The 6 Step Business Plan

Business Plan
Business Plan

What is a business plan?

Ans: A statement of your business objectives and your plan for achieving them.

Why do a business plan?

  • Create a blueprint for growth • Align the organization • Increase the odds of success • Raise money • Track your progress, adjust

Business Plan by 6 steps

  1. Analyze your Market and your Business 
  2. Define your Marketing Positioning 
  3. Define 3-year Sales & Earnings goals  • Flex the Profit & Loss goals by month
  4. Create a current year Action Plan (top 5 priorities) 
  5. Create a current year Profit & Loss Statement (P&L) 
  6. Crete a current year Cash Flow projection (monthly) 

Market Analysis

Know Your Market/Customer

  • Market size, growth, segments • Key purchase drivers – Quality, cost, service • Demographics • Competitors • Distribution channels • Average Profit Margins • Seasonality, regionality • Key marketing drivers.

Data Sources

  • Internet - Industry - Competitive • Public company reports • Government websites • Trade associations/shows • Trade publications • Be a customer!

Business Analysis

  • Strengths, Weaknesses • What’s working, not working – Customer – Marketing – Financials – Operations – Management

What is your “Marketing Positioning”?

Why should your ideal prospects buy from you rather than any of your competitors?

  • Value Proposition 
  • Marketing Positioning 
  • Point of Difference 
  • Competitive Advantage 
  • Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

How do you define your “positioning”?

Target Customers • Competitive frame of reference • Competitive Advantage


Target Markets (Market Segmentation)

Who do you serve?

• Demographics • Geography • Benefits • Lifestyle • Industry/Distribution channels – Retail, Wholesale, Consumer Direct – Size: Small, Medium, Large companies – Industry: healthcare, financial, technology

Niche/Competitive Advantage

What makes your business different? 

 - Quality 
 - Price 
 - Innovation 
 - Service 
 - Speed 
 - Location

Think Benefits!


Key Business Drivers of any Action Plan

• Marketing • Operations • Management • Financials

Marketing

The "5 P's"
• Positioning – target, competitors, advantage 
• Product/Service 
• Pricing 
• Place – distribution channels/geography 
• Promotion

Operations

• Sales and intermediaries • Production, Logistics, Inventory & Supplier Mgt. • Quality Control & Customer Service • Billing & Accounts Receivable • Office Space; Retail Location • Technology Management.

Management

Organization – Key skill gaps? 
• Outsourced (“virtual”) talent 
– Accounting 
– Legal 
– Insurance 
– Banker 
– Mentor.


Financials

• Cost/Margin management – Product, Administrative, Marketing/Selling, Benchmarking • Cash management – Inventory, Accounts Receivable, Capital, Seasonality • Tax planning • Monthly reporting

Stay tuned on this platform to get more awesome stuffs. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Leafy Greens Daily May Help Keep Minds Sharp

Image
To age well, we must eat well — there's been a lot of evidence that heart-healthy diets help protect the brain. Eating Leafy Greens Daily May Help Keep Minds Sharp The latest good news: A study recently  published  in  Neurology  finds that healthy seniors who had daily helpings of leafy green vegetables — such as spinach, kale, and collard greens — had a slower rate of cognitive decline, compared to those who tended to eat little or no greens. "The association is quite strong," says study author  Martha Clare Morris , a professor of nutrition science at Rush Medical College in Chicago. She also directs the Rush Institute for Healthy Aging. The research included 960 participants of the  Memory and Aging Project . Their average age is 81, and none of them have dementia. Each year the participants undergo a battery of tests to assess their memory. Scientists also keep tracking their eating habits and lifestyle habits. To analyze the relati...
Read more

Tips to Build YOUR Self Esteem

Image
Self-esteem is a key component of a happy, successful life. Self-esteem is essentially how you feel about yourself in terms of your personal qualities and traits, your skills and abilities. Someone with high self-esteem will focus more on their positive traits and see themselves as a capable and talented individual, whereas someone with low self-esteem will likely feel generally unworthy. This book provides easy-to-follow tips to help boost your self-esteem and get you feeling good about yourself. If, however, you feel your self-esteem is so low it is strongly affecting your day-to-day life, it is advised that you seek advice from your doctor. 1. Talk to friends and family Sometimes it can be hard to know exactly what is causing our self-esteem to be low and in these cases, one of the best things you can do is speak to a good friend or a family member. If you can vocalize your concerns it may help you to understand where it is coming from, and if the person you ...
Read more