Any good vision evolves into a mission. Any good mission evolves into goals. Goals require a strategy to attain. Strategies require tactics to thrive. And tactics require evaluation to determine future steps.
Most companies focus on mission and tactics. The others (vision, goals and strategies) kind of get lost in the shuffle. The best companies work the entire process. At Great Harvest we are working on updating our systems to make sure that opportunities we provide have the best shot at success.
All of this really does go together and it isn’t just marketing. Start with the goal setting piece. We have a target sales goal for each store. We are matching processes to hit that goal but before that can be done, you have to start with the very basic case of what are we doing?
A goal has to be broken down into a manageable set of tasks. We believe in six day a week, 52 week a year stores so the sales goal is easy. Divide it by 52 by 6 and you have a daily total. Then that has to be supported by a menu. We have a target for each of our significant categories (bread, sandwiches, sweets, and other items) that we can help you support with proper menu choices.
From there we have to make sure the labor schedule required to execute your menu can support our target labor cost. The same is true with pricing and ingredients. Then you get to what most people want to do first. Marketing!
A successful marketing plan drives the menu and sales targets set by a comprehensive strategy. It involves tactics and execution across the entire product line to ensure each sub goal is achieved.
But, wait. Aren’t we a Freedom Franchise? Yes we are but that doesn’t keep us from recommending best practices. Nor does it keep us from being flexible enough with our tactics to allow for individuality.
Vision sets the mission which drives the goals which set the strategy which determines the tactics. Take one step away and it all falls apart. Remember, there is more to life than mission and tactics.
Vision >> Mission >> Goals >> Strategies >> Tactics
Thanks for reading.
Steps Photo credit: extranoise via photopincc
