Strategic Business Planning
A Strategic Business Plan is not just a tool for securing financing. If your plans and ideas are still only in your head, creating a strategic plan will help you clarify your company’s direction, ensure that all key leaders are aligned, and keep both management and staff focused on the necessary tasks.
The Strategic Plan provides a blueprint, outlining your company, its products, the competitive environment, management team, financial health, and business risks.
The plan allows you to:
- Identify and describe the target customer profile, as well as the features, advantages, and benefits of your new venture, product, or service.
- Justify the credibility of your plans by thoroughly researching the need your new venture addresses.
- Develop marketing strategies, including detailed descriptions of targeted promotional campaigns and implementation timelines. This also involves examining market conditions, customer characteristics, competitors, sales potential, and the projected results of your promotional efforts.
- Create staffing plans, identifying key players, required skills, attitudes, and expertise needed to build the venture.
- Develop management plans, including detailed descriptions of management systems and timelines for their implementation.
- Formulate financial plans, covering projected startup costs, operating expenses, revenue, profits, and break-even analysis for the first 3 to 5 years.
- Projected financial plans help you effectively anticipate and address potential problems. In other words, the insight gained from your Strategic Business Plan can significantly contribute to your company’s success and help secure the funding you need. Most lending institutions and private investors will not even consider your proposal without a solid financial plan.