It’s October, which means it’s time to start working towards your practice goals for 2020!
Strategic planning is an essential part of any successful business, but often gets overlooked. According to an April 2019 poll conducted by the Administrator Support Community for ENT (ASCENT), only 31% of ENT practices said they had mapped out a plan.
As a Fuel partner, you’re well supported from development to execution with the tools, resources and expertise needed to create a strategic plan. Fuel’s experienced regional and account managers are in your corner every step of the way, with an intuitive guide to the Fuel services that align with your practice best, from marketing to professional development and everything in between.
To start the process, you’ll first want to establish top-level goals and figure out your budget. Consider all aspects of your practice—finance, operations, HR, training, marketing, etc. Fuel’s Needs Assessment may help you prioritize these. Your goals could include anything from adding an ancillary service to increase reoccurring revenue, implementing an employee appreciation program to boost morale or increasing hearing aid sales by 20% over the previous year.
For your plan to be successful, it is essential to involve your staff, especially the leadership team. Having more people involved will hold everyone accountable and encourage the practice to strategize together. It is also important to review your plan and action items on a regular basis. This will keep your goals top-of-mind and help determine whether the initiatives are working.
Strategic plans are important to your practice for a variety of reasons—having a plan guides day-to-day decisions, aligns management and staff priorities, outlines measurable goals, provides quantifiable benchmarks and helps evaluate progress and stay within budget.
Our members have seen the success of strategic planning with Fuel. Dr. Abbye Callender’s experience is a great recount of the dynamic benefits that can occur:
“Fuel takes all the guesswork out of strategic planning. Every year, they create a quarterly marketing plan for our practice that keeps our university budget in mind. They work diligently to keep everything on a schedule, minimizing our stress, which allows us to focus on our students and our patients.
They meet with me personally to discuss our clinic’s top 3 goals for that year and set objectives on how we can achieve our goals. It’s seamless and effective. I highly recommend their services. Fuel is wonderful.”
Abbye M. Callender, Au.D.
Clinic Director & Staff Audiologist – Pacific EarClinic | School of Audiology
Though it can be time consuming, ultimately, strategic planning leads to less stress throughout the year. Which means your goals will be established and you won’t have to do any planning on-the-fly.
At Fuel, again, we’re here to guide you through the strategic planning process and help ensure your success. Our mission is to help you achieve your practice’s goals. Get started on your strategic plan today by reaching out to your regional team.
For a sample high-level planning guide click here.
