Long-term business plans include periods that range from five to 50 years - it just depends on the type of business and leadership preference. Even if a long-term plan reaches for 50 years, an effective plan requires annual revisiting to review, assess, and adjust objectives. Flexibility is the biggest indicator of successful businesses; be open to changing goals in order to remain successful.

Planning is more than just a written list of hopes; it is paying attention to the market, the competition, customers and trends, so you stay on a forward track to reach long-range goals. To understand long term business planning basics, keep the following in mind:

1. Vision sets the direction of long-term business plans.

2. Processes of long term planning in business depend on leadership.

3. Long range planning is the most important factor that supports your vision.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

State your long term business goals vision clearly

Long-term business development depends on clarity, so spend time constructing the vision of your business. The vision is the purpose, expected outcome, or impact you want your business to have, and it answers 'why' your business exists. Articulating your vision is an effective guiding force that gives direction to leaders, so they plan and coordinate decisions with efficiency and clear focus on the desired result.

I recommend: For information that gives an outline for developing vision statements go to the Free Management Library. Time Thoughts provides more details and examples of successful vision statements.

Choose your business planning leadership carefully

Your leaders hold the responsibility of ensuring your vision becomes a reality, so choose a mix of people who bring talents that complement each other from diverse specialties. A leadership team supports your vision, challenges your ideas and remains active from beginning to end, so look for people different from yourself to get a balanced view of the business.

I recommend: Small Business Notes provides an overview of structuring a board of directors with information on choosing your leadership team. BusinessKnowledgeSource.com discusses the importance of a well-chosen board of directors with 10 factors to consider when choosing leaders. Outlining six important responsibilities of board of directors, Kahtou News hits the spot.

Make meeting and planning time count for long term business goals

The planning process for long term business goals involves many meetings with the leadership team. Stay focused. If you have a large leadership team, split off into smaller groups to accomplish more in a shorter time period. Invest time with the leaders to build your plan and finalize your goals to turn your vision into reality.

I recommend: Derby Management provides an interesting point of view regarding your thoughts and a business plan. For a detailed outline on the planning process, see tutor2u.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  In today's economy of quick change and Internet capabilities, the definition of long term is industry dependent. Sometimes 90 days is long term planning. Be flexible.

In depth business planning is an essential part of the process of starting a business. A good business plan has many functions. A business plan serves as a blueprint for your business, helps attract investors or partners and serves as a basis for business growth.

Long term planning in business differs a bit from quick-start business planning. You can write a long term business plan before starting your venture to detail the process in advance, or you can rewrite a business plan once a business is a success to work towards more long term goals.

When business planning for the long term plan you must:

1. Decide how long long term planning is; in today’s ever-changing industry and technology, two to five years in considered long.
2. Stay mindful of the plan’s main goal.
3. Define clear standards for measuring the business’s success.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find long term business planning software

Long term planning in business often means investing in a software application that meets your specific needs. Good long term planning tools can be found in several products on the market.

I recommend: PlanMagic offers business plan templates and financial tools. Look at a great example of a long term business plan through Palo Alto Software's website.

Establish successful cash flow management

This process monitors and adjusts business cash flows according to how much revenue is brought in. For small businesses especially, it is very important not to have too great a gap in between cash inflows and outflows, which can result in long term business develoment problems.

I recommend: Try Ironware or Whitebirch software to help organize cash flow management.

Include marketing in your long term planning

Successful marketing plays a very important part in long term planning of a business. A marketing plan should detail the goals and objective of a marketing strategy on the timeframe of two to five years. Come up with ways to market that will last for that long.

I recommend: Find a marketing plan template with Marketing Plan Pro9.0, or get marketing consulting from Factor 3 Marketing.

Have a profit and loss account included in the long term business goals

A profit and loss account determines how exactly revenue is translated into profit for your company. This shows investors and employees how exactly the company made per each defined period, whether it be a year or quarter.

I recommend: Use QuickBooks or NetSuite to aid in the organization of accounts.

Create a long term financial plan

Set clear financial goals and a clear time frame of when you'd like those goals to be achieved. Determine how much must be invested in order to turn into a profit in the allotted amount of time. Break the long term financial plan into smaller short-term plans with specific steps to achieve.

I recommend: Get financial consulting from Reese Partners, or get help with a plan from MasterPlans.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Think outside of the box when writing a long term plan.
• •  Keep the plan personal with goals that are unique to your business, not every other business.
• •  Write short-term plans to fit within the long term plan.

