The Necessity of having a Business Plan

The importance of having a good business plan can never be underestimated. In some sense it truly reflects your own goals and objectives as the owner of the business. It gives an impression of a very well researched and well planned business. The business plan represents the aims and ambitions that your business would seek to achieve over a stipulated period of time. Therefore, it is very important that you draw up an impressive business plan, no matter how big or how small your business may be.

These are some of the things you may want to include in your business plan. Feel free to add whatever else you may wish to:

• goals of the company

• the time period over which these goals will be met with

• the nature of the product or services that your business will offer

• the segment of the population whom these products and services will benefit

• any other data that you find will attract clients, customers and employees

While you write out your business plan, be positive in your outlook. It is important to convey to you clients and customers and even your employees that you have started your business with a positive approach. This will enable them to place confidence in your organization.

Generally, business plans are roughly divided into three neat and clear cut categories. Let us look at each of them individually:

• Business Concept is where you discuss about the nature of your organization and the kind of products and services that you will strive to offer,

• Market Place Selection is where you talk about the target customers and talk about who will benefit from your business. You can also mention here your reasons for selecting such a product over others you had in mind.

• Financial Section is where you may require hard data about income, revenue, financial ratios, etc to help strengthen your creditability.

There is no ‘ideal length’ as such regarding how long your business plan must be but typically it is kept up to 20 pages. But the length may vary according to what you have to say. For people brimming with ideas, if they think they can hold the attention of readers, they may include other important things. Otherwise it is pointless to go on if you are unable to hold the attention. Write it simply.
Planning the business plan is also an important job. Ask yourself:

• What do you want to talk about in the plan? Outline your business goals according to time period – long term and short term.

• How do you want to go about it? Talk about your advertising and marketing strategies briefly. Also mention if you plan to employ and train more people to help you achieve those goals. Talk of the infrastructural backing that you have.

• What are the factors that will benefit this plan? New strategies and policies that you plan to implement.

• How much will it cost? Budgetary concerns and hard financial data can be provided here. Keep these goals realistic.