Well first let’s go over what exactly is a business plan. A business plan is a blue print to the success of your organization. It clearly identifies who you are, where you are going and most importantly How will you get there.
Many people who are looking for either government funding and grants, small business loans or investors know that they cannot proceed with that process unless they have a professional business plan at hand. Anyone who is going to lend you any type of money wants to know what they are lending money to.
Lenders and Investors think like this:
Is this company going to be able to pay me/bank back?
Does this company have a strong management team to implement success?
Does the operations team have a clear idea of their market and their competitors?
Does this team have an effective marketing strategy to get themselves where they anticipate?
Is there passion and expertise behind this business?
Clearly – the bottom line here is - Do they know what they are doing?
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Most investors or bank reps take less than a minute to “critique” or pass “judgement” on your business plan.
So your business plan, should not be a mere cookie cutter format full of boring writing and misspellings. Your business plan is a sales tool. You need to sell yourself completely in your plan. You need to be creative in your technique and pour your whole heart and soul into creating something that you are passionate about, because becoming a successful entrepreneur has a lot to do with your passion for that business. And odds are you are starting or operating a business that you have experience in right? So all your years of experience and your passion for that industry should be clearly felt through your plan.
Any business that intends to “stick around” needs a business plan. More often than not initially we have an array of ideas for our businesses, but time passes and day to day operations happens and economy strikes or a competitor moves in or something happens and we forget those ideas.
Include all your Marketing Ideas: A business plan contains your tried and tested as well as researched marketing plans and ideas:
Whether or not you are specifically looking for investors or lending; make sure you jot down all your marketing ideas and plans into your business plan – when business is slow you can refer back to it to help remind you of additional resources you might have forgotten about. I mean we are all human, and everyone tends to forget something here or there. Be honest with yourself.
If you are looking for investors – in developing your marketing plan make sure you do your market research.
Make sure you clearly identify your target market, client profile statistics and where they live. When an investor or lender sees that you put in the effort and time into clearly identifying your buyers, they will take you serious.
The internet today can help you get most of that information. Just be detailed and informative.
How To Begin Writing Your Plan – See The Main Table of Contents I Use
To Your Success!
MasterBusinessConsulting.com
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About the Author:
Sandra Torres is a Business and Marketing Coach, Self-help Author, Fitness Enthusiast and Mother of a wonderful teenage boy. Sandra works creating and writing ad copy, web content, developing sales strategies to drive sales and often does Social Media Trainings. As a Business Coach, she helps small business owners, individuals and corporate executives effectively operate their businesses through guidance and consulting.
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