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| Questions to Ñheck Your Business Plan | 1. Are your goals tied to your mission? Check out the goals that you set for your company. These goals are the results that you absolutely, positively going to achieve, and to a large extent, these goals determine how you set priorities and how you run your company. Make your goals consistent with one another so that you're not running in different directions at the same time. In addition, you have to tie your goals to your company's mission so that you're heading in the direction in which you really want to go.
2. Have you prepared for threats? It is easy to paint a picture of your company’s future. However, if you have a rosy picture, it doesn't mean that it's going to come true. Your company is in much better shape if you paint an objective picture, which will include the bad news along with the good. In that way you will prepare yourself for the dangers that are bound to be there.
Your business plan should indicate the biggest threats that appear on the horizon and offer the best ways on how to prepare for them.
3. Have you defined your customers? The more you know about your customers -- the more you know about your company. Your customers will help you to succeed in the marketplace.
It is much easier to divide your customers into groups while describing them. Each group, or market segment, has its own unique profile and places its own set of demands on your company.
You can’t afford to leave your customers out of your business plan because they are vital part of your company. You should answer three questions: Who is buying, what do they buy and why do they buy?
It is desirable for you to explain in your plan your company’s ideas on how to serve customers better than anyone else out there.
4. Can you stand behind the numbers? Consider all your financial statements as your company's report card -- one that answers some big questions. Do your customers love you? Are your competitors afraid of you? Are you making the right business choices? An income statement presents the bottom line, the balance sheet shows that your company is worth and the cash-flow statement keeps track of the money.
5. Are you ready for change? If one thing remains steady in the business world, it's change. Although some industries change faster than others, everything around you -- from technology to competition to your market -- is going to be different tomorrow than it is today, and it is no matter what business you're in. If you want to keep up, you have to think two or three steps ahead. You must look carefully and continually at what may happen in the world and how it may affect your company.
Although your business plan paints an honest picture of how you see your company and what you see happening down the road, the plan should also acknowledge the fact that you don't have a crystal ball. So present some options. Include one or two alternative business scenarios, asking -- and answering -- the question "What if . . .?"
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