Business project creation example. How to write a business plan: from introduction to design. Sample Business Plan "Business on Social Media"

A business plan is a document that provides a detailed justification for a project and an opportunity to comprehensively assess the effectiveness of decisions made, planned activities, and answer the question of whether it is worth investing in this project.

The business plan should:

show that a product or service will find its consumer, establish the capacity of the sales market and the prospects for its development;
estimate the costs required for the manufacture and sale of products, the provision of works or services on the market;
determine the profitability of future production and show its effectiveness for the enterprise (investor), for the local, regional and state budget.

The main functions of a business plan:

is a tool with which an entrepreneur can assess the actual results of activities for certain period;
can be used to develop a business concept in the future;
acts as a tool for attracting new investments;
is a tool for implementing the enterprise strategy.

One of the most important stages of the planning process is drawing up a business plan, which is necessary both for internal planning and for justifying the receipt of funds from an external source, i.e., receiving money for a specific project in the form of bank loans, budget allocations, equity participation of other enterprises. in the implementation of the project.

Business plan summary (short annotation)
Goals and objectives of the project
Company description
Analysis of the industry and its development trends
Target market
Competition
Strategic position and risk assessment
Marketing plan and sales strategy
Operating activities
Technological plan
Organizational plan
Personnel plan
Financial plan
Social and environmental responsibility
Business exit conditions

How to write a business plan correctly

Any form or sample of a business plan offered on the Internet gives only a general idea. Any business has its own characteristics, therefore, there can be no "standard" writing algorithm suitable in all cases. There is only one tried and tested principle of any business plan: IT MUST ALWAYS BE SHORT.

Start with the right messages. As paradoxical as it sounds, for most entrepreneurs, a business plan as a document is one of the least important factors in raising capital.

If the investor is inclined towards a positive decision, then a good business plan will be an additional argument for; but the plan itself is not the reason for this decision.
If an investor is leaning towards a negative decision, the business plan is unlikely to convince him. In this case, the investor, most likely, will not even read this plan to the end.

Unfortunately, naive entrepreneurs believe that a business plan can inspire excitement and awe in the investor with an immediate request: “ Please tell me where to transfer money».

Well, it's not bad to dream. The correct and realistic motivation for writing the plan should be: which were downplayed in the first euphoria - for example, customer service policy.

Finally, the plan exposes gaps in the founding team. If, looking around the office, you realize that there is no one who could implement some key element of the plan, then there is someone missing from the team.

All midnight, romantic, abstract dreams of changing the world become quite material and controversial, you just have to transfer them to paper. Thus, this document is not as important as the process leading to its creation. Even if your goal is not to raise capital, it is still worth writing a business plan.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FILLING

Title page and content. Start with the essentials: company name, address, phone number and contact information for all founders, as well as a table of contents throughout the document.

Introduction. List the most important things in no more than two pages. First, tell us what the value of the project is: what your company will do, how much profit to have, and why people will want to pay for your product or service. If you are sending a plan to investors, tell them about the capital you will need and how you plan to use it. To highlight the essence, you need to imagine the big picture, so it is better to start this part after completing the entire plan.

Market opportunities. Explain to whom you will sell your product or service and why this group of consumers is attractive to you. Several key questions need to be answered. How big is the market? How fast is it growing? What are the growth opportunities and potential threats? How will you deal with them? Much of this information can be found through industry websites and media, official statistics, analyst reports, and even from other business people. Be sure to indicate the source of information.

Market Review. Make no mistake, your business is not unique. Try to take a sober look and evaluate your opponents. Who are they? What are they selling? What part of the market do they occupy? Why would buyers choose your product or service over theirs? What obstacles can arise when entering this market? Do not forget about indirect competitors who are still working in a different segment, but have similar capabilities and may compete with you later.

Promotion of goods to the market. Describe how you will promote your products or services to the consumer. Conditions and organization of product sales. What promotion channels will you use? In this section, describe the pricing issues.

Company structure. Control. Staff. Execution is almost as important as the idea itself. Therefore, investors are interested in who is on your team. Attach a resume of all founders, partners, and managers: what are their skills and achievements. This should also add information about the legal form of the enterprise and its internal organizational structure, the state of the enterprise.

Business model. This section includes a detailed description of all sources of income (sale of a product, service) and the company's cost structure (payroll, rent, operating costs). Describe the premises, equipment, technologies, production flow diagrams. Make sure you mention and justify all possible income and expenses. Also include the names of major suppliers and buyers. In fact, this section is the production plan of the future company.