Explore long term business planning education and training options and discover planning intelligence through consulting and professional coaching companies. For instance, consulting firms often provide executive management training for long term business planning. Similarly, corporate coaching programs provide customized support for executives. Long term planning in business catapults your company toward a successful future.

Peruse publications and literature that focus on long term business goals. Search for user-friendly articles that offer business planning solutions for a variety of businesses. Purchase software programs that track business continuity planning. The point is to find diverse resources that fulfill your company's long range planning needs.

1. Work with consulting and professional long range planning programs.

2. Study long term business development literature.

3. Buy software applications designed for long term planning.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Team up with consultants and coaches to fine tune your long term planning

Hire professional coaches and consultants that provide long term business planning education and training. Learn from professionals who possess experience in training corporate executives. Ask about their credentialing and business ownership history. Inquire about references from other companies.

I recommend: Contact Executive Coaching and Mentoring for ideas about mistakes to avoid when working on long term planning for your business. Learn how outside forces may affect your business and gain knowledge about other factors related to long term planning. Work with GLK Management Consulting to receive training in areas that include long term business plans. Gain practical knowledge from experienced entrepreneurs who provide training that includes case studies and interactive exercises.

Fortify your long term business development plans with industry-specific literature

Enhance your understanding of business plans by broadening your understanding of the subject. Gain wisdom from publications, articles, handbooks and other long term business development literature written by the subject matter experts.

I recommend: Get in touch with the National Federation of Independent Business, a company that offers user-friendly advice for small business owners. Read their suggestions to move your enterprise forward. Review articles in the “Related Resources” section for additional recommendations. Learn how communication affects business continuity planning in the Graziadio Business Report, an online journal published by Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University. Learn how to write a business plan at My Own Business, an organization that helps business owners succeed. Gain long term plan intelligence from experienced entrepreneurs who provide insight from a diverse perspectives.

Purchase long term business planning software

Find software programs that feature at least two editions to serve differing needs. For example, a basic application might contain standard information that relates to long term planning. An advanced version could offer management and financial tools on top of the standard information. In addition, look for programs recommended by industry experts.

I recommend: Contact Palo Alto Software Inc. to purchase long term business planning software. Their programs offer step-based assistance, sample business plans and other tools to enhance your company’s future plans. Acquire business plan templates at PlanMagic Corporation. PlanMagic provides more than a dozen templates customized for specific business types. Peruse their products to find one that fits your company's needs.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  When buying business long term plan software, search for applications that offer technical assistance. Although some companies provide this service for free, any charge for tech support may prove a wise investment.

Creating a long term business plan is vital to the success of your business. These plans require a business to think about the future and put plans into place should something unexpected happen. Having a long term plan requires you to be clear about what you want to accomplish and how you plan to accomplish it.

Once created, business plans need to be revisited and evaluated to help the business stay on track long term. Long term plans are unique to each business and too complicated to cover in depth here, but the following terms will help you get started in understanding long term business planning.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Strategic plan

A strategic plan is the written document that a business creates to define its strategies and beliefs. A strategic plan answers the questions, 'What do we do?', 'For whom do we do it?' and 'How do we excel at it?'

I recommend: Invest-Tech has a step-by-step list of how to create a strategic plan as well as an online strategic planner.

SWOT analysis

A SWOT analysis should be a part of any strategic plan. This analysis looks at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of your company.

I recommend: A complete walk through of a SWOT analysis can be found on the RapidBI website. This resource has specific examples as well as worksheets and templates you can use for your own SWOT analysis.

Capacity planning

Capacity planning involves planning for the future in terms of equipment, facilities, employees, etc. It focuses on what you are capable of producing at any given time, rather than what your demand will be.

I recommend: A discussion on capacity planning can be found at Gaebler Ventures.

Succession plan

Any long term business plan should include a succession plan. This plan details the procedures to follow when a company leader or leaders move on to other opportunities. The plan is carried out throughout the leaders tenure as well as upon the announcement they are leaving the company.

I recommend: The key areas of a succession plan, along with the importance of creating a plan prior to it becoming a necessity, can be found at Renal Business Today.

Sources of capital

Successful businesses must have sources of capital; basically, sources for money. These sources of capital should be devised and included in your long term business plan.

I recommend: The University of Maine Cooperative Extension has an extensive overview of capital and a list of sources of capital that will be very useful for your business as you determine the long term financial needs for your business.

Business continuity planning

Long term business plans should include a business continuity plan. This plan details what the business will do if there is a natural disaster or other disruption to a major component to your business.

I recommend: There are a number of resources revolving around business continuity planning on the A Bacal & Associate site. These resources discuss the importance of having a continuity plan and what should be included.