Editor’s note: Steve Henke is president of Harpeth Marketing, a Franklin, Tenn., marketing firm providing consulting and outsourced marketing services in the market research industry.

As the new year starts, many firms are in the midst of planning for 2015, from business plans to marketing and sales plans and operational and staffing plans. All good things, to be sure! But too often the planning process is focused on making sure the forms and spreadsheets are filled in … after all, you have to have timelines, budgets and metrics to monitor, right? What’s often missing is the one thing that’s necessary for the planning to be truly successful: thinking.

Without thinking, you’re just “doin’ stuff.” Without thinking, you’re just winging it. Without thinking, all of that planning you’re doing is just guessing. So before you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard), block off some time to think and talk about all of the critical elements that could impact the planning for 2015.

To help with the process of thinking, I have put together a framework of categories you must work through to cover all of your bases. Only after you’ve been through all of these should you sit down to do your planning.

Three Cs

• Clients: Spend some time thinking about your clients, ex-clients and sales prospects. What are their challenges? What keeps them up at night? Describe their buyer personas. Be clear about the industries you serve, the kinds of companies within those industries and the titles/characteristics of the people who are involved in the decision to choose suppliers.

• Competitors: When you lose a bid, who do you lose to and why? Think local, regional and national competitors. Think direct and indirect. What about those clients that are starting to insource rather than outsource their work? Any new competitors in your space? Spend some time on your competitors’ Web sites to get to know them better. Maybe even do a little secret shopping.

• Company: Now look at what’s going on inside your firm. Analyze your financials – by client, by service line, by industry and vs. goal. Do a SWOT analysis with several of your employees. Consider a marketing and sales audit. Then, go to the three P’s below.

Three Ps

• People: Take a critical look at your staff, particularly those who interact with clients and prospects. Are these the best people you can afford? What development or training needs to happen to make them even better? Are there certain positions you can live without? Or new ones you need to add?

• Products and services: What kind of feedback are you getting on your existing products and services? Are they priced appropriately? What new ones should you consider? Do you need to simplify your offerings?

• Processes: Think about all of the touchpoints in the continuum of a client engagement. What do they see when they first look over your marketing and visit your Web site? When they first submit an RFP, how do you respond to that, to being awarded the project? How are you delivering on your services during the project (so many touchpoints/communications opportunities here), to project wrap-up and the billing process? In all of those processes, where and how can you get better?

Two Is

• The industry you work in: What’s going on in the market research industry that could have an impact in your business: new trends, new methodologies, new tools, new players, new technologies, new business models, etc.?

• The industries you serve: The same goes for the vertical markets your serve. Think about trends, technologies and changes taking place. Are the industries thriving or dying? Do you need to consider others?

The Es

• Environment: We’re referring to your local environment. What’s going on in your city? Are new potential clients or competitors coming to town? Are old clients or competitors leaving? What is the local business environment in general? Which associations are based there?

• Economy: It is necessary to take a big picture look at the national (and even international) economy as a whole. What direction is the economy moving? What’s coming out of Washington, D.C., that might impact you? What’s happening on the world stage that you need to pay attention to?

The questions above are meant as a starting point. As you get into this exercise, more questions will come up, conversation threads will go off in unexpected directions and many things not listed above will be discussed. That’s great! Follow every rabbit hole of detail and leave no stone unturned. This is truly a case where more is better.

Making it happen

If you’re a solo operator, find a quiet place and get away for a day. Use white boards or flip charts to scratch out and vet your ideas and record your thoughts. Use your phone to take photos of everything you write down and transcribe it when you get back to the office.

Work for a larger firm? Schedule a retreat away from the office. Make it an event that’s enjoyable, fosters teamwork and encourages creativity and brainstorming. Write down all of your thoughts, ideas and conclusions. Want to really do it right? Have someone outside of your firm facilitate the retreat and remove any bias from the discussions.

OK, you’re finally ready. All of that thinking – and the resulting observations, perceptions, ideas and suggestions – must now be distilled down to a handful of key insights and strategies. Opt for simplicity here and find the one or two that you believe will have the most impact on your firm. It will be those few insights and strategies that will color and frame your planning.

Creating yearly plans is what business leaders do. But if all you want is a plan, get some planning software and fill in the blanks. To create plans that can be truly beneficial, take the time on the front end to think through what’s best for your firm. If you do that, creating annual plans stops being busywork that ends up on the shelf gathering dust and starts becoming a fundamental part of the growth of your business. Good luck!