The Strategy and Planning Handbook
Management · Nº 13
The Strategy and Planning Handbook
From Assessment to Annual Plan, with a Weekly Meeting to Track Execution
You made a plan for this year. When did anyone last open it?
24 tools that take you from an honest look at your market to a one-page annual plan and a 30-minute Monday meeting, with a spreadsheet and one example company worked through start to finish.
You get 24 tools to assess your market and your business, choose where to play and how to win, put the whole year on one page, and track it every week. Plus a spreadsheet with 5 working tabs, already filled in with the example.
A book explains the method. This handbook puts it to work: the tool, a worked example, and a spreadsheet with your numbers.
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
It's December. You promise yourself next year will be different and jot down a few targets: grow, get organized, maybe launch something. Then January happens. A rush quote. A customer who pays late. A competitor drops their price, so you drop yours. You say yes to every kind of job because turning work away feels wrong. By March, the plan is in a drawer, three projects are half done, and you're working harder than ever without knowing if it's the right work.
THE SPREADSHEET
Strategic plan spreadsheet
Use the completed example as a reference and enter your business data in the marked fields. Check the instructions and the calculations before you make a decision.
SOUND FAMILIAR?
Three situations this handbook solves
September, before next year sneaks up on you
You block a morning with two or three key people. You score the trends, compare the pressure in two markets, and put your competitors on the map. Then you work out profit by line and see which part of the business keeps you busy without paying its way.
Monday, 8 a.m., standing next to the plan
Thirty minutes, only the annual targets. You check the scoreboard of leading indicators, each person says whether they kept last week's commitment, and everyone leaves with one or two for this week. Problems get their own conversation later.
Your main line runs below plan for a second month
You open the rolling forecast and check the scenario triggers you set when you built the plan. One has fired, so you apply the response you already agreed on, instead of improvising a discount on a Tuesday afternoon.
INSIDE
What you'll find in each tool
Five parts, in the order a real plan gets built. Look outward at your market. Look inward at what each line of the business actually earns. Make the choices: where to play, how to win, and what to stop doing. Turn them into a one-page annual plan with targets, initiatives, and a budget. Then keep it alive with weekly numbers, a Monday meeting, and a monthly forecast. Every tool has a step by step, a worked example, and a short exercise.
WHAT YOU GET
Everything included in your purchase
- The Strategy and Planning Handbook in PDF: 24 tools, each with a step by step, a worked example, and an exercise
- The strategic plan spreadsheet in Excel and Google Sheets, with 5 working tabs, filled in with the example company
- The Template kit: 13 ready-made agendas, scripts, and texts, including the assessment day agenda and the plan announcement to your team
- 2 worksheets to fill in (one-page assessment and annual plan) and a 30-day plan, one week per stage
- Access to your handbook on the Consylion platform
Full table of contents
The 24 tools, in the order you'll use them
Part 1 · Part 1 · The market you play in
- 01Good strategy and bad strategyThe test that tells a real strategy apart from a wish list
- 02Trends that change your marketThe outside shifts that will shape your year, scored for impact and certainty
- 03The five forces in your industryWhy one industry turns a profit while the one next door is all work
- 04Competitor mapWho is after your customer and where there is still room
Part 2 · Part 2 · What your business has
- 05The job the customer hires you forWhat your customer is really trying to solve when they buy from you
- 06Profit by line and by customerWhere the business makes money and where it only brings in revenue
- 07Resources no one can copyWhat you have that is valuable, rare, and hard to imitate
- 08The critical challengeThe obstacle holding your business back the most, in one sentence
Part 3 · Part 3 · The choices
- 09Where to play and how to winWhich customer, which offer, and which advantage, in writing
- 10Low cost, differentiation, or focusThe three ways to win, and the risk of getting stuck in the middle
- 11Value curve and blue oceanWhat to eliminate, reduce, raise, and create to get out of the price war
- 12The four paths to growthMore of the same, new customers, new products, or both
- 13What must be trueThe assumptions behind your choice, and a cheap test before you bet on it
Part 4 · Part 4 · The annual plan
- 14Annual targets in a few numbersThree to five measured targets, each with an owner and a deadline
- 15Strategy mapHow people, processes, and customers lead to profit
- 16Initiatives that fit in the yearThe projects that go in, the ones that wait in the queue, and why
- 17Annual budgetThe plan's revenue, costs, and investments, line by line
- 18The one-page annual planThe whole strategy on one sheet your team actually reads
Part 5 · Part 5 · Execution, week by week
- 19Leading indicatorsThe weekly numbers that show where a target is heading before the month ends
- 20Weekly strategy meetingThirty minutes every Monday so the plan doesn't die by March
- 21Scenarios and triggersWhat you'll do if the year turns out better or worse than planned, decided ahead of time
- 22Rolling annual forecastRedo the year's numbers every month and correct course in time
- 23After-action reviewFour questions to learn from every initiative, finished or not
- 24The strategy calendarWhen in the year to assess, choose, plan, and review
Who it's for
It's for you if
- You feel your market shifting and can't decide whether to cut prices, go after new customers, or launch something new
- Your plan for the year lives in your head, or in a file nobody has opened since you wrote it
- You take on every kind of job and suspect some of it keeps you busy without paying its way
- You want your team to know the three or four things that matter this year, and to look at them every Monday
- You run a small or midsize business and you're the one who decides where it's headed
It's not for you if
- You want a management routine for the whole business, with org chart, scorecard, and dashboard. Start with The Business Management Handbook
- You need to sort out cash flow and forecast the next 13 weeks. That's The Cash Flow and Profit Handbook
- You haven't opened the business yet and need to design the business model first. See The Business Model Handbook
- You want a promise of growth or profit. This handbook helps you make choices and shows whether the plan is moving forward
Frequently asked questions
My business is small. Do I really need a strategy?
