A business plan will be hard to accomplish unless it is simple, specific, realistic and complete. But even if your plan complies with all these criteria, it will need someone to summarize and check on it. The plan depends on the human elements around it, particularly the process of commitment and involvement, and the tracking and follow-up that comes afterward.
Use of Business Plans
Too many people think of business plans as something you do to start a company, apply for a loan, or find investors. Yes, they are vital for those purposes, but there's a lot more to it.
Preparing a business plan is an organized, logical way to look at all of the important aspects of a business. First, decide what you will use the plan for, such as to:
• Define and fix objectives, and programs to achieve those objectives.
• Create regular business review and course correction.
• Define a new business.
• Support a loan application.
• Define agreements between partners.
• Set a value on a business for sale or legal purposes.
• Evaluate a new product line, promotion, or expansion.
No Time to Plan? A Common Misconception
"Not enough time for a plan," business people say. "I can't plan. I'm too busy getting things done." A business plan now can save time and stress later.
Many business plans are made only when there is a need. In most cases business plan isn’t written until there is a need if engaging investment. The busier you are, the more you need to plan.
Keys to Better Business Plans
• Use a business plan to set concrete goals, responsibilities, and deadlines to guide your business.
• A good business plan assigns tasks to people or departments and sets milestones and deadlines for tracking implementation.
• A practical business plan includes 10 parts implementation for every one part strategy.
• As part of the implementation of a business plan, it should provide a forum for regular review and course corrections.
• Good business plans are practical.
Business Plan "Don'ts"
• Don't use a business plan to show how much you know about your business.
• Nobody reads a long-winded business plan: not bankers, bosses, or venture capitalists. Years ago, people were favorably impressed by long plans. Today, nobody is interested in a business plan more than 50 pages long.
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