Two Hour Business Plan Client Workbook

Transcription

1 Two Hour Business Plan Client Workbook The key to the success of any business is to have goals and a plan that outlines how you are going to achieve those goals. You then need to regularly track the performance of your business to make ensure you re on track to achieve your goals. If you are not then you will need to make some strategic changes to your business. A basic business plan needs to be your first step in your business success. It should only take two three hours to complete this plan, and at the end you should be able to make the decision to continue with the new or existing business idea or to rethink your plan again. This worksheet is designed to be general and to apply to most businesses. Therefore some of the questions may not apply to your particular business. Please go through the document and answer the questions where necessay. Remember this is a starting point and a more detailed plan will be the next step in the planning process.

2 Name of Business Entity Type Company Partnership Sole Trader Undecided Other Telephone Number Website IRD Number Skype Name Contact Current situation For existing businesses, briefly outline the current state of your business and what you are now proposing. For new businesses, briefly outline who you are, how you got to where you are now, and provide details of the proposed business. Outline your current standard business process, from taking the order to receiving the cash, and paying your bills? Purpose, goals and objectives What is your statement of purpose? What do you want out of your business and life in general? Things to consider are how much money do you need for retirement, building personal weath, reducing mortgages, increasing the value of your buiness for potential sale. RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 1

3 Goals What are your goals? (Have separate goals for Products/Services, Marketing, Resources/Operations and Financial. Be quite specific, but you don t need to specify a time frame): What are your objectives? (Have at least one objective for each goal. Be very specific. Includes financial measurements and time deadlines): RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 2

4 Products/Services What products or services will you be marketing? (Full description including price, quality, image, brand, etc.): How is your product or service different from your competitors? What is your policy regarding New Product Development and how often do you change your product lines? Provide details of any customer survey you have ever undertaken to find out what your customers want. If you have never done one, what sort of questions would you ask? Which people have an influence over the person who makes the decision to buy your product and in what way? RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 3

5 The Market Who are your existing customers? Can you name the top 10 and how much they are worth in total revenue each year/month? Your prospective customers or Target Market - Who are they? Where are they? How many are there? Why are they potential customers? (i.e. Why will they want to buy your product or service?) What seasonal factors will affect sales? (e.g. winter, summer, Christmas, etc.) What is the potential for growth of the market and/or your share of it? Market Segmentation can you break you market down into smaller segments? If so identify them here. RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 4

6 Competition Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. Sun Zu Who are your main competitors? What do they do well? What is their total turnover and/or market share? Who are the market leaders? And why are they market leaders? Any other key points about your competitors? RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 5

7 SWOT Analysis: Strengths (the things you do best): Weaknesses (your problem areas): Opportunities (the things you can do better): Threats (the things that could prevent you from achieving what you plan to do): SWOT your competitors: (You do not need to do this at this stage) This process looks at your competitors and applies the SWOT Analysis to each of your key competitors. This will give you a better idea of how to structure your business strategies to conquor your competitors. RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 6

8 Marketing and Sales strategy How do you currently market and sell the products or services? Advertising where, when, how often? What form and standard of merchandising, product/service presentation, packaging, etc, will you provide? In what regions, countries do you currently sell your products? How do you currently calculate your prices? Do you know your actual per unit costs? What is your positioning statement? Where do you see yourself in the market? RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 7

9 Resources/Operations Where will you get your products/raw materials? Where are you currently operating from? What manufacturing/operating equipment and skilled labour do you have, or will you need? Who carries out the administration/accounting for the business? RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 8

10 People How good is your team? Are you comfortable that your team would rather work for you than your competitor? Are you good at building motivation and excitement into what your team do at work? Do you have incentives for your team to perform? Are there any skills missing on your team? RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 9

11 Board and Governance Do you have outside expertise that can assist you with growing and developing your business? Have you ever thought how spending half the cost of hiring someone on minimum wage could get you the services of your own Board to help you? What single thing if you just had more time available to do it would make the biggest difference to your business? RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 10

12 Financial How much money are you able to introduce into the business? What is your current personal financial position? Summaries assets, liabilities and currently level of income. What are your other sources of finance? Have you considered any industry grants for funding? What is your current level of internal reporting? What information are you using to aide you to in the making key decisions? What are your Key Performance Indicators? At the end of the month do you know your debtors, creditors, details of cashflow and your bank balance? Prepare costings, a budget, projected cash flow statement and projected profit & loss and balance sheets for at least the first year. (RightWay Limited can help with the more specific detail of this.) RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 11

13 Final Comments Is there anything else you wish to include at this stage? Now contact RightWay Limited on or your business plan for review to RightWay Limited Business Plan Two Hour Workbook 12