Charting Success: The Power of Strategic Planning for Your Group

Hello and welcome to Mastermind Mastery, the podcast for professionals who want to create and run successful peer advisory councils, or as we call them, PACs for short, or they're also known as peer groups or business mastermind groups. I'm your host, Tina Corner Stolz, founder of Elix Council, where I've been in the industry running groups since 2005 and now help those like you with education, certification, and support wanting to do the same. At one time, I ran 10 groups, nearly 100 members, and sold my groups For a Good Multiple and recently released my second book, Your Seat at the Table: How to Create and Run Your Own Peer Advisory Councils, published by Forbes, and grateful to you that it's an Amazon bestseller. I invite you to join each week where we share strategies and techniques to successfully launch and become a master of running your PACs. You'll hear insights, perspectives, do's and don'ts, learn from my and my guests' mistakes, successes, and get the inside track to key takeaways. Each time we have guest, we'll be having a bit of fun.

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Let's get going and dive into today's episode.

Welcome everyone to Mastermind Mastery. I am Tina Corner Stolz and today's episode is absolutely on point as we're getting ready to wrap up this year, rolling into next year. And it's about strategic planning, but it's not what you think. It is strategic planning, not for your business in regards to running groups per se. It's a strat plan specifically per group that you run. So this concept actually we've been using for numerous years and it's, and it's been a game changer really, because it really is focused on taking a step back and looking at your groups from a strategic standpoint. So in today's episode, you're gonna learn about what do we include in our STRAP plan, what kinds of questions should you be asking yourself, how to reflect, and how to move forward in the coming year so you actually have a plan, a workable document of how you're gonna take your group to the next level, solve some of the challenges that you're being faced with the group that you're running, and also look at opportunities that you can leverage, no different than if you were coaching coaching, working with from a consulting standpoint, a client, or even your own business and doing a strategic plan. So let's get started. So first of all, one of the things that we suggest in the form is that you do a current, like, an analysis, right? So you're going to look at your group stats. Your group stats are going to be how many members do you have? What is the retention percentage been? So let's talk about that for just a moment. From a retention standpoint, it's important you look at, first of all, about why anyone terminated or left. Was it for a good reason or was it a surprise? Was it because maybe they weren't a fit? And what can you learn from that? So one of the ways that we calculate retention percent per group is you take the number of members a year ago and then minus the number of lost members divided by the number of members you have today. So for example, if you had 12 members last November minus 2 losses divided by how many members that you have today, that could equal, for example, 90%. And you can calculate the number of members a year ago that are members today divided by the number of members a year ago, and that gives you that percent. So example, 10 members today that were a member a year ago, 11 members that were in the group a year ago, 10 divided by 11, 91%. What is most important behind this whole thing I just said about calculation is that you just pick the one method you want to do about retention and stick with that year over year. But calculating your actual retention percentage is important. So one of the things you want to do is you always want to be, if at all possible, clearly 100% retention, but at a minimum 90+ retention. And why is that important? It's because you don't want much turnover, because turnover is disruptive in the group. Turnover can be very positive in the group, obviously, and new members can be extremely positive coming in for the group. But the point is, it should all be for a good reason, not for a bad reason, right? So take a look again. Past year, how many members do you have? What's the retention percent look like? What does your diversity look like? So now diversity is an episode all in itself, just like retention is. But are you happy with the diversity in your group? Is it missing something? Something that's beyond just gender diversity. You have race, ethnic diversity, but do you have diversity in thought, diversity in the experience? What are you missing with that diversity? But that's gonna come in a minute about that. But what does your diversity look like today? So break that diversity down in all those categories. Male, female, right? Race, different ethnic backgrounds. And then where else do you have diversity in regards to industry, knowledge, expertise, experiences, right? You might put down, for example, diversity in regards to members that are in partnerships or have ESOPs or members that are familiar with M&A. That they're acquiring members that have remote locations versus single location. So look at for all of that and see where there's commonality, but also view where you might have gaps. Then look at group statistics. You want to take a look financially. What's the average revenue per member? This is something I encourage you to include because the average revenue per member member isn't just what they pay on a monthly basis. You should also include what it is they bring to the table in regards to referrals, because that is a higher-paying member because they are bringing in more revenue just beyond being a member. Do you do consulting or coaching with them? That should be added in. So take a look at what your revenue is per member, and then your average, because you obviously want that to always be increasing. I'm particularly taking into effect price increases, and do you have a strategic plan for that on how it is that you stay ahead of not only inflation but also if you've changed anything and adding more value to your members that you believe should dictate an increase because of that value. And that is always, you know, your call. But again, you should keep your eye on how your revenue is going per member. Now let's get into— after you've taken a look at the snapshot of what your group looks like today, now let's take a look and do the traditional SWOT analysis, right? What are the strengths of the group? What are the skill sets, the experiences, the culture? What does the group do well? right? Then take a look at the weaknesses. Member engagement, participation. What are the strength of what we call COPIs, challenge, opportunities, problems, or ideas that they bring to the table? You know, are they bringing things that are the most relevant? Are they showing up prepared? Where is it that you feel there are opportunities, which brings into the third category of SWOT, O, opportunities. So are opportunities in having speakers referral for referrals from your members? Are they actually referring or is that an opportunity? What about retreats? What about, again, the number of members desired? You know, where are opportunities in regards to your skill set as a minor, as a moderator in running the groups? What are the goals for the groups that you have? You know, one of the things that, you know, one of our colleagues, a licensed partner, um, actually conjured up a few years ago is he has a vision for the group that he has articulated. And I just thought, you know what? That is brilliant in that you should have a vision for your group. What is it that you visualize? The type of group, who's sitting around the table, what are they doing, where's the group going, what are the things that they're really supporting each other, et cetera. Is your vision, and that is an opportunity, an opportunity to talk about it with the group if you've never done that before. What kinds of speakers maybe should you consider having?

