Business plan is an important communication tool for investors and employees to get behind your idea for getting results and for you to make decisions about what you should do first, second, or not at all to improve your company.
It may help your customers to understand your objectives and plans to achieve them.
It must be simple, specific, realistic and complete. A business plan is your road map for how you expect to succeed and how you'll measure success.
It should have following broad categories of information :
1. An executive summary outlining goals and objectives. The executive summary introduces your business strategy and probably is the most important section for lending institutions. This summary is also important as a communication tool for employees and potential customers who need to understand -- and get behind -- your ideas.
2. A brief account of how the company began.
3. Your company's goals. Explain in a few paragraphs your short- and long-term goals for the company. How fast do you think it will grow? Who will be your primary customers?
4. Biographies of the management team and their respective responsibilities.
5. The service or product you plan to offer, how it differs from everything else on the market.
6. The market potential for your service or product : is large and growing, evaluate demand on a local and/or a national basis.
7. A marketing strategy. Will you advertise in print, television or on the Web (or all three)? Will you use online marketing tools
You'll also need to include how much you plan to spend on marketing
8. A three- to five-year financial projection.
balance sheets,
income statements
cash-flow projections
how much money you'd like to borrow
9. SWOT Analysis : Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
10. An exit strategy.
BUSINESS PLAN DETAILS
1.0 Executive Summary
1.0.1 Driving force to choose this business
1.0.1 Customers
1.0.2 Business Name / Location
1.0.3 Products / Services
1.0.4 Purpose of the plan,
1.0.5 investment / Loan amount required, Equity ownership offered in return
1.1 Objectives : Concrete and measureable
1.1.1 Shrot term 6- 12 month
1.1.2 Long term 3-5 years
1.1.3 How large
1.1.4 How fast
1.1.5 Projected sales and profits
1.1.6 Plan for growth
1.2 Mission
1.2.1 Cause you want the business to address
1.2.2 How will it make difference in the lives of your customers
1.3 Keys to Success
1.3.1 How is your business unique
1.3.2 Why will goods / services appeal to the customers
1.3.3 Why will customers do business with you
1.3.4 Highlightes of your management team
1.3.5 Your competitive edge
1.3.6 Highlights charts,
1.3.7 Bar charts showing sales/gross profits
2.0 Company Summary
2.1 Company Ownership : Legal establishment
2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies)
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities
3.0 Products and Services
3.0.1 Benetits to the customers
3.0.2 Quantity
3.0.3 Quality
3.0.4 Services
3.0.5 Customer satisfaction levels
3.1 Product and Service Description
3.2 Competitive Comparison
3.2.1 Primary differences between you and competitors
3.2.2 Advantages of your product
3.2.3 Weaknesses and strengths of your competitors
3.2.4 How can you improve upon competitors approach
3.3 Sales Literature
3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment
3.5 Technology
3.6 Future Products and Services
4.0 Market Analysis Summary
4.1 Market Segmentation
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
4.2.1 What do you know about target market
4.2.2 Life styles
4.2.3 Demographies
4.2.4 Psychographies of your ideal customer
4.2.5 Market Needs
What unmet needs your customer has
How you will fulfil these needs
4.2.6 Wants : customer desires, wishes, deficiencies
4.2.7 Problems : What problems will your service solve
4.2.8 Perceptions : -ve and +ve perceptions that the customers have about
you / your profession / its products / services
4.2.9 Market Trends
4.2.10 Market Growth
4.3 Industry Analysis
4.3.1 Industry Participants
4.3.2 Distribution Patterns
4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns : How your competition is doing business
