Business Planning

Get your business planning right          

There is a difference between your business plan and your strategy plan.

Your business plan is a document you need to create to present your business externally as you work with shareholders, partners, investors, and banks. It is a requirement when you first set up your business but it is also needed when you wish to for raise funds or apply for a visa for example.

Your strategy plan is an internal document that you would not typically share externally. It is a working document that plans out in detail where your business is going and exactly who needs to do what to get you there. Your business strategy will be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes as your business grows.

There are similarities between your business plan and strategy plan with regards to the topics covered but the purpose they are used for tends to be quite specific.

Your business plan serves as a simple tool you can use to outline your goals, key objectives and milestones, and show how everyone on your team is aligned to work to achieve them. It will provide external parties with all the information they need to understand and have confidence in your business.

Your business plan should include the following:

  1. An executive summary – effectively, a short description of your business and what sets you apart.
  2. A description of your company and what you do.
  3. Market analysis and research on your industry and your competitors.
  4. Your organisation’s management and business structures.
  5. What products or services you offer and what makes your offering superior to your competition?
  6. Your plans to market your business, products, services, and sales strategies.
  7. How much funding you’ll need to operate over the next 5 years.
  8. Financial projections based on current data and your balance sheets.
  9. Résumés, permits, and other assets that may be of interest.

Do you need help with your business planning?

If you run a business that has potential to scale-up then you will need a strong business plan to gain the investment necessary to implement the growth you anticipate. Your business plan will need to convince funding organisations and/or investors to part with their cash in return for the outcomes you can demonstrate in your documentation.

If you are not completely confident in the strength of your business plan then perhaps the support of a Part-time Director with experience in your sector could be just what you need to pull this together.

You don’t know what you don’t know if you have not been through this process before. So learning on this particular job could turn out to be costly in terms of both time wasted and funds that you may miss out on raising.

If you would like to discuss how we can help with your business planning needs contact us to have a conversation with your local Regional Director. They can talk to you about your needs and identify opportunities where we may be able to help you achieve your goals.

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Other strategic challenges you may be facing:

Strategic Direction – creating a strategic direction for growth means having a plan to follow so the whole team is working towards clear goals. You can measure business performance against your objectives so you know if you are on the right path and if you are not taking the necessary action.

Business Growthgrowth is what all Scale-ups and most SMEs aspire to. Having a well thought out and clear growth strategy means you can drive your sales and profits in the right direction and scale-up with confidence. You’ll need the right people, processes and products or services, as well as the right experience to make the best decisions.

Monitoring Performancehaving measures of success in place is essential to the implementation of your growth strategy. Using hard numbers in your mission means you can work backwards to see exactly what changes you need to make to take the steps you need to achieve your goals.

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