We have all written business plans and most are works of well-written fiction created to project the best possible scenario of your business, usually for investors. Ok, I make light of their usefulness, but in reality they are too cumbersome to work with to plan your goals and objectives.
This is where a business development plan comes in which gets you to ask and answer the questions:
“where are you now?”
“where do you want to be?”
“what are you going to do to get there?”
This sounds initially like a complicated exercise. Not so. You should be able to write a business development plan in two pages or less, in fact the less the better as it gives you focus.
Business development plan
There are many approaches to creating a business development plan. Here is a list of some basic considerations to get you started.
Where are we right now?
Owners’ drivers and perspectives
- Expansion or stability?
- Lifestyle improvement?
- Capital growth and expansion?
- Consolidation?
- Risk adverse/aware?
State of sales/revenue pipelines.
- Steady order book?
- Experiencing a peak or a trough?
- Are revenue levels where you need them to be?
What and how are we delivering?
- Costs – where are they coming from e.g. materials, labour etc.
- Stock control
- Route to market (direct, partners etc)
- Value proposition
- Pricing
Stage of the company
- Startup
- Early revenues
- Mature
- Preparing for sale?
Inhibitors as you see them today
- You perhaps?
- Absence of expertise?
- Competitive threat?
- Stagnating market?
Where do we want to be?
Define your company vision simply. Make it measurable otherwise you’ll never get to the vision!
How you are going to get there?
- Investment from government agencies, business angels, VC’s, bank loans…
- Have you the right team?
- Your limitations to achieving your aims, if you can’t do something, delegate and get someone in who can.
- Which markets are you going to penetrate?
If you are an early starter, how are you going to get credibility?
- With banks?
- With customers?
- With suppliers if you need to look at extended credit etc?
This is process is working for us. We revisit the plan every couple of months to ensure we are on track or whether it needs altering. It is ok to change the plan if it no longer makes sense.
The plan is giving direction and focus where it was missing and is making sure we are staying on track.
It is not something you will do in five minutes. Take a half-day to a day with all partners, or just yourself if you are a one man enterprise, and to it properly. The reward of doing so far outweighs the time lost in the business.
Write the plan as succinctly as possible and get on with making it happen.
Can you share your business development planning experiences? How do you plan your business?
Photo: cliff1066
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