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About the course

Created to meet the specific needs of business owners and senior leaders, this course comprises five core modules that will take you through the full process of business planning. Each module is complemented by a suite of tools and templates designed to give you clarity and focus at every step.

From setting your strategic intent at the beginning, right through to developing your product strategy, building a financial plan and ultimately ensuring that you can execute and deliver your vision, Practical Business Planning gives you a fully featured toolkit for growth.

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We don’t currently have any dates available to book for this course. Please complete the form to express your interest in attending a course, and we will be in touch when we are in the process of organising our next course dates.

If you would like to arrange for a bespoke training session, or if you have any further questions, please contact us.

How does the course work?

Practical Business Planning features two core delivery elements:

5 modules, each of which lasts 90 minutes. Every module is delivered as a group session, with between 6-10 participants.

An hour-long 1:1 session for each delegate – these 1:1 sessions allow our hugely experienced team to understand your individual requirements and business challenges, and connect the teaching to your needs.

The Firestarter strategic business planning course

We provide, full, comprehensive course materials for each module – these include a suite of functional business tools and templates for your continued use in running your business. Additionally, you will have direct and ongoing access to your course tutor throughout the programme to support with exercises and questions.

The courses are specifically designed with small cohorts so that we can focus on practical and implementable learning, with NDAs established with all parties at the outset to encourage open conversation and sharing of real and relevant examples, not just theoretical and forgettable classroom content.

Each module consists of a structured 90-minute online session, with core content delivered to set an ethos and best practice for each subject. With a 50:50 ratio of lecture and practical activity, we encourage breakouts in each module, with small group sessions to drive learning, experimentation and confidence.

All modules are designed to focus on ‘real life’ scenarios, with exercises that delegates can take away to implement in their day-to-day business lives. We also ensure that the module content is connected to individual 1:1 requirements, and provide in-module mentoring to assist with personal development.

Our practical business planning course is delivered over five informative modules

Module 1

Gripping your strategy in 3 easy steps

Articulating strategy can be overwhelming and a job that either never gets done or is done in such a way that once complete, the sense is you have reached the end, not the beginning of your strategic journey. We focus on 3 simple exercises which between them articulate your strategic intent, link this to all the functions of your business and translate complex action streams into a manageable “vital few” set of priorities.

Module 2

A product strategy on a page (PSOAP)

Being able to articulate a clear product strategy will drive not only your commercial (financial) thinking but also the whole basis of your operational business. We’ll help you deliver a speedy, but far-reaching methodology for gripping the entire reach of your product strategy on a single page – a game-changing tool for really working out where to focus.

Module 3

Building the right organisational shape for your business

Based on your commercial and operational goals, you need a very focused organisational development plan – this can be overwhelming with challenges relating to both existing and new staff. Stripping your organisation strategy right down and rebuilding it so that it is fit for purpose – linking people to strategy and finding out how to build the best team from existing and new employees.

Module 4

Building a 3 year financial plan efficiently

Financial planning can be overwhelming, but the exercise needs to be efficient, not over-engineered. Linking your plan carefully to your Product Strategy will take you on a logical speedy journey to build a clear and robust strategy. In this module, we’ll bring all of your planning together into a practical (and flexible) financial plan – starting from today and articulating the path to your aspirational targets – a real basis to run your business.

Module 5

Embedding ‘rhythm & rigour’ – being a more efficient manager

The classic issue in businesses is that even if they “nail” their strategy documents, they “fail” to make the time or stick to the discipline of pushing the strategy through – the day job gets in the way. We’ll focus on developing effective rhythm around the execution of your strategic priorities; linking long term goals to short term activity and engaging your whole team in this process.

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Watch a customer's testimonial here

Previous attendees reviews

Firestarter provide very insightful and practical advice on how to grow my business. I like their no nonsense approach. They gave us much greater clarity and purpose to our sales process. Their seminars are also very useful indeed. I would strongly recommend them to any business wanting to scale up or create a clearer overall strategy for growth.

SOZO
Shaun Uthup, Sozo Design

I’ve been working with Firestarter for a while now, they have really helped my business grow, both through their excellent forums and their academy training courses. Highly recommend.

Secret Source
Richard Clarke, Secret Source (Gran Canaria)

Working with Firestarter has been a joy. Their approach to driving sales and business development has been brilliant for my consultancy, helping to structure our approach to business growth. Our colleagues have taken part in the Firestarter Forums and The Academies and found both of these programmes to be informative, relevant, actionable and fun.

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Doug Elliot, Founder of DE-velop.org

I attended the virtual Firestarter business development programme and it was an extremely helpful tool to help boost further business and a great confidence builder! All Firestarter hosts and facilitators are very friendly and professional, creating a great environment to connect, develop and reflect.

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Gabriella Pugh, Red Blaze

A really excellent course, great practical application presented in an easy to understand & good humoured way. I will be making changes to my sales process and approach shortly. Thank you.

SOZO
Joseph Hirst, Sozo Design

The training course was very interactive and insightful. The one-to-one sessions were very useful. I met a lot of like-minded professionals who have made the experience even better by sharing their personal tips and tricks.

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Nathan King, Addvantage Strategy

Was looking for a non ``shiny`` suit sales training for my team and Firestarter was recommended by a contact. Completely fitted the bill. Signed up 3 members of the team and looking to explore further training in the future.

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Tim Clegg, GOSENSE LTD

Great sessions dedicated to specific topics in the Business Development industry. They were concise, interactive and thought-provoking. A great investment of time and money!

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Pablo Beattie, Cadventure