To develop a modern and successful business strategy, it is essential for any company on the market to draw up a detailed and precise action plan. How to make a business plan is a priority question for new companies and for companies that want to revolutionize themselves by promoting innovative products.
The business plan, commonly known as the business plan, is the programming document required of the entrepreneur to outline his objectives and to define future business prospects in order to technically verify the effective economic feasibility of the organized projects. How to make a business plan is undoubtedly a priority activity for each company with the aim of achieving significant objectives and long-term successes.
A business plan, combined with a detailed market analysis, is an indispensable document especially for innovative companies, start-ups and companies renewed with the latest proposals. The business plan is not only necessary to assess the risks and objectives of a nascent commercial reality, but is a useful tool for planning the marketing operations of an already started company and for facilitating the granting of loans by intermediary bodies such as banks, financial and business partners.
Recent Nielsen research highlights the economic importance of updating business services by stating that the successful launch of a product on the market can generate a turnover of over € 150,000 for a company. Identifying new potential commercial markets by drawing up an adequate business plan is undoubtedly an indispensable activity to plan effectively the offer of an innovative product and achieve significant goals.
How to make a business plan: 10 basis points to fill in to optimize your business
To provide an adequate overview of your business situation and obtain investments and consents, it is necessary to insert some essential information into the business plan.
How to make a business plan? Let’s find out what are the basic points to fill in:
- Index or Summary
A properly set up business plan has a table of contents or index that can make it easier to read. Numbering the pages of the document is an indispensable activity to make the business plan easily understandable and to allow a quick and immediate consultation.
- Description of the project
How to make a business plan? The description of the project is undoubtedly the most influential section: this presentation is a detailed but concise description capable of effectively highlighting the fundamental aspects of the business plan and illustrating its strengths and weaknesses. The initial description contains most of the characteristics of the business idea: explanation of the product, its characteristics, the production processes necessary to make it and its elements of innovation compared to the proposals already on the market. A successful businessman it is able not only to present the strengths of its product, but also to describe its characteristics that need improvement by proposing adequate and carefully organized solutions.
- General presentation of the company
The general presentation of the company is essential to provide a detailed overview of the company and the commercial sector in which it operates. To be correctly elaborated, the section of the business plan dedicated to the industrial description should include: name and legal form of the company, mission and objectives of the project, description of the economic sector of the business and strengths and originality of the company. The description of the sector of reference is particularly important within a winning business plan: in order to be able to realize your business idea, it is essential to try to demonstrate how many opportunities are present in your commercial market using statistics and research shared by reliable sources. Another indispensable specification relates to the possible profits made with the project. Demonstrating business potential and documenting planned results is undoubtedly a valid activity for obtaining financing.
- Organizational aspects of the company
The fourth section of the business plan is dedicated to the presentation and description of the positions occupied by the resources included in the company staff. Know-how and specific skills of the Administrator are the first data required, usually followed by the commercial qualifications of the members and by information regarding human resources and work organization.
- Market analysis
Knowing how to make a business plan is important, but it is not enough to obtain financing and implement your own business idea: in fact, the cornerstone of every business activity is market analysis. Market research is a specific analysis that companies use to study the economic context in which they operate, the sector of reference of the company and the behavior of their public potential. In order to develop a winning business plan and develop new business strategies, it is necessary to carry out a market analysis capable of highlighting new profit opportunities and potential risk factors of the reference market.
- Marketing and promotion strategy
To develop a successful business plan it is necessary to plan a winning marketing technique: in the sixth section of the document the product distribution strategies and the methods that allow the company to position itself positively within the reference market must be described. An indispensable activity to achieve an adequate description of your marketing and communication activities is the identification of your ideal customer. All strategic business activities must be planned based on the needs of the target audience business. A further specification required within its business plan relates to the distribution channel of its products and the methods of promotion. By conducting specific market research, email marketing with personalized messages.
- Operational plan
The operational plan in a standard business plan model describes the continuous operation of the company: this section of the document describes the daily activities of the company, the position, the production processes, the staff and the surrounding environment. In this paragraph it is recommended to highlight the potential benefits that the company could bring to the community, such as the creation of new jobs, and the possible effects on the surrounding nature with related management plans compliant with current environmental regulations.
- Economic and financial plan
The section of the business plan dedicated to the economic-financial plan is undoubtedly the most important as it represents the effective economic-financial feasibility of the business idea. In this paragraph it is necessary to translate into numbers all that has been previously described with the words: initial expenses and capitalization, projection of profits and losses at 12 months, projection of annual and three-year cash flow, balance sheet at the end of the third year and calculation of the breakeven point they are the necessary financial documents for drawing up a credible and valuable economic testimony. The economic section is the part of the business plan most consulted by investors: formulas, tables and graphs are essential tools to be used to prove their calculations relating to the corporate profit prospects.
- Grounds
A good entrepreneur is able to motivate his choices and ideas in any situation: a brief description of the motivation behind the business idea can prove to be a fundamental tool to be included in your company business plan. The entrepreneur’s willpower strongly affects the opinion of the lenders. An innovative idea based on solid principles is the ideal starting point to gain success and collect consents.
- Attachments
The attachments are the last essential documents to be included in a winning business plan as readers, especially lenders, may wish to consult the sources used to retrieve the data contained in the document. Providing them with the attached files can prove to be a successful strategy for obtaining funds and for giving your business idea credibility. It is recommended to include some particularly important documents in your business plan: sector studies, maps and photos of the company location, financial calculations and economic projections, detailed list of equipment, brochures and advertising materials, market research and support letters from part of potential future customers.