A focus on the future

New Year resolutions have a bad reputation because often, good habits and intentions fade by February, and a sense of failure takes over. Whether your resolutions are of the common variety — to exercise regularly, eat better and save more — or something more rare and personal, goals are generally focused on outcomes, or what you want to happen. Most do not consider the steps it will take to achieve these goals, which is why people often do not realize them.

Ken Blaze

Just like with resolutions, in order to have a successful long-term business plan, considering the process and path it will take to implement your strategic goals is key. Without specific steps to achieve a business resolution, the focus and drive can be lost.

Much of this issue is dedicated to long-term planning, or having a “future focus.” Our cover story profiles Bachman’s, with six garden, home and floral centers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area and displays and merchandise in the grocery store chain Lunds & Byerlys. The family-owned garden and floral center honors and cherishes its 130-year-old history — the story is detailed on the website, and family members talk about it often — but the reason it has remained successful and relevant is because it has been willing to change with the times.

Change is difficult, which is another reason so many resolutions fail. In order to move forward and to serve customers in the next generation, modifications are necessary. You can read more about Bachman’s and considerations that should go into long-term planning on page 26. In this issue, we also cover the importance of making and modifying five-year marketing plans on page 34, why websites need to be updated every three to five years (page 42,) and how to fit in equipment and facilities updates within your budget (page 39). Sherene McHenry also provides tips on how to retain a company’s most valuable asset — its employees — for the long-term on page 38. Jeff Burch, managing director and team lead for Bank of the West’s Nursery-Greenhouse Group, provides suggestions and tips for businesses looking to create long-term plans on page 31.

Whatever your resolutions and plans are for 2016, we wish you all the best as you begin and review your long-term goals. If you haven’t sat down to review your strategic plans for the future, now is the time. As Burch put it, “The biggest mistake is assuming that things are going to continue as things have in the past.”

Michelle Simakis

msimakis@gie.net