4.3.4 Main Competitors
5.0 Strategy and Implementation : 10 parts implementation for one part strategy.
5.0.1 Specific actions and acvitities
5.0.2 Deadlines for completion of tasks
5.0.3 Programs to achieve the objectives
5.1 Strategy Pyramids
5.2 Value Proposition
5.3 Competitive Edge
5.4 Marketing Strategy :
5.4.1 Finding, communicating and educating your primary market
about your products or services
5.4.2 Identify all target markets / tools / strategies / methods
5.4.3 Test marketing strategy / tools / assumptions / results
5.4.1 Positioning Statements :
Position product at same level as Best target market
How will you advertise : TV / Print / Web / Online
Spending plans
5.4.2 Pricing Strategy
5.4.3 Promotion Strategy
5.4.4 Distribution Patterns
5.4.5 Marketing Programs
5.5 Sales Strategy / goals
5.5.1 Sales Forecast
5.5.2 Sales Programs
5.6 Strategic Alliances
5.7 Milestones : specific dates
6.0 Web Plan Summary
6.1 Website Marketing Strategy
6.2 Development Requirements
7.0 Management Summary : do you wish to provide employment / not manage people
7.1 Organizational Structure :
7.1.1.specific persons responsible,
7.1.2 review and course correction
7.2 Management Team : commitment, involvement, tracking, follow-up
7.3 Management Team Gaps : Background of key members, personnel, strategy
7.4 Personnel Plan :
8.0 Financial Plan :
8.0.1 Specific realistic budgets for expenses
8.0.2 How will you make money
8.1 Important Assumptions
8.2 Key Financial Indicators : 5 year projections
8.3 Break-even Analysis : what is your break even point
8.4 Projected Profit and Loss : how much profit potential does your business have
8.5 Projected Cash Flow
Collection period for your accounts receivable
Payment terms of your suppliers
Working capital
Startup investment
Asumptions
Running monthly overhead
Streamlined sales forecast
Cumulative cash
Break even
8.6 Projected Balance Sheet
8.7 Business Ratios
8.8 Long-term Plan
8.9 Personal plan : What do you want to achieve as owner of this business
8.9.1 Do you want to include your family members in this business
9.0 The SWOT analysis:
identify and assign each significant factor, positive and negative, to one of the four categories, allowing you to take an objective look at developing and confirming your goals and your marketing strategy.
9.1 Strengths
positive attributes, tangible and intangible
What do you do well?
What resources do you have?
What advantages do you have over your competition?
9.1.1 area, such as
marketing,
finance,
manufacturing, organizational structure.
9.1.2 attributes of the people,
knowledge,
backgrounds,
education,
credentials,
contacts,
reputations,
skills.
9.1.3 tangible assets such as
available capital,
equipment,
credit,
established customers,
existing channels of distribution,
copyrighted materials / patents,
information and processing systems,
valuable resources within the business.
9.1.4 that add value
offer you a competitive advantage.
value existing within your business.
9.2 Weaknesses
9.2.1 Factors under your control
lack of expertise,
limited resources,
lack of access to skills or technology,
inferior service offerings,
poor location of your business.
Which areas might you improve?
9.2.2 detract from the value you offer, or place you at a competitive disadvantage. These are areas you need to enhance in order to compete with your best competitor.
9.3 Opportunities
9.3.1 reason for your business to exist and prosper.
9.3.2 reflect the potential you can realize
9.3.3 market growth, lifestyle changes, resolution of problems associated with current situations, positive market perceptions about your business, or the
ability to offer greater value
9.3.4 Ongoing opportunity / is it a window with critical timing
9.4 Threats:
9.4.1 unfavorable trend or development
Competition
Intolerable price increases by suppliers,
governmental regulation,
economic downturns,
devastating media or press coverage,
a shift in consumer behavior that reduces your sales,
the introduction of a “leap-frog” technology
What situations might threaten your marketing efforts?
Get your worst fears on the table.
contingency plans to address them if they should occur.
Classify threats according to “seriousness” and “probability”
9.5 The implications
How can you use the strengths to better take advantage of the opportunities ahead and minimize the harm that threats may introduce if they become a reality? How can weaknesses be minimized or eliminated?
10. EXIT POLICY
based on a dollar figure,
revenue growth,
the market's reception to your idea,
or a consensus among top officers.
