Business Planning
Many business plans are written solely to secure external funding. A good business plan will, however, do much more and should provide a strong platform for your business and it doesn’t need to be a massively detailed document.
A good business plan will:
- Provide a clear view of your business purpose and enable this to be communicated to partners and staff
- Predict future impacts and contain actions to ensure they do not threaten your business
- Set clear targets and objectives so that business performance can be monitored
- Set out where you want to be in the future and how you will get there
Typically, a business plan will cover:
- The market your business operates or plans to operate within
- Target client base
- An analysis of competitors
- Marketing strategy
- Marketing plan
- Business risks
- Sales targets and objectives
- Operational requirements
- Financial requirements and forecasts
- Resources required
Business plans are written in practical, usable language and designed for easy, regular review to ensure that performance stays on track. In all cases, they will incorporate key deliverables, milestones and targets aligned to operating budgets.
