Why do you need a Business Plan?

by Mike K. Post your article at Aleshatech.com

If you’re like most small business owners, you cringe at the idea of a Business Plan. Most importantly you don’t believe that you need one. You believe you have a good plan, and you keep it in your head.

Do you See the Problem?

The notion of not needing to document your business plan and keeping everything in your head is a big concern. This approach in your head offers no clarity of the present or future opportunity for your business, no focus on where you are going and no measurement for actually doing what is necessary to achieve your sales and growth objective.

A business plan is a valuable tool to help direct your decisions, whether you are starting a new business or looking for ways to improve an existing one. A business plan is a road map that describes a business, its products, or services, how it makes (or will make) money, its management and employees, funding, operations model, and a variety of other specifics that are critical to its success.

A good business plan helps entrepreneurs in concentrating on the actual steps required to see their business plans through to fulfillment, and in addition, it assists them in achieving short- and long-term goals. So, if you are feeling frustrated, angry, or concerned that the business you have worked so hard for isn’t performing and achieving your goals then it’s time to take a step back and think about doing a business plan and getting on the path to resolving these frustrations.

Starting the process to take a step back to build a business plan will force you to ask yourself a lot of hard questions and take the time to come up with well-researched and insightful answers. The process of creating the plan and putting thoughts on paper helps to articulate your vision in realistic terms and better determine if there are any gaps in your strategy.

The objectives of your Business Plan should focus on how the business will prosper and grow today and in future. It can become a reference tool to keep management on track with sales targets and operational milestones. When used properly and consulted regularly, it can help you measure and manage what you’re working so hard to create.

Here are some key outcomes you can achieve with a good business plan:

1. Define your goals and the tactics that will help you achieve your goals. All the short-term targets and long-term milestones are clearly indicated in the business plan, allowing you to build tactical plans to achieve them.

2. Definition of the markets your business will look to play in and when, as well as those areas you don’t want to expand towards.

3. Definition of your competitive advantages so you clearly show what helps you to stand out from competitors and establish your brand positioning in the market.

4. Document and test your revenue model to ensure you cover all potential angles and threats.

5. To build a funding plan for your business to show how much working capital is required at different points along your business lifecycle to achieve your growth targets. This allows you to predict upcoming needs and start the acquisition of funds in a timely manner to stay on track.

6. To be able to articulate the objectives and plans for your business to key stakeholder groups. Potential investors, key employees and long-term clients all can benefit by seeing the direction the company is heading to motivate them to invest their time, energy and money in the business.

Based on this there is no doubt that a quality business plan is critical to the long-term success of any business. It clearly defines the direction and the steps necessary to get there. With a good business plan, you will now be able to see the path to success and be able to drive the execution of the steps to get there.

BPF Solutions has decades of practical experience in structuring businesses and business planning so that you can have a solid and easy implement plan to prosper and grow your business.