Key Decision Points

Key Decision Points Matter!

Even if you don't want to publish them in your business plan it is still a good idea to work out what your decision points are.

Not sure what I mean?

Decision points are the points in time and the development of your business where you revisit your goals and objectives and determine what your future course of action will be.

For a new business, deciding what the triggers or prompts for your decision points can be vital.

Need an example?

One major decision that you might end up facing is whether or not to keep going with the business.

No-one likes to think about it when they are just starting out, but the reality is that the vast majority of small businesses that start up each year, do not even survive the first twelve months of trading!

What will your trigger be for this decision point?

It could be at a particular point in time, or when you reach your maximum spend on promoting your business. If you decide up front what the trigger will be and work out what criteria you will use to make the decision, you might be able to avoid procrastinating to the point of bankruptcy!

What will your criteria be?

Whatever you select, the criteria should be related to a measure or measures of success for your business. Is it the number of customers, or the amount of income per month? Perhaps it is the number of repeat purchases or referrals from happy customers.

Maybe it will just be whether or not you are generating enough income to pay the bills!

Other decision points

You can use the concept of decision points to evaluate any important feature of your business model. Is your marketing strategy working? If you design your decision point and define what success looks like when you implement the strategy, you will have a concrete measure to evaluate your marketing efforts against.

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