action.
For each EIO:
What must happen during the first 90 days?
☐ Q1 priority
☐ Owner
☐ Target
☐ Due date
☐ KPI
☐ First action
☐ First action date
The objective is for everyone to leave knowing:
What happens Monday morning?
Client Pre-Planning Checklist
I would send this abbreviated section to your client 2–3 weeks before your October/November planning meeting.
Please come prepared to discuss:
☐ Current YTD P&L and financial results
☐ Current-year forecast
☐ Current-year goals vs. actual performance
☐ Sales and pipeline results
☐ Current KPIs
☐ Major accomplishments
☐ Objectives we did not accomplish
☐ Major problems encountered
☐ Significant customer changes
☐ Competitive/market changes
☐ Staffing and leadership changes
☐ Capacity constraints
☐ Major investments anticipated
☐ New opportunities
☐ Concerns about the coming year
☐ Your top three priorities for next year
And I would ask each owner/leadership participant to answer these five questions independently before the session:
- What are the three greatest accomplishments of this year?
- What are the three biggest disappointments or missed objectives?
- What has changed that we need to respond to?
- What are the three greatest opportunities for next year?
- If we could accomplish only three major things next year, what should they be?
Comparing the answers among leadership team members will tell you a tremendous amount about alignment.
Annual Planning Cycle
Strategic Success Navigator™ methodology:
OCTOBER — ASSESS
Current-year performance → Financials → KPIs → SWOT → Strategic plan progress
NOVEMBER — PLAN
Next-year destination → EIOs → Strategic initiatives → Financial targets → SIM → PMM
DECEMBER — PREPARE
Budgets → Owners → Q1 priorities → Scorecards → Meeting cadence → Communication to employees
JANUARY — EXECUTE
Launch → Weekly/monthly accountability → KPI review → Course correction
Then throughout the year:
Q1 → Q2 → Q3 → Q4
Execute → Measure → Review → Adjust
Executive Guide Series™
Top Sales Success Group, LLC
440-497-0335 – Or – 419-350-4008
