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Need help writing a business plan hire our professional business plan writers now.
Business planning is the collection of steps necessary for business success.
Your business planning uses your business plan as a reference document. A business plan helps you stay the course. A business plan also increases your chances of getting investment , funding, debts, etc.
Every business executives meeting is a part of business planning as they discuss the business’s current situation and make a plan on how to improve that situation.
Business success is a moving target and your business plan will need to change as the business circumstances change. A business plan will need to change for different goals too.
Hit the moving target of business financial success with these three business planning tools.
Sales Forecasting Plan
The sales forecast gives an estimate of the good and product sales for a certain time and the estimated revenues.
Sales forecasts tend to change with industry trends, changes in the economy, and changes in customer buying preferences.
Cash Flow Analysis Plan
If we can say it in one line, ‘never run out of cash’.
Plan on how you will maintain business cash flow. Having large orders in line is not enough. If you have to spare resources for that project, you may run out of cash by the time you can invoice for that project.
Make a schedule of refreshing cash flow projections and have a contingency plan for any cash shortages with a business financing or debt.
Business Contingency Plan
A business contingency plan is how you’ll handle crises and disasters like fire, flood, or building collapse.
Your contingency plan protects you, your customers, and your employees against a disaster. It will also help you resume operations after a crisis as soon as possible
In the following sections, we provide more detail on each key step.
Do research for your business idea .
Your research for verifying your business idea starts with the target market research .
For example, you are planning on starting a florist business. Start with doing a local survey and see how many florist shops are there in your locality.
Check how many new florist shops were opened or closed in the last year. You’ll understand some dynamics of your target market with only this data.
Do you plan to go beyond the block and create a florist shop that will attract customers from every nook and corner of the city? Look into the products your competition offers and work on creating innovation.
You can use market surveys, customer feedback, reviews, industry reports, or any credible source of information available for your industry.
Further, document your research. You can use online tools like Google Docs, Dropbox Paper, Evernote, etc. This research will help you draft your business plan and will serve as the bases of your business strategy.
Pro Tip: Here is step by step guide on how to find the right business idea .
Hire professional market researchers from WiseBusinessPlans and take a solid start.
What is business strategy? Here is how Harvard Business Review defines it.
“A business strategy is a set of guiding principles that, when communicated and adopted in the organization, generates a desired pattern of decision making”.
A simpler definition of business strategy can be that this is the way you should allocate resources to achieve your business goals.
When developing a business strategy, consider your short-term goals and long-term goals. Your strategy will be different for each.
To separate business strategy from business planning, a strategy is a direction, planning is the collection of steps you will take to move in that direction. Stay the course but you can change how you walk.
Since this is your pre-launch phase, you can look into different business strategies and pick the most suitable one for your business.
Your business financial forecast includes the expected investments or expenses and expected revenues.
The crux of a financial forecast for your business plan is to give a simple, straightforward financial growth plan.
One big hallmark of your business growth is making breakeven. When your business is making a break-even, you have made progress.
Here is how you can calculate breakeven .
Put forecast numbers in your business financial model and prepare an income statement that will help you determine how much funding you’ll need in the first year to survive.
Your projected financial statements give insight into business operations and performance. You can measure business performance for a quarter, a year, or any period you want. You can also see the details of assets and liabilities and business financial position.
You have the knowledge and data to write a business plan . You have also created projected financial statements. Now is the time to draft your business plan.
Start drafting your business plan from business overview to appendix (write an executive summary at the end). You have everything already, now you just have to put the pieces together.
Get our business plan service now!
When you have written your business plan, make sure to proofread and revise it for any grammatical or factual errors.
Also, revising a business plan gives you a chance to go over your business idea and its execution once again. You may come up with a new idea or a new way to do something.
If you can, ask someone you trust with business experience to review your business plan. Many times, their insights are valuable and can help you improve your plan.
Half of the work in securing funding for your business idea is a killer presentation.
Simple ideas stick to our minds. Follow the K.I.S.S principle (K.I.S.S is ‘keep it simple, stupid).
One part of the business plan presentation is the graphics work. If your document or slides are designed by a professional designer, you’ll have a better shot at success.
Use these five tips for improving your business plan presentation.
Recommended: If you want to design a cover page for a business plan by yourself you can follow business plan cover page . It has professional cover page examples to simply download and use. However, If you want to design it by a professional business plan designer then here is our business plan template design service. You can also hire our business plan writing services .
The business planning process is a systematic approach to developing a strategic plan for a business. It involves analyzing the current business environment, setting goals and objectives, identifying strategies, creating an action plan, and regularly reviewing and adjusting the plan as needed.
The business planning process is important because it provides a roadmap for the business’s success. It helps business owners and managers align their efforts, make informed decisions, identify potential risks and opportunities, and allocate resources effectively to achieve their goals.
The key steps in the business planning process typically include conducting a situational analysis, setting SMART goals and objectives, conducting market research, developing strategies, creating an action plan, implementing the plan, and regularly monitoring and evaluating progress.
The duration of the business planning process can vary depending on the size and complexity of the business and the scope of the plan. It can range from a few weeks for a simple plan to several months for a more comprehensive strategic plan.
