A Business Plan Outline
1. Purpose
2. Executive Summary
3. The Company
A. Vision
B. Mission statement
C. History
D. Current status
E. Competitive advantages and disadvantages
4. Marketing Plan
A. Market and industry analysis
B. Market segments
C. Competitive environment
D. Positioning
E. Key customers
G. Target markets
H. Goals and marketing strategies
I. Resources needed and milestones
J. Sales forecast
K. Customer service
5. Operational Plan
A. Operational goals and strategies
B. Management team and organizational chart
C. Implementation plans
D. Risks
6. Legal and Professional Issues
7. Financial Plan
A. Historical financial statements
B. Pro formas
C. Ratio analyses
D. Sources and uses of funds
In Appendix B, based upon this outline, we’ve provided you with tools and details that will help you in your planning process and in creating your plan. This will give you a strong set of training materials for all involved.
You might guess, correctly, that collecting and analyzing the information for your plan is likely to be an intense and time consuming activity. There’s just a whole lot of stuff to do here. That’s a major reason that companies use this traditional approach only once a year.
Additionally, this only-once-a-year approach is inherently inflexible—the plan that is created for today’s situation often becomes obsolete as the year progresses. After all, things change constantly, both within the company and in the company’s business environment. What worked yesterday may not work well today.
That’s why you need to do something else. You need an efficient way to assess your situation regularly in order to adapt to fast-changing conditions.