My plan for growth is a plan for chaos. Help!

Dear Aunty B,

I recently appointed a head of business development from a large company. He has spent four months studying our business, which is travelling very well, and has just presented me with THE PLAN to go to the next level.

The thing is all over the shop! In a nutshell it would prove so disruptive to the existing business that I have no idea how it would cope. I probably wouldn’t. It is way too aggressive and while it incorporates some good opportunities, it doesn’t seem to fit together.

Rather than a plan for growth, I have been handed a plan for chaos. I have paid this guy a lot of money, he is incredibly enthusiastic and confident it will work. How do I rescue the situation? He has suggested my own fear of risk could be influencing my thinking. Could it??

Sick to my stomach
Melbourne

Dear Sick,

Listen to your stomach, you nong. It’s giving you free advice. It doesn’t cost a cent! It’s telling you the guy is a disaster! And your gut is right. He hasn’t given you a plan. He has spewed out on paper a whole lot of ideas that don’t actually revolve around your core business.

Let’s go back to the beginning. You have a core business that is going well. You have a clear understanding of where you excel. Your high growth plan should build around that. It should make perfect sense.

In fact, when you communicate the plan, people should look at you with surprise and say, that’s not a plan. That’s just commonsense. So your first job is to pull out the opportunities from the plan and evaluate them in the light of the existing business. How do they fit? Do they capitalise on your competitive advantage? Does it fit the vision for the business? Is the cost of sale low? Are you using familiar channels to market? And so on.

Secondly, how do you protect and grow your main business while exploiting the opportunities? What you need to do is take control. This guy is a salesman. You are the entrepreneur. Listen to your gut and start working on a proper plan. Then get the guy to help you sell it.

Good luck!
Your Aunty B

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