Chapter 8 -
Action plan

Your action plan is the list of your tactics presented in the order you expect to complete them. Although you may view your tactics in terms of who needs to accomplish them, a business plan reader is more concerned with when you plan to complete them. It’s important too that you know the schedule for implementing your tactics.

Suppose your strategic plan calls for several major capital investments — new reefers, a mobile communications system and a fleet management software package, for example. You may not be able to afford even the deposits on those purchases if you make them simultaneously and try to fund them from cash flow. If you have delegated some of these purchasing decisions to other managers, you could easily wind up in a severe crunch unless you specify when those investments are to occur. Of course, if you receive bank financing for those capital improvements, then there may not be any severe financial consequences of poor timing.

But money isn’t the only issue. A time line helps the business plan reader weigh your stated requirements against all your available resources. Suppose your action plan plots out an astonishing array of accomplishments in your business plan’s first 60 days. A lender or investor understandably might question whether your management team has the time and energy to pull off such a feat while running a trucking company full time. A lender or investor wants to know that you aren’t trying to do too much at once.

A financial backer also wants to see whether your action plan is logical. Are you spending a great deal of time and money on one tactic that won’t benefit you until you complete a separate tactic not scheduled for completion until six months later? It wouldn’t make sense, for example, to spend a large sum of money in the next two months to promote your new mission statement if you won’t complete the tactics needed to deliver on the mission for another year.

On the SCOR stock registration form, the action plan — called “milestones” — covers the 12 months following receipt of the stock offering’s proceeds. But you can adapt the concept by assuming the action plan begins with either the completion of the business plan or the receipt of your bank loan or other debt financing. Also, in the interest of completeness, you might choose a time line longer than a year — perhaps as long as three years. Due to financial, personnel or other constraints, some of your tactics may be impossible to complete within 12 months.

However you choose to structure your action plan, they must match available funds. Provide a cost estimate for achieving each action in your plan. If completing your action plan depends on obtaining capital, make sure that the use of financing section accounts for all those steps.

Example of an action plan table

Tactic	Actions needed	Total time frame	Estimated cost	Manager responsible
Purchase new reefers	Establish specs Contact dealers Negotiate pricing and financing terms Place order Receive equipment	3-4 months	$500,000	Vice president
Acquire fleet management system	Analyze requirements Identify and contact vendors Issue request for quotes Negotiate with preferred vendor Place order Receive system Train dispatchers	6-8 months	$25,000	President
Install on-board communications	Analyze requirements Identify and contact vendors Issue request for quotes Negotiate with preferred vendor Place order Install system Train dispatchers and drivers	6-8 months	$40,000 + $3,000 per month	Vice president
Develop incentives program	Identify reliability problems Determine/confirm cause Establish benchmarks Set up monitoring system Determine funds available Implement program	8-10 months	$1,000 per month	President
Promote reliability strategy	Add mission statement to trailers, letterhead, forms, and business cards Redesign website Design and place advertising in food distribution trade magazines	8-10 months	$15,000	Office manager

In Summary
The action plan is a chronological list of actions needed to achieve your business objectives. In substance, it’s usually the same as the tactics identified by your strategic planning, with items placed in sequential order. Each action comes with an estimated time frame and cost, allowing both internal and external users of the business plan to track the company’s managerial and financial performance.