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If you have worked hard to prepare a great business plan make it work hard for you in return, do not fall into common traps or make errors that have been made by others a thousand times; by following these six easy steps you can avoid the sort of silly mistakes that will make your business plan a waste of your time and effort and instead have the sort of plan that can contribute to the success of your business.
1: Death of a Plan
All of your careful planning and analysis will come to nothing, if you work hard on your 'business plan' in order to present it to your bank manager or potential investors for instance and then take it home afterwards to file it under 'F' for 'forgotten'; you have a valuable business document that has been prepared with consideration and only by up-dating it regularly and reassessing its contents can you prevent it from becoming obsolete. Business plans should develop with your business and should be as up-to-date as every other business document you use.
2: Be Realistic
Far too many businesses let over-optimism skew predicted sales or turn-over and focus only on the business' strengths and opportunities during their SWOT analysis, rather than truly considering all of the Threats and Weaknesses too. It is important to be honest with yourself and keep a check on over-optimistic predictions. Enlist the eyes of a friend or colleague to keep you grounded in your predictions.
3: Remember your Competitors
Your business and therefore your business plan is not just about you and your own venture; a common error often made in Business Plans is that of ignoring any competition; making a careful study of your competitors will allow you to adjust your business plan according to any new initiatives they may have. This is another important reason to review the plan regularly.
4: Smarter not Harder
If your business plan relies too heavily on 'new' proposals, consider first if what is not actually needed is a better way of executing your existing strategies. Before you jump to add to the plan, firstly review carefully what you already have.
5: Assess all Risk
It is vital to accept the potential for failure and not to ignore the risk involved; your business plan should thoroughly examine all risks and should take into account the cost of any failure. However unpleasant facing the idea that you may not make it with this venture, your plan must evaluate the possibilities of things not working out and also plan for it; by knowing exactly what risks you face and what to do if they beat you, you are far less likely to face them in the first place.
6: Vane or Sane?
Turnover is vanity, but profit is sanity? Any planned expansion of your business should result in increased profit not just a higher turnover; your business plan should have taken into account all extra recourses needed for development.
Your business plan is the one document that can tell you the most about where your business began, where it is now and where it is eventually going. A successful business plan means a winning strategy for your business and it is only through such a strong approach that you can move forward into a successful business future.
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