This is the time of year when all our consulting and fractional CFO distributor clients are working on 2026 business plans and budgets. Makes sense, right?
But when we had initial discovery calls with distributors over the last few years, 99% have never used a business plan or any sort of budget. Some have sales targets, but we all know that this would never be acceptable for any organization that is strategic and purposeful about achieving its goals. Now is a great time to stop winging it and join top distributors that plan for success.
Too many distributors work hard and then get to year end and check their P&L to see how they did. If you’re always gauging success by looking backwards at year end, try looking forward now and build a business plan and corresponding budget that paints a picture of how you intend to do next year.
Randy Conley
President, Promo Consulting
If you execute your plan and stick to your expense budget, then you start the year knowing what success looks like and what important goals you intend to achieve. Does this forward-looking picture excite you? Is it reasonable based on past performance? What adjustments do you need to make to end up with a 2026 business plan that will get you headed toward achieving your longer-term goals? Is your business plan aligning with your personal/family financial goals?
Get Your House In Order
Typical business plan topics with the mid and large distributors ($3 million-$25 million) we commonly work with include:
- Sales growth, especially around scaling rapidly
- Margin growth – Why can’t you do better than the industry average?
- Operational efficiency and process improvement
- Cost control
- Improving financial reporting and reliability of financial statements
- Team culture – Can we attract younger talent to come work for us?
- Work/life balance
- EBITDA growth, which translates directly to the value of your business
I suggest choosing three or four main goals at the most. You can’t change everything at once or you’ll overwhelm your staff and risk losing focus on what really matters. It’s ok to have 10 things you want to improve but prioritize and focus on large impact items that are achievable with the team and time you have. It’s ok to leave some goals for your 2027 plan!
Be sure to develop strategies and action items that correspond with each goal. Assign specific individuals on your team to oversee each action item and agree on a date for completion. Again, be realistic and resist the urge to try and complete everything in Q1.
The Importance Of Accountability
If you are a larger firm with an executive team, this is a good time for a leadership retreat to include them in the planning process. Nothing drives success like having buy-in from your team leaders that have helped develop the plan. This gives them “ownership” for their department’s role in success and makes accountability seem natural.
Accountability is a critical part of using your plan and achieving success. Monthly reviews of individual action items are a good place to start as well as quarterly leadership team meetings to share overall progress on big picture goals. Find a cadence that works for you, but planning without an accountability process is likely a waste of time. Track progress and reward success.
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Budgets are a good way to see the financial ramifications of your plan before you start implementing.
- What will the bottom line look like if we hire more reps and expand the capacity of our admin team?
- Can we really afford that new software system?
- What if sales growth doesn’t happen as planned – will this significantly stress our cash flow?
- What’s the expected ROI of the investments we plan to make next year and are we ok with that?
Large distributors with a full leadership team are often investing in planning and management systems like EOS to help them take their business to that next level. While these are fantastic solutions, they can be overkill for most small and mid-sized distributors. You need something simple that you will actually use.
Here’s a link to a business plan template that we use with our consulting and fractional CFO clients: Free Simple Business Plan Template. Most distributors use QuickBooks for accounting, and it includes simple budgeting tools – give them a try. If you have your own templates, use those as the important thing is that you have a system that works for you.
2026 is the year for less winging it, more planning and positive accountability that can drive your business to even greater success.
As an entrepreneur with over 40 years of promo experience, Randy Conley has built his own successful distributorship, been an executive at a leading industry SaaS provider and worked with some of the top distributors in the industry as a consultant. He’s currently president of Promo Consulting, which is focused on helping distributors do better.