Financial indicators and forecasts. Make a forecast of profit, loss and cash flows (income and expense) for at least three years in advance (it is advisable to break the first year into quarters or even months). Also provide an analysis that shows how soon the start-up investment will pay off.

Risks. Don't wait for trouble to find out how your business can handle it. Work out possible scenarios: worst, best and average, and what you will do to reduce the negative impact of risks or prevent them altogether. Make sure you have enough money to weather any storm. If you insure risks, write down what amount you will insure and types of insurance policies.

Sources of funds and their use. If you are trying to get money from investors, they will want to know how you plan to use your capital. In this section, you need to indicate the estimated startup costs: premises, purchase of new equipment, company logo design, etc. Most entrepreneurs underestimate the cost of starting a new business. Therefore, do your research before contacting investors.

Applications.This may include a resume, credit information, market overview, schemes, promotion plan, copies of contracts, including leases, letters of guarantee from future clients, certificate of registration of a patent and trademark, partnership agreement, certificate of company registration.

10 mistakes when writing a business plan

According to professional project managers, there are, there are 10 things that should not be written in a business plan.

"Dead Souls". A common mistake entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is that it contains information about certain executive members who, in fact, have nothing to do with the team. Information about the consultants should be given reliable, because the investor may wish to communicate with them personally.
"Homework". There is no need to be zealous with confusing descriptions of the entire range of products and services. This will only overload your plan with a large size, which does not suit you at all, because the investor must grasp the very essence from the first pages, otherwise further reading will not make sense for him.
"Fictional Characters".All biographies of board members, founders should be extremely honest and not embellished.
"Who, when and how you want." In marketing plans, you need to rely only on proposals that actually exist.
"Year after year". You cannot submit financial plans in a business plan broken down exclusively by years. As mentioned above, the forecast for the first year should be made on a monthly basis and show seed funding and then a quarterly breakdown for the next period. The investor must see when the full return on investment will take place and whether the investment will pay off.
"Monopoly". There is always competition and similar products or services, the consumer market is not so large, and it takes a lot of effort to implement a business plan. Therefore, in the text, you need to abandon phrases about the absence of competition, huge market, unparalleled products or services and simple project implementation.
"Hockey stick". Financial indicators categorically cannot, when viewed graphically, form a curve in the form of a hockey stick, that is, profit falling from the very beginning and infinitely striving upward in the future. The most ingenious idea, with its payback, will generate competition for itself, so incomes cannot grow indefinitely.
"No scores for metrics." The market should be evaluated by you from different sides in quantitative terms: perspective, market share, customers. Otherwise, you are incompetent.
"Promises". You should not stipulate in the business plan possible financial injections that are at an incomplete stage. Funding is either there or not.
"Somewhere like that." Your business plan must be in hard numbers. It is your responsibility to clearly understand the scope of fixed, variable, direct, indirect and outsourcing costs.

Print your business plan. Set aside all pages starting with the third. Reread the first two pages - do they make you want to read the rest of the document? Brevity, simplicity, clarity - cross out all unnecessary.

Having polished your plan to a shine, do not send it gathering dust in a distant drawer. “The business plan is just the beginning of the process. Planning a business is like navigating a ship at sea: you have to constantly adjust your course. The plan itself is of little value. It's important to go back to it and see where you were wrong and what it cost you.

We wish you success! All in your hands!

Not sure how to write a business plan? Don't panic! We will teach you how to do this with examples! It's that simple!

How to write a business plan? This question is often asked by most people who have decided to start or have already started their own business!

Everyone knows that a correctly written business plan is the key to the successful development of any enterprise.

The completed business plan should describe your expectations for the new (or currently existing) business and tell the prospective lender about your wonderful ones.

A business plan is a kind of document, after which all business-related issues must be resolved without additional explanations.

A business plan is a working document that can be revised and edited along with changes to current plans and strategies.

I bring to your attention 10 useful tips on the right drawing up a business plan!

1) How to write a business plan? Initially provide a description (summary) of the project.

It is the first aspect of your business plan, although it should be drafted last.

It should explain your strategy and vision for the project (what you expect to do), outline the market and the capital that you need (what you intend to do with it) and your competitive edge.

In short, this is a mini business plan that allows you to explain to any person what your business is after reading it.

2) In order to draw up a business plan - indicate the name of the company.

