Your business plan step-by-step
Summary
TLDRA business plan is a critical document laying out your company's objectives, strategies, and performance measures over the next few years. It explains your product/service, target customers, competitor analysis, sales and marketing plans, operations, and detailed financial projections. An executive summary briefly overviews the key points to impress readers. Regularly update the living document to track progress towards goals and pivot when necessary. Use appendices to provide supporting documents like market research and financials to strengthen your case to banks and investors.
Takeaways
- 😀 A business plan is like a roadmap, setting goals and strategies to achieve them
- 📝 It shows your business's objectives, how you'll achieve them, and helps measure progress
- 📈 Include info on your products/services, target markets, competitors, marketing, operations
- 💰 Financial section covers cash flow, profit/loss - be realistic!
- 🔍 Do market research and include a SWOT and PEST analysis
- 👥 Explain your staff, systems, compliance requirements and policies
- 🎯 Have a clear unique selling proposition to stand out from competitors
- ✏️ The executive summary comes last, tailor it to your audience
- 📎 Append supporting documents like research, orders, marketing materials
- 📆 Update the plan regularly and use it to track progress and make adjustments
Q & A
What are the key sections that should be included in a business plan?
-The key sections that should be included in a business plan are: introduction/company overview, markets/competitors, sales/marketing strategy, operations, financial information, and executive summary.
What is a SWOT analysis and PEST analysis, and where would they be included in a business plan?
-A SWOT analysis examines the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats relevant to a business. A PEST analysis looks at political, economic, social and technological factors that may impact a business. These analyses would be included in the markets/competitors section.
What should be included in the sales and marketing strategy section of a business plan?
-The sales and marketing strategy section should include details on the target market, how the business plans to promote itself and reach customers, the pricing strategy, a detailed sales forecast with timelines and budgets, and plans for tracking results and measuring performance.
What type of information should be covered in the operations section of the business plan?
-The operations section should explain location, premises, equipment, production/storage/delivery of products/services, suppliers and distribution strategies, staff and HR considerations, systems and procedures, IT support, future operational plans.
Why is the financial information section important and what should it include?
-The financial information section is important to demonstrate the business has sufficient cash flow to cover costs and make a profit. It should include a month-by-month cash flow forecast for year 1 and profit/loss statements for years 2-3, with realistic forecasts for both income and expenses.
What is the purpose of the executive summary and when should it be written?
-The executive summary provides a high-level overview of the key points of the business plan. It should be written last, once all other sections are completed, to summarize the entire plan.
What types of documents should be included in the appendix?
-The appendix should include supporting documents like market research, customer letters/orders, examples of previous work, price lists, legal documents, policies and procedures, job specifications, and marketing material examples.
Why is it important for a business plan to be a working document rather than something created and then forgotten?
-The business plan serves as an ongoing roadmap for the business's direction and goals. Referring to and updating it regularly allows progress to be tracked and adjustments made as needed to keep the business on course.
What analyses should be included to demonstrate an understanding of the market environment?
-Including PEST and SWOT analyses demonstrates an understanding of the wider market environment - PEST covers political, economic, social and technological factors, while SWOT examines internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats.
How can risks and contingencies be accounted for in the financial forecasts?
-Including realistic forecasts with contingency plans for higher/lower than expected sales demonstrates financial prudence - explaining how variances would impact figures and what mitigating actions would be taken.
Outlines
📝 How to Structure Your Business Plan
This paragraph provides an overview of what a business plan is, why it is important, and how it serves as a roadmap for a business by laying out objectives, strategies, and metrics to track performance. It emphasizes that a business plan is a living document that should be regularly updated and used to demonstrate progress.
🗂 Sections of a Business Plan
This paragraph outlines the key sections that typically comprise a business plan, in the order they are usually written. It mentions the executive summary, introduction/company overview, markets/competitors, sales/marketing, operations, financials, and appendix. It notes that the executive summary is written last to summarize the entire plan.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡business plan
💡objectives
💡strategies
💡measure performance
💡target market
💡unique selling proposition (USP)
💡sales forecast
💡cash flow
💡contingency plans
💡executive summary
Highlights
The business plan is the roadmap for your business showing key goals, strategies, and progress measurement.
The business plan details your objectives, plans to achieve them, and metrics to track performance.
The business plan describes your products/services, target customers, competitor analysis, and unique value proposition.
The markets and competitors section shows your market analysis and how you'll compete.
The sales and marketing section details promotional plans, pricing, sales forecasts, and tracking.
The operations section explains your location, premises, equipment, suppliers, distribution, staffing, systems, and procedures.
The financial section shows cash flow projections, profit/loss statements, realistic forecasts, and contingency plans.
Include supporting documents like market research, orders, references, marketing materials in the appendix.
The executive summary briefly overviews the business plan's main points and goals.
Tailor the executive summary to your specific audience and their interests.
