04.06.T03-AP — Action Planning Worksheet: Increasing the Value of My Business

Turning Value Addition into Business Growth

This chapter demonstrates that successful businesswomen intentionally create value for customers, understand their value chains, eliminate waste, create perceivable impact and continuously monitor their businesses.

Use this worksheet to identify practical opportunities for increasing the value created by your business and develop a plan for action.

Part A: Taking Stock of My Business

1. Which lesson from this chapter challenged you most strongly?

☐ Understanding customer value

☐ Developing a Unique Value Proposition

☐ Understanding the value chain

☐ Building competitive advantage

☐ Eliminating waste

☐ Creating perceivable impact

☐ Monitoring changes

☐ Continuous improvement

☐ Other:

2. Why did this lesson stand out to you?

3. What does this reveal about your current business practices?

Part B: Understanding My Customers Better

The cosmetics business succeeded because the business understood what customers truly valued.

4. What do your customers value most?

☐ Quality

☐ Reliability

☐ Convenience

☐ Price

☐ Safety

☐ Durability

☐ Speed

☐ Prestige

☐ Personalised service

☐ Other:

5. How do you know that these are the things your customers value most?

6. What additional information do you need about your customers?

7. What action will you take to better understand their needs and expectations?

Part C: Clarifying My Value Proposition

The chapter emphasises the importance of clearly identifying and communicating value.

8. What makes your business different from competitors?

9. What unique value do you want customers to associate with your business?

10. Is this value currently clear to your customers?

☐ Yes

☐ Partly

☐ No

☐ Not Sure

11. What can you do to communicate your value proposition more clearly?

Part D: Improving My Value Chain

The chapter highlights the importance of understanding every stage of the value chain.

12. Which stage of your value chain currently creates the greatest challenge?

☐ Procurement

☐ Production

☐ Storage

☐ Distribution

☐ Marketing

☐ Sales

☐ Customer service

☐ Other:

13. What is causing this challenge?

14. What practical improvement could strengthen this part of the value chain?

15. What resources or support would you need?

Part E: Eliminating Waste

The chapter discusses identifying activities, processes and items that do not add value.

16. Which type of waste is most common in your business?

☐ Waiting time

☐ Excess inventory

☐ Damaged products

☐ Unnecessary processes

☐ Unused space

☐ Underutilised talent

☐ Poor time management

☐ Unnecessary costs

☐ Other:

17. How much does this waste cost your business?

18. What specific action can reduce or eliminate this waste?

19. When will you implement this action?

Part F: Creating Greater Impact

The chapter explains that customers should experience visible benefits from your products and services.

20. What positive impact should customers experience after using your product or service?

21. How can you strengthen that impact?

22. How will you know whether customers are experiencing the intended benefit?

Part G: Monitoring and Fine-Tuning

The chapter highlights the importance of monitoring changes and making adjustments.

23. What recent change have you introduced in your business?

24. How are you currently monitoring its effectiveness?

25. What indicators will tell you whether the change is working?

26. What will you do if the change does not produce the expected results?

Part H: Learning from Lydia and the Cosmetics Business

27. Which lesson from Lydia's business do you most want to apply?

28. Which lesson from the cosmetics business do you most want to apply?

29. How could these lessons improve your business performance?

My Business Value-Addition Plan

Priority Area 1

Area requiring improvement:

Action I will take:

Expected benefit:

Target completion date:

Priority Area 2

Area requiring improvement:

Action I will take:

Expected benefit:

Target completion date:

Priority Area 3

Area requiring improvement:

Action I will take:

Expected benefit:

Target completion date:

My Commitment

30. What is the single most important improvement your business needs right now?

31. What is the first action you will take within the next seven days?

32. What result would you like to see in your business twelve months from now?

33. Complete the statement below.

I will increase the value of my business by:

Looking Ahead

34. If you successfully implement the lessons from this chapter, how will your customers, business and community benefit?

35. What would success look like for your business three years from now?