You must indicate the name of the company, the corresponding licenses, what is the form of ownership, legal structure, a brief description of the product or service and what you plan to do (provide services, engage in retail, wholesale or manufacturing).

Indicate the address of the company, the required area, landlords.

Indicate if your business is new or an expansion or purchase of a ready-made business.

It is necessary to describe the goals and objectives of the company and any planned changes.

3) How to write a business plan? Analyze your market.

Outline your sales market, segments and customers for each of the segments.

Indicate the market area, translating this into profit for three years, and analyze the increase or decrease in your income with the growth of the market.

What value do you want to receive for services and products in order to achieve profit and become competitive?

Explain why buyers will agree to pay the price you quoted.

4) To draw up a business plan - tell us about goods and services.

Tell us about your offers regarding services and goods, what kind of consumers they are designed for, what benefits the buyer will have.

Justify that your product or what you offer is better than your competitors' products.

Also tell us how you search for goods, and if you intend to manufacture something, then raw materials.

5) How to write a business plan? Outline your business strategy and its implementation.

Show how you intend to occupy your niche in the existing market.

Will you use or visit trade shows?

6) How to write a business plan? Don't forget about your competitors.

Name about five of your main competitors, explain why the products / services you provide are better than others.

Is their market stable? Is it developing or falling? For what reason?

Highlight their strengths and weaknesses, how do you intend to act?

How you will monitor the activities of competitors in the future.

7) How to write a business plan? Description of your production.

Indicate how the production and delivery of goods and services will be carried out, what your financial policy is, and how you are going to collect debts from your debtors.

Also indicate how many employees you need, what professional skills they need to have, whether you will train them.

It is necessary to clarify what equipment and related technologies you need.

Remember if you took into account the legal and licensing issues related to the future business.

8) How to write a business plan? Describe the organization of the workflow.

Who will manage the company?

Invest in core managers.

Add a job description for all key individuals and a list of significant consultants.

Calculate estimated financing costs.

Be sure to check out which business plan Amway has developed!

Learn, my dears, how to work! 🙂

9) How to write a business plan? Do a financial calculation.

Calculate the costs associated with setting up and renting a company.

If this ready business tell a financial story or estimated financial performance within 3 years after starting a business.

Include monthly income and losses for the first year and quarterly calculations for two years in advance.

Also count your cash flow and current accounting records.

10) How to write a business plan? Have supporting documents on hand.

The business plan must have a resume, job descriptions, letters of recommendation, accounting documents, credit histories, written commitments, lease agreements, other documents, market statistics, etc.

Useful article? Don't miss new ones!
Enter your e-mail and receive new articles by mail

A business plan is what helps an entrepreneur navigate the market environment and see goals. Many successful people point out that an idea needs to be written down on paper, otherwise it will never be realized. Therefore, a business plan is essential for a successful business. How to write a business plan yourself: a sample and step-by-step instructions are included in our new publication!

A business plan is the program by which a company operates. It is necessary in order to competently coordinate the actions of the organization and see the directions of its development.

A business plan can be called a kind of rehearsal. An entrepreneur plays various scenarios during which he can see problems and find methods to fix them. At the same time, the person does not lose money, as it would happen in a real situation.

Business plan objectives

Formulate the goals of the organization (both short-term and long-term)
Set project timeline
Determine the target audience and product markets
Analyze the competitiveness of the organization
Determine company advantages
Estimate the level of costs
Develop an action plan aimed at increasing economic efficiency organization
Predict the amount of profit and the level of profitability of the business.

General scheme for developing a business plan and feasibility study.

What is included in a business plan?

1. Title page and content

Here should be indicated the output of the company and the contact details of the founders, as well as the content of the document.

2. Summary (introduction)

This part is a summary of the entire business plan. The most important thing should be here, i.e. substantiation of the relevance of the business and the financial part.

Your resume shouldn't be about two pages long. Although it is located at the very beginning, you need to start drawing it up at the end. You need to approach this responsibly, because this is the part that the investor studies.

3. Company history

If you already operating organization, then you need to tell about the history of its occurrence, about the successes.

4. Market opportunities

In this section it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis of the enterprise, i.e. identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

7. Business model

This is a financial plan. Here it is necessary to describe all sources of income and the amount of costs. You also need to indicate your suppliers and main buyers.

Cafe business plan: an example with calculations and step-by-step instructions for creating your own cafe from scratch are

8. Forecast

In this section, you need to make a financial forecast. It is necessary to write about the amount of profit and the payback period of the project.

The entire business plan should be 30-40 pages long.