Ideally, the business planning process should involve key stakeholders such as business owners, managers, department heads, and relevant employees. It can also be beneficial to seek external expertise or involve consultants, industry experts, or advisors to gain valuable insights and perspectives.
Business Jargons
A Business Encyclopedia
Definition : Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding beforehand , what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down an organisation’s objectives and develops various courses of action , by which the organisation can achieve those objectives. It chalks out exactly, how to attain a specific goal.
Planning is nothing but thinking before the action takes place . It helps us to take a peep into the future and decide in advance the way to deal with the situations, which we are going to encounter in future. It involves logical thinking and rational decision making.
Planning is concerned with setting objectives, targets, and formulating plan to accomplish them. The activity helps managers analyse the present condition to identify the ways of attaining the desired position in future . It is both, the need of the organisation and the responsibility of managers.
Planning is present in all types of organisations, households, sectors, economies, etc. We need to plan because the future is highly uncertain and no one can predict the future with 100% accuracy, as the conditions can change anytime. Hence, planning is the basic requirement of any organization for the survival, growth and success.
By planning process, an organisation not only gets the insights of the future, but it also helps the organisation to shape its future. Effective planning involves simplicity of the plan, i.e. the plan should be clearly stated and easy to understand because if the plan is too much complicated it will create chaos among the members of the organisation. Further, the plan should fulfil all the requirements of the organisation .
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Michael says
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February 6, 2019 at 2:34 pm
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April 18, 2019 at 12:48 pm
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November 23, 2019 at 1:00 pm
Can you please add scopes of planning too.
April 21, 2019 at 8:45 am
Language is simple and clear
June 30, 2019 at 9:26 pm
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July 4, 2019 at 9:55 pm
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October 13, 2019 at 3:12 am
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October 14, 2019 at 9:51 am
Thank you so much all the readers, for constantly appreciating the article, it means a lot to us, Keep reading. 🙂
February 4, 2021 at 2:23 pm
Great piece Thank you
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October 19, 2019 at 2:37 pm
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November 13, 2019 at 12:10 pm
very informative, and to the point
November 20, 2019 at 11:37 pm
Nice work Ma’am, very educative and well narrated… It will really help me in my exam tomorrow
Abdujebar Mohammed says
November 25, 2019 at 1:05 am
Very nice. Thank you so much very helpful article
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December 8, 2019 at 3:57 am
It was great to read
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December 26, 2019 at 11:15 pm
Very nicely done. Your show schedule gave me the info on some shows I was wondering about.
Otayama says
January 2, 2020 at 2:05 pm
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Abundant Grace says
January 21, 2020 at 2:57 pm
This is insightful. Thank you.
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February 26, 2020 at 9:41 pm
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February 29, 2020 at 4:07 pm
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November 26, 2020 at 9:24 am
Great Article, how do I cite it, what date was it published and who is the author? Can you please assist me with this information. Thank you.
November 26, 2020 at 9:41 am
The article was written by Surbhi S. on December 3, 2016
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November 27, 2020 at 11:32 am
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December 10, 2020 at 2:12 pm
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December 20, 2020 at 6:54 pm
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April 7, 2021 at 6:35 pm
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September 9, 2021 at 5:48 pm
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please advise who wrote the article and when it was published. this may help on my research. hope somebody can help me
September 17, 2021 at 11:20 am
It was created on Dec 3, 2016 by Surbhi S.
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September 24, 2022 at 10:48 pm
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January 26, 2023 at 6:23 pm
I would like to use some of the information in this article. Can I get the writer’s name, etc., to include as a reference source?
February 10, 2023 at 11:00 am
The author’s name is Surbhi S.
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4 steps to help make your business planning process successful.
By nature, entrepreneurs are passionate, driven, and courageous , ready and willing to charge hell with a water pistol. Yet, many business owners are poor planners. Author and businessman John L. Beckley said it best: “Most people don’t plan to fail. They fail to plan.” Oftentimes, you’re so consumed with daily business operations that you don’t take time to plan for the future. Inevitably, you experience setbacks and failures that keep you in a hamster wheel of day-to-day worries. But there’s hope. By instituting these 4 stages of the business planning process within your company, you can disrupt your present weaknesses enough to make them tomorrow’s strengths.
Follow Along With The Financially Simple Experience!
This article is the first in a mini-series about Planning within a larger series about the 8 Foundational Components That Drive Up Your Business’s Value .
“By instituting business planning processes within your company, you can disrupt your present weaknesses enough to make them tomorrow’s strengths.” – Justin Goodbread, CFP®, CEPA®, CVGA®
Everyone plans. What are you wearing today? What will you eat for dinner? Who’s watching the kids? Many times, you concentrate on your short-term plans more than your long-term plans. You prepare for life’s immediate concerns instead of preparing for future prosperity. But, as an American statesman, entrepreneur, inventor, and author, Benjamin Franklin said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
As a small business owner, you tend to do the same thing. You fret about immediate needs and issues in your business more than you plan for the future of your business. In a press release about The Alternative Board’s (TAB) latest Business Pulse Survey , reporter Richard Carufel notes that “the average entrepreneur spends 68.1% of the time working ‘ in” their business—tackling day-to-day tasks, putting out fires, etc.—and only 31.9% of the time working ‘ on’ their business—i.e. long-term goals, strategic planning.” Additionally, Corporate Value Metrics , a national corporate consulting company, says that business owners typically work harder on the other seven fundamental components that drive up your business’s intrinsic value than they do on planning.
