Importance of a Business Plan #2
from INTUIT [#1 Financial Mgt SW for small business = Quick Books] 6/13 enhanced by Peter/CXO Wiz4biz
Who are your “potential” Customers?
Your marketing strategy will answer the question of who will buy your product or service. As much as possible, categorize your customers within separate market segments and analyze their particular behavior. What motivates them to buy what they do? How much money do they want to spend? How do they respond to different types of marketing?
Who are your Competitors?
Gather as much information as you can about other companies in your sector to prepare your Competitive Analysis. These are the organization that you will be studying, to see how your business can do similar to what they do – faster, better and/or cheaper, than they do it, of course! Make sure you list both direct & indirect competitors, describe their strengths & weaknesses, and how you will use their weaknesses to position your product. Detail their pricing plans, so you can compare to yours. Think about how you will differentiate yourself within this market.
How will you “run” your Business?
In your description of operations, be prepared to set out exactly how you plan to operate & manage your company on a day-to-day basis, as well as the physical necessities involved – infra-structure. Information included in this section relates to issues such as manufacturing, equipment, and business location. Who are your suppliers? How will you manage inventory? How many employees will you need?
Show us the $Money$
The final part of your business plan is where your accounting software (ie, Quickbooks = about 85% of market) can really come in handy. The financial section describes how much it will cost to run your company, as well as predicting your revenue in the future (quarter-by-quarter & yearly) when you will become profitable.
Here are some factors to consider when planning this part of your Business Plan:
[ Startup & Operating Expenses, Cash Flow, Future Profit-ability and more covered in the next Premium Content ]