For entrepreneurs, especially small businesses, a Business Plan can act as a strategic tool to make informed decisions, especially better planning decisions, and meet short- and long-term business objectives.
Business plans are often referred to as a blueprint or roadmap; without them, one can still travel, but with a map, one can reach a destination much quicker and easier. Companies rely on Business Plans to keep businesses on track for a more detailed and strategic guide. Let’s look at how having a business plan can help your business in the competitive global market.
So what is a Business Plan?
This document can range in length from 20 to 100 pages and consist of outlines, frameworks, action plans, and milestones on the process of achieving your company’s goals. This document includes your products (or services), finances, and marketing strategies. It proves to be a crucial part of a business, especially after the startup business has been launched and can be updated as the business grows. This vital document helps businesses, especially SMEs, plan and make informed decisions that align with their business goals by looking at the bigger picture.
Why is a Business Plan necessary for your business?
In short, business plans will guide you towards a clearer idea of the company’s plans, tracking the progress of the ongoing activities and strategising further to meet business objectives more effectively. Following are three reasons why it may be a good decision for your company to have a Business Plan:
- Strategic planning: This vital document will guide you through different stages of growth as your business expands. These guidelines will help you make better and more informed decisions that are crucial for the growth of your business. For example, you can easily make decisions regarding hiring additional personnel, expanding to another location, or diversifying the range of products you offer. Due to the saturated market and increased competition, the business landscape tends to get less predictable. A plan in this scenario will help your business identify sub-niches you can target.
- Better communication: Communication among team members and stakeholders is a characteristic of most successful businesses. Having a plan in place will help you improve communication within your company more easily. You can help new and prospective employees get familiar with the company’s goals and priorities by sharing the business plan. It can also be useful when you are applying for a loan and need the lender to evaluate your business potential to approve the application.
- Scope of growth: The final document, which should contain a detailed SWOT Analysis, will give you a fair idea about your business’s current and potential weaknesses that may affect your revenue in the long run. In addition, having a business plan will help you identify the scope of growth in your company by detecting the possible weaknesses.
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A Business Plan: The Conclusion
This critical document is vital to your business and will help you secure funds, put all your thoughts on paper, set better goals, and make critical decisions throughout every stage of the growth of your business. Business plans will address profitability, growth, and many other major issues. Business plans that are well thought out and written clearly can be used as a guide for attracting new investment and financing. A perfect business plan will highlight how a company operates — including production, marketing growth, and sales.
In addition, your plan needs to give a comprehensive approach to a brand’s main mission and purpose. Though it may seem like something anyone can do, it takes an especially skilled individual to craft a business plan that gets the point across without being too vague or wordy — they will find the perfect medium.
Any Business Planner worth his/her salt will tell you that writing this crucial document is as difficult as writing a mini-MBA thesis. In Case you Missed It, here some more advice for when you eventually find yourself pitching to an investor: 10 Tips for a Successful Entrepreneurial Pitch