Knowing that most business owners fail to plan properly, what exactly is business planning? According to the Business Dictionary, business planning is “ The process of determining a commercial enterprise’s objectives, strategies and projected actions in order to promote its survival and development within a given time frame .” I agree that business planning needs to be done within a time frame. I also agree that it’s a process. However, this definition fails to address available resources. Just because business owners layout plans doesn’t mean they can afford to act on them. Therefore, I would revise the definition of business planning as follows:
Business planning is a basic management function involving the design, steps, and quantified resources needed to achieve the optimum balance of needs or demands with available resources. So, what are the steps involved in the business planning process?
Ultimately, the definition of business planning can be seen in the business planning process . Whether you’re planning your business’ opening, growth, projects, risk mitigation, sale, closing, or anything else, all planning begins with a process . Although you can make the planning process as long or as complicated as you’d like, I tend to break the process into 4 Basic Steps.
Identify goals or objectives to be achieved. It has been said that if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. The same is true for your business plans. In order to create an effective, quantifiable, and measurable plan, you must clearly define your goals. A plan without a goal is like charting a course for nowhere. You will just continue working in perpetuity to reach a goal that doesn’t exist.
Formulate strategies to achieve the goals or objectives. Once you’ve defined your goals, create a set of tactics and action steps to reach them. It’s a good idea to include your team in this process, as they will likely be the boots on the ground that are working through your strategy. Likewise, they may be able to help you find the best way to achieve your goals because they will have first-hand knowledge of what tactics work within your existing operations.
Arrange the people required to work on the strategies to achieve the goals. Be clear in communicating who is responsible for what. Additionally, you need to set a timeframe that is both realistic and challenging. If you ask for the work to be done in an unrealistic amount of time, the group may not put any effort toward accomplishing it because they know that it can’t be done. Likewise, giving too much time could breed procrastination.
Implement, direct, and monitor the steps of the action plan. Once your team is set and they understand what is expected of them and when it is expected to be done, then you need to be consistent in following up with them. Regular check-ins keep the task fresh on their minds and enable you to offer additional resources if things are falling behind. Similarly, these follow-up meetings will help you to identify and address any problem areas that may need to be adjusted.
I think that’s the way any type of business planning works. Those are the actions business owners, managers, and employees must take to make a business plan. Yet, while you’re going through the business planning process, you must include the following items within your plans:
Remember, in order to affect the future, you must disrupt the present. You have to create some turmoil to make improvements. Think about a rocket ship. In order for a rocket ship to go upward into orbit, it must have combustion or “disruption.” Similarly, planning often disrupts business because it makes you stop and think about what you’re doing well or poorly, giving you a chance to improve upon and fix things.
Be sure to join me in my next article within this planning mini-series where I deal with, the Strategic Planning Process – the next step in business planning you must do to give your team direction and accomplish long-term goals!
Organizational planning is like charting your company’s path on a map. You need to know what direction you’re headed to stay competitive.
But what exactly is organizational planning and how do you do it effectively? This guide will cover:
The Different Components or Types of Organizational Plans?
Organizational planning examples.
Organizational Planning Tools
Organizational planning is the process of defining a company’s reason for existing, setting goals aimed at realizing full potential, and creating increasingly discrete tasks to meet those goals.
Each phase of planning is a subset of the prior, with strategic planning being the foremost
There are four phases of a proper organizational plan: strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency. Each phase of planning is a subset of the prior, with strategic planning being the foremost.
A strategic plan is the company’s big picture. It defines the company’s goals for a set period of time, whether that’s one year or ten, and ensures that those goals align with the company’s mission, vision, and values. Strategic planning usually involves top managers, although some smaller companies choose to bring all of their employees along when defining their mission, vision, and values.
The tactical strategy describes how a company will implement its strategic plan. A tactical plan is composed of several short-term goals, typically carried out within one year, that support the strategic plan. Generally, it’s the responsibility of middle managers to set and oversee tactical strategies, like planning and executing a marketing campaign.
Operational plans encompass what needs to happen continually, on a day-to-day basis, in order to execute tactical plans. Operational plans could include work schedules, policies, rules, or regulations that set standards for employees, as well as specific task assignments that relate to goals within the tactical strategy, such as a protocol for documenting and addressing work absences.
Contingency plans wait in the wings in case of a crisis or unforeseen event. Contingency plans cover a range of possible scenarios and appropriate responses for issues varying from personnel planning to advanced preparation for outside occurrences that could negatively impact the business. Companies may have contingency plans for things like how to respond to a natural disaster, malfunctioning software, or the sudden departure of a C-level executive.