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for small businesses

Let's consider some sections of the business plan for example

SWOT Analysis Matrix

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for small businesses.

the best franchises with the cost and conditions of purchase, you will find in our new publication at the link.

Business model

Thus, the starting capital is 290,000 rubles. Wherein fixed costs are 105,000 per month.

A business plan is a project that allows an entrepreneur to reflect all the moments of organizing his future business. A competent and convincing business plan makes it possible to attract large investors, lenders and start a promising business.

Thorough study of each point of the business plan is the key to drawing up a competent and promising project. Initial points to pay attention to.

Key points	Description
Line of business	Determining the direction of work is the starting point when drawing up a business plan. It is important to clearly describe the type of activity that the entrepreneur plans to engage in. It is necessary not only to determine the direction of development, but also to justify why this particular type of activity, in the opinion of the compiler of the business plan, will bring him profit. Here is a list of goods and services that will be the products of the entrepreneur
Business location	In modern conditions, a business can be located not only in a real room, but also on the Internet. In the second case, the business plan indicates the website address and the residential premises from which the entrepreneur plans to go online. In the first case, it is important to indicate not only the location of the retail space, but also the method of its operation (purchase, rent, leasing). It is necessary to justify the choice of the location of the business
Control	The entrepreneur must determine for himself who will be the manager. This can be directly the owner of the business, or an outsider, empowered by the manager
Staff	The staff plays an important role in the formation and development of any business. The more qualified the specialists working in the company, the more profit they will bring. The desired number and quality of employees is indicated in the business plan along with the calculation of the approximate costs of maintaining this team and the justification for the need for these costs
The target audience	The entrepreneur must decide which categories of citizens will be his clients. The business plan provides a description of these categories of consumers, as well as ways to attract them (advertising, marketing business strategy)
Competitors	It is important to soberly assess the situation in the market for the provision of similar services, or the sale of similar goods. The business plan needs to list all major competitors, study their activities and describe possible ways to fight
Cost amount	The business plan must indicate the total cost that will have to be incurred in the implementation of this project... It takes into account the cost of equipment, employee salaries, rental and advertising costs, purchase costs, unexpected costs, etc.

In order to draw up a competent business plan, you need to carefully study the factors presented in the table.

Key research points	Description
Market condition	The region of residence of potential customers, age and gender of potential buyers, existing prices, variability of demand (for example, for a seasonal product), etc. All this data can be found in the media, on the Internet, using observations and surveys, in statistical reports.
Competitors' activities	Name of companies, location, characteristics of goods and services, distinctive features, price level, ways of promoting products, pace of development. Analysis of competitors makes it possible to adjust your plans at the initial stage and focus on goods and services that compare favorably with what competitors offer
The price for similar products	To calculate the estimated price, you can take into account: the prices of competitors, the demand for the product, the cost of production, the expected profit, the margin for uniqueness, etc.
Existing risks	The threat of falling demand, unreliability of suppliers, inflation, government activities, increased equipment costs, etc.
Sources of financing	Possible subsidies, investments, loans, leasing.
Taxation methods	It is important to study all methods of paying taxes and choose the most the best option... There are three types of taxation in Russia: general, simplified, imputed.

When drawing up a business plan, it is advisable to take into account the following recommendations:

at the beginning of the business plan, make a short discussion of it, which will concisely state the essence of the document;
describe the future company in as much detail as possible (name, actual address, legal address, description of the line of business, area of \u200b\u200bpremises, landlord, etc.);
give a detailed analysis of the sales market (market segments, consumers, development trends, possible risks, expected profit, etc.);
talk about future goods, services (reasons for choosing this particular product, target audience, advantages over competitors, the process of producing goods, etc.);
describe the chosen strategy (a way to conquer the market and find your niche);
carefully study the activities of dozens of the closest competitors, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses;
draw up a complete description of production, paying attention to even the most insignificant at first glance moments (method of delivery of goods, procedure for writing off debts from debtors, the process of training and training personnel, equipment, technologies, licenses, legal aspects activities, etc.);
describe the workflow. You can attach CVs and letters of recommendation of key employees (for example, a manager and key managers), describe job descriptions, calculate the approximate costs of staff salaries;
attach all relevant documents to the business plan. In addition to documents describing the duties and qualifications of employees, it is necessary to attach accounting documents, credit documents, lease or leasing agreements, statistical reports, etc.

