Business Plan
Writing a Business Plan
Writing a business plan can seem like a daunting challenge. However this is a vital skill for any entrepreneur or business seeking to increase their chance of survival.
Our top 10 tips
- 1. Audience perspective: The initial starting point for any business plan is to consider why and who the plan is being written for. Is it to secure funding? Or to express the future plans of the company to a potential investor? The plan needs to be tailored to the specific audience.
- 2. Market Research: Specific emphasis needs to be on the awareness of the market in which the company trades. The Business plan should illustrate reference to the market size, predicted growth and if a business start up, how the company will penetrate this market.
- 3. The Competition: Understanding the direct competitors to you business is vital. Is it a particularly competitive industry or is it a niche market? How would your company compare against the competition?
- 4. Attention to detail: Make the plan concise, but don’t withhold information. Your potential audience need to make an informed decision. When making assumptions, explain how they are made but keep them realistic.
- 5. Stay focused: When a plan is being written for a potential investor, keep the plan focused to what the investor needs to be aware of. Why is this a good investment opportunity? What are the returns for the investor? What are the timescales for the investment? What is your companies Unique Selling Point?
- 6. Cover all key areas: The key areas to cover within a concise plan are: Company, product/service, Market, Competition, Management team, marketing, operations and financials. However if done correctly this will include a great deal of text, the plan should include some charts and spreadsheets for illustration.
- 7. Financials: Whilst costs can be certain and predictable for a company, assumptions on sales are not always as accurate and these will be the crucial success or failure of a company. This however will explain to the reader how many sales you need to make to cover your costs and therefore how many you need to make before you begin to break even.
- 8. Executive summary: This is arguably the most crucial part of your plan. This is a summary of your entire plan and is usually contained at the start. It can tend to act as a key qualifier for any interested parties. If the reader likes the summary they will read on if not they will not read anymore. However it should not be written until the end of the business planning process and should have a real “Wow” factor to entice the reader.
- 9. Review Process: Once the plan is completed get someone independent to read it and give their opinion and possibly some constructive criticism.
- 10. Implementation: A Business plan should be kept up to date and constantly reviewed. That way it is possible to monitor the progression of the company. A winning plan will ensure a business is focused on what they set out to achieve.