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Many companies I work with have an Annual Plan and some foundational strategic elements, like Core Values, Core Purpose, and Mission/Vision/BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). However, these companies often don’t take the time to define goals on the 3-year time horizon to break it down into a time horizon they can better plan for. This is an essential step because these 3-year strategic plans form your base camps on the way to achieving your longer-term strategy. They allow you to brainstorm big ideas to help you grow beyond this year.
Working on your 3-5 Year Strategic Plan (PDF) is a best practice during your 2-day annual planning session, but what should the outcome of that time look like? What do you need to accomplish in that time? How does it connect to your mission statement?
3-Year Business Plan Foundation:
- 1-3 Targets
- 2-3 Strategic Winning Moves for Revenue.
- 1-2 Strategic Winning Moves for Profit
3 Year Strategic Plan Examples PDF
No cookie-cutter plan or template works for every company, but if you are struggling with a place to start or curious about what a plan might look like, here are some examples of each component of your 3 Year Plan. (For these examples, I will focus on the 3-year time horizon. Based on industry standards and your growth goals, determine whether you want a 3 Year Plan—or 4 or even 5—to double the revenue for your company. Choose a specific time horizon, focus on that period, and choose the appropriate goals for the required team members. The shorter the time frame, the more detailed the action plan and clarity around SMART goals, with Rhythm Systems' SMART AI Goal Coach having 20 years of experience behind it. (How to Write a Goal).
Strategic Planning Targets:
Most companies track revenue as a Target in your 3 year strategic plan. Consider if there are other critical strategic metrics for your business, and add those to your list. Think about your goal to achieve in 3 years, what the goal is for this year, and what the goal is next year to help you get there. You can't manage what you can't measure.
- Annual Revenue
- 2024 Goal: $50 m
- 2025 Goal: $70 m
- 2026 Goal: $100 m
- Number of Customers
- 2024 Goal: 200
- 2025 Goal: 300
- 2026 Goal: 450
- Gross Margin
- 2024 Goal: 30%
- 2025 Goal: 35%
- 2026 Goal: 40%
Other examples of Targets could be Net Profit, EBITDA, # of Locations, Revenue by Product Line, Revenue/Employee, Net Income, etc. Do individual business units require their own targets and goals? Now is the time to discuss them.
3-Year Strategic Plan Examples Video
You can download our free strategic planning example template by clicking below.
Strategic Winning Moves for Revenue
Most companies grow in a few ways: acquisitions, organic growth, or expanding into new products, services, or markets. Depending on your business, industry, and specific opportunities and challenges, you should think through and determine the right mix of Winning Moves to help you achieve the Targets you set for your 3-Year Plan in your planning session. Your Winning Moves should help you double your revenue in the next 3-5 years. Make sure that the objective is as clear as you can make. By definition, you won't know all the answers, but the better the team understands the mission - even if the details aren't precise - the more they are connected to the why, the more they can help in strategy development.
Examples of Winning Moves for revenue growth could include strategies like the following:
- Successfully integrated 3 key acquisitions
- Launch our core product to customers in Asia
- Monetize internal database technology solutions (package and sell to companies)
- Increase wallet share by 8%.
- Create additional products and services for our core customers.
- Increase recurring revenue and service contracts by 12%.
Other examples could be developing a new product, shifting your business to a subscription model, selling your product or service to a new industry, etc. You and your team will have the best ideas for growing your business. If you have trouble brainstorming and choosing ideas, we have a proven process to help.
Strategic Winning Moves for Profit.
These strategies are all about maintaining profitability as you grow. If your company doubles in revenue over the next 3 years, what do you need to have in place from an infrastructure perspective as you scale (or from a leadership and talent growth perspective)?
Examples of Winning Moves for Profit:
- Expand IT infrastructure to support growth
- Generate a consistent engine to hire, develop, and retain A-Players in management roles
- Increase revenue per employee by 25%
- Reduces employee churn 18%
- Implement Artificial Intelligence to boost productivity by 15%
How to Build Your 3-Year Plan:
Once you’ve identified the right mix of Winning Moves (no more than 3-5 total), you should do the following with each:
- Assign an Owner on your team—one person accountable for moving the idea forward.
- Set Red-Yellow-Green success criteria for each to create alignment on what success and failure would be on each goal.
- Set Revenue Projections on each Winning Move for the next 3 years. Compare this to the revenue Target you set in your 3-year plan, providing a number one long-term goal. If your revenue projections on your Winning Moves don’t add up to your revenue Targets, you have more work to do.
- Identify and test assumptions for each Winning Move. What has to pan out for your financial model to work? Consider your assumptions and validate those before you spend time, money, and energy on your strategies.
- Build an execution plan. Your annual and quarterly execution plans should link back to your Winning Moves and advance your strategy with the planning process.
- Discuss opportunities and threats - both short-term and long-term.
Establishing your 3-year strategic plan will help you get closer to achieving your long-term visionary BHAG and give your annual plans a strategic anchor. If you aren’t sure how to get started, let one of our expert facilitators guide you.
We hope you enjoy our strategic plan template; please feel free to drop us a line if we can help.
Check out these other blogs on three-year strategic plans.
The CEO Strategy-Execution Gap...And How To Fix It
Choose Your 3 Year Strategic Growth Initiatives Wisely With This 4-Step Process
9 Steps to a New Revenue Growth Strategy [Infographic]
Photo Credit: iStock by Getty Images