Hello Readers!
I am an Indonesian Postgraduate in Business studies at one of Universities in Germany. I am happy to share you all my business knowledge. Well, the current topic I would like to share is about ''How to write a BUSINESS PLAN". If the people after they finished their studies they can make their beautiful Curriculum Vitae (CV), then you can make your own wonderful Business Plan (BP), and distribute it to your target investors. Absolutely there are some steps that we have to explore therefore our business plan can be realized and interested the investors. Alright, first of all we have to make some effective contents that would be beneficial for our business plan.
(picture source: http://www.businessnewsdaily.com/)
1. The quick pitch
Executive summary This is the most important part of your business plan because if someone is busy, this might be the only section they read. It should explain the basics of your business. After reading it, the reader should understand what the business is about and be keen to know more. It should include the key points of your business plan and should be short – no longer than two pages. Because it is a summary of your business plan, you should write it last. Elevator pitch This is the section where you plan how you are going to talk about your business. You should complete this section last when you have finished your business planning. Planning your business is sometimes the easy bit – it’s more difficult to have the words ready to explain your business to a potential customer on the street. You need to plan what you are going to say that makes it easy for people to understand 1. What your business does, 2. Who it is for and 3. What makes it different to the competition?
2. All about you
Owner's background This is all about you! This section is to explain why you want to start your own business and why you think you and your business partners have the experience, ability and commitment to make your idea a success. It should also give details of your education and qualifications, work experience, training and hobbies. Practical experience is especially important for your business.
3. What are you going to sell?
Products or services This section is to describe what your business is going to sell. Businesses can sell two things – products or services. Products are objects, for example, clothes, jewelry, books, etc. Services involve selling time to do something for a customer, for example, a plumber, car mechanic, etc. Sometimes a business can do both, for example, a website designer who sells time to build a website (service) and the domain name and software to host the site (product). People reading your business plan may not be familiar with your product or service so you need to explain everything, even things that seem obvious to you. Get people who are not involved in the business to read your description to make sure they can understand.
4. Who are your customers?
The market This section is to describe the customers that might buy your product or service. You need to understand these customers so you can work out how to tell them about your business. Be specific and find out detailed information about your target market - local customers who will be interested in your business, not general information about all the customers in the world who are interested in businesses like yours. The best proof that customers will be interested in your business is if you have already sold some of your products or services. The next best thing is to have customers waiting to buy from you.
5. Do you know what it is like out there?
Market research In section four, you described your potential customers. Most of these customers will already be using other businesses. This section is to research those businesses and customers. Lots of businesses look good on paper but the only test that matters is whether the product or service sells. You can’t be sure that your assumptions about your business are right unless you do some proper research (i.e. don’t just ask your friends and family if they think it’s a good idea).
There is no right amount of research. It is better to research your local market, in the area you are going to run your business, than it is to research the entire global market. The right amount of research will tell you what your market looks like, how it behaves and what customers expect. You could use statistic analytic program to support your research result (i.e. SPSS).
6. How will you contact your customers?
Marketing strategy You need to contact potential customers to tell them about your business. Marketing describes any activity that attempts to make contact with potential customers. Good marketing materials – in whatever form – will grab a customer’s attention, capture their interest, illicit their desire for your product or service and direct them to take action and find out more. If your marketing is successful, your potential customers will learn what your business does and where to find you. Furthermore, you must include all costs in your cash flow forecast.
7. Who are your competitors and how do you compare?
Competitor analysis A competitor is any business that offers a product or service that is similar to yours. Businesses often have many competitors. It’s best to focus on those which customers are most likely to buy from instead of you; probably those nearest to you, with the most similar prices or the most similar products or services. You need to think hard about your business and how you compare to your competitors. You should put your thoughts in a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. A SWOT analysis will help you to understand all the things, good and bad, that could affect your business. If you know what these are, you can work out how to resolve them or use them to your advantage. Thinking about your weaknesses and what could go wrong is important because it will allow you to correct your mistakes before they happen.
8. How will your customer get the goods and you are paid?
Operations and logistics It’s important to work out how your business will work on a day-to-day basis. It’s easy to forget little things and it’s surprising how many people forget big things, like working out when and how to get paid. Imagine you are preparing for your first sale; work through the different stages, from making or buying your product through to delivering it and taking the money. This is also important you add all your cost in your cash flow forecast.
9. How much will it cost?
Cost and pricing strategy Before you decide how much to sell your products or services for, you need to work out how much each one costs you to make and deliver. This will stop you selling things for less than they cost. The price you charge customers for a product or service must be higher than its cost and include enough money to cover the extra costs of running your business (for example, petrol, bills, rent etc.), and your essential personal costs taken from your personal survival budget. The difference between an item’s cost, and its price is its profit margin.