The organizational planning process includes five phases that, ideally, form a cycle.
Strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning fall within these five stages.
Steps in this initial stage include:
Review your mission, vision, and values
Gather data about your company, like performance-indicating metrics from your sales department
Perform a SWOT analysis; take stock of your company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
Set big picture goals that take your mission, vision, values, data, and SWOT analysis into account
At this point, it’s time to create tactical plans. Bring in middle managers to help do the following:
Define short-term goals—quarterly goals are common—that support the strategic plan for each department, such as setting a quota for the sales team so the company can meet its strategic revenue goal
Develop processes for reviewing goal achievement to make sure strategic and tactical goals are being met, like running a CRM report every quarter and submitting it to the Chief Revenue Officer to check that the sales department is hitting its quota
Develop contingency plans, like what to do in case the sales team’s CRM malfunctions or there’s a data breach
Operational plans, or the processes that determine how individual employees spend their day, are largely the responsibility of middle managers and the employees that report to them. For example, the process that a sales rep follows to find, nurture, and convert a lead into a customer is an operational plan. Work schedules, customer service workflows, or GDPR policies that protect prospective customers’ information all aid a sales department in reaching its tactical goal—in this case, a sales quota—so they fall under the umbrella of operational plans.
This stage should include setting goals and targets that individual employees should hit during a set period.
Managers may choose to set some plans, such as work schedules, themselves. On the other hand, individual tasks that make up a sales plan may require the input of the entire team. This stage should also include setting goals and targets that individual employees should hit during a set period.
It’s time to put plans into action. Theoretically, activities carried out on a day-to-day basis (defined by the operational plan) should help reach tactical goals, which in turn supports the overall strategic plan.
No plan is complete without periods of reflection and adjustment. At the end of each quarter or the short-term goal period, middle managers should review whether or not they hit the benchmarks established in step two, then submit data-backed reports to C-level executives. For example, this is when the manager of the sales department would run a report analyzing whether or not a new process for managing the sales pipeline helped the team reach its quota. A marketing team, on the other hand, might analyze whether or not their efforts to optimize advertising and landing pages succeeded in generating a certain number of leads for the sales department.
Depending on the outcome of those reviews, your org may wish to adjust parts of its strategic, tactical, or operational plans. For example, if the sales team didn’t meet their quota their manager may decide to make changes to their sales pipeline operational plan.
These templates and examples can help you start thinking about how to format your organizational plan.
This is a single page two-year strategic plan for a fictional corporation. Notice that the goals listed in the “Strategic Objectives and Organization Goals” section follow the SMART goals model: They’re specific, measurable, actionable, relevant, and time-based.
Companies need to use workforce planning to analyze, forecast, and plan for the future of their personnel. Workforce planning helps identify skill gaps, inefficiencies, opportunities for employee growth, and to prepare for future staffing needs.
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This is a two-year action plan for an administration, which could also be described as a tactical plan. Organization-wide goals—aka strategic goals—that are relevant to this department are listed in the top section, while the more tactical goals for the manager of this department are listed below.
Check out this strategic plan template . You’ll notice that tasks for an individual employee fall under operational planning. Note the space within each item for the manager to leave feedback for the employee.
While organizational planning is a long and complex process, it’s integral to the success of your company. Luckily, the process becomes more automatic and intuitive with regular planning and review meetings.
Use Pingboard’s org chart software to help you plan and communicate your strategy. With Pingboard users can build and share multiple versions of their org chart to help with succession plans, organization redesigns, merger and acquisitions plans. Pingboard also helps with hiring plans by allowing you to communicate open roles in your live org chart so employees understand where their company is growing and what roles they can apply for. Pingboard’s employee directory helps find successors for specific roles by allowing managers to search through their workforce for the skills and experience needed to fill a position.
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Management planning process.
An effective management planning process includes evaluating long-term corporate objectives. Management planning is the process of assessing an organization’s goals and creating a realistic, detailed plan of action for meeting those goals.
The first step of the management planning process is to identify specific company goals. This portion of the planning process should include a detailed overview of each goal, including the reason for its selection and the anticipated outcomes of goal-related projects.
Each goal should have financial and human resources projections associated with its completion. For example, a management plan may identify how many sales people it will cost to meet the goal of increasing sales by 25 percent.
Each goal should have tasks or projects associated with its achievement. For example, if a goal is to raise profits by 25 percent, a manager will need to outline the tasks required to meet that objective. Examples of tasks might include increasing the sales staff or developing advanced sales training techniques.
Prioritizing goals and tasks is about ordering objectives in term of their importance. The tasks deemed most important will theoretically be approached and completed first. The prioritizing process may also reflect the steps necessary to complete a task or achieve a goal.
As the company prioritizes projects, it must establish timelines for completing associated tasks and assign individuals to complete them. This portion of the management planning process should consider the abilities of staff members and the time necessary to realistically complete assignments.
For example, the sales manager in this scenario may be given monthly earning quotas to stay on track for the goal of increasing sales by 25 percent.
Identify alternative courses of action, faqs section, what is the management planning process.
