How Much Will You Grow Next Year?

I’m guessing that by the time you read this it will be just before New Year’s Eve.  If you are like most people you will be looking to celebrate and your mind will be in highly relaxed mode now that the year is winding down.

If you are an entrepreneur your brain is in a completely different place.

Every entrepreneur I know is thinking about what’s next.  They've been working on next year for a long time and can’t wait to get started.  They have plans for new products or services, better ways to do things or ideas on reducing costs and prices.  They are planning on growing and they know how they are going to do it.

Do you?

What are your plans for growth next year?  Do you know how much you plan to grow?  Do you know what it will take to get there?  Have you thought about the investment required?   Do you have a way to track things?

Here are some things to ponder about making growth happen in a growing insurance agency.  Insurance rates will continue to rise in 2015 by between 5 and 10% in personal lines while commercial lines will be flat.  So, you can count some growth here.  If your agency is well run you will lose a similar amount of business through retention losses.  If you are a price seller you will probably lose double or triple that and start in the hole.  So, the first thing to look at is do you start the year ahead, behind or even?

Now, how much do you want to grow?  You must add that number to your plan.  Since everyone needs a fudge factor to make the numbers work out what is yours?  Now you have a growth target!

IF you haven’t already done it you need a sales, marketing and management plan to go with this to make these numbers happen.  This doesn't have to be complicated  but you need one.

We've been working on this in our business for months.  We are doing the final tweaks now.  We will grow 37% net next year and plan for a 5% loss of existing customers.   So, we have to do 42% to get there plus a little fudge factor.  This will take some new employees, some more capital investment and we have a detailed activity plan for all these folks along with an advertising and marketing plan.  We’ll get there!

How about you?