Business Plan

1. Marketing Plan

1.1. Market research: Gathering and classifying data about the market the organization is currently in. Examining the market dynamics, patterns, customers, and the current sales volume for the industry as a whole.

1.2. Competition: The marketing plan should identify the organization's competition. The plan should describe how the organization will stick out from its competition and what it will do to become a market leader.

1.3. Market plan strategies: Developing the marketing and promotion strategies that the organization will use. Such strategies may include advertising, direct marketing, training programs, trade shows, website, etc.

1.4. Marketing plan budget: Strategies identified in the marketing plan should be within the budget. Top managers need to revise what they hope to accomplish with the marketing plan, review their current financial situation, and then allocate funding for the marketing plan.

1.5. Marketing goals: The marketing plan should include attainable marketing goals. For example, one goal might be to increase the current client base by 100 over a three-month period

1.6. Monitoring of the marketing plan results: The marketing plan should include the process of analyzing the current position of the organization. The organization needs to identify the strategies that are working and those that are not working.

2. Competitor Analysis

2.1. Define the industry – scope and nature of the industry.

2.2. Determine who the competitors are.

2.3. Determine who the customers are and what benefits they expect.

2.4. Determine the key strengths – for example price, service, convenience, inventory, etc.

2.5. Rank the key success factors by giving each one a weighting – The sum of all the weightings must add up to one.

2.6. Rate each competitor on each of the key success factors.

2.7. Multiply each cell in the matrix by the factor weighting.

3. SWOT Analysis

3.1. Strengths

3.2. Weaknesses

3.3. Opportunities

3.4. Threats

4. Financial Planning

4.1. Assess the business environment

4.2. Confirm the business vision and objectives

4.3. Identify the types of resources needed to achieve these objectives

4.4. Quantify the amount of resource (labor, equipment, materials)

4.5. Calculate the total cost of each type of resource

4.6. Summarize the costs to create a budget

4.7. Identify any risks and issues with the budget set.

5. Excutive Summary

5.1. The business opportunity - describe the need or the opportunity.

5.2. Taking advantage of the opportunity - explain how will your business will serve the market.

5.3. The target market - describe the customer base you will be targeting.

5.4. Business model - describe your products or services and and what will make them appealing to the target market.

5.5. Marketing and sales strategy - briefly outline your plans for marketing your products/services.

5.6. The competition - describe your competition and your strategy for getting market share. What is your competitive advantage, e.g. what will you offer to customers that your competitors cannot?

5.7. Financial analysis - summarize the financial plan including projections for at least the next three years.

5.8. Owners/Staff - describe the owners and the key staff members and the expertise they bring to the venture.

5.9. Implementation plan - outline the schedule for taking your business from the planning stage to opening your doors.

6. Company Background

6.1. People

6.2. Process

6.3. Profit

7. Product Description

7.1. An emotional connection

7.1.1. “Pamper yourself.”

7.1.2. “Comforting.”

7.1.3. “Rich and luxe.”

7.2. Persuasive language

7.3. A focus on benefits

7.4. Mobile-friendly text

7.5. SEO keywords

8. Operations

8.1. Operational: The operations group drives flawless execution across all engagements. They are responsible for allocating resources, managing and securing freelancers, working with HR and recruiters to bring on new employees, engaging third party vendors and partners, analyzing and recommending acquisitions, developing operating policies and processes, fostering teamwork, overseeing office management, establishing and measuring KPIs, resolving issues between departments, and taking charge in crisis situations. Simply, they are responsible for driving operational excellence across the organization.

8.2. Change agent: The operations group is responsible for developing a framework for cultural change, enabling the organization to do the best that it possibly can. They work under the auspicious to challenge everything as they work to change the status quo. As the king of efficiency, they are constantly looking for better ways to get things done. This is one of the most important aspects of the COO and the operations group.

8.3. Budgetary: The operations group is responsible for planning, overseeing, directing and evaluating the office’s fiscal function and performance. Working with the finance group, they develop the budget to support the strategic business goals, manage operations to meet the budget goals, review revenue forecasts and monthly P&Ls, taking action as needed, review profitability across client engagements and the office, and review and approve all hiring and salary adjustments.

8.4. People: The COO and the operations group ensures that the staff is properly aligned to the work. They resolve some questions such as: Do we have the right people in place? Do we have a pool of freelancers or recruiters that we can pull from as needed? How is staff assigned to projects? The COO works with the department leads to ensure that every person’s roles and responsibilities are clear so that everyone knows what is expected of them. They identify and track the rising stars and drive out the bottom feeders. Working with Human Resources, they develop a program to build organizational capabilities, ensuring that core competencies and organizational values are instilled.

8.5. Leadership: The COO is a key component of the senior management team. They advise the team on strategic business development and key corporate planning issues and make recommendations on major business decisions. They shape and develop department strategy and organization and help identify opportunities and potential threats. The COO encourages department leads to evaluate and take actions that are consistent with organization’s overall strategy which will lead to high performance. The challenge basic assumptions underlying each department’s operations.

9. Timeline

9.1. Legal procedures – filing papers of incorporation, partnership, etc.

9.2. Finding office or manufacturing space

9.3. Expectations for research and development

9.4. Product development

9.5. Getting all necessary licenses and permits

9.6. Purchase or lease of equipment

9.7. Hiring of personnel

9.8. Purchase of materials

9.9. Start date for marketing activities

9.10. Opening date for business

10. Mission Statement

10.1. Key market: the target audience

10.2. Contribution: the product or service

10.3. Distinction: what makes the product unique or why the audience should buy it over another