Completing the Business Plan

So this is our last Guiding Principle and in it I will be encouraging you to pull together all the pieces from the last few months to get your business plan completed and provide you with a tool to ensure that you are able to measure your business activity end keep you on track.

In the first Guiding principle I suggested that your business plan should include:

An executive summary

A short description of the business - services, products and location

Defining the market with market research

Your marketing and sales strategy

Competitor analysis

Your management team and personnel and their credentials

Your operations

SWOT analysis

Your unique selling point

All of this has been covered in the steps and guiding principles (with the exception of the marketing and sales strategy which I will cover in step 26, the executive summary, your management team and your operations).

The executive summary

Although the executive summary appears at the beginning of the document, it is actually written last as it does what is days on the tin! It is a precis of the whole document for lazy people who can't be bothered to read your whole business plan. Make sure if you are looking for funding that you really sock it to them!

Your management team and personnel and their credentials

It may well be that the only person in the business is you! Nevertheless, you need to give yourself a glowing report as to why you are the person to make this business such a success. Draw on all your experience  and expertise, skills and talents, connections and networks to wow the reader and get them really wanting to back you.

Your operations

Even though you may be the only person in the business you need to show that you have thought through all the operational requirements and who will do them.

For example, the cleaning the laundry, the bookkeeping the leafleting, the PR, the reception and phone answering, the banking, the marketing …

In the next blog I will talk about Managing your business with a flight deck.

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