A simple business plan is a written document that contains the details of your business plan. It contains the description of your business and information about the target market, financial projections, management team and so on. A good business plan should be concise, with no unnecessary fluff or jargon. It should be easy to read and understand by anyone who is interested in investing in your company or collaborating with you for growth purposes.
Company Overview
Contents
Read also : Business plan template for your lean startup
Company Overview
The company name is a great place to start your business plan, because it’s the first thing people will see when they open it. Make sure you choose a name that reflects what you do and sounds professional. If possible, try to avoid using words like “the,” “and” or “a.” For example: The Perfect Cup Coffee Shop would sound much better than The Perfect Cup Coffee Shop Incorporated.
You’ll also want to include information about where your office is located (street address), as well as its website address and phone number if applicable. You should also include an email address so people can contact you directly via email if they have questions about your services or simply want more information on what exactly they’ll get when they hire you for their project(s).
In addition to these basics, there are several other pieces of information that should go into this section of the template: A mission statement describes why this business exists at all–what problem does it solve? An example would be “To provide high quality coffee services for our customers.” A vision statement tells us where we’re going with this project; basically how far down the road do we plan on taking things? In other words: What kind of impact could this business have on society/culture/etc.? An example might be something along lines such as “Our goal is world domination through coffee!” (Just kidding). Values refer specifically
Business Concept
Read also : Free business plan templates and examples for your startup
The business concept is the heart of your plan. It’s where you will set out what your business does and how it is structured, as well as why it’s unique, who its customers are and how they will be reached, what products or services are offered and why they are better than those of competitors’, how much money the company expects to make (or lose) in its first year of operation, etc.
This section should also include any special considerations you think might affect your business–for example: if you’re an immigrant starting up a small business in America after having spent years working overseas; if the industry has been hit hard by recent economic downturns; if there’s been some kind of new technological advancement that could impact how people use this type of product/service (and therefore affect demand for yours).
Target Market
Read also : Business Plan Format & Structure
The next section of your business plan is the target market. This is where you define who your customer will be and how you plan on reaching them. The most important thing to remember here is that you need to choose a market that’s small enough for you to reach, yet large enough for there to be demand for what you’re selling or providing.
You can also use this section as an opportunity to differentiate yourself from competitors in the industry by explaining why people should choose your business over theirs (this might sound obvious, but many entrepreneurs forget about this step). You’ll need some sort of measurement system in place so that when customers do come through their doors or call them up on their phones, they know whether or not their efforts have been successful and whether or not there’s room for improvement down the road–which brings us back around again: keep track!
Competitive Analysis
Read also : SBA Business Plan: Get Hold of Your Objectives
Competitive Analysis
The competitive analysis section is one of the most important parts of your business plan. It’s where you’ll describe the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, as well as their market share. You should also list the advantages that your company has over its competition, so that investors will know why they should invest in yours instead:
- List all of your competitors’ names, along with a brief description of what they do and who their target audience is (i.e., companies that need accounting software vs. individuals who want to keep track of their finances).
- Describe each competitor’s strengths and weaknesses–what makes them unique? What could they improve upon? This will help potential investors understand how different each business model is from yours before deciding how much money to put into yours versus theirs or another one entirely!
Target Customer Profile
Read also : Small Business Ideas for Anyone Who Wants to Run Their Own Busines
A target customer profile is a description of the type of person or business that you want as your customer. It’s important to have this information because it will help you understand who your potential customers are, what they need from your business and how much they are willing to spend on it.
You can use the following questions as a guide when creating your own target customer profiles:
- Who are my potential customers?
- What do these people look like (demographics)?
- Where do they live (geographic location)?
- What other products or services do they buy (buying behavior)?
Business Operations and Management Plan
Read also : Free Business Plan Template – What to Include
In this section, you’ll describe the roles of your management team and how they will run the business. You can also include information about how employees are compensated, benefits they receive and any other compensation policies.
Financial Projections and Costs of Operation
Read also : Business Plan – Definition, Types, Components, Importance
In addition to the most basic financial statements (income statement, balance sheet and cash flow), you’ll need to include additional information in your business plan. This section will cover any additional costs that may be relevant to your company and provide projections for those expenses over time.
- Cost of goods sold: The cost of goods sold is what it cost you to produce the products or services that are being sold by your company. It includes any labor costs associated with producing these goods and materials used up during production. For example, if a bakery sells bread and pastries at $5 per loaf, then their COGS would be $5 plus whatever ingredients went into making those loaves–flour, yeast etcetera).
- Operating expenses: These are ongoing expenses required for running an ongoing business operation such as payroll taxes (social security & medicare), rent/mortgage payments on office space etcetera).
Marketing Plan, Sales Strategy and Sales Forecast
Read also : What are the Core Components of a Business
- Marketing Plan: A marketing plan should include a description of the marketing mix and the marketing mix elements.
- Sales Strategy: A sales strategy should describe the sales process, sales channels, and sales force.
- Sales Forecast: A forecast provides data about how much you expect to sell over a specified period of time. It’s based on information such as industry trends, competitor activity and historical performance data from similar companies that are selling similar products or services in your area
Growth Strategy and Exit Strategy
As you think about your business growth strategy, it’s important to plan for the future. What will happen when you want to sell the company or pass it on? You may think that this is a long ways off, but when you’re ready to exit your business, it will be too late if there’s no solid plan in place now. You should consider these questions:
- How do I grow my company? Do I want to expand geographically or vertically (into other markets)? Should I focus on increasing sales volume or profits? Should I enter into new product lines that complement our current offerings and help us reach new customers by offering them something they can’t get anywhere else? How many people do we need on staff at each level of operation (management, marketing/sales) in order for everything at headquarters–from accounting through operations–to run smoothly without any bottlenecks slowing down productivity throughout our organization as a whole? These types of questions should all be addressed before making any decisions about how much money needs spent where during each fiscal year ahead so that everyone knows what their role is going forward; otherwise there will be confusion among workers who aren’t sure what tasks need performed by whom even though those duties were clearly spelled out beforehand!
This business plan template is designed to help you write a strong and effective document that will give investors the confidence they need to invest in your business. We hope that this guide has given you an understanding of what goes into creating a business plan and some ideas on how to get started. If so, then we’ve done our job!
