What is a business plan? At its simplest form, a business plan is a written guide or simply a roadmap for your business. It plainly outlines your business goals and how you are going to accomplish it. A well-drafted business plan enables both partners and investors to understand what you are trying to achieve and how you are going to do it.
Why should you have a business plan in place?
Every business will have short-term and long-term goals/budget plans and sales targets. All of these aspects are encompassed in a business plan and helps identify different market opportunities. It focusses on major business criteria such as ambition, strategy, sales, marketing, and forecasting.
Creating your own plan might be a complex process as it includes certain key elements. In this article, let us explore as to how you can write one effectively.
Executive summary:
An executive summary is an introduction or the blueprint of your plan. A well planned executive summary should provide the reader with a short and clear sketch of your business objective. It provides information on what you are trying to do in not more than three to four paragraphs.
Table of content:
The readers of your plan might be interested in a particular section and hence they would want to hop to their desired page. Having a table of the content page in place helps them to quickly head out to the right section.
Need for your business (opportunity or scope):
Your business should fulfill a demand or offer something that the market needs. This section should contain the information which explains the difference that your business can make. You should provide an answer for the basic questions such as what is the problem that you are solving or what do people get out of your business.
Business model (products/services you’re offering):
In this section, you need to explain how you deliver value to your customers. It has information about the products/services that you are offering including the quality and benefits.
The market analysis:
Your potential investors will want to know the size of your target area and future growth potential. To prove the fact, you will have to do some research and outline the need for your product or service in each market. This section also helps your investors understand the competitive landscape, including who your rivals are and your position in comparison to them.