A business plan works as a road map for your business. Whether it’s for your side hustle or your full-time business, it’ll guide you about how you can take your business forward.
While you can create one via templates and online tools, it’s important to write business plans that work. The document should cover the basic operations of your venture and highlight how you intend to make it profitable.
Then you can share your plan with your internal team to ensure you are on the same page. Similarly, you can share it with potential investors when seeking investments to grow your business.
The structure of a business plan may vary from business to business. But the most popular method is the Traditional Business Plan that’s suitable for business entities of all sizes.
Business Plan Table of Contents
- Executive Summary
- Company Information
- Industry and Market Analyses
- Products and Services
- Customer Analysis
- Marketing and Sales Plans
- Operations
- Management Team
- Financial Plan and Projections
Business Plans That Work for Your Small Business
A business plan is simply an official document for your business. The main purpose of writing a business plan is to keep your entrepreneurial venture on track. Also, it ensures your team can meet goals that are necessary for sustenance and growth.
The benefit of creating a detailed business plan is that it can help you better manage the business. You can make informed decisions and set the right long-term and short-term goals. Also, it’ll prove valuable when you need loans or intend to reach out to investors.
Now let’s talk about the prominent headings that are covered in the document. You can always skip the sections that aren’t relevant to your business needs. Similarly, you can add suitable sections to answer questions your team or investors may have about your business.
Executive Summary
As the name suggests, this section provides a summary of your business. It briefly introduces your market offerings, values, management team, and other important aspects. It’d also be a good idea to discuss financial information for potential investors or business partners.
Make sure you write this section at the very end after writing other sections.
Company Information
The company description section discusses what your business does. You can go into detail about mission and vision statements as well as the problems your products/services solve.
In this section, you can list down the audience your business will serve. Also, include details about competitive advantage, strengths, and opportunities.
Industry and Market Analyses
Industry analysis is where you cover the big picture. What are industry trends and how the overall industry is operating? Then discuss how your business fits in there.
Further, explore the market and identify what your competitors are doing. You can look for themes and trends set by successful competitors. Or you can compare your startup with theirs and determine how you can do better among the competition.
Products and Services
Here you can highlight the products and/or services you will offer. If it’s a product, discuss the product lifecycle and whether you intend to manufacture it or source from a vendor. As for services, you can talk about the service rendering process.
Explain whether you intend to sell these services and products online or acquire a physical location. Also, you can share how the products and services will remain viable in the foreseeable future.
You may need copyrights and patents that you can write about in this section.
Customer Analysis
The customer analysis part focuses on customer segmentation. You need to define your target audience based on their interests, demographics, or behavior. Then you will go into further detail about the specific problems those segments face and how your product/service can solve those problems.
With comprehensive customer profiles, you can create custom marketing strategies to target your ideal customers.
Marketing and Sales Plans
Want to write business plans that work? Then pay special attention to this section.
This is where you will write about your marketing strategies. You need to specify how you will attract your audience and turn them into paying customers. It’s also a good idea to clearly explain the sale process or customer journey.
Marketing and sales strategies keep evolving. So, you can update your business plan to include your current strategies.
Operations
In the operational plan, note down ground details. For instance, the location of your business, equipment required to run the facility, and business processes. You can also include details of inventory and vendors.
Further, this section should also highlight the goals and milestones you have set for your business.
Management Team
This is where you should add details about the structure of your business. Whether it’ll be a sole proprietorship, partnership, or limited liability company (LLC) – make sure you go into details about the legal structure.
Next, create an organizational chart about the team. If you have adopted a hierarchical structure, lay out who is in charge of which department. Highlight the experience and expertise each individual brings and how it will benefit the business. You can add resumes of key members of your team as well.
Financial Plan and Projections
Lastly, this section should include a detailed overview of finances and resources. You can add income statements, break-even analysis, balance sheets, and relevant financial reports. Revenue and cost analyses are also a part of the financial section.
Make sure you add financial projections for upcoming years. For this purpose, analyze historical data and forecast sales accordingly. But if your business is new, you can analyze market trends and performances of competitors for projections. When reaching out to investors, they will need detailed financial reports to make investment decisions.
So, ready to write a business plan for your business? The above-explained template will help you prepare a suitable business document.