These are the steps of the management planning process: 1. Establish Goals 2. Identify Resources 3. Establish Goal-Related Tasks 4. Prioritize Goals and Tasks 5. Create Assignments and Timelines 6. Establish Evaluation Methods 7. Identify Alternative Courses of Action.
When written effectively, a business plan can help raise capital, inform decisions, and draw new talent.
Companies of all sizes have one thing in common: They all began as small businesses. Starting small is the corner for those just getting off the ground. Learn about how to make that first hire, deal with all things administrative, and set yourself up for success.
Writing a business plan is often the first step in transforming your business from an idea into something tangible . As you write, your thoughts begin to solidify into strategy, and a path forward starts to emerge. But a business plan is not only the realm of startups; established companies can also benefit from revisiting and rewriting theirs. In any case, the formal documentation can provide the clarity needed to motivate staff , woo investors, or inform future decisions.
No matter your industry or the size of your team, the task of writing a business plan—a document filled with so much detail and documentation—can feel daunting. Don’t let that stop you, however; there are easy steps to getting started.
A business plan is a formal document outlining the goals, direction, finances, team, and future planning of your business. It can be geared toward investors, in a bid to raise capital, or used as an internal document to align teams and provide direction. It typically includes extensive market research, competitor analysis, financial documentation, and an overview of your business and marketing strategy. When written effectively, a business plan can help prescribe action and keep business owners on track to meeting business goals.
A business plan can be particularly helpful during a company’s initial growth and serve as a guiding force amid the uncertainty, distractions, and at-times rapid developments involved in starting a business . For enterprise companies, a business plan should be a living, breathing document that guides decision-making and facilitates intentional growth.
“You should have a game plan for every major commitment you’ll have, from early-stage founder agreements to onboarding legal professionals,” says Colin Keogh, CEO of the Rapid Foundation—a company that brings technology and training to communities in need—and a WeWork Labs mentor in the UK . “You can’t go out on funding rounds or take part in accelerators without any planning.”
While there is no set format for writing a business plan, there are several elements that are typically included. Here’s what’s important to consider when writing your business plan.
No longer than half a page, the executive summary should briefly introduce your business and describe the purpose of the business plan. Are you writing the plan to attract capital? If so, specify how much money you hope to raise, and how you’re going to repay the loan. If you’re writing the plan to align your team and provide direction, explain at a high level what you hope to achieve with this alignment, as well as the size and state of your existing team.
The executive summary should explain what your business does, and provide an introductory overview of your financial health and major achievements to date.
To properly introduce your company, it’s important to also describe the wider industry. What is the financial worth of your market? Are there market trends that will affect the success of your company? What is the state of the industry and its future potential? Use data to support your claims and be sure to include the full gamut of information—both positive and negative—to provide investors and your employees a complete and accurate portrayal of your company’s milieu.
Go on to describe your company and what it provides your customers. Are you a sole proprietor , LLC, partnership, or corporation? Are you an established company or a budding startup? What does your leadership team look like and how many employees do you have? This section should provide both historical and future context around your business, including its founding story, mission statement , and vision for the future.
It’s essential to showcase your point of difference in your company description, as well as any advantages you may have in terms of expert talent or leading technology. This is typically one of the first pieces of the plan to be written.
Research is key in completing a business plan and, ideally, more time should be spent on research and analysis than writing the plan itself. Understanding the size, growth, history, future potential, and current risks inherent to the wider market is essential for the success of your business, and these considerations should be described here.
In addition to this, it’s important to include research into the target demographic of your product or service. This might be in the form of fictional customer personas, or a broader overview of the income, location, age, gender, and buying habits of your existing and potential customers.
Though the research should be objective, the analysis in this section is a good place to reiterate your point of difference and the ways you plan to capture the market and surpass your competition.
Beyond explaining the elements that differentiate you from your competition, it’s important to provide an in-depth analysis of your competitors themselves.
This research should delve into the operations, financials, history, leadership, and distribution channels of your direct and indirect competitors. It should explore the value propositions of these competitors, and explain the ways you can compete with, or exploit, their strengths and weaknesses.
This segment provides details around how you’re going to do the work necessary to fulfill this plan. It should include information about your organizational structure and the everyday operations of your team, contractors, and physical and digital assets.
Consider including your company’s organizational chart, as well as more in-depth information on the leadership team: Who are they? What are their backgrounds? What do they bring to the table? Potentially include the résumés of key people on your team.
For startups, your execution plan should include how long it will take to begin operations, and then how much longer to reach profitability. For established companies, it’s a good idea to outline how long it will take to execute your plan, and the ways in which you will change existing operations.
If applicable, it’s also beneficial to include your strategy for hiring new team members and scaling into different markets.
It’s essential to have a comprehensive marketing plan in place as you scale operations or kick off a new strategy—and this should be shared with your stakeholders and employees. This segment of your business plan should show how you’re going to promote your business, attract customers, and retain existing clients.
Include brand messaging, marketing assets, and the timeline and budget for engaging consumers across different channels. Potentially include a marketing SWOT analysis into your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Evaluate the way your competitors market themselves, and how your target audience responds—or doesn’t respond—to these messages.
