There are many reasons why you should have a business plan ready. In the long run, you'll reach your company's goals, avoid making the same mistakes your competitors made, and launch new products on time. As a start-up company without much experience and limited resources, having a business plan written can be difficult, but if done correctly it can make or break your business.
Executive Summary
The executive summary comes first in the business plan, but it should be the last thing you write. This is because it has to be very clear and concise, summarizing all of the key points of your business plan in less than two pages. It's your opportunity to summarize three or four key points about your company - including its mission statement, its goals for growth and what makes it different from competitors - before diving into details. Your executive summary should be no more than two pages long, with brief summaries of other sections of the plan.
It’s essential if you’re seeking a loan or investment
The purpose of a business plan is to give any potential investors or lenders an idea of how you plan to run your business. If your business is just starting out, it’s important to not only have a plan in place but to make sure you revisit it and update it on a regular basis so that you can stay on track and adjust as needed.
It’s essential if you’re seeking a loan or investment. Investors who are considering putting money into your company will want to see that you’ve put time and effort into creating a thorough plan.
It helps you find holes in your plan before they happen. It may be difficult to think about your business failing, but planning ahead and mapping out what could happen can help save your business if things do go awry.
It outlines goals and details how you plan to achieve them. Having a step-by-step guide can keep everyone on the same page and working toward the same goal.
It helps you understand costs and where money needs to be allocated. Starting and running a small business requires a lot of money, so it’s important to know up front where all of your funds will come from, how much you need for start-up expenses and how much of that you can use for personal survival.
Market Analysis
Market Analysis is one of the most important elements of a business plan. The plan needs to identify the target market segments and then provide some data to indicate how fast each segment is growing. The size of the target market should be described in terms of number of clients, revenues or geographic area. There should be enough information included about the target market to demonstrate that there is an opportunity for the product or service being proposed.
In addition to addressing the target market and its growth, the Market Analysis section should describe any trends within the industry that will affect potential sales of the business being proposed. For example, if a new technology is expected to make a product obsolescent, this should be identified in this section so that it can be addressed later in the marketing strategy section.
Sales & Marketing Plan
Sales and marketing is the method of generating interest in a product or service, with the goal of getting a customer to buy that product or service. Sales and marketing entails everything from online advertising to cold calls to developing a customer referral program. It also includes tracking customer information, such as their buying habits and preferences, using customer relationship management (CRM) software.
Marketing plans are developed by all types of businesses, large and small, for-profit and not-for-profit enterprises. Marketing plans are used to describe how an organization can implement its marketing strategies.
Create a marketing plan that details your sales strategy for your business. Depending on the type of business you have, this will be different for every business owner. For example, if you have a restaurant business, you will want to include information about your menu items, pricing, location and target market in your plan. You should also consider your competition and how you will differentiate yourself. If you have an internet business selling products or services, include information about how you will market your website and drive traffic to it in your plan.
Financials
The financials section of your business plan should include a sales forecast, expenses budget, cash flow statement, balance sheet and a profit and loss statement. This is an interesting part of the business planning process because you really need to know your numbers. Don't worry if you don't have all your costs down yet. Some things will be hard to estimate until you get started, but it's important to put down some numbers even if they are just estimates.
It is better to overestimate than underestimate because overestimating will cause you to save money or raise more capital before starting up in case you underestimate your expenses. This is money you will need for unexpected problems that arise during construction or opening and for working capital in the early months before revenue starts coming in. It can take several months or even years for a new business to become profitable.
In the end, a business plan can provide a solid foundation for your business, and will help keep you focused on these key areas to ensure that the business is profitable. Business owners must know how to run their company in order to ensure its success. Having an outline of possible scenarios that could happen and how to handle them ahead of time are going to allow small businesses to thrive. Having this information and being prepared will allow companies to succeed much faster than a company without one.