‘’By failing to plan, you are planning to fail.’’
Benjamin Franklin , Inventor and Business man
By this time, much of the initial analysis required to write your business plan has been concluded. All that remains is to put together what has been developed into a well-written plan that communicates your intentions to internal and external stakeholders.
The purposes of a business plan include:
- A business plan describes the venture you will create to exploit an idea or concept.
- A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how the business is going to achieve its goals.
- A business plan lays out a written plan from an operational, marketing, and financial viewpoint.
- It serves as an action plan, a road map, a fund raising and sales tool.
Common mistakes in writing a business plan include:
- Vague value proposition – mostly existing ideas
- Difficulty laying out the operationalization of idea
- Too optimistic financial projections – no sensitivity analysis
- Improper definition of market
- Inability to identify risks and possible mitigation
A bankable business plan should have the following critical elements:
- The Company Overview
- The Marketing Plan
- The Operations Plan
- The Financial Plan
The Company Overview
Your company overview is an explanation of what your company does, the industry your business is operating in, and what differentiates your business from others. It should also contain a more detailed information about your company profile.
When writing your company overview, it’s important you talk about the current trends in your market and how you expect the future to turn out. You should talk about the widespread markets operating in your industry, and how some diverse products or services can benefit or affect your business.
The Marketing Plan
Your sales and marketing plan will cover how you intend to market the business and eventually turn a profit. Here you outline your marketing strategies based on the information gotten from your market research and analysis. You’ll also outline how to reach your target customers, your marketing strategies & promotional tactics, how you’ll price your products and/or services, and how you intend to position the individual brands of your products and/or services.
The Operations Plan
The business organization and management plan will show what business structure your organization is going to adopt. Since every organization is structured differently, picking the right organization and management structure that would aid you in achieving your goals is important for your business plan to be concise.
The Financial Plan
Your financial projections have to be detailed in the most cost-effective manner. This becomes more important if you’re seeking funding from a financial institution. Find out the full information you need to include in your financial forecast for your funding request to pull through or look more feasible. If funding is not the reason for creating the business plan, then you still need to be very realistic in the preparation. Any assumed or exaggerated figure can lead to utter disappointments.
