Because of his extensive industry contacts, initial equipment inventory will be purchased at significant discounts from OEM suppliers as well by sourcing excess inventory from shops around the country. Due to the somewhat seasonal nature of the business, part-time employees will be hired to handle spikes in demand. Those employees will be attracted through competitive wages as well as discounts products and services. While the outdoor tourism industry as a whole is flat, the park expects its number of visitors to grow over the next few years.
The market potential inherent in those visitors is substantial. The cycling shops located in Harrisonburg, VA, are direct and established competitor. Our two primary competitive advantages will be location and lower costs. Our location is also a key disadvantage where non-park rentals are concerned. We will overcome that issue by establishing a satellite location in Harrisonburg for enthusiasts who wish to rent bicycles to use in town or on other local trails.
We will also use online tools to better engage customers, allowing them to reserve and pay online as well as create individual profiles regarding sizes, preferences, and special needs.
Bring together the right people
Blue Mountain Cycle Rentals expects to earn a modest profit by year two based on projected sales. Our projections are based on the following key assumptions:. Keep in mind this is just a made-up example of how your Summary might read. Also keep in mind this example focused on the rental business, so a description of products was not included. They'll show up later. In this case the products and services are obvious, so including a specific section would be redundant.
Provide some sizzle in your Executive Summary Providing an overview of your business can be tricky, especially when you're still in the planning stages. Think about what products and services you will provide, how you will provide those items, what you need to have in order to provide those items, exactly who will provide those items Consider our bicycle rental business example. It's serves retail customers. It has an online component, but the core of the business is based on face-to-face transactions for bike rentals and support.
So you'll need a physical location, bikes, racks and tools and supporting equipment, and other brick-and-mortar related items. In our example, defining the above is fairly simple. You know what you will provide to meet your customer's needs. You will of course need a certain quantity of bikes to service demand, but you will not need a number of different types of bikes. You need a retail location, furnished to meet the demands of your business.
You need semi-skilled employees capable of sizing, customizing, and repairing bikes. In other businesses and industries answering the above questions can be more difficult. If you open a restaurant, what you plan to serve will in some ways determine your labor needs, the location you choose, the equipment you need to purchase Changing any one element may change other elements; if you cannot afford to purchase expensive kitchen equipment, you may need to adapt your menu accordingly.
If you hope to attract an upscale clientele, you may need to invest more in purchasing a prime location and creating an appealing ambience. Once you work through this list you will probably end up with a lot more detail than is necessary for your business plan. That is not a problem: Start summarizing the main points. Blue Mountain Cycle Rentals is a new retail venture that will be located at Mountain Drive, directly adjacent to an extremely popular cycling destination. Our initial goal is to become the premier provider for bicycle rentals.
We will then leverage our customer base and position in the market to offer new equipment sales as well as comprehensive maintenance and service, custom equipment fittings, and expert trail advice. You could certainly include more detail in each section; this is simply a quick guide.
And if you plan to develop a product or service, you should thoroughly describe the development process as well as the end result. Use simple terms and avoid industry buzzwords. On the other hand, describing how the company's products and services will differ from the competition is critical. So is describing why your products and services are needed if no market currently exists. For example, before there was Federal Express, overnight delivery was a niche business served by small companies.
Patents, copyrights, and trademarks you own or have applied for should also be listed in this section. Depending on the nature of your business, your Products and Services section could be very long or relatively short. If your business is product-focused, you will want to spend more time describing those products. If you plan to sell a commodity item and the key to your success lies in, say, competitive pricing, you probably don't need to provide significant product detail.
Or if you plan to sell a commodity readily available in a variety of outlets, the key to your business may not be the commodity itself but your ability to market in a more cost-effective way than your competition. In the cycling rental business example we've been using, products and services could be a relatively simple section to complete or it could be fairly involved. If Blue Mountain Cycling Rentals plans to market itself as a provider of high-end bikes, describing those bikes--and the sources for those bikes--is important, since "high-end cycling rentals" is intended to be a market differentiation.
If the company plans to be the low-cost provider, then describing specific brands of equipment is probably not necessary. Also, keep in mind that if a supplier runs out of capacity--or goes out of business altogether--you may not have a sufficient supply to meet your demand. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships, and describe those relationships fully. Blue Mountain Cycle Rentals will provide a comprehensive line of bicycles and cycling equipment for all ages and levels of ability.
Since the typical customer seeks medium-quality equipment and excellent services at competitive prices, we will focus on providing brands like Trek bikes, Shimano footwear, and Giro helmets. These manufacturers have a widespread reputation as mid- to high-level quality, unlike equipment typically found in the rental market.
