Winning Business Plans

Who needs a business plan?

  • Owners and managers of successful business with ambitions to grow.  
  • Someone with a business going through a tough period and who wants to get back to better times.  
  • A company struggling with changes in its business environment and looking to find a new way forward.  
  • The director/s of a firm who want to know that the management is doing things properly.  
  • Companies that need to obtain funding and who realise that in the current financial climate lenders will favour the well prepared.

How Will a Plan Benefit My Business?

There is a substantial amount of research evidence that points to the relative difference in business profitability, growth and survival rates between businesses with a business plan and those without. New start ups without a business plan have a greater than 25% failure rate during their first year of trading. Established business without business plans, and there are surprisingly large numbers of these, usually under perform their sector rivals by a significant amount. They produce lower profits over the long term and much lower rates of growth.  

The Perfect Plan

There is no such thing as a perfect business plan. The layout, the emphasis, even the presentation of the financial projections will change from plan to plan. What needs to be considered is the purpose of the plan. Who is it aimed at and what is it going to be used for must be well thought through before any plan is even started. Buying an off the shelf business plan may be cheap, quick and easy but will it do what you want it to. Most people who read business plans for a living such as investors or lenders will recognise them for what they are.

Who Should Write the Plan?

It is sometimes said that the business plan should be written by the person running the enterprise and that no one else can do this for them. There is an element of truth in this assertion. Few people will know more about the workings of a business that its executives. However writing a good business plan is not something that most people have much experience of and many find the process rather daunting and the disruption to operational imperatives may be unacceptable.  

A Better Way

A tailored business plan where the business owner or manager is closely involved in its preparation provides the best of both worlds   Bringing in a specialist who is an experienced business plan writer can save time and money and the interaction and debate that will occur during the process will lift the standard of the plan. Sometimes the management teams focus is heavily biased towards operational and short term issues a good business plan writer will adjust the balance towards the important long term strategic issues.

Ten Steps to a Business Plan

If you decide to write the plan yourself then here is a basic outline that may help you with your task:  

  1. Where you are now, define your business and explain what it does.
  2. Describe the status of the business now.
  3. What markets are you operating in whom are you targeting and what competitors are there and what strategy are they following.
  4. Set down the objectives of the plan, what are you trying to do and when will you do it.
  5. What’s your strategy? What makes you different and on what basis will you compete.
  6. What’s the opportunity you have identified and how will you exploit it?
  7. What risks do you anticipate and how can these be minimised and dealt with?
  8. Produce a detailed practical working plan, what resources will you need and where will you get them?
  9. Identify and quantify costs, estimate possible revenue streams and prepare suitable financial projections.
  10. Get the grammar spelling and presentation right.    


When you have finished the plan have someone with good level of business knowledge read it.  Ask them if they understood it and if it was persuasive and comprehensive. Did it raise too many questions it didn’t answer? Feedback such as this can substantially improve the plan so make the most of it if it’s available.

Finally  

Understand and know your plan. People who you hope will invest in your business, or lend money to it are bound to ask questions. Make sure that you know the answers. What’s your gross profit margin? How many have you sold so far? What will your competitors do when you introduce this? All may have been covered in your plan but you need to have the answers ready. Investors don’t always read every word you have written but they often do. So good luck in your endeavours and if you need help to write or improve your plan give us a call.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of business plan writing or review please telephone with your name and contact details to 01277 896451 or e-mail them to info@ceostra.com and we will call you back.