Business Plan - Growth Catalyst

There are many reasons why a company or organisation should implement a business plan or strategy. They serve the purpose of road maps, they show you the way and lead you to your goal. Businesses often employ a specific plan that helps guide them because they see the overall picture and know the importance of planning ahead, making important decisions and trying to always improve the rate of productivity and success. A well-laid out business plan also gives a company the chance to track how much progress they are making as they begin growing. A well-written business plan is also important to attract potential investors to invest money into your organisation, it helps them make the necessary decisions about whether the company is worth investing in and if it is on the right path in the industry.

A good, detailed business plan includes information such as competitive analysis, market analysis, marketing, competitive analysis, operation plans, cash flow projection, logistics and customer segmentation. This helps improve the businesses chances at succeeding and help plan a trajectory which leads to increased profit and sales. Even though these business plans may sound like a lot of work, and they are in fact exhaustive, they are really critical to the success a company experiences.

Some important reasons to have a business plan for your company or organisation are listed below. It is essential to any business to have a basic business plan because:

To improve the strategies they have been following:

Forming a business plan requires entrepreneurs and companies to ask a lot of important questions about the functioning of their businesses and employees too. This makes them look for solutions to any kinks or problems that might present in the day-to-day and long-term scenarios and help them prepare for it in a convenient manner. Creating a physical business plan helps in articulating the type of business that a company might aspire to be one day and help them form a realistic vision and conquer any gaps.

It acts as a GPS for your business:

As you are starting out in any industry, you need guidance and steering for positive growth. A solid, planned business plan helps you through every stage of managing and starting your business. It is a preemptive way of going through all your key elements and strategies in detail. It also checks the viability and helps make important decisions about how much time and money it would require to achieve its required goal.

It is not a very extensive process and is easy to implement:

By definition, a business plan is a tool that is used by entrepreneurs, who use it to outline the path that their business needs to follow for the next three to five years or more. It outlines the projected revenue and pathway that you need to follow to reach your business goals. It is not to be seen as a one-time document that you make and forget but as a living project for your business.

To ensure that the business can be viable

A lot of times individuals do not go beyond formulating an idea of how they want their business to look like, and the passion they might hold for the idea may not want to register the fact that it is just an idea and it needs more structure. Being passionate about the business is surely a great cause for motivation and growth but it does not tell you how you are going to turn the business into a fully functional one. A business plan can make sure that a concept or idea that you have can turn into reality. A very important part of the business plan is market research. Having the insight into the market of your choice can help you when you are starting out fresh. Market research also helps the existing businesses better their performances in areas like advertising, marketing, and more.

Business plans help you attract new investors and retain existing ones

Having a good business plan in place helps your investors realise how much your business is worth investing in. Potential lenders or investors wish to see a written plan for the path the business is going to follow before they cut you a check. If the business plan predicts strong numbers and trajectories, the investor feels confident that they are putting their money in the right company. A business plan is important not only to attract investors but also if your business might require any kind of loan from the bank.

It helps you identify the weaknesses that you might have

Any kinks or shortcomings in your idea for the business can be identified, revisited and corrected. There are also individuals you can hire, like a focus group or a team of professionals/experts who will listen to your ideas and provide advice and opinions. This way, you can also reduce the opportunity costs that you would have incurred if you had not gotten advice. Writing down a business plan helps you identify which opportunity is better for your business and which is not.

It acts as a guide for different services

Organisations like small businesses usually employ freelancers and other contractors like professionals and experts that can help them with some of the more individual tasks like providing legal assistance, accounting, marketing and also as freelancing consultants. A solid business plan in place will help share the sections that are relevant with these individuals and help you rely on them for support with the business.

It helps minimise and reduce risk

All businesses hold a certain amount of risk. Creating a business plan can help you manage risk more significantly once it has been tested and presented in front of a team of experts. Figuring out important things like plans for revenue, projections of expense, operational plans and devising logistics can help an entrepreneur understand his business model well along with the competitive landscape. All of this can help reduce the factor of risk from the business. A well-crafted plan will help you leave less to matters of chance, and help you make better, informed decisions.

A business plan can help you set clearer, beneficial objectives and benchmarks

Objectives often get left behind when a business plan is not followed. The reasons for the objective may not make sense when there isn’t a clear outline for the path that needs to be followed. A good business plan can help you set benchmarks that are realistic, consequential and intentional. This can also help keep you accountable for the long-term vision that you wish to execute, and the strategy too.

It helps in the organisation of your resources

One of the most essential things a business plan provides is a guide to how you can allocate and structure things like funds and resources. It will show you how financially stable your business might be and how feasible your business is. Feasibility will also be checked in terms of how much funds are required to hire employees, open an office, and what the operating costs might be.

Creating a business plan requires a lot of thinking and thought. A variety of factors need to be considered and it does not necessarily need to be complicated. To really simplify the entire process, there are three main objectives that you should consider. As a business, you need to identify where you stand now, what heights you want your company to aspire to and how you will create a path to that goal. It is coming up with such unique solutions that can make the difference between a business that barely gets by or fails and a business that grows and thrives.