Blue Mountain Cycle Rentals will have clear advantages over its primary competitors, the bike shops located in Harrisonburg, VA:. Expansion will allow us to move product offerings into new equipment sales. We will also explore maintenance and fitting services, leveraging our existing maintenance staff to provide value-added services at a premium price.
- The Who - Maximum Rock: Die Geschichte der verrücktesten Rockband der Welt - Band I (German Edition).
- Review your business plan | theranchhands.com.
- Prepare a business plan for growth.
- Search form.
- ;
When you draft your Products and Services section, think of your reader as a person who knows little to nothing about your business. Be clear and to the point. Think of it this way: The Products and Services section answers the "what" question for your business. Make sure you fully understand the "what" factor; you may run the business, but your products and services are its lifeblood. Market research is critical to business success. A good business plan analyzes and evaluates customer demographics, purchasing habits, buying cycles, and willingness to adopt new products and services.
The process starts with understanding your market and the opportunities inherent in that market. And that means you'll need to do a little research. Before you start a business you must be sure there is a viable market for what you plan to offer. The more thoroughly you answer the following questions, the better you will understand your market.
Start by evaluating the market at a relatively high level, answering some high-level questions about your market and your industry:.
How to improve strategic planning
Fortunately, you've already done some of the legwork. You've already defined and mapped out your products and services. The Market Opportunities section provides a sense-check of that analysis, which is particularly important since choosing the right products and services is such a critical factor in business success.
- Storia di nessuno (Italian Edition)?
- How to improve strategic planning | McKinsey.
- .
But your analysis should go farther: Great products are great Ferraris are awesome but you're unlikely to sell many where I live. So let's dig deeper and quantify your market. Your goal is to thoroughly understand the characteristics and purchasing ability of potential customers in your market. A little Googling can yield a tremendous amount of data.
The key is to understand the market in general terms and then to dig deeper to understand whether there are specific segments within that market--the segments you plan to target--that can become customers and support the growth of your business. Also keep in mind that if you plan to sell products online the global marketplace is incredibly crowded and competitive. Any business can sell a product online and ship that product around the world. On the other hand, if you live in an area with 50, people and there's only one bicycle shop, you may be able to enter that market and attract a major portion of bicycle customers in your area.
After you complete your research you may feel a little overwhelmed. While data is good, and more data is great, sifting through and making sense of too much data can be daunting. For the purposes of your business plan, narrow your focus and focus on answering these main questions:. While we expect sales to rise, for the purposes of performing a conservative analysis we have projected a zero growth rate for the next three years. In those states 2,, people visited a national forest last year.
Our target market includes customers visiting the Shenandoah National Forest; last year , people visited the area during spring, summer, and fall months. Over time, however, we do expect equipment rentals and sales to increase as the popularity of cycling continues to rise. In particular we forecast a spike in demand in since the national road racing championships will be held in Richmond, VA. In addition, we anticipate greater than industry-norm growth rates for cycling in the area due to the increase in popularity of cycling events like the Alpine Loop Gran Fondo.
Out target market has one basic need: The availability to source bicycle rentals at a competitive price.
Executive Summary
Our only other competition are the bike shops in Harrisonburg, VA, and our location will give us a competitive advantage over those and other companies who try to serve our market. In our case the cycling rental business does not require much segmentation. Rentals are typically not broken down into segments like "inexpensive," "mid-range," and "high-end.
Although you'll notice in our Products and Services section we decided to provide "high-end" rentals. But say you decide to open a clothing store. You could focus on high fashion, or children's clothes, or outdoor wear, or casual If that's the case, provide detail on segmentation that supports your plan. Providing great products and services is wonderful, but customers must actually know those products and services exist. That's why marketing plans and strategies are critical to business success. But keep in mind marketing is not just advertising.
Marketing--whether advertising, public relations, promotional literature, etc--is an investment in the growth of your business. Like any other investment you would make, money spent on marketing must generate a return.
Otherwise why make the investment? While that return could simply be greater cash flow, good marketing plans result in higher sales and profits. So don't simply plan to spend money on a variety of advertising efforts. Do your homework and create a smart marketing program.
- Staat - Gesellschaft - Globalisierung: Hat sich die Bedeutung des Staates für die Gesellschaft gewandelt? Hat der Staat in Zeiten der Globalisierung ausgedient? (German Edition).
- Key Concepts.
- Start with the issues.
- Review your business performance.
We will not be the low-cost provider for our target market. Our goal is to provide mid- to high-end equipment. However, we will create web-based loyalty programs to incent customers to set up online profiles and reserve and renew equipment rentals online, and provide discounts for those who do. Over time we will be able to market specifically to those customers. Just like in the Market Opportunity section, you may want to include a few more categories. For example, if your business involves a commission-compensated sales force, describe your Sales Programs and incentives.
