8 key steps to writing a business plan

At the base of any business, there is necessarily a business plan that acts as a roadmap to structure, manage and also develop your entity.

Used by the entrepreneur to obtain financing, to attract partners but also to convince any interlocutor of the solidity of the project carried out, the business plan must be particularly rich in information.

In order to write this business plan without omitting essential data in the presentation of your project, here are the 8 steps you must follow.

First part of the business plan, the summary should not be neglected under any circumstances.

Experts believe that a good abstract should not exceed two blank pages ; it must be a summary of the key data of your document.

In other words, a potential investor must find in these two pages the main ideas of your project. It is therefore essential that you introduce him to your company, what it is currently doing and what are the objectives you wish to achieve. Of course, highlight the strengths of your project and the key financial indicators.

But don’t forget, it’s all about making it synthetic. Moreover, it is often wise to write this summary after having created the rest of the business plan in order to better understand what is essential.

In this part, your mission is to present to the readers of your business plan the structure of your company and its purpose.

Generally, in order to make a coherent Iceland Phone Number List description, it is advisable to break it down into three elements:

• A general presentation describing the activities of your company
• A quick presentation of your offer on the market
• A definition of the legal structure adopted by the company

Here again, there is no need to be heavy in terms of the information provided, the main thing is to deliver the right data.

This is the first part of your business plan where details are expected.

Start by clearly describing the sector of activity in which your company operates. Take care to take an interest in the main companies present, the major trends, etc. Then narrow your analysis on your target market.

Take the time to define this target market: who are the customers ? What are their needs ? Who are the competitors seeking to satisfy these needs ? Where is the target clientele?

Then take an interest in the size of the target market and its growth rate in order to clearly identify the opportunities that may be available to you but also the threats that may weigh on your business. What market share can you expect to capture ?

This market study should also help you determine the prices of your products and services because the success of your projects will probably depend on them. Competitive intelligence will be of great use for this, as well as for identifying the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Do not lose sight of the fact that a well-crafted market study must guarantee that you can position yourself well in this market.

This is to present the products and services you want to market. If it is relevant to describe them, you must above all say how they meet the needs of consumers and how they have added value compared to the products and services of your competitors.

Also inform the reader of the current status of your products and/or services. If they are still under development, explain where you think there is still room for improvement.

It is also in this part that you must present your suppliers and the various actors involved in the design of your products or services. Intellectual property information should also be included here.

After presenting products and services, it’s time to explain how you want to distribute and sell them.

Your marketing plan should be  supplemented Gulf Phone Number by a sales plan because you must have defined where and who will sell your products and services. Are you considering direct sales or do you want to use existing distribution channels ? It’s up to you to provide those answers…

In this part, try at all costs to remain realistic and do not exaggerate things in the hope of obtaining more funds. Those who will read you are also specialists and will be able to flush out erroneous forecasts.

Note that if the company already exists, accounting documents related to the current activity should be included in the business plan since these are real and perfectly reliable data.