By David Gould, Staff Editor
Ribbon-cutting day marks fulfillment of the plan you came up with for creating your indoor training facility. Now you’re shifting over to execution of your operational plan. Design2Golf, in its 44-page ebook covering this subject, recommends “a lean business plan that covers the essentials” as you get started.
“It typically takes a few hours to draft the initial [ operating ] plan,” says the guidebook, “then just an hour or two to review and revise monthly.” D2G provides “seven keys” at this point in the process, designed to “help you think through your business plan and make sure you maximize your ROI.” Here they are:
1. See the whole business. Business planning connects the dots in your indoor golf business so you get a better visual of the big picture opportunity. What is your vision? Where do you want to be at the end of 12 months, or even 5 years from now. Take a step back and look at the larger picture and then you can start to narrow in on the details and key milestones to get you there.
2. Strategic focus. Businesses in the indoor golf market segment should focus on their special identities, their target markets, and how their entertainment- or performance-based services are tailored to match. Develop strategies that align with your vision for the whole business.
3. Set priorities. You can’t do everything. Business planning helps you keep track of the right things, and the most important things. Allocate your time, effort, and resources strategically.
4. Manage change. A good planning process will allow you to regularly review assumptions, track progress, and catch new developments so you can easily adjust. Think of your plan vs. the actual analysis as a dashboard, and adjusting the plan is your steering. Business plans often need to adjust with changing market conditions and competition.
5. Develop accountability. A good planning process sets expectations and tracks results. It’s a tool for regular review of what’s expected and what actually happened. A monthly or quarterly plan review with plan vs. actual milestones and metrics included becomes a way to simply review your accomplishments and see where improvements need to be made.
6. Milestones. Good business planning sets milestones that you and your team can work towards. These are key goals you want to achieve, like signing on 10 of the top junior golfers in the market, hiring a respected performance coach, or opening a new expanded location. Your business will run more efficiently when you have visible goals that you can work towards.
7. Metrics. Use your performance indicators and numbers to track into a business plan where you can easily review with your team. Determine and then focus on the numbers that matter. Is it capacity of your simulator bays, number of facility memberships sold in the last 30 days, number of new client swing evaluations? Use your business planning to define and track the key metrics.
With a solid business plan in place, your vision will be clear. You can then align your team to what is most important and collectively set out to accomplish your goals.
