The term alone can strike fear in the hearts of managers and entrepreneurs alike. In this alt.Journal we want to help change the perception of strategic planning by focusing on the process, the results, and the long-term impact. You will also find a link at the bottom of this article to a more complete guide to strategic planning located on our website.

Don't confuse a strategic plan with a business plan. A business plan defines your business and a general direction. A strategic plan is used to set clear, measurable goals and chart a defined path to achieving those goals.

A good strategic planning process should take no more than a day and the result should be a written guide for your company and its employees for the next three years.

Like all of the alt.Consulting tools, the strategic planning model has been developed to meet the needs of small businesses.

alt.Consulting documents the plan for the entrepreneur. For those interested, the strategic plan can be turned into a three year financial model. If you would like to take advantage of alt.Consulting's strategic planning process for your business or organization contact us at (870) 267- 1725 (AR) or (901) 312-9797 (TN).

Dinah Terry, the owner of Omni Staffing in Memphis, TN says the strategic planning facilitated by alt.Consulting worked wonders for her business.

The strategic planning session helped her step back and look objectively at her business as a whole and clearly look at what was required for her business to grow.

The planning session caused Ms. Terry to focus on pricing. With the help of alt.Consulting, she implemented a new pricing model that is efficient and provides her with detailed information she needs to market and grow her business. She has exceeded her goals already and says, "I highly recommend the process. The process helped me focus and the pricing tool has improved efficiency."

As a small business owner, she knows how hard it is to set aside time for planning, but she also knows that the time saved has more than made up for the time invested.

alt.Consulting's 2003 strategic plan included adding a loan product to make our services affordable to all businesses. We needed a loan fund that would let us finance our services over 2 years at a very low interest rate. In 2003, we approached Regions Bank with a clear plan. They quickly understood the value of this to small businesses and provided alt.Consulting with a 0%, 3 year loan. To date, alt.Consulting has used this product to provide one- on-one assistance to 16 businesses that otherwise could not have gotten the help they needed. The result:

• Approximately 81 new jobs have been created
• Approximately 125 jobs have been sustained
• 5 of the 16 loan recipients grew sales collectively by $6 million

alt.Consulting would like to thank Regions Bank for its decision to extend its terms for another three years to keep this valuable tool in place.

alt.Consulting's long-term strategic plan includes geographic expansion. Thanks to USDA Rural Development in Mississippi and the Delta Regional Authority, alt.Consulting was able to reach an important goal and expand its services into seven Mississippi counties in July 2005: Bolivar, Coahoma, Humphreys, Quitman, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, and Leflore.

By the end of 2005, alt.Consulting had worked with 20 clients in Mississippi. See page 6 of our annual report for more details.

A Client Becomes an Important Partner - In August 2005, alt.Consulting received a call from Bertron Cowan who owns a business in Leflore County, Mississippi. Through the work with alt.Consulting, Mr. Cowan saw the value that alt.Consulting could bring to other businesses in Greenwood and Leflore County.

Each visit with the client included meetings he had arranged with entrepreneurs who needed assistance and with community leaders. Mr. Cowan also encouraged a collaboration between alt.Consulting and the Leflore County Business and Manufacturing Incubator.