If you distribute products to other companies or suppliers and those distribution efforts will impact your overall marketing plans, lay out your Distribution Strategy. The key is to show you understand your market and you understand how you will reach your market. Marketing and promotions must result in customers--your goal is to thoroughly describe how you will acquire and keep your customers.
Also keep in mind you may want to include examples of marketing materials you have already prepared, like website descriptions, print ads, web-based advertising programs, etc. While you don't need to include samples, taking the time to create actual marketing materials might help you better understand and communicate your marketing plans and objectives. Every business has competition. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of your competition--or potential competition--is critical to making sure your business survives and grows.
While you don't need to hire a private detective, you do need to thoroughly assess your competition on a regular basis even if you only plan to run a small business. In fact, small businesses can be especially vulnerable to competition, especially when new companies enter a marketplace. Competitive analysis can be incredibly complicated and time-consuming Here is a simple process you can follow to identify, analyze, and determine the strengths and weaknesses of your competition.
First develop a basic profile of each of your current competition. For example, if you plan to open an office supply store you may have three competing stores in your market. Online retailers will also provide competition, but thoroughly analyzing those companies will be less valuable unless you also decide you want to sell office supplies online. Only you can determine that. To make the process easier, stick to analyzing companies you will directly compete with. If you plan to set up an accounting firm, you will compete with other accounting firms in your area.
If you plan to open a clothing store, you will compete with other clothing retailers in your area. Again, if you run a clothing store you also compete with online retailers, but there is relatively little you can do about that type of competition other than to work hard to compete in other ways: Once you identify your main competitors, answer these questions about each one. It's easy to identify weaknesses in your competition, but less easy and a lot less fun to recognize where they may be able to outperform you:.
While these questions may seem like a lot of work to answer, in reality the process should be fairly easy. You should already have a feel for the competition's strengths and weaknesses Keep in mind competitive analysis does more than help you understand your competition. Learn from competitor strengths, take advantage of competitor's weaknesses, and apply the same analysis to your own business plan. It can be tough to predict when and where new competitors may pop up. For starters, regularly search for news on your industry, your products, your services, and your target market.
But there are other ways to predict when competition may follow you into a market. Other people may see the same opportunity you see. Think about your business and your industry, and if the following conditions exist, you may face competition does the road:. In general terms, if serving your market seems easy you can safely assume competitors will enter your market.
A good business plan anticipates and accounts for new competitors. Our nearest and only competition is the bike shops in Harrisonburg, VA. Our next closest competitor is located over miles away. The in-town bike shops will be strong competitors. They are established businesses with excellent reputations. On the other hand, they offer inferior-quality equipment and their location is significantly less convenient. We do not plan to sell bicycles for at least the first two years of operation. However, sellers of new equipment do indirectly compete with our business since a customer who buys equipment no longer needs to rent equipment.
Later, when we add new equipment sales to our operation, we will face competition from online retailers. We will compete with new equipment retailers through personalized service and targeted marketing to our existing customer base, especially through online initiatives. A common mistake made by entrepreneurs is assuming they will simply "do it better" than any competition.
Experienced businesspeople know you will face stiff competition: And, even if you do not ever plan to seek financing or bring in investors, you absolutely must know your competition.
Prepare a business plan for growth
Your ops plan should detail strategies for managing, staffing, manufacturing, fulfillment, inventory Fortunately, most entrepreneurs have a better handle on their operations plan than on any other aspect of their business. Operations plans should be highly specific to your industry, your market sector, and your customers. Today's business environment is exceptionally dynamic and it is likely that you will need regular reviews, updates and revisions to your business plan in order to maintain business success. In addition, a simple planning cycle can greatly enhance your ability to make changes in your business routine if necessary.
Good planning helps you anticipate problems and adapt to change more easily. You may find at this stage in your business' development that you need external skills to help you with the changes you have to make. In this case you might consider:. There are a number of useful business-analysis models that may help you think more strategically about your business.
The SWOT analysis strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats is one of the most popular. This involves looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your business' capabilities, and any opportunities and threats to your business. Once you've identified all of these, you can assess how to capitalise on your strengths, minimise the effects of your weaknesses, make the most of any opportunities and reduce the impact of any threats. It's important to remember that opportunities can also be threats - for example, new markets could be dominated by competitors, undermining your position.
Equally, threats can also be opportunities -for example, a competitor growing quickly and opening a new market for your product or service could mean that your market expands too. A SWOT analysis can provide a clear basis for examining your business performance and prospects. It can be used as part of a regular review process or in preparation for raising finance or bringing in consultants for a review. Once you have collected information on your organisation's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats, enter this data into a simple table.
