Business Plan
A Business Plan Is primarily a document that describes in detail the core objectives of your business. It further expands on these objectives by explaining how you plan on achieving them.
What Is A Business Plan?
Business Plan is primarily a document that describes in detail the core objectives of your business. It further expands on these objectives by explaining how you plan on achieving them.
Additionally, a business plan also dictates how you will be generating a profit and how the business will survive and grow over time. It contains all your marketing and sales plans, strategies, goals, financial forecasts, and aims.
A good business idea needs a great business plan with sound financial information, business goals and a strategy to make the idea a reality.
All businesses, whether they are early shoots or well established may require funding or need to attract angel investors and new stakeholders at some point, and an expert business plan not only allows you to see if the idea can be profitable but it also allows a bank or any other lending provider to understand your idea, how the business is shaping itself for the future with the ultimate aim of securing funding.
We have a team of highly qualified business plan writers with years of experience in helping small business owners create a professional and bespoke business plan and financial forecasts to achieve your goals.
Having good and close relationships with banks, we know exactly what information is required and how it should be presented to create the perfect proposal now exactly giving you the best possible chance of success.
Why do I need a Business Plan?
Writing a business plan will ensure that you pay attention to the broad operational and financial objectives of your new business and the small details, such as budgeting and market research and planning. The process will ultimately make for a smoother start-up period and fewer unforeseen problems as your business gets up and running.
How A Business Plan Help Your Business
Here are our five good reasons to write a business plan.
Anyone who would invest or lend their money will look for some sort of guarantee that their money will be returned or give them a greater return on their initial investment.
Therefore, all investors or banks who lend invest money will expect to see a solid business plan. Writing a business plan will ensure that you pay attention to the broad operational and financial objectives of your business as well as the finer details such as budgeting and market planning.
The process will ultimately make for a smoother start-up period as your business gets up and running.
Think of it as the road map to your business’s future!
Reviewing the business plan can help you see what goals have been accomplished, what changes need to be made or new direction insights to drive growth.
You can always go back to the plan to review, monitor progress, and change direction if need be. It can also be used as a tool for any financial, management, or technology-related matters.
Use a business plan to evaluate your business and its progress. Schedule annual business reviews to assess overall business operations, financial health and goal attainment as outlined in the business plan. It will also help you identify any weaknesses and guide any changes.
Keep in mind that business plans can change and evolve according to the needs of your company and that you can seek the help of professionals and experts at the right time in case you find any weaknesses in your plan.
Naturally, any stakeholder that has invested in your business will expect to be kept up to date as to how it is progressing.
Budgeting and having a marketing plan will help you win the confidence of your stakeholder(s) by communicating your future strategy, sales projections to outline how you intend to sell and deliver your products to customers as an attractive proposition for the future.
Creating a business plan has several advantages that no business should forego. While a business plan is necessary for a start-up loan application, you can still significantly benefit from having one. Here are seven critical things a business plan does for you:
- It has all your thoughts and ideas about the business and how to run it in an organised order. As a result, your vision is clear to anyone who goes through the business plan.
- Having structured business plans allows you to see your idea clearly. Consequently, you can identify any potential problems or issues in achieving your goal on time and solve them.
- Having a structured business plan allows you to see your idea clearly. Consequently, you can identify any potential problems or issues in achieving your goal on time and solve them.
- Writing a business plan will ensure that you pay attention to the broad operational and financial objectives of your new business and the small details. The process will ultimately make for a smoother start-up period and fewer unforeseen problems as your business gets up and running.
- A good and convincing plan is essential for achieving or winning any sort of finances for the business. Most importantly, if you are applying for a start-up loan, it is a mandatory requirement by banks or investors. A solid and good business plan can convince them to fund the loan for you.
- A business will act as a control group for the experiment. You will have something to compare the progress of your business with over time.
- Creating a business plan and circulating it through the whole team has its benefits. Once everyone is familiar with the business plan, they will be aware of your vision. In this way, everyone will be working towards the same mission together.
- A business plan is about how you plan to run the business. However, it can also help you to plan for the future of the business.