It’s essential to disclose all finances involved in running your company within your business plan. This is so your shareholders properly understand how you’re projected to perform going forward, and the progress you’ve made so far.
You should include your income statement, which outlines annual net profits or losses; a cash flow statement, which shows how much money you need to launch or scale operations; and a balance sheet that shows financial liabilities and assets.
“An income statement is the measure of your financial results for a certain period and the most accurate report of business activities during that time, [whereas a balance sheet] presents your assets, liabilities, and equity,” Amit Perry, a corporate finance expert, explained at a WeWork Labs educational session in Israel.
It’s crucial to understand the terms correctly so you know how to present your finances when you’re speaking to investors. Amit Perry, CEO and founder of Perryllion Ltd.
In addition, if you’re asking for funding, you will need to outline exactly how much money you need as well as where this money will go and how you plan to pay it back.
Now that you know what components are traditionally included in a business plan, it’s time to consider how you’ll actually construct the document.
Here are 12 key factors to keep in mind when writing a business plan. These overarching principles will help you write a business plan that serves its purpose (whatever that may be) and becomes an easy reference in the years ahead.
Use clear, concise language and avoid jargon. When business plans are too long-winded, they’re less likely to be used as intended and more likely to be forgotten or glazed over by stakeholders.
Let your passion for your business shine through; show employees and investors why you care (and why they should too).
Don’t be afraid to have an extensive list of appendices, including the CVs of team members, built-out customer personas, product demonstrations, and examples of internal or external messaging.
All information regarding the market, your competitors, and your customers should reference authoritative and relevant data points.
The research that goes into your business plan should take you longer than the writing itself. Consider tracking your research as supporting documentation.
At every opportunity, it’s important to drive home the way your product or service differentiates you from your competition and helps solve a problem for your target audience. Don’t shy away from reiterating these differentiating factors throughout the plan.
As important as it is to showcase your company and the benefits you provide your customers, it’s also important to be objective in the data and research you reference. Showcase the good and the bad when it comes to market research and your financials; you want your shareholders to know you’ve thought through every possible contingency.
It’s important you understand the purpose of your plan before you begin researching and writing. Be clear about whether you’re writing this plan to attract investment, align teams, or provide direction.
The same way your business plan must have a clearly defined purpose, you must have a clearly defined audience. To whom are you writing? New investors? Current employees? Potential collaborators? Existing shareholders?
Avoid using industry-specific jargon, unless completely unavoidable, and try making your business plan as easy to understand as possible—for all potential stakeholders.
Your business plan should evolve with your company’s growth, which means your business plan document should evolve as well. Revisit and rework your business plan as needed, and remember the most important factor: having a plan in place, even if it changes.
A business plan shouldn’t just be a line on your to-do list; it should be referenced and used as intended going forward. Keep your business plan close, and use it to inform decisions and guide your team in the years ahead.
Whether you’re just starting out or running an existing operation, writing an effective business plan can be a key predictor of future success. It can be a foundational document from which you grow and thrive . It can serve as a constant reminder to employees and clients about what you stand for, and the direction in which you’re moving. Or, it can prove to investors that your business, team, and vision are worth their investment.
No matter the size or stage of your business, WeWork can help you fulfill the objectives outlined in your business plan—and WeWork’s coworking spaces can be a hotbed for finding talent and investors, too. The benefits of coworking spaces include intentionally designed lounges, conference rooms, and private offices that foster connection and bolster creativity, while a global network of professionals allows you to expand your reach and meet new collaborators.
Using these steps to write a business plan will put you in good stead to not only create a document that fulfills a purpose but one that also helps to more clearly understand your market, competition, point of difference, and plan for the future.
For more tips on growing teams and building a business, check out all our articles on Ideas by WeWork.
Caitlin Bishop is a writer for WeWork’s Ideas by WeWork , based in New York City. Previously, she was a journalist and editor at Mamamia in Sydney, Australia, and a contributing reporter at Gotham Gazette .
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The cardinal steps of innovation management.
Sagar Ganapaneni is the data and analytics leader at Intuit SMB MediaLabs .
In today's fast-evolving business landscape, innovation management is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge, whether it involves incubating a new startup or launching a new business line within a large organization. Successful innovation requires more than just generating new ideas; it demands a conscious effort to organize and manage their journey from conception to execution.
This comprehensive approach encompasses several key stages: ideation, validation, resourcing, planning, implementation, driving adoption and delivering results. Each stage is essential for maximizing the potential and impact of innovative ideas.
Let’s delve deeper into these stages to understand their significance and practical applications.
Ideation lies at the foundation of innovation. It's the process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas. For this process to be effective, several best practices should be followed.
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• Check biases: Biases, whether conscious or unconscious, can limit creativity. By actively identifying and challenging our own biases, we can encourage diverse thinking and consider a broad range of ideas, fostering an inclusive and innovative environment.
• Zoom in: While thinking big is important, focusing on specific details can reveal unique insights and lead to practical solutions. By concentrating on particular problems, needs or opportunities, organizations can develop targeted innovations that address real-world challenges.
