2025 business planning: How to create a roadmap for progress and success

All successful firms are built on a strong business plan. For start-ups, creating a clear vision and setting out how you expect to achieve this is crucial for securing funding and attracting clients.

Yet, business planning is not a one-and-done job. Regularly reviewing and updating your strategy is essential for your firm’s long-term viability and success.

So, as the new year gets into full swing, why not seize the opportunity to take a step back from your business, think about what’s working, what needs to change, and set some shiny new goals for 2025?

Here are our thoughts on how to create a powerful roadmap for progress and success.

Start with your Big Hairy Audacious Goal and work backwards

Creating a one-year plan in isolation simply won’t work. You need to tap into your big dream.

At Melo, we’re big fans of “backward planning”.

Start with your ultimate vision – or your Big Hairy Audacious Goal (BHAG) as Jim Collins and Jerry Porras called it in their bestselling book Built to Last – and reverse engineer it.

This is easier to do than it sounds!

First

Think about where you want your firm to be in 10 years. What is your overall mission or BHAG? What would you want your financials to look like?

Think big. And we mean BIG.

Your BHAG should feel unachievable, unrealistic, bonkers even. Don’t think too much about the details; focus on the dream.

Next

Consider what you want to achieve in the next five years. Then, where would you like to be in three years, two years, and by the end of 2025?

Finally

As you get closer and closer to where you are now, start to look at what you want to do over the next year on a really granular level.

What do we need to do over this next year that is going to help us achieve our three-year target, our five-year target and our 10-year target?

So, every part of your business plan tallies with your ultimate goal.

If this sounds a little overwhelming, don’t worry. We’ve got your back. Check out our Business Effectiveness Review and find out how this Melo MOT could turbocharge your business planning.

Look beyond your business and consider the regulatory landscape

Of course, you need to be on top of your numbers. But your business plan also needs to cover operations – the processes and systems that allow you to deliver your services.

Focusing solely on the financials won’t cut it anymore.

Since the Consumer Duty was introduced on 31 July 2023, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) expects financial planning firms to use data and key performance indicators (KPIs) to evidence how they are meeting these standards.

What’s more, firms must use “good quality data” that includes both quantitative and qualitative data from internal and external sources.

So, when you’re reviewing and updating your business plan, you need to align your strategy with the FCA’s expectations.

While this may mean that you need to slightly rein in your ambitions for 2025, you could bring a huge amount of risk to your business if you don’t get the operations right.

Get your leadership team onboard

The members of your leadership team are the ones on the front line, fighting fires and getting the job done. They see the daily challenges employees and clients face, and they know what is and isn’t working in the business.

That’s why involving senior leaders in your business planning is vital.

Your leaders are also likely to be instrumental in communicating change effectively across the team.

If all the big decisions are made in the boardroom, there could be an unhelpful disconnect between your business plan and the day-to-day activities of your people.

You want everyone pulling in the same direction towards a shared vision, and every single person in the business need to know what their role is in helping to achieve that BHAG.

Read more: Why change projects fail and how you can make yours a success

Get in touch

Sometimes it takes someone from the outside looking in to work out just what your business needs to progress and succeed.

If you’d like a fresh pair of eyes on your business to help you plan for 2025 and beyond, let’s chat.

Drop us an email at hello@melo.co.uk or call us on 0113 4656 111.