Your business plan should aim to give a good outline of your company, your business strategy and action plan – how it will make money and what you need to do to achieve your goals. It should also explain why your business will succeed.
Below are some of the key elements we will work very closely with you on to help convince banks, investors, and other key contacts to support and fund you to grow your business growth.
Your Business And Key Objectives
You should include the core services and products described in detail, along with the description of the business. This section must contain your business goals and a timescale as to when you will achieve them.
The goals can be either short, mid, or long term depending on the resources available and your business strategy. You also need to show the extent to which these goals are realistic and the ability of your business being able to achieve them on time.
If applying for a start-up loan, you will need to give a breakdown of how you intend to use the money received from the loan. You need to convince the investor, or bank, that the money is going to a good investment opportunity, and that it will generate a healthy return.
Your Skills & Experience
Think of a business plan as a useful summary of your business, that sells your idea and ambitions to a potential customer or supplier.
You need to showcase your skills, previous work experience, qualifications, and education and why you want to run your own business.
If you don’t have any experience in the relevant business sector, then you need to show how the skills you have can be applied or transferred to the current business you are about to run.
Your Target Customers, Market And Competition
In this section, you need to demonstrate that you know who your target market is. Who are you selling you to and why will customers come to you to buy your product or service?
A thorough market analysis will help you define your prospects as well as help you establish pricing, distribution, and promotional strategies.
You should also outline any insights or customer research you completed to demonstrate the uniqueness of your product, trends, and growth prospects and how that will give you a distinct advantage over your competitors.
Your Sales And Marketing Plans
This section of the business plan deals with how you plan on generating and handling demand for your product or service.
It is an opportunity to outline your sales and marketing plans demonstrating how you will attract customers, what their purchases will be and what that translates in potential annual revenues.
Your promotion strategy should include all the ways you will communicate with your markets to make them aware of your products or services. This should mention advertising, social media, branding and packaging, PR, and sales promotions.
Your Operational Plans
This section includes the logistics, personnel or departments who oversee completing specific tasks.
You need to give a description of what each department is responsible for, where daily operations will be taking place, tasks and goals, and the cost analysis for each department to complete their tasks.
It is great to be ambitious but make sure you aren’t setting your team up for failure. Create a goal that is achievable and motivates everyone to complete. Provide a deadline so everyone has a clear date they are working towards.
Your Skills & Experience
This section of the business plan needs to demonstrate how you will manage the funding for the business.
All business activities require funding. You need to make it clear where all the funds will come from and in what amounts.
Financial milestones are important for tracking business performance. It is likely that investors will want to work with you on creating financial milestones.
If you are a start-up, it is common that financial milestones are calculated over a 12-month period .
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Frequently Asked Questions
A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business (usually a start-up) defines its objectives and how it will go about achieving its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan, strategy and targets covering many areas including operational, financial, and marketing to attract investment.
An overview of your products/services, customers, and suppliers. A summary of company growth, including financial or market highlights. A summary of your short- and long-term business goals, and how you plan to make a profit.
The person or persons responsible for implementing the plan should be heavily involved in its development. You might want to consider input from experts as you develop the background and analysis for the business plan, but as the owner and entrepreneur, the business venture is an extension of your vision, goals, skills, and abilities. Having good and close relationships with banks, we know exactly what information is required and how it should be presented to create the perfect proposal now exactly giving you the best possible chance of success.
A Business Plan is a ‘Must-Have’ for some businesses. If you are planning to approach a financial institution for a loan, apply for a small business grant, pitch your business idea to investors, or enlist the support of a business partner, a business plan is crucial.
Each plan will be different depending on the size of your company, but most plans will include the following main sections: An Executive summary; business description and structure; market research and strategy; Bios of your management and personnel; Financial documents (including projections, cashflow, P & L and balance sheets).
A business plan can fail for several reasons from lack of market research or customer demand for your product. Most ideas may look great on paper—but all too often, companies realise they have invested in a bad idea once it is too late. It should include sound financial information, business goals and a strategy that will make your idea a reality.
Make sure you speak to us to give yourself the best possible advantage when approaching a bank for a loan, applying for a grant, or trying to attract investors for your business idea.