• Zoom out: Taking a step back to gain a broader perspective is essential. By examining larger trends, patterns and connections, innovators can place their ideas within broader contexts. Balancing detailed focus with a broader perspective ensures a well-rounded ideation process.
• Personalize and size: Ideas should be tailored to meet specific user needs and fit the project's scope. Personalization ensures relevance and engagement while sizing ideas appropriately ensures they are feasible and aligned with organizational goals.
Validation is a critical step that determines whether an idea can be successfully implemented. It involves testing the feasibility and potential impact of ideas. Key approaches include:
• Simple experimentation: Controlled experiments provide tangible evidence of an idea's viability. This empirical approach allows organizations to make informed decisions based on real data.
• Envisioned scenario surveying: Presenting stakeholders with vivid future scenarios helps gauge their reactions and emotional engagement. This method elicits valuable feedback and insights into the potential impact of the idea.
• Commonality benchmarking: Comparing new ideas against established standards or successful models enhances predictive accuracy. This structured framework allows for data-driven comparisons that refine and validate ideas effectively.
Other methods like user testing, expert reviews and prototyping further enrich the validation process, ensuring that only feasible and effective ideas move forward.
Resource allocation becomes crucial after an idea has been validated. This step involves evaluating and committing the necessary resources to turn an idea into reality. Establishing a prioritization framework involves:
• Adherence to legal standards: Legal compliance is non-negotiable and ensures the credibility and reputation of the organization.
• Foundational capabilities: Prioritizing foundational capabilities is essential, as they serve as accelerators, providing the infrastructure and competencies needed to effectively develop new products.
• Return on investment (ROI): Projects that promise the highest value per unit of resource expended should be prioritized. Evaluating monetary benefits includes assessing cost savings, gross margins, units saved or gained and non-monetary benefits like customer satisfaction.
Planning sets the stage for successful implementation. It involves meticulous forecasting and progress monitoring.
• Obtaining data for forecasting: Reliable and relevant data is crucial for accurate forecasts. Organizations should source data meticulously and ensure it aligns with target market demands.
• Applying modeling techniques: Effective models, based on clear assumptions and robust methodologies, enhance forecast accuracy. Key practices include building downside controls and estimating capital and personnel needs accurately.
• Forecasting methods: Techniques like sensitivity analysis, scenario analysis, and simulations enable organizations to anticipate variable impacts and make well-informed decisions.
• Monitoring progress: Keeping track of key players' performance and project outcomes against forecasts ensures the implementation stays on course.
Implementation involves turning validated ideas into actionable projects. Strategic validation phases include:
• "Should It Be Done?" phase: Assess if the innovation addresses a significant problem, aligns with the organizational mission and is supported by stakeholders.
• "Can It Be Done?" phase: Evaluate resource availability, practical feasibility, regulatory considerations and the presence of competent leadership.
• "Will It Be Done?" phase: Ensure the idea ranks high within the organization's priorities, aligns with existing programs, and has support from sponsors and stakeholders.
These phases ensure that the innovations are viable, strategically fit and have the necessary backing for successful execution.
Driving adoption focuses on overcoming resistance and ensuring that new ideas are embraced. Effective messaging and advocate engagement are crucial.
• Crafting effective messages: Messages should be refined, personal, emotional, concrete, and credible to resonate with and motivate stakeholders.
• Engaging advocates: Advocates can influence adoption positively by promoting the benefits of innovations and addressing resistance effectively. Their role is vital in ensuring new ideas are accepted and integrated into the organizational fabric.
Delivering results requires focusing on key aspects to ensure implementation success.
• Building early credibility: Quick wins and a winner’s mindset set a standard of quality and build momentum early in the process.
• Enhancing team alignment: Ensuring that team members are aligned with the project’s goals and have a shared understanding boosts collaboration and increases the chances of success.
• Promoting ongoing momentum: Balance short- and long-term objectives, use structural catalysts, prioritize effectively and anticipate future needs to maintain project momentum.
By concentrating on these areas, organizations can accelerate the implementation process and maximize the impact of their innovations. This structured approach not only drives growth and profitability but also fosters a culture of continued innovation.
Innovation management is a multifaceted yet crucial process for thriving in today's dynamic business environment. By diligently navigating each phase, organizations can transform remarkable ideas into tangible outcomes. This structured approach enhances growth, efficiency and profitability, securing a significant competitive advantage. Embracing comprehensive innovation management fosters a culture where creativity and strategic execution drive continuous improvement and long-term success.
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In conclusion, the 7 steps of the business planning process are essential for starting and growing a successful business. By conducting a SWOT analysis, defining your business objectives, conducting market research, identifying your target audience, developing a marketing plan, creating a financial plan, and writing your business plan, you can ...
The Better Business Planning Process. The business plan process includes 6 steps as follows: Do Your Research. Strategize. Calculate Your Financial Forecast. Draft Your Plan. Revise & Proofread. Nail the Business Plan Presentation. We've provided more detail for each of these key business plan steps below.
