Business Planning
External Relationships Plan
In the traditional BIG business planning model, this sub-plan is usually referred to as the Production and/or Supply Plan. Once again, the name betrays the common BIG business failure to comprehend the true role of personal relationships in the business process. (See The Goose or the Egg?)
Calling it a Production and/or Supply Plan gives priority to the effects, not the cause that is, it gives priority to the result at the expense of any relationships involved. In other words, relationships are viewed merely as a means to an end a perspective guaranteed to minimise any confidence and trust in you by the other parties to that relationship. (Really intelligent behaviour!)
It also tends to ignore other vital external relationships, like your bankers, accountants, lawyers and other professional advisors, in favour of suppliers and sub-contractors involved in production or supply of products and services not in the actual management of the business itself. This is fine for BIG business, which tends to have plenty of people, resources and expertise for managing the business inside the organisation. But its potentially disastrous for small business, which must rely on external management resources to a far greater extent.
The External Relationships Plan should be an integrated strategy for optimising the synergy* possible from all relationships outside your business that play a vital role in its management.
This is one of the sides of the fulcrum that creates leverage for us (see Our Fulcrum). The reason we have these external relationships is to provide us with resources we lack in order to realise our Business Vision and to help us work less and earn more.
The advantage of external relationships, compared to internal relationships, is that we can call on them only as we need them. We dont have to pay for them on an ongoing basis or worry about keeping these people busy.
*Synergy is the result of applied leverage. That result is exponentially higher than the sum of the parts. See the sections on Exponential Curves and Synergy.)
Return to Your Business Vehicle
Business
Mission/Business Vision
Key Competitive Edge
Basis for Business/Basis for Growth
Customer Relationships
Finance Internal
Relationships External
Relationships
