HOW do you make sure your business keeps going forward? Michael Proudfoot, a director from the Kendal office of Lonsdale & Partners, offers some ideas in his latest monthly article for Business Gazette.

Anyone running a business today has to be aware of changes that may affect the future of their business. Advances in science and technology, new laws and regulations, the availability of new products, markets or competitors, not to mention changing attitudes and skills within the workforce, all have to be taken into account.

This is why strategic planning' has grown in importance and popularity in recent times. It is no longer confined to the large corporate board rooms, but is practised by small owner-managed businesses, with a little help from their advisers.

I would encourage all owner-managers to take some time out from their busy schedule to sit back and look at their business. Strategic planning might sound complex, but actually it is remarkably simple. It is based on the concept of looking forward from where your business is now to where you want it to be and working out how you are going to get there!

A systematic strategic planning process combines personal and business objectives into clearly defined strategic aims; considers the sales potential and profitability of new and existing products and services; formulates sales and marketing plans; clarifies owner-managers' roles; and determines the management information and accommo-dation needs of the business.

A financial model then tests whether the underlying assumptions will deliver the planned results and finally an action plan is produced.

And all this can be achieved in just one full day, if properly structured and facilitated. So what are you waiting for?