When a Plan Comes Together

Whatever You Do, Do Not Over-Plan

By Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA

The biggest problem associated with planning is, well… planning. Planning just sounds like a lot of work, and even gearing up to start on a marketing or business plan is likely to be last on your long list of to-dos.

One of the biggest keys to making a plan less daunting and achievable is to avoid the tendency to over-plan. Instead, break the planning process down into simpler, more palatable chunks. This will allow you to plan quicker, and focus on more achievable objectives that can be more readily realized and adjusted in real time.

Instead of a business plan that evaluates three growth scenarios over five years, focus on a single scenario over a two- to three-year period. Small adjustments to this scenario can be applied later when evaluating changes in the market. Rather than create a marketing plan that encompasses ten communication channels, address one or two at a time, building them around campaign themes that are easy to organize and make intuitive sense to you and your team.

By reducing the tendency to over-plan, the process of planning becomes more rapidly deployed and fun, allowing most of the effort to be applied to executing and adjusting—a much more productive method of moving ideas forward.

Tannus Quatre, PT, MBA, ATC, CSCS, lives at the intersection of physical therapy and entrepreneurship, spending his time helping physical therapists build and operate successful practices through his company, Vantage Clinical Solutions. He specializes in marketing, finance, and business planning, and authors and speaks regularly for the APTA and PPS. He can be reached at tannus@vantageclinicalsolutions.com.