Thinking of opening a New Company? Well, one of the most important phases of doing that is creating a business plan. Maybe you’ve already written a sort of business plan jotting down what your business is about and how you plan to run it because that is the gist of it. A business plan is basically a document setting out a business’s future objectives and strategies for achieving them. It is important because it highlights where you and your business currently stands. It maps out where you will be in the future and how you’re going to get there. This is a document that you will personally have to keep adjusting as you run your business because the objectives and strategies to achieve them might keep changing as time goes by. However, that is a business plan for yourself and your company employees to keep the system of your business updated. The business plan will also help you communicate better with employees on the objectives and strategies on various sectors like marketing and finances. It also helps you plan for the future on the criteria of hiring more people, market and target audiences.
You should also have a formal printed business plan with a specific format for official use. Not only are business plans important for the company to help you identify weaknesses and make sound decisions for the company, it is also important to show potential stakeholders as well as investors. Before a potential investor invests in a business, they look for a business plan to see if there is potential for growth for the company. Your business plan will include a detailed look on the marketing, organizational and financial strategies for your company, which shows. It can help secure investments as well as loans from banks as you have a systematic way of running your business which shows its potential and stability you plan to maintain. A good business plan will also help you secure suppliers, customers and stakeholders for smooth running of the business.
Now that you know the significance of a business plan, let’s see the outline of a good and detailed business plan. Before you write a business plan though, you need to know consider two important factors. Who the reader is and what you want their response to be. Depending on your target audience, you have to highlight the sections that are relevant and focus on the key message you want them to get. It is also important to do a lot of research before you write your plan. You need to create a company profile, have strategic plans in place and make the plan adaptable. The rough outline should consist of 9 sections. The following are the topics you need to focus on.
Starting with the “Executive summary”, which may be the topic, you start with but should write at the end because it will be easier to write a comprehensive plan after getting into the depths of the entire plan. Then the “Company description” will include information on background of Owner and the Board of Directors. It would also be nice to include background information on the staff and the company as a whole. Following with “Market analysis” which is research on your industry, market and competitors and “Organization and Management” which talks about your business and management structures. Next you talk about your “Product/Service” as well as “Marketing and sales”. Then you continue with your “Funding request” which is how much funds you will require and the duration of the project after the funds are collected and you also have to supply information of the company under the topic “Financial projections”. You can wrap it all up with “Appendix” which may include résumés or permits but that’s totally up to you to include appendix or not.
It is important to keep in mind to give detailed information on your objectives, strategies and future plan. A business plan is a great way to showcase your past endeavors as well as your future plans making the company more organized and stronger.