Developing a Business Plan!
There are many important steps to consider when developing a Business Plan for your company, but the first step is to fully understand the main uses of a business plan. The four main uses of a business-plan are as follows:
• A Business Plan is a written document that you can use in your search for external financing.
• A Business Plan is a tactical planning and management tool for your business.
• A Business Plan is a document showing the capacity of your team to control and manage all the aspects of the company.
• A Business Plan brings you new ideas to refine your business.
The necessity of Business Plans
The drafting or updating of your Business Plan is essential to the good management of your company. It can be used when searching for a business partner, for obtaining external financing, and for defining some stages of the development of your company, such as:
• The creation of your company.
• The launching of a new product.
• The establishment in a new market.
• The transfer, buy-out, or the structural development of your company.
Should you call in a consultant or write the Business Plan by yourself?
You should be the main (if not single) author of your Business Plan, because the Business Plan is, so to speak, your own “baby”, it is a reflection of your personality; it is by this means that your investors will discover the person with whom they collaborate.
But your project may be too important and you may want to call in a consultant for help and consultation. Even so, you should stay in control of its development!
Tips for developing a quality business plan.
1. To be credible, a business-plan must be coherent and each parameter in the Business Plan must be based on facts.
2. In addition, one essential point in a Business Plan is to define concrete policies and measures. This definition aims to gain a reasonable number of customers, based on a sufficient knowledge of the market. The quantitative estimate of this gain must be calculated on realistic monthly and annual increase rates. A well-founded pricing policy then makes it possible to estimate the sales turnover in the years ahead.
3.. The last point and certainly not the least significant: A Business Plan is never ended “once and for all”. A regular follow-up and comparison between the theoretical Business Plan and the reality of its execution are essential. You can then modify your Business Plan and adapt it to improve performance and achieve your goals.