plANNING

A business plan is not just a document. It is a holistic analysis of your company, the environment it operates in, and a route map to achieving success based on the resources available. Unfortunately, the image most of us have is of a 30-page bound document. The focus is on ‘the output' when the real value in a business plan is the business-planning process itself. Business planning is an essential element of running any successful business, particularly given the growing uncertainty all businesses face coupled with ongoing changes in consumer behaviour. 

Reasons why business planning is so important:

1. To plan for an uncertain future

Business planning is vital to help you manage your business more effectively. By committing your thoughts to a plan, you can understand your business better and also chart specific courses of action that need to be taken to improve your business. A plan can also detail alternative future scenarios, set specific objectives and goals, and list the resources required to achieve these goals. In short, it can help ensure that you are prepared for all sorts of eventualities.

2. To help grow your business

In an ideal world, all businesses would be self-financing in exploiting business opportunities. In reality, few are afforded this luxury, and hence, will be required to secure external investment eventually. The production of a credible business plan is one of the primary requirements for any entrepreneur seeking investment to grow.

3. To commit to a particular course of action

A business plan can help a company assess future opportunities, choose one, and then commit to a particular course of action. By committing to one opportunity, all other options are effectively marginalised and the company is aligned to focus on key deliverables.

4. To manage cash flow

Careful management of cash flow is a fundamental requirement for all businesses. The reason is quite simple-many businesses fail, not because they are unprofitable, but because they ultimately become insolvent (i.e., are unable to pay their debts as they fall due).

5. To value a business

Given that valuing firms is notoriously difficult and subjective, a well-written plan will clearly highlight the opportunity for any prospective investors, explain the value of the business, and increase the likelihood of a successful exit by the current owner.

6. To ensure all bases are covered

When you start a new business, the temptation is to spend time on the idea and then react to events as they come up rather than focusing on what is important. The very creation of a business plan ensures that you cover all the various bases you need to when taking an idea from conception through to launch.

Our approach and delivery to the Integrated Activity Planning  (IAP) process is extremely innovative and tangible.

We have developed a highly efficient and effective IAP 'toolkit' and process model that incorporates an organisations;

• SEGMENTATION
• PORTFOLIO STRATEGY
• BRAND PLANS
• CHANNEL PLANS &
• REGIONAL SALES PLANS

The IAP process and plans are underpineed by a very robust;

• IAP CALENDAR &
• CYCLE PLANNING PROCESS

This ensures we are able to deliver a truly integration planning solution to our clients with the capability to effectively measure return on market spend investment. 

An organisations sale volume, their ability to deliver the proper levels of customer service in a cost-effective manner, and their success at securing scare retail shelf space for their products is all driven by the routes to market (RTM) it uses. 

Having a comprehensive conceptual platform for optimising these routes to market is extremely beneficial to these organisations in growing their business. 

To successfully build a GTM (Go-To-Market) model using modular routes to market offerings, we develop a platform, based on the client’s requirements, characterised by four main qualities;

• It has a strong customer focus 
• It is aligned with the organisation’s strategic goals and value offerings, and supported by its operational capabilities 
• It balances customer needs, revenue growth and cost-to-serve. 
• It is flexible enough to be adapted in response to changing strategic goals and competitive threats. 

We work with our clients to adopt the GTM platform and use it to improve value and competitive advantage for their business. 

The key benefits of developing and implementing the correct routes to market include; 

• Increased revenues through improved sales force deployment • A better consumer experience through improved execution and trade merchandising 
• An increase in trade customer satisfaction resulting from differentiated routes to market that are better aligned to customer preferences 
• Getting everyone in product management, marketing, sales, customer service and distribution partners aligned and working together to maximise results 
• Increased efficiencies resulting from lower cost-to-serve as a percentage of total sale

CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE (COE)

We focus on creating a seamless experience for customers across every point of contact in an organisation. Between call centers, websites, mobile apps, retail stores, and sales calls, getting the same experience at each stop is crucial. 

We work with our clients to develop these channels using customer expectations, brand positioning, customer value, and cost-to-serve. 

We analyze the full cost and full set of benefits of each channel. The result is a seamless experience for the customer across every point of contact

Synergy3 has defined a 360degree approach to developing a client's competitor engagement strategy that clearly articulates "Where to Play" and "How to Win" in the market. 

We provide in-depth insights and solutions to effictively and efficiently step-change how an organisation competes in the market.

Our approach focuses on client &  competitor insights across;

• MARKETING & BRANDS
• SALES
• TRADE MARKETING
• DISTRIBUTION
• COMMERCIAL TRADE OFFERING
• CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS

When developing the strategy we incoporate the organisational design and culture change required to enable the clients competitor engagement strategy to succeed.

Through the use of analytics, high performing companies have a deep understanding of the problems they are trying to solve for specific audiences. 

We work with clients to firstly, improve their customer analytics capability and secondly to translate this analytical capability into product launches and service improvements. 

Our model delivers an all-encompasing definiition of the clients market & its customers by defining actionable segmentation that draws from a variety of sources, including;

• CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR & PSYCHOGRAPHICS
• INTERNET RESEARCH
• LOCATION BASED & CUSTOMER JOURNEY DATA

By cultivating deep customer & competitor insights, including future needs, we work with clients to develop targeted offers with differentiated value propositions.

Synergy3 has developed a benchmark Customer Value Proposition (CVP) model that incorporates;

• CUSTOMER & COMPETITOR INSIGHTS
• CLIENT SUB-CHANNEL SEGMENTATION
• FULLY COSTED CLIENT PRODUCTS & SERVICES CATALOGUE

By customising our CVP model to fit our clients needs, we are able to offer them a tool that not only develops their customer value proositions but also provides them with instant sub channel costed customer reaches to facilitate robust investement decision making and budget management.