Think a business plan is overwhelming? Believe that you do not know how to write or start one? Come along with us for the next 6 weeks and you will have a pretty good start at a full-scale business plan and feel more in control of your business’ future. It’s not that hard if you attack it in pieces and in a particular order.
Step 1: What do you sell? Seems pretty easy, right? But let’s really delve into exactly what you want to sell. That may be different from what you are currently selling. But if you want a business plan to take your business in the direction you want, dreamed of or that will make you more successful, then sell what you really want to sell, not what has happened due to a lack of a plan. Be descriptive and detailed, write and rewrite it until you have something that fully and accurately describes what you do, why this business exists.
First and foremost, you need to know what it is that your business provides to its customers. Do a thorough analysis of why your business exists. So, what products or services do you sell? Be detailed and descriptive. If you sell products, categorize them in some way and describe what the products are, what their purpose is, how customers will use them. If you sell services, describe them in major categories as well and think about how these services impact your customers, what will they get from your services, how will they use them, how will they change your customer’s lives.
Once you have completed the long version of what your business sells, pare that down to a 50-word, concise description you can use when people ask you “What do you do?” Then pare that down to 25 words you can use in marketing materials, social media, brochures, etc. Then pare that down to 10 words you can use as a tag line for your Facebook page, your LinkedIn profile, your business cards, etc. You need to have a way to describe your business’ main purpose so you can quickly and easily communicate it to people you meet in a variety of situations. You want them to come away with a clear and targeted idea of what you do so they can decide to do business with you, refer you to others, etc. You really need to know your products and services well so you know how to package them, how to market and sell them.
On a spreadsheet: Create several tabs at the bottom. The first one will be titled: Raison d’etre (reason to exist). Craft the long version of what your business does, provides, sells. Don’t censure, just write and once you’ve got everything you are thinking written down, go back and edit, organize, polish until you are happy that you have fully and completely defined what your business does. Then take that and create the 50-word version, the 25-word version and the 10-word version.
On a second tab titled “What we sell”, start with your major product and/or service categories: Column A. List all the major categories. Categories should be decided on by what the products or services have in common either from a use perspective or a result perspective or some other delineation that makes sense for your business. This will be important for business planning concepts later in the process.
What is the purpose of the products/services you sell: Column B. Again, these definitions will be useful later on as we begin to define customers, marketing strategies, etc. So be thorough. The more you dig in and define, describe, categorize, the easier later steps will be.
Spend a week getting this first task done and we will move on to step 2. Just start; have fun and let yourself be creative. You are on your way to having a business plan that will increase your success potential simply because you will have spent the time writing down what you want this business to do, how you want it to work and from there the other steps start to fall into place until a clear strategy presents itself to you.
We offer business coaching and consulting that helps businesses get through this process and gives them focus, clarity and a clear direction to go in with strategies and action items. The power of brain-storming with an objective qualified professional can’t be underestimated. This process is powerful and will make you wonder why you waited so long to attack your business success with this kind of approach.
