Post by Baruch on Nov 2, 2009 10:36:16 GMT -5
Of course you need a business plan!
Businesses that have a business plan are far more likely to succeed than those that don't. As we've already mentioned, it makes sense to benchmark against successful businesses. So the question isn't about whether or not to have a business plan. Instead, ask: what sort of business plan is best for you?
Did the last business plan you saw work?
I'd be willing to bet that it fell short of expectations. I've consulted to a huge variety of businesses, and from what I've seen, most business plans are brilliant, but few meet the goals set forth in their pages.
Why?
If you want your plan to survive the pressures of daily routine and changing priorities, then you have to build it with strong foundations:
ownership
milestones
measurement
These solid foundations give a plan structural strength, with concrete specifics that can be checked, followed up, measured, and implemented.
You've done your research, benchmarked successful businesses, analyzed your competitors, and surveyed your current and prospective clients. Put all this information to work - develop a business plan!
The Basis of a Good Plan
Ownership means accountability. Plans fail more often because of "who" problems - the allocation of responsibility - than because they lack concrete goals.
A good business plan assigns specific responsibilities for specific tasks. Who is in charge of developing client relationships? Who is in charge of the direct mail campaign? Any parts of the plan that aren't clearly owned are unlikely to be implemented.
Set the objectives, assign ownership, and then measure for success.
Another reason business plans don't often work is because they're too cumbersome and difficult to follow. It makes no sense to present a beautiful 150-page business plan, and have it sit on the shelf.
Your business plan must be functional and useful. It must be a working plan.
Your business plan might be one page. Excellent work. It might be twenty pages - that's fine, too. Your business plan should be as detailed as it needs to be in order to be useful. Because being useful is the bottom line.
Just what should your business plan contain? Well, it should contain whatever you need it to, in order to be useful! But there are a few essentials. Let's look at them now.
A Goal
Make your goal specific and easily measurable. "I'll have a successful business within twelve months" doesn't mean anything. Make your goal something like "111 have revenues of $100,000 in twelve months." Now that's measurable and specific.
You can break this objective down to monthly and weekly goals. $ 100,000 a year is just over $1,900 per week, and one decent Website per month should see you achieve that goal.
Because it's achievable, you believe you can do it - and what you believe, you can achieve!
A SWOT Analysis
A quick refresher: SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Once you've analyzed your business along these lines, you'll be in a strong position to develop realistic strategies to meet your objectives.
For example, if you put PR skills down as a weakness, you won't be likely to include a concentrated media campaign as part of your strategy. But if you're a wizard at writing powerful letters and have a fantastic database of contacts, then direct mail might be an appropriate tool for you to use.
An Operational Plan
Document an operational plan including a marketing plan, budgets, the staffing required, and your policies and procedures.
Think about how much money you'll need in order to get your business up and going, and mull over the tough questions: will you need credit facilities? Should you take a business partner?
The Bigger Picture
This is vital. It's the biggest failing I've seen in most businesses I've worked with. The owner is simply too busy working in the business to get the opportunity to step back and think about how they can grow the business. There's too much to be done, they say. "I'll get around to that later." Don't you fall into the same trap!
Step back and work on your business rather than in it.
The biggest reason businesses fail is poor management. When I say "poor management", I'm talking about two key issues:
A lack of financial resources: you're a bad manager if you don't know how much money you
need to start, run and grow your business.
A lack of customers: you're a bad manager if you don't know how to attract customers.
Quite often, poor management is simply the inability to work on your business instead of in it.
Key Points
Without a plan, you'll fail.
Identify your goal, your strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.
Maintain a bigger-picture perspective.
Aim to work on your business, not in it.
See you at the top in your business.
To get copies of our free business new e-books,
visit www.studyabroadfree.blog.com