Many companies pay huge sums of money for strategic planning consultants but the truth is that they're not always necessary. Once you have a basic understanding of the strategic planning process, you can lead a strategic planning session yourself.

In this three-part series of articles, we'll talk about all the points you should cover, as explained in Brian Tracy's book The Way to Wealth Workbook, Part III: Blueprints for Success. After a little practice with this basic structure, you'll be leading your team through strategic planning sessions like a pro.

Define your company, your customers, your competitors, and your activities.

The first step in strategic planning is to define what business you're in.

• What, specifically, are you trying to do for your customers?
• What's your company mission; what do you want your company to achieve?
• How do you want your customers to describe your company, and think of you?
• What is your brand, in other words, how are you perceived in the market right now?

The answers to all these questions will guide you not only toward better branding, but toward a shared commitment to accomplish something specific and concrete in the world.

Next, lead your team through some questions about your customers.

• Who would your ideal customer be, in terms of age, location, occupation, income, and other factors?
• What does that ideal customer value, or expect from your company?
• What about customers you should phase out or abandon altogether; is anyone considering any of those? Why aren't they profitable, and which customers might be more profitable alternatives?

The answers to these questions will improve your ability to sell to the customers you want to keep and will guide you in pruning away any customers who aren't helping your company.

After that, address some questions about your competitors. Research what your competitors are doing and ask yourself:

• Who else sells similar products, and how are they attracting customers?
• How are they falling short of your offerings and what are they doing to try to catch up?
• Or, if they're ahead of you, what are they doing better, and how can you capture some of their market share?
• What makes customers buy from these competitors instead of from you?
• How big of a threat is each competitor and what kind of threat, exactly, do they pose?

As you answer these questions, you'll see a clearer path to dominance of your market sector.

Finally, focus on the practical side of your company; how you do what you do.

• What are your company's core competencies, the things you do better than anyone else in your market?
• What are your greatest opportunities for the immediate future?
• What are the biggest obstacles you face at the moment?
• What could you be doing differently to generate more leads or create more value for your customers?

And here's a tough one: What are your company's weaknesses; things that your competitors could exploit to hurt you? Once you've answered all these questions honestly, you'll probably notice some things that need to change which leads to the next section of the strategic planning process.

That's all for the first part of this three-part series on Brian Tracy's book The Way to Wealth Workbook, Part III: Blueprints for Success. Next time, we'll explain the second step of Brian Tracy's strategic planning process.

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