At the initial stage of drawing up a business plan, it is important not to allow typical mistakes. These errors include:

excess of unnecessary information. The business plan should be dedicated exclusively to describing the planned business activities... The presence of a large amount of secondary information (personal merits of the author, professional terms, too detailed description of the production process, etc.) can make a negative impression on future investors;
blurry and unattainable goals. The tasks that the entrepreneur sets himself must be realistically achievable;
adequate financial performance. Indicating an unnecessarily high percentage of the profitability of an enterprise in order to impress investors can lead to the opposite result. Financial indicators should be based on real research and calculations, as well as take into account possible risks;

Thus, when drawing up a business plan at the initial stage, it is important to determine the direction of activity, to collect all the necessary information. A competent project will be the key to building a successful business.

A business plan is the first step towards the implementation of any project and implementation of activities. After all, any idea, even the most original and promising, must be confirmed by deep analysis. competitive environment, financial calculations. In this article, we will explain in detail what a business plan is, its main structure and present step by step guide by his writing.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs make a very common mistake and don't bother writing a business plan. Believing it to be a waste of time, they miss out on the opportunities that planning provides. They do not see the benefits that can be obtained by analyzing and planning activities.

You should not treat this document as a simple formality that is necessary for meeting with investors and presenting your idea to creditors and business partners. The work on the document should be comprehensive. Even if different sections are assigned to individual specialists: economists, marketers, etc., they must work as a team. Indeed, the document must take into account all aspects of the project: the technical, legal part, the nuances of taxation, product sales.

When attracting investors and creditors, experts recommend working on two documents at the same time: on the internal and external plan. The external document is carried out for business partners, people who need to be convinced to invest money. It should not distort the data, because specialists will study it.

At the same time, analyzing the competitive environment or evaluating all the weaknesses of the project, you can focus more on the advantages and strengths. In this case, investors will see the promise of the idea, and you will have a better chance of getting approval.

The internal plan is your personal step-by-step guide, which should fully reflect the real situation. Here it is no longer necessary to keep silent about some of the weaknesses of the project, but to try to calculate all kinds of risks that may jeopardize the implementation of the idea.

5 reasons to start planning

Business security assessment

Before expanding activities and investing in the purchase of equipment, renting premises, you should assess the main risks that threaten to nullify all efforts.

A business plan will help you see the insolvency of an idea even before its implementation. If already at the planning stage, when calculating expenses, income and assessing profitability, financial errors are noticeable, then perhaps you should postpone the implementation of the idea until better times or even switch to another project.

Attracting additional investments from outside

Most business ideas require an impressive start-up capital, which is not always available for a budding entrepreneur. At the same time, there are people who are ready to invest their money in an interesting project, provided that it is relevant and promising.

In this case, one cannot do without such a document, and detailed planning, market analysis, assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the project will allow investors to evaluate the idea and make a decision on investment.

Getting a loan from a bank

Today there are many credit organizations that are ready to issue a loan for a business, but they need to demonstrate a document that lists the costs, payback period, calculation of profitability.

A business plan allows you to effectively manage an existing business

This moment is of interest to those entrepreneurs who are considering expanding their business, opening additional branches or diversifying. Detailed planning and assessment of the market situation will make sure that the company needs to expand, avoid financial losses and possible mistakes.

Clear goal setting

In addition to wanting to start your own business that will generate income, you need to set a clear goal. Of course, it should be expressed in monetary terms, but other indicators are also important, such as the volume of the company, quality of service, range of services, etc. A business plan will allow you not to deviate from the chosen course and calculate the shortest path to achieving your goal.

Errors when writing a business plan

A business plan is a kind of roadmap, a scheme that will allow you to move in the right directionavoiding all obstacles and dangers. As in any other business, when writing a business plan, it is easy to make mistakes that not only prevent you from moving on, but can also cause serious financial risks.

There are two serious mistakes that planning initiators make. The first is the assignment of writing a plan to companies specializing in the provision of such services. The second is data distortion and making mistakes in financial, marketing or production planning.

The first mistake can lead to the fact that outside specialists will not be able to fully assess all possible risks and specific features of the business. The second mistake leads to financial ruin, because without understanding the intricacies of drawing up a document, an entrepreneur makes many serious mistakes.

There are no stereotyped business plans, and there are no identical situations. Even if the document is drawn up for similar stores located in the same region, they will have completely different performance indicators.

All mistakes that aspiring entrepreneurs can make in the document can be divided into three categories:

Technical flaws. As a rule, this is due to incorrect statistical data, shