Perfect Your 2023 Business Plan
You may have already put together a business plan for 2023, but before you hit the ground running in the New Year, it might be prudent to give your plan a second look to ensure you have included all the elements that will not only grow your business but protect it as well.
Vetting your business plan in light of the following elements may help you fine tune and strengthen your agency for the business ahead in 2023.
Business scrutiny – Begin with your why
Starting with a well thought out executive summary – the WHY of what you want to accomplish – can help fine tune the WHAT that you plan to accomplish in the new year.
S.W.O.T. Analysis:
This may be a good time to look back at what you accomplished in 2022 and identify places where you would like to improve. One of the best models for this exercise is the SWOT analysis, looking at internal and external strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that may impact your business. Everything you learn from your SWOT analysis can be woven into your business plan.
Marketplace Analysis:
It’s one thing to determine that you want to grow your business by 30% and quite another to identify how those new deals will be generated. Where is your market growing? Is there an area that is being regentrified and attracting new buyers? Are there new developments in outlying communities or a small town nearby that are attracting city commuters where you might succeed with a satellite office? Is the market for smaller commercial properties hot in a particular area of your market that you could tap?
Revenue Goals:
Study the updated data available from your lending community and real estate associations to make sure your revenue goals are tied to the realistic expectations of your regional market. While optimism can be a virtue, you have to pay the bills, and you want to make sure you are anchored in reality when it comes to planning your budget for the coming year based on anticipated revenue.
Operational efficiency
Once you have conducted your business scrutiny it’s time to take a look at operations, this includes staffing, processes and technology – the trifecta of running an efficient title insurance agency.
Staffing:
As you look at what you want to accomplish, you may decide to add to your staff. But there also may be opportunities to promote current staff or shift responsibilities to achieve the same end, using effective technology to unburden them from simple, manual and time-consuming tasks. If you have identified gaps in your employees’ expertise, especially if you intend to branch into new market segments, you may want to consider offering additional education or cross training to strengthen the overall expertise you can offer to your clients.
As you are considering your staffing needs, remember that Alanna.ai can take on many of your repetitive communications, marketing and data collection/entry tasks in 2023, freeing up your professional staff to handle the more complicated requirements of title and escrow services, as well as provide improved customer service.
Technology:
Conducting a technology audit is a crucial annual exercise. We tend to get complacent with the technology we work with without asking ourselves – or the employees who use it – if it is effective in making them more efficient and the clients happier.
As part of that technology audit, make sure you have the most updated anti-virus and anti-malware software, and that you are taking advantage of the most advanced security tactics such as multi-factor authentication, phishing prevention, and patch management.
Sales and Marketing
And finally, your business plan should include specifics for your sales and marketing efforts. This is most critical if you are planning to venture into new service regions or consider adding a new vertical to your mix, such as commercial, REO, or land sales. Mapping these efforts out with plenty of lead time to develop them effectively will ensure success over the long run. And, of course, using Alanna’s Campaigns function not only ensures a more effective “send,” but the ability for your target recipients to engage you in a full conversation if interested as well.
From greater operational efficiency to improved customer service, Alanna.ai is here to assist you with the successful execution of your business plan in 2023. Call us to learn how our technology can help you meet your goals in 2023.