You need choices, and they fit on one page. The smaller the business, the more it costs to spread your attention across too many customers and products. The example is a 24-person print shop, and every tool shows how it applies to services, retail, manufacturing, and professional practices.
Do I need a business degree or a consultant?
No. The handbook is written at an intermediate level and takes the classics, from Porter and Rumelt to blue ocean, down to steps, scores, and one worked example. The spreadsheet does the math: you type in your numbers and the plan page builds itself.
What if I don't have my numbers by line?
Start with an estimate, worked out with your accountant or from the year's bank statements. Even a rough number shows the line that loses money. You refine it the following year.
I already use SWOT. Is this the same thing?
No. Parts 1 and 2 feed your SWOT with scores and numbers instead of opinions. Parts 3 to 5 then take that assessment into choices, a one-page plan, and a weekly routine to track it.
Won't the Monday meeting become just another meeting?
Only if it drifts into other topics. It's thirty minutes, standing up, at the same time every week, with only the annual targets on the table. Each person reports on last week's commitment and takes on one or two for this week.
How much time does this take?
About 2 hours and 24 minutes of reading, or 6 minutes per tool, plus the exercises. The 30-day plan spreads the build over four weeks, one stage per week. After that, the routine is 30 minutes every Monday and a forecast update once a month.
What do I get, and in what formats?
Each handbook is a PDF of about 100 pages with 24 to 27 tools. Every tool has step-by-step instructions and a worked example. You also get the handbook's spreadsheet in Excel (.xlsx), which opens in Google Sheets too, with the example already filled in. The message, policy, and clause templates are in the Template Kit inside the PDF, ready to copy and adapt. Read it in the member area or download the files.
How do I know if it fits my business?
Each handbook's page shows the problem it solves, who it is for and who it is not for, the full table of contents, sample pages, and the company used in the examples. The examples come from small businesses in several industries, with illustrative numbers. If it is not a fit, you can ask for a full refund within 14 days of your purchase, as described in the Refund Policy.
What is the difference between a handbook, an area set, and the Series?
A handbook solves one problem. An area set brings together every handbook and spreadsheet in one of the 6 areas, for less than the price of 5 single handbooks. The Consylion Handbook Series brings together all 100 handbooks and 100 spreadsheets, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks, and includes the next handbooks in the Series. Products outside the Series, from Consylion Life or Consylion Business, have their own price. They are sold separately and are not part of an area set or the Series.
Do I need to read everything before I start?
No. Each tool works on its own. Open the table of contents, pick the tool for today's problem, and start there. You can also read it cover to cover.
Do I need to know Excel?
The basics are enough: open the file and fill in the marked fields. The formulas are already built, and the handbook's example is filled in for reference.
How do I pay, and when do I get access?
By card or bank transfer, as a one-time payment with no subscription. Once your payment is confirmed, you get access to the member area by email. Approved card payments are confirmed right away. Bank transfers are confirmed when the funds clear. If access does not arrive within 24 hours of confirmation, check your spam folder and write to team@consylion.org.
How long do I have access, and how can I use the files?
Access does not expire, and you can download the files for offline use. The license is individual. You may read the handbooks, print them for your own use, and fill in and adapt the spreadsheet and templates with your company's data. If you are a consultant, accountant, or manager, you may apply the tools with your clients and deliver the result of your work, not the files. You may not share, resell, or distribute the files or the access.
How do support and refunds work?
Support is by email at team@consylion.org, on business days, with a reply within 5 business days. It covers questions about access, files, and payment. It does not include consulting or advice on applying the material to your case. You can cancel within 14 days of your purchase, without giving a reason, and get the full amount back through the payment method you used. Send the request to the same email. The details are in the Refund Policy.
CONSYLION HANDBOOK SERIES
The 6 departments of your business, for less than the price of 8 single handbooks.
This handbook solves today's problem. The Series solves the next one, and the one after that, with nothing more to pay.
- 100 handbooks with 2,403 ready-made tools, to read on screen and download as PDFs
- 100 spreadsheets for Excel and Google Sheets
- 6 business areas
- Lifetime access, unlocked once payment is confirmed
One-time payment of $197.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.
Management · Nº 13
Give your plan a Monday, not just a January
A target on its own doesn't tell anyone what to do on Monday. This handbook gives you the tools, the spreadsheet, and a worked example to choose what matters, write it on one page, and look at it every week with your team. What you build with it is up to you.
See all 100 handbooks · $197.00
One-time payment of $29.00. The order form shows the final amount, with any taxes for your country, before you pay.
Digital delivery: PDF handbook, spreadsheet and access on the Consylion platform.
14-day money-back guarantee: if it isn't what you expected, request a full refund within 14 days of purchase.
Your order is processed by Digistore24, our authorized reseller. By purchasing, you accept the terms of use and purchase · refund policy.