Scenario planning - a technique that builds various plausible views of possible futures for a business. Critical success factor analysis - a technique to identify the areas in which a business must succeed in order to achieve its objectives. Using this model you build a strategy to keep ahead of these influences. As owner-manager of your business or as a member of its management team, you should stand back once in a while and review your business' performance.
The five steps above will give you a clear indication of any issues that you need to address quickly in order to maintain your business in its early stages. If you feel all of the areas above are strong, you can start to plan for the next phase and build a cohesive strategy to develop your business. However, if there are areas that need attention, deal with them now so that you can move forward.
There are a variety of growth options for every business - it's important that you settle on the right one for you. Also, once you've isolated your best route for developing your business, you can boost your chances of success by planning it carefully and monitoring your progress against an updated business plan. Our information is provided free of charge and is intended to be helpful to a large range of UK-based gov.
Because of its general nature the information cannot be taken as comprehensive and should never be used as a substitute for legal or professional advice. We cannot guarantee that the information applies to the individual circumstances of your business. Despite our best efforts it is possible that some information may be out of date. The websites operators cannot take any responsibility for the consequences of errors or omissions. You should always follow the links to more detailed information from the relevant government department or agency.
Any reliance you place on our information or linked to on other websites will be at your own risk. You should consider seeking the advice of independent advisors, and should always check your decisions against your normal business methods and best practice in your field of business. The websites operators, their agents and employees, are not liable for any losses or damages arising from your use of our websites, other than in respect of death or personal injury caused by their negligence or in respect of fraud. The address of this page is: Click on one of the two buttons to access the content you wish to view.
Guide Review your business performance Share on: Why it's vital to review the progress of your business Assess your core activities Assess your business efficiency Review your financial position Conduct a competitor analysis Conduct a customer and market analysis Use your review to redefine your business goals Models for your strategic analysis Breaking down your strategic review.
To answer this you need to look at where you are now, where you want to go over the next three to five years and how you intend to get there. What are my markets - now and in the future? Which markets should I compete in, how will they change and what does the business need in order to be involved in these sectors? How do I gain market advantage? How can the business perform better than the competition in my chosen markets? What resources do I require to succeed? What skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence and facilities do I need to compete?
Have these changed since I started? What business environment am I competing in? What external factors may affect the business' ability to compete? How am I measuring success? Remember, measures of performance may change as your business matures. How effectively are you matching your goods and services to your customers' needs?
If you're not quite sure what those needs are, you could carry out further market or customer analysis. If funding isn't available this may involve making cutbacks in other areas. While the overall plan may set strategic goals, these are unlikely to be achieved unless you use SMART objectives or targets, i. S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R ealistic and T imely.
Targets help everyone within a business understand what they need to achieve and when they need to achieve it. You can monitor the performance of employees, teams or a new product or service by using appropriate performance indicators. Targets make it clearer for individual employees to see where they fit within an organisation and what they need to do to help the business meet its objectives. Setting clear objectives and targets and closely monitoring their delivery can make the development of your business more effective.
Targets and objectives should also form a key part of employee appraisals, as a means of objectively addressing individuals' progress.
Review your business performance
Once you've drawn up your new business plan and put it into practice, it needs to be continually monitored to make sure the objectives are being achieved. This review process should follow an assessment of your progress to date and an analysis of the most promising ways to develop your business. To find out more about these stages see our guides on how to review your business performance and how to assess your options for growth. This process is called the business plan cycle. In some businesses, the cycle may be a continuous process with the plan being regularly updated and monitored.
For most businesses, an annual plan - broken down into four quarterly operating plans - is sufficient. However, if a business is heavily sales driven, it can make more sense to have a monthly operating plan, supplemented where necessary with weekly targets and reviews. It's important to keep in mind that major events in your business' target marketplace e. Regardless of whether or not there are fixed time intervals in your business plan, it must be part of a rolling process, with regular assessment of performance against the plan and agreement of a revised forecast if necessary.
Our information is provided free of charge and is intended to be helpful to a large range of UK-based gov. Because of its general nature the information cannot be taken as comprehensive and should never be used as a substitute for legal or professional advice. We cannot guarantee that the information applies to the individual circumstances of your business. Despite our best efforts it is possible that some information may be out of date. The websites operators cannot take any responsibility for the consequences of errors or omissions.
You should always follow the links to more detailed information from the relevant government department or agency. Any reliance you place on our information or linked to on other websites will be at your own risk. You should consider seeking the advice of independent advisors, and should always check your decisions against your normal business methods and best practice in your field of business. The websites operators, their agents and employees, are not liable for any losses or damages arising from your use of our websites, other than in respect of death or personal injury caused by their negligence or in respect of fraud.
The address of this page is: Click on one of the two buttons to access the content you wish to view. Guide Prepare a business plan for growth Share on: