How Can Trucking Firms Plan for Sustainable Growth?

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | How Can Trucking Firms Plan for Sustainable Growth?

Trucking firms play a key role in the wider global supply chain and logistics function. Across the globe, thousands of trucking firms deliver a wide range of goods for both business clients and private citizens. Their timely scheduling and delivery plans ensure that goods are delivered when expected and arrive in their intended condition.

The trucking industry has experienced significant challenges in recent years that may impact plans for growth and commercial expansion. Most notably, fuel prices continue to rise, which can have a dramatic impact on a firm that relies on a large fleet of petrol or diesel-powered vehicles. However, trucking firm owners and managers can still plan for sustainable and achievable growth even in an uncertain economic environment. In this article, some key ways in which scalable and sustainable growth can be managed will be explored.

Invest in Reliable Vehicle Equipment

As a first point, it is recognized that the reliability of vehicle equipment in trucking firms is of paramount importance. Many trucks that deliver bulk goods, such as cement and sand for the construction industry or animal feed for the farming sector, will rely on equipment such as a Dry bulk blower. These are vital pieces of technology that allow high volumes of materials to be discharged quickly and safely. Put simply, trucking firms that deliver a range of products that need to be discharged from the trucks will rely on this one piece of equipment in their daily operations. Any faults with the system will lead to difficulties in discharging the product and may cause delays to the delivery process, which can lead to the loss of future contracts (and therefore a reduction in revenue streams that support business growth).

It is vital that any equipment that is used to load, unload, or discharge products is in excellent operational condition. Ideally, this equipment will need a minimum of service and maintenance to allow fleet operations to run smoothly and without interruptions. Business owners should therefore invest in the highest quality and lowest maintenance equipment to maximize the delivery potential of their vehicle fleet.

Budget Effectively for Expansion

In every business, there is a significant need for effective budgeting when seeking growth, and this is no different for the trucking industry. In fact, the trucking sector needs managers with a sound grasp of finances to drive business expansion. Inevitably, there is a need to invest in extra fleet vehicles and drivers when seeking to grow the business. Here, truck costs can be extremely expensive, with one vehicle costing up to $180,000, depending on the make, model, and intended use. Clearly, this represents a significant financial outlay, and a trucking company must be confident that it will receive suitable volumes of shipping work to enable all the costs to be recovered.

Trucking business owners also have the option of purchasing used vehicles for their fleet, often at a considerably cheaper market value. However, this cost saving should be balanced against the increased likelihood of higher maintenance and servicing costs due to the pre-existing wear and tear on such vehicles. Put simply, managers and those responsible for trucking firm budgets should be able to demonstrate that new acquisitions will offer suitable ROI and that there is demand for fleet expansion due to the potential for additional shipping contracts.

Why Your Business Needs a Business Plan From the Start

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | Why Your Business Needs a Business Plan From the Start

If you want to start a new business for yourself, there are many different things you’ll need to consider, but you can’t – or shouldn’t – do any of those things until you have a solid and sensible business plan in place. It’s so tempting to just jump in and get started, but without a plan, you’ll have problems. With that in mind, read on to discover why your business needs a business plan from the start.

Set Clear Objectives

A well-written and carefully considered business plan is a roadmap for your business, as it should take you from where you are now to where you finally want to be. This end goal could be selling the business, it might be retiring but still earning dividends, it might be handing the business down to a family member, franchising a certain number of times, or expanding globally, for example.

No matter what it is you want to do, you can use your business plan as a place to define your goals and set specific small targets that, when you complete them all, will mean you’ve reached your ultimate end goal. When everything is noted down and you can see what your next step will be, it means you’re in a much better position to make decisions and stay focused and motivated.

Secure Financing

Whether you think you might need funding from investors, apply for a loan, or even bootstrap your business, having a well-prepared business plan is crucial. Investors and lenders will want to see that you have a solid understanding of the market, a good plan to reach your goals, and a realistic financial forecast. This is why it’s so important to include everything little thing, down to how much it would cost for grout pump hire or what the profit would be on each individual item you sell.

A business plan will show you’re serious and professional and about your business, and it will instill confidence in anyone who might be thinking about investing with you or lending you money. In this way, you’ll be able to get funding more easily and can start your business in the right way.

Understand Your Market

A good business plan will help you to understand your market much better because you’ll need to include a lot of market research to back up your ideas – this is especially true if you want to use your business plan for funding. When you do this market research, you’ll be able to identify gaps in the market, make sure what you do is different, and tailor your marketing strategies to the right audience.

This research forms the basis of everything you do in business, so it’s well worth the time to get it right. Having a good business plan to include all this information in once you’ve discovered it means you have everything in one place,and it makes it an easy way to reference things when you need to know what to do next.

Strategic Business Planning: Creating a Business Relocation Strategy

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | Strategic Business Planning: Creating a Business Relocation Strategy

Relocating your business and moving to new premises doesn’t have to be stressful. If you create a relocation strategy, you will find that you can manage to make the move and transition seamless and painless. Within your strategy, you will want to think about why a move is positive for your business, and what obstacles you may face.

Decide What Is Driving Your Relocation

You must decide what is driving your business relocation to ensure the relocation is successful. For instance, are you moving because you need more space for customers to visit? Are you relocating because you need to be better placed and closer to great transportation links? What is making this move happen? Having the drive and direction to make the move happen is crucial, so establish this before moving onto your budget.

Establish a Budget

If you are upsizing your premises, or even moving to a new area, you need to have a budget in place. Without a budget, you will struggle to get a grip on costs. This may mean that you are spending more than you want to on new premises, and on making the move happen. When you are creating a budget, you will need to factor in the moving of any physical documents you hold, in addition to stock movement.