1] Recognizing Need for Action. An important part of the planning process is to be aware of the business opportunities in the firm's external environment as well as within the firm. Once such opportunities get recognized the managers can recognize the actions that need to be taken to realize them. A realistic look must be taken at the ...
1. Carry out your research. The first step to creating a business plan is to do thorough research about the business and industry you are trying to get into. Tap into all the information you can get about your target audience, potential customer base, competitors, market and industry trends, cost of business, etc.
Start the business planning process with a pitch, which gives a simple outline of your business strategy. Your pitch should include: Your main proposition. A summary of the problem you are solving. Your solution to this problem. Description of who your target customer is. An overview of who your company's competitors are.
Business planning is a crucial process that involves creating a roadmap for an organization to achieve its long-term objectives. It is the foundation of every successful business and provides a framework for decision-making, resource allocation, and measuring progress towards goals. Business planning involves identifying the current state of ...
Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment. Before you can define where you're going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.
The Deming cycle, shown in Exhibit 17.6, helps managers assess the effects of planned action by integrating organizational learning into the planning process. The cycle consists of four key stages: (1) Plan—create the plan using the model discussed earlier. (2) Do—implement the plan. (3) Check—monitor the results of the planned course of ...
Determine your priorities and objectives. Define responsibilities. Measure and evaluate results. Each step requires close collaboration as you build a shared vision, strategy for implementation, and system for understanding performance. Related: Learn how to hold an effective strategic planning meeting.
Strategic planning is a process that may take months for some organizations, but its importance to the growth of the organization cannot be measured. It helps guide company decisions, set measurable goals, and define the direction of the organization. In this guide we will discuss what is strategic planning process and describe in detail the ...
Planning is a process. Ideally, it is future-oriented, comprehensive, systematic, integrated, and negotiated. 11 It involves an extensive search for alternatives and analyzes relevant information, is systematic in nature, and is commonly participative. 12 The planning model described in this section breaks the managerial function of planning into several steps, as shown in Figure 17.2.1.
Strategic planning seeks to anticipate future industry trends . During the process, the organization creates a vision, articulates its purpose, and sets strategic goals that are long-term and forward-focused. Those strategic goals inform operational goals and incremental milestones that need to be reached.
Planning, and in fact all of the management functions, is a cycle within a cycle. For most organizations, new goals are continually being made or existing goals get changed, so planning never ends. It is a continuing, iterative process. In the following discussion, we will look at the steps in the planning cycle as a linear process.
With the proper business planning process and business planning strategy, you can build a roadmap for the future and take your business to the next level. This blog will explain business planning and explore the steps involved in creating a successful business planning process, appropriate business strategy for growth, and a business growth plan.
The outcome of strategic planning is typically a long-term strategic plan that outlines the organization's vision, mission, values, and objectives. Business planning, on the other hand, is a more tactical process that focuses on the implementation of specific initiatives and projects to support the organization's long-term goals.
Business planning is the collection of steps necessary for business success. Your business planning uses your business plan as a reference document. A business plan helps you stay the course. A business plan also increases your chances of getting investment, funding, debts, etc. . Every business executives meeting is a part of business planning as they discuss the business's current ...
The Planning Cycle is an eight-step process that you can use to plan any small-to-medium sized project: moving to a new office, developing a new product, or planning a corporate event, for example. The tool enables you to plan and implement fully considered, well-focused, robust, practical, and cost-effective projects.
Planning. Definition: Planning is the fundamental management function, which involves deciding beforehand, what is to be done, when is it to be done, how it is to be done and who is going to do it. It is an intellectual process which lays down an organisation's objectives and develops various courses of action, by which the organisation can ...
Step #1 - Decide what you're going to do. Identify goals or objectives to be achieved. It has been said that if you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time. The same is true for your business plans. In order to create an effective, quantifiable, and measurable plan, you must clearly define your goals.
2. Set goals. Setting goals is the second step of the strategic planning process. Goals can be set for both individual departments and for the business as a whole, depending on their purpose. Continuing the example of using government bids, a company-wide goal could be to secure the bid. Meanwhile, a department's goal would be to improve ...
The organizational planning process includes five phases that, ideally, form a cycle. Strategic, tactical, operational, and contingency planning fall within these five stages. 1. Develop the strategic plan. Steps in this initial stage include: Review your mission, vision, and values.
Management Planning Process. An effective management planning process includes evaluating long-term corporate objectives. Management planning is the process of assessing an organization's goals and creating a realistic, detailed plan of action for meeting those goals.. Much like writing a business plan takes into consideration short and long-term corporate strategies.
This is typically one of the first pieces of the plan to be written. 3. Market analysis and opportunity. Research is key in completing a business plan and, ideally, more time should be spent on research and analysis than writing the plan itself. Understanding the size, growth, history, future potential, and current risks inherent to the wider ...
Successful innovation requires more than just generating new ideas; it demands a conscious effort to organize and manage their journey from conception to execution.
If accepted, this plan will bind the company and most of its creditors. This article will help you understand the small business restructuring process and explain how to communicate effectively with your creditors. 1. Company's Solvency and its Eligibility to Implement a Restructuring Plan