That's opportunities.

And then of course, what comes after opportunities? Threats. Absolutely. So do you have a member that's in jeopardy that could be a threat to the group? Is there simple threats like maybe the meeting place isn't the best? Maybe if you're virtual, you know, it's hard to keep everybody engaged and distractions are a threat, right? So are you missing talent that— and not having a full group, that's a threat, OK? And then you can look at some threats as opportunities. And it's really back to what do you think is really causing the group not to be the best that it can? Are there areas within your own moderating that is a threat to the group because maybe you're not addressing things in a timely fashion. Maybe it is that there are some difficult conversations to have. Maybe the group isn't as vulnerable as it could be, and that could be a threat because is the meeting agenda getting stale, right? So what you're gonna do again with your group is you're gonna do a SWOT analysis, right? You could also get some feedback from the group about what they think the strengths are of the group and the area of opportunities, and you can rope that into your SWOT analysis. So it's not all just your perspective. You could get their perspective as well, which brings me to plan for the year. Now that you have the snapshot of exactly where your group is and stats your SWOT on the group now, what does it look like going into the next year? So what kind of speakers or topics are you going to put on the agenda that are important for discussions? If you have strap plan presentations for your members, or maybe they do what we call a perspective report on their business, or they do a deep dive— sometimes people call them a member deep dive— Who's gonna do them? When are they gonna do them? What month does someone have to do those? And then what kind of socials or bonding activities are you going to do? Where are they gonna be? When is the best time of year to do that? What kinds of activities are you gonna do? And you're gonna line those out, and then you're gonna line out what part of the stats that you want to be better for your group. You want one more members. Less members, maybe. What's your retention that you want to have? What diversity is needed, right? So we're going back to that. Where are you missing the boat on diversity? And what do you want your average member revenue to be, right? Where is it that you can capitalize on that? So now you have a plan for the year, right? This is where I want to fill the gaps. This is This is the areas of opportunity. This is what I'm gonna leverage. Now you have a very focused strategy. Now it's time for just a little reflection as well. Well, I encourage you to ask yourself these questions. What's the best thing that happened with the group this year? What would you have done differently? Meaning as far as the decision for the group, you would've made What would it have been differently? Would you have gotten a different new member? Would you have handled a situation differently, etc.? Okay. And then where have you grown as a moderator? Where do you want to grow as a moderator? And what one thing can you implement that will bring the greatest ROI, return on investment, for your group by the end of the next year? What is the one thing that will be more of a game changer and a positive, what we call MX, member experience for your group. Okay? And then you can take a look at how do I accomplish the first 90 days? What is it that I'm gonna do the second 90 days? Okay? And kind of line out when you're going to do what, what are the key actions in the plan and what kinds of learning and development are you personally going to do? And listening to, like, this podcast is a good start, and future podcasts, in order to sharpen your skills so you can be the best at what you can be. But you're going to attract a way better member for your group when you are at your best as well. The last thing with all of this is that I encourage you to share it with your group. At the beginning of the year. Number 1, they will be very impressed, the fact that you actually did it. Number 2, they will gain insights into what you think it is on where you want to take the group in each of the aspects. You might not necessarily share some of the items like retention per se or your average revenue per member, But you know what it is that you can share that's going to be meaningful for them because they are basically like your team. Okay? And when you have a team, they like to know where they're going. And so you've given them now a roadmap, but you've also shown them how important the group is to you because we've always talked about you should care about their business. They should feel like you care about their business just as much as they do. So in closing, think about a STRAP plan. We have the form that will be part of resources that you can see in the show notes. Encourage you to download it, use it, use it as your guideline, and would love to hear how it went as you're coming upon this year, closing it out, looking into next year. It's a great exercise to do when you have a few moments. Over a cup of coffee, or as you do an offsite of yourself, but to do it per group. And it will give you a sense of, first of all, feedback, but accomplishment focus for the year. But it gives you that roadmap that will make planning your meetings just go seamless and much more efficient as you get into the new year. Month by month with your meetings. So with that, thanks again for joining me for this episode in Mastermind Mastery, and I look forward to seeing you next week. Now go make it happen.

Hey, moderators of groups, thank you so much for listening to today's podcast. To get access to today's show notes and exclusive content and resources, visit tinacornerstolz.com/podcast or lxcounsel.com, where you can also become part of an exclusive online community, attend our academy, or get free resources, templates, checklists, and more. And you can even contact me there as well. So if this episode resonated with you and you know someone who can also benefit from listening, please share with them by taking a screenshot and even posting on your social media. I also love reviews and appreciate hearing from each of you, those actually doing this wonderful work. Please tune in next week for another episode of Mastermind Mastery. And I'll close by sharing something my mentor did after every learning moment. He shared a shiny pebble from his pocket with anyone he passed knowledge to and asked them to forward that pebble knowledge on. So now I encourage you to go pass on a pebble, the takeaways you learned today, to either your existing groups or fellow peers. Now go make it a great one.