Keep your business plan updated as a useful, accessible reference tool.
Describe your products/services in terms of customer benefits rather than just features.
Explain what makes your business unique - your competitive advantage.
Conduct market research and analysis to understand your business environment.
Ask your accountant for help with the critical financial section of your plan.
Transcripts
your business plan is one of the most
important documents in your business you
could look on it as the roadmap for your
business it sets out where you want to
go your key objectives the next two or
three years it shows you your plan to
get there the strategies you're going to
use to achieve your objectives and it
shows you where you are so you can
measure performance and make any
adjustments necessary to achieve your
goals your business plan isn't something
you do and then put away in a drawer
it's a working document that you can
refer to and make sure you're going in
the right direction and following the
right path it's also a great way to give
other people an overview of your
business and to demonstrate how you're
performing
that's why banks and investors ask for a
business plan in this video I'm going to
give you an idea of how you might put
your business plan together and take you
through each section however you ought
to know that the plan is often not
written in the same order as in the
final document for example although the
executive summary appears as a first
section is usually written last when
everything else is done we'll come back
to the executive summary at the end of
the video the first section we'll look
at is the introduction and company
overview you need to include the basic
details of your business your business
name address website address if you have
one and your contact details you should
also give your legal status whether you
are operating as a sole trader a
partnership or a limited company in this
section you also need to explain what
your business is about what you want to
achieve and how you plan to measure your
success
make sure you describe the product or
service you are offering and who you are
selling it to the key here is to keep
your focus on the benefits your
customers get from your product or
service rather than just the features of
what it is or what it does you also want
to explain what it is that makes you
different and what makes you stand out
from your competitors this is known as
your USP your unique selling proposition
there's much more detail about how to
encode your USP and identify the
benefits of your product or service in
the module about winning and keeping
customers the next section in your
business plan is about markets and
competitors this is where you
demonstrate that you've researched your
market and understand the environment
you're working in you may want to
include a pest analysis here to show
which market factors are likely to have
an impact on your business and a SWOT
analysis - to show what's important to
your business how to do both of these as
covered in detail in the creating new
products module so I won't say any more
about them right now
a significant part of this section is
about identifying your target markets
showing who and where your customers are
and how you can satisfy their needs this
is covered in more detail in the module
about winning and keeping customers but
make sure you think as widely as
possible so that you develop a diverse
client base you should also include a
competitor analysis and explain how you
plan to compete in this market the next
section of your business plan is your
sales and marketing strategy this
focuses on your target market where your
customers are and how you plan to
promote your business and reach your
customers again taking into account the
differences you'll also want to include
details of your pricing strategy and a
detailed sales forecast be specific
about what you want to achieve and
include a timeline and budgets it's
important you explain how you'll track
results and measure your performance and
what about if you don't achieve the
sales you'd hope for explain what you
plan to do to minimize the risk a key
section of your business plan is
operations this is where you explain how
you plan to conduct your business it
includes information about your location
premises and equipment and explains how
you plan to produce store and deliver
your products and services you should
also include an overview of your
suppliers your approach and how you deal
with them as well as your distribution
strategies this is also where you'll
include details of the staff you employ
your systems and procedures and what IT
support you have if it's relevant you
could also cover specific information
about health and safety equality and
diversity quality control and note any
compliance requirements it's also useful
to outline your future plans and explain
how the way your business
operates may change over time now we
come to the financial information
section this is one of the most critical
sections and also one that many people
find quite daunting it's a good idea to
ask your accountant or business advisor
to help you out the aim is to
demonstrate that the business has
sufficient cash flow to cover its costs
and make a profit you'll need to show a
detailed month by month cash flow for
the first year and a profit and loss
statement for the years two and three
make sure both your sales forecasts and
predicted expenses are as realistic as
possible again is helpful to include
your contingency plans that what-if
situation what if sales are higher than
expected how does that affect the
figures and what if sales are lower than
expected what happens then the final
section is an appendix this is where you
put all the documents and evidence to
support your business plan this may be
market research information any letters
you have from potential customers or
firm orders already in the bag you could
include references or examples of
previous work price lists legal
documents policies and procedures job
and person specifications and Seavey's
for key members of your team and
examples of promotional and marketing
material make sure you cross-reference
this information to the appropriate
section you don't want people to get
confused do you so that's all the
information now you're in a position to
do the executive summary presented
clearly keep it brief and to the point
it should provide an overview of your
business and cover the most important
points of your business plan make sure
you are positive after all you want to
impress and persuade others and it can
be very useful to tailor this section to
your audience for example if you are
presenting the business plan to your
bank to secure a loan the executive
summary should focus on how important
that loan is to you and how will help
your business to succeed once you've
finished your executive summary your
business plan is complete make sure you
use it keep it up to date and have it
available in a format that everyone in
the business can access after all as the
roadmap for your business it really is a
very useful tool
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