Constructing a Business Plan
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Constructing a Business Plan
Business plans are a good way of expressing your business in a document plan , they are a way of showing the audience how to intent to achieve a goal or an objective. They can be useful for internal purposes for staff or for your own use to see how you are progressing to a certain aim. If the audience is for investors then a more detailed analysis is required. For those looking to achieve a good impression for a business , the business plan for investors should include as a minimum the following. Executive summary ,Description of Business ,Product Summary ,Business strategy ,Financial Summary ,Market Research ,Market Trends ,External Research ,Market Estimates , Location , Organisation ,SWOT , Competitive ,Customer Segments ,Customer Demographics ,Sales Strategy ,Pricing Strategy, Marketing Plan, Advertising Plan, Management Team, Objectives & Plans, Resource Allocation ,Budget Allocation ,Start-up Budget ,Financial, Sales Charts & Graphs .Before you write the plan you should consider the following points , cash is viewed more important than profit forecasts so ensure cash is highlighted throughout . You don’t have to oversell your idea, the investors will be looking at several factors not just your idea., Don’t be too vague on dates for phases, each phase will be looked at and reviewed to its feasibility. Don’t have too many strategic points, the investor likes simplicity. Make sure you research your sector, decide the legal structure, understand your numbers especially the set up costs, obtain reports from industry magazines to keep up to date. Assess the sales prudently so that the investor can see that there is more upside than downside. The management team is an important if not the most important factor ensure that the team complements each other. You must clearly define the advantage to the customer. The marketing plan is an very important part of your overall business plan, it justifies the revenue stream in the plan, without it the assumptions in the plan can be misleading, and not clearly understood. The plan should assess the company , its environment , its product range, the budget and the demand. To do this a SWOT analysis is usually offered combined with the Porters 5 forces of competition , this looks at both internal and external factors of your market ..It is vital you understand your customers, look at there segments and the targeting of the potential customers. The plan needs to include sensitivity analysis so that the financial implication can be determined by moving a variable. Regardless of the short term gains , marketing plans are designed to create awareness of the product and these will only be calculated over the longer term. A good marketing plan will detail specific channels of marketing , the costs and the anticipated return. The marketing plan is an very important part of your overall business plan, it justifies the revenue stream in the plan, without it the assumptions in the plan can be misleading, and not clearly understood. The plan should assess the company , its environment , its product range, the budget and the demand. To do this a SWOT analysis is usually offered combined with the Porters 5 forces of competition , this looks at both internal and external factors of your market ..It is vital you understand your customers, look at there segments and the targeting of the potential customers. The plan needs to include sensitivity analysis so that the financial implication can be determined by moving a variable. Regardless of the short term gains , marketing plans are designed to create awareness of the product and these will only be calculated over the longer term. A good marketing plan will detail specific channels of marketing , the costs and the anticipated return. Who needs a business plan? Everyone who opens his or her own business has a plan, however informal. The camera store clerk who decides to open a photographic studio may not have a formal, written plan outlining the steps to be taken. Hopefully, however, at some level she has organized the relevant information, performed her own analysis of the market, and decided that she can make a living by starting out on her own. Perhaps she has been moonlighting by photographing weddings and other special occasions, and the demand for her professional services seems sufficient to support her without the camera store job.
What steps did she take to reach that decision? Hopefully, at a minimum, she sat down and tried to compile a list of what it would mean to leave a salaried position and take on a free-lance career. At the top of the list would be a comparison of the net income from free-lancing to the net salary. That would involve estimating the number of jobs she could reasonably expect, the cost to provide the required services, and the prices she could charge. The irregular timing of payments versus a steady income might present personal cash flow problems. The availability and cost of benefits would also rank high. So would all the intangible factors that differentiate self-employment from employee status.
However, even if our hypothetical camera store clerk had a well-thought out plan entirely in her head, at some point she will need to communicate it to others, such as suppliers, professional advisors, and perhaps a banker from whom she wants to obtain a line of credit. Having a written plan is an essential communication tool, since it's not practical to explain your operations in person each time someone needs to know who you are. Moreover, the odds are that our budding entrepreneur has not thought out every significant aspect of her future business. Going through the process of creating a written plan can help her to be sure she hasn't missed any significant factors that can cause her fledgling business to do a quick nose-dive. If you're just starting out in business, a written business plan can help you organize all the pieces that will have to come together to make your business a success. A business hoping to expand its operations in some way can achieve the same benefits. A well-established business trying to grow out of a business-as-usual rut can use a plan as a modelling tool to examine various options before committing to one.
Many small business owners feel that they can keep track of everything without the need to write it down. A written plan, after all, is really just the embodiment of the internal planning that every business owner does anyway. However, the structure a written plan provides makes it more likely that you will consider all relevant factors and that nothing important slips through the cracks. What justifies the additional time and energy you'll spend creating a written plan that presents a blueprint of your business idea? An increased chance for success. More specifically, a plan can be:
a reality check when you first examine the feasibility of your business idea, which forces you to consider all relevant factors
your business's resume, which will be vital in dealing with lenders and outside investors, and an important tool in negotiating with vendors and attracting employees
a timetable for operations, helping you to coordinate all the diverse activities that go into running your own business
a modelling tool that helps you evaluate the variable factors that affect your business, so you can better prepare to deal with situations that may arise as conditions change
a vehicle for tracking the progress of your business
a blueprint against which you can adjust operations in order to achieve your goals
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