Evaluating Your Business Plan

Balanced Scorecard Strategy For Dummies

Each time you review and revise your business plan, actively solicit suggestions and ideas throughout your company and target audience. Useful ideas can come from anyone anywhere. Start within your business, asking employees the following ten questions:

Is the company communicating its vision, mission, and strategic plan to employees? If not, how would you suggest we do a better job?
Are the business goals and objectives outlined in the plan clear and appropriate?
Do your own duties and responsibilities help support the company's goals and strategic direction?
Can you suggest specific changes in the way in which you perform your job that will help the company better meet its goals?
Can you suggest ways to improve the company's overall operations?
Do company procedures get in the way of your doing your best job? If so, how do you suggest changing them?
Are you aware of changes in the industry — including our customers and our competitors — that should be addressed in our business plan?
Can you suggest ways we can enhance the value we offer our customers?
Can you think of additional ways we can enhance the value we offer our customers?
If you were in charge of revising the business plan, what other changes would you make?

About This Article

About the book author:

Steven Peterson, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Strategic Play and an Executive Education Lecturer at the Haas Business School.

Peter Jaret is a frequent contributor to The New York Times, Reader’s Digest, and AARP Bulletin.

Barbara Findlay Schenck is a nationally recognized marketing specialist and the author of several books, including Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies.