10. Capital Planning - This involves analyzing each Club department and the overall financial planning for the next four quarters.
4. Pricing Plan - Do you have a written quarterly plan in every department aimed at qualitative improvement? Specifically, are you challenging all your Club departments to implement 2 or 3 initiatives that either create a better member experience, provide improved employee efficiency, introduce a new product or service, or produce better financial results? Do you have a comprehensive calendar of events appealing to all segments of your membership to keep them using the Club and providing necessary revenues? Is your calendar planned ahead at least 3 months at all times? Or are you trying to come up with things at the last minute because the newsletter copy is due? What payroll increases are you authorizing for the Club's employees in 2009? Are the increases performance-based or just "no thought" across-the-board increases? Can your Club afford to give increases? Do you have incentive-based compensation plans in place or do you just pay for showing up regardless of the performance?
3. Membership Planning - Do you have a written quarterly game plan for driving the revenue sources that are important to your Club? Are specific timelines and people assigned to carry out the plans? Have you budgeted the needed dollars for marketing to ensure you will be able to achieve the results you need? Check out our industry best website solution for Private Clubs at www.privateclubcommander.com The reality is that many Clubs either don’t have the skills, Ping G10 Fairway Wood, commitment, discipline, or desire to put together a plan. Planning is work, Titleist 09’ Vokey Spin Milled Tour Chrome Wedge! Hard work! But like any other hard work well done, it provides great benefits. What expense increases are you anticipating? Have you reviewed each department on a line item basis to determine if the expenses may have significant fluctuations either up or down? Items that can change significantly include general liability insurance, property taxes, utilities, fertilizer, chemicals, and fuel. Have you reviewed these thoroughly to ensure you have an accurate view of the expense side of the financial plan?
A focus on creating the future through a thorough, well-crafted business plan is what separates great operators from marginal and poor performers. It's the difference between swimming toward a destination and just drifting with the current. It reminds me of a passage from Alice in Wonderland. When Alice encounters a Cat during her travels, she asks the cat for advice on the road she should take. The Cat responds by asking Alice where she wants to go. Alice responds that she really does not know. The Cat responds by telling Alice that if she doesn’t know where she wants to go, then the road she takes really doesn’t matter. Do you know where you want to go in 2009? What price increase will you take this year and when? Will dues increase? If so, will that cause attrition? How will you price your cart and guest fees? What about F&B? Remember, except for a very few elite Clubs in the Country, cost does matter.
6. Expense Planning - Successes, Failures, Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats, Opportunities
7. Marketing Plan - It provides a critical self-assessment of your Club and provides a great foundation for goal setting for both qualitative and quantitative improvements in the upcoming year. I have seen amazing transformations in the actions Clubs take when the financial realities of their business are made known to them in black and white terms with a well-thought-out financial plan and a forecast of the future business. I have implemented forecasting where it previously was not utilized and immediately new plans were developed for better expense controls and the marketing ideas became number one priorities instead of just “when I get to it” afterthoughts.
8. Retention Planning - Any of this strike a chord? Be honest now, Callaway FT-i Driver!
2. Competitive Analysis - What are your Club trends for both membership enrollment and attrition by category? What real growth do you want to plan for in 2009? What has been the trend with upgrades and downgrades? What are you doing with Initiation Fees? Do you have financing in place? How will you handle your wait list to join? To resign? You must have goals. But putting together a financial plan is more than just crunching numbers. There is much groundwork that must be completed in order to get the proper foundation to plan. A solid financial plan is the final result of a thorough Business Planning process which includes:
9. Qualitative Improvement Planning
1. SFSWOT Analysis - As we enter the final two months of 2008, your Club should be well on its way if not finished with its Business Plan for 2009. Yet, I find that in many cases Clubs have not yet even started the process. When I ask why the plan hasn’t begun, I hear a litany of amusing responses, well actually unfounded excuses. A sampling of the feedback includes: A forward-thinking approach with a financial plan in place for the entire year and then updated on a quarterly basis with a forecast with a focus on creating the future is a paradigm that any successful business utilizes. Yet, I find that in most cases Clubs do little more than take a perfunctory look at the numbers from the prior month usually about 15 to 20 days if not more after the month has ended.
We can’t start a new budget when we don’t have final numbers for 2008. We haven’t decided what we are going to do with our operation in the off-season. We’re too busy. We’re afraid of what it might look like. We tried that before and it did not help us. It takes too much time and we don’t ever use it for anything.
Components of a thorough Business Plan include: Do you have a written capital replacement plan in place for 2009? Replacing depreciated assets on an annual basis is another component of a successful business. Do you have the necessary cash to replace what is needed in 2009? Are you going to finance or lease needed equipment? Have you done the analysis? Is your plan at least looking ahead 5 years?
5. Payroll Planning - Who is your competition? What do they charge? What is your unique selling advantage?
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