Find a Suitable Location or Office

You are better equipped to go looking for new business premises when you have a budget. Having a list of essentials and requirements for your business premises is now important. A business premises or location checklist will help you find suitable premises. When hunting for a new location or premises think about size requirements. Are you looking for minimum square footage? Are you after an open-plan unit? When you are thinking about size requirements, carefully think about how you will use the premises. Think about how any extra space will be managed. Also, think about the things such as health and safety and cable management at work, as well as the minimum space required for each employee when at work.

Creating a Moving Checklist

To take control of the moving process, you need to have a checklist in place. This will help the move run as smoothly as possible. To make an inclusive checklist, look at the business operations you carry out daily. Establish what can be moved first and why. For example, can you start moving across backdated and archived files in anticipation of the big move? Does your checklist need to cover the movement of office furniture including desks, chairs, computers, and monitors – or are you going to replace these when you move? When you put together a checklist, you start anticipating the size of the removal vans you will need.

Moving to new premises and relocating your business can take time. You must give employees ample notice to move, especially if they will be traveling further (commuting) each day. Or, if the new premises is located away from excellent transportation links (as they may have to arrange alternate transport).

What Are the 10 Economic Factors That Affect Your Business?

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | What Are the 10 Economic Factors That Affect Your Business?As much as one might believe the success of their business solely relies on the work they put into their business, there are many outside sources that come into play. Check out examples of external forces in this PESTLE analysis examples article. Inevitable economic factors, for instance, can make or break your company. Below are several examples of ways your business can be impacted by the state of the economy.

1. Supply & Demand

One of the top economic factors that affect business is consumer supply and demand. As the demand for certain products or services increases, the supply for such begins to decrease. This can lead to inflation, which increases the monetary value of such items until (and if and when) the demand decreases. Some businesses might struggle to keep up with the demand.

2. Recession

A recession can trigger layoffs, higher prices, a surge in unemployment, and as a result, lower consumer spending. In turn, businesses may struggle to bring in sales.

3. Minimum Wage

An increase in the current minimum wage increases how much a business must spend on staffing employees. As labor costs increase, this might lead to lay-offs. In severe cases, a business might have to shut down completely if they can’t keep up with the costs of labor and still bring in good profit.


4. Laws & Policies

Laws and policies set by the government surely affect businesses. If the government, for instance, decides to ban a certain product from being sold, this immediately impacts any business who’s selling it.

5. Inflation

As consumer demand increases, this leads to the increased costs of goods. Inflation directly affects the money supply and purchasing power.

6. Tax Rate

The current tax rate, whether it be sales tax or a special tax levied on certain goods or services, can affect the total price a customer must pay when buying from a company.

7. Government Activity

Government activity such as promoting a certain industry or removing trade barriers can either decrease or increase a business’s overall success. Such activities can change consumer demand, increase competition, or lower/increase business expenditures.


8. Interest Rate

If loan interest rates increase, this decreases a nation’s cash flow and lowers its liquidity. The opposite is true if interest rates decrease.

9. Unemployment

The higher the unemployment rate, which often comes with a recession, the harder it will be for a business to keep up with supply and demand. In extreme scenarios, sometimes businesses have to increase wages/benefits to encourage more people to apply and to stay with the company.

10. Exchange Rate

The current exchange rate has a direct effect on international payment. Thus, it can change the prices of goods, as well as the demand for such goods to international customers.

Conclusion

The economy has an effect on each of us in some shape or form. Economic factors, from inflation, to unemployment, to a change in the tax rate, can impact businesses of all sizes. In the end, we must work with, not against, the current economic state if we wish to start or continue to run a successful company.

 

The Benefits of a Business Plan Service

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article |Business Plan |The Benefits of a Business Plan ServiceNot every business has a business plan, not because they don’t need one but because they don’t have the skills or knowledge to create it. That’s where a business plan service can help, these services offer a professional solution to business planning, so you get it right first time.

More Clarity

Not having a business plan doesn’t mean you can’t run a business, but the chances are your business will miss out on efficiency and a host of other benefits that go with having a core plan. For one thing, you will have more clarity which can lead to better decision making in key areas.

Whether it’s an investment, personnel, leases, or resourcing, you can make decisions faster and better when you can look at your business performance over a period and see how it aligns with your business goals. A business plan service can help you develop or update a business plan.

Better Marketing

If you have an excellent product, you need to get it in front of the right people; this requires some industry insight and proper planning. If you want to improve your marketing, then identify your target market and ideal customer persona; you also need to carry out market analysis.

All of this goes into your business plan, so you know exactly who to target and when. A quick glance at your business plan during key periods of the year gives you the solid information you need to make intelligent marketing decisions. This also helps when needing to secure funding.

Funding Support

Whether it’s a bank loan or outside investment from a venture capitalist, you need a business plan with some solid numbers to support your pitch. An investor will need to know your valuation of the company, how you arrived at that valuation, and why you need funding going forward.

Although this section of the business plan is important, not every business owner knows how to calculate the finances of the business and write it out in a way that’s suitable to investors. That’s where a business plan writing service can be useful; they can assist with outlining the numbers.

Better Structure

Without a business plan, a company might suffer from structural inefficiencies that can affect the bottom line. A good business plan should include who works in the business, what departments they manage and what their key skills are, which creates a useful framework for the business.

Not only does a business plan create a structure that helps to strengthen the business internally and flourish, but it also helps to create clarity from the outside. Investors can then look at the business and understand how it works, giving them more confidence to part with their money.

Better Hiring

If you don’t have a business plan, chances are you will bring in the right people at the wrong time leading to inefficiencies that can be avoided with some proper planning. Get it right, and a business plan can assist with hiring the best talent to take the business forwards when required.