Business development

Any business is an action, daily and routine, sometimes not bringing the result that a person expects, or vice versa a business, brings not only profit, but also great satisfaction.

On what does the success of a business depend, why does it happen that a lot of efforts and actions are expended, and even more, of what was supposed at the beginning, and in the end, the entrepreneur not only did not get the desired result, but even found himself somewhere in the margins of reality.

Why it happens?

Often in response to this question you can hear about luck, a combination of circumstances, entrepreneurial acumen, smart calculation and even arrogance. But all of the above and a whole series of similar factors are, in my subjective opinion, variables that enhance the effect of the originally planned list of actions or business plan.

A business plan is, by and large, work that needs to be done in a certain period of time, but they should be aimed at a specific, desired result. The plan provides an opportunity to think over future actions and the more detailed the plan, the fewer surprises that pop up in the course of work.

How to plan all the work and activities? Can all possible risks be foreseen? First you need to decide what the plan is for. Basically, the plans are focused on the following goals:

to develop a general concept, a general strategy for the development of a company (organization);
to evaluate and control the process;
to attract funds (loans, credits) from the side;
implementing plans for the development of the company and attracting potential partners who can invest their own capital or technology.

What is the structure of a business plan?

From experience, I can say that the composition of the sections of a business plan and the degree to which they are detailed depend on the size of the future vision and, again, goals, but it may also depend on the planned project and the scope to which it relates. For example, if it is planned to establish the production of a new type of product, a very detailed plan should be developed, dictated by the complexity of manufacturing the product itself and the complexity of the market for this product.

If we are talking only about the retail sale of a product, then the business plan may be simpler and not include sections planning production. The composition of the business plan also depends on the size of the proposed sales market, the presence of competitors and the growth prospects of the organization being created.

In any case, you need to start a business plan with an introduction, since this section is informative, and sometimes, in the case of attracting an investor, it is advertising in nature. It is from this section that potential investors get their first impression, which is often crucial for the fate of the project as a whole.

In this section, it is necessary to summarize in a few points the entire business plan, revealing the essence and purpose. After that, it’s important in the plan to describe the situation in which you do business. This section usually outlines the results of the analysis and development trends of the industry and draws conclusions about their impact on your company. It is very important to evaluate and describe how your business will develop in the circumstances.

When describing the results of company valuation, the result of a comprehensive analysis of the enterprise and the results of your business activities should be given:

• all types of activities of the enterprise, its products (services), consumers (customers);
• legal form of the enterprise, organizational structure, founders, personnel and partners, date of creation;
• financial and economic performance indicators of the enterprise (company);
• location of the enterprise (address of the enterprise, characteristics of the building or premises, property or lease, the need for reconstruction);
• the specifics of work (seasonality, working hours (hours and days of the week) and other features related to the business sector or resources used).

This section is of particular importance in the case of attracting investment / financing and in the case when the business plan is designed to cover new areas of business.

If the goal of a business plan is to create new lines of business, then it should contain points for substantiating the success of innovations, entrepreneurial experience of the project manager in this business area. Describing a new product or product, you need to give detailed information about the consumer characteristics of the product (service) and the advantages over competitors. It is necessary to include all stages of work and activities for the organization of a new production or a new service. If the subject of the project is more than one product, the business plan describes each of them. Sample section structure:

• name of the product (service);
• Purpose and scope;
• brief description and main characteristics;
• competitiveness of products (services) with highlighting the parameters by which the product surpasses competitors or is inferior to them;
• patentability and copyright;
• the presence or need for licensing of production;
• availability of a certificate of product quality;
• safety and environmental friendliness;
• terms of delivery and packaging;
• warranty and service;
• exploitation;
• disposal after the end of operation.

This section should describe all production and other work processes. When and how will each production phase be implemented. It also describes all the actions associated with the premises, their location, equipment, and working personnel. This section should reflect the questions of how and in what time frames the volume of output can be increased or reduced.

If the goal is the organization of production activity, then it is necessary to include all plans for the organization of the production process: how the production system will be organized and how the production processes are controlled, how the main elements included in the cost of production will be controlled, for example, labor and materials costs, equipment will be placed.

A very important part of the plan is the marketing and sales plan for the company’s products. In this section, it is necessary to identify the market, analyze it and develop a strategy for market behavior, i.e. show why, to what extent and what consumers will buy products, how to influence demand. It also describes how it is supposed to sell a new product or service, what is its planned price, and an advertising policy is formed.

It is also necessary to describe consumers. Consumers (buyers) are characterized by:

place in the sales chain: wholesale buyers, retailers, end consumers;
Status: legal entities – enterprises (characterized by industry, location), individuals – individual entrepreneurs (characterized by type and place of activity), population (characterized by age, gender, etc.).

The specific details of a marketing strategy often turn out to be complex, complex and affect such areas as marketing, pricing, trade policy, advertising and promotion of products on the market, product support policies, interest from potential buyers, forecast for new products.

As mentioned above, each plan is a document that gives an understanding of what actions, when and by whom should be taken to achieve the task. Therefore, it is important to periodically evaluate the results of work and activities. The plan can and should change depending on the market situation and the situation in the company.

In other words, without a plan it’s hard to understand all the details and evaluate all the risks in the business!

A plan is a business management tool that also allows you to evaluate your actions if you need to change tactics, taking the best.