What is a Business Plan?

Business plan is, as the name suggests, a plan for your business. A business plan is about results. Do not just accept a current ongoing trend as your plan.

What is a business plan?

To some, it could be a document containing large number of pages explaining in detail the company’s financial plan for the future years. For others, it could be a simple drawing on a piece of paper, or even be still in the conceptual stage. A business plan is a tool to map your self, a thorough representation of your aims and goals for the enterprise and the methods to get to them.

What a business plan includes?

A business plan consists of certain standardized details of the enterprise.

Details

1. Executive Summary : This is just a couple of pages of highlights and summary of the business plan. This page should be written at the last but is provided in the front of the document. This summary should be given a good amount of thought before writing as this sheds light on your plans. Be brief but include all the important points of your business plan. Include brief lines on objectives of your company, mission, and your keys to success. Try and be convincing in your summary and abstract any complicated jargon.
2. Business Description : Describe in details about how the company started and about the ownership of the company. Characterize the future plans and present market scenario of the company. Draw the facilities available in your enterprise and the locations. These conclusions should be based on reliable data of the company.Include details of business structure, legal form, distribution of your product/service, advertising, promotions, etc. Also explain how your business will be profitable.
3. Products and Services : Explain about the products and services you have to offer from your company. Focus on customer’s requirement and benefits. Be clarion and brief so as to help a layman to understand the services offered. Describe the development of the offered product.
4. Market Analysis and Strategies : Ascertain your market and your competitors. Determine the size, type and prospects of the market. Study and identify your potential competitors. Get to know their market shares, promotional market strategies, source of their funding, what prices are they offering? How are you better than them. Outline your strategy and promotional benefits. The marketing plan should include a review of industry conditions, a precise definition of the target markets, an analysis of competitor advantages and weaknesses and a plan for promoting and selling your product or service.
5. Management Plan and Organizational Structure: Plan out your detailed structure( both current and proposed). In detail, describe the role and capabilities of members of the boards. Identify and propose to fill the skill gaps in the enterprise.Include backgrounds of key members of the team, personnel strategy, and details.
6. Financial Projections : Include profit and loss, cash flow, balance sheet, break-even analysis, assumptions, and business ratios in this section. Income statement analyses the cash generating capability of your company. It includes details of sales and expenditure. It highlights details of costs –fixed and variable, income, profit margins, depreciation, and taxes. In financial accounting, a cash flow statement, also known as statement of cash flows or funds flow statement, is a financial statement that shows how changes in balance sheet accounts and income affect cash and cash equivalents, and breaks the analysis down to operating, investing, and financing activities.a balance sheet or statement of financial position is a summary of the financial balances broken down into Assets, Liabilities and Equity. Describe your company’s growth over a period of 3-5 years.

• Executive Summary
  • Objectives
  • Mission
  • Keys to Success

• Business Description
  • Ownership
  • History/Start-up Plan
  • Locations and Facilities

• Products and Services
  • Product and Service Description
  • Competitive Comparison
  • Sales Literature
  • Sourcing and Fulfillment
  • Technology
  • Future Products and Services

• Market Analysis And Strategies
  • Market Segmentation
  • Target Market Segment Strategy
  • Industry Analysis

• Management Plan and Organisational Structure
  • Organizational Structure
  • Management Team
  • Management Team Gaps
  • Personnel Plan

• Financial Projection
  • Important Assumptions
  • Key Financial Indicators
  • Break-even Analysis
  • Projected Profit and Loss
  • Projected Cash Flow
  • Projected Balance Sheet
  • Business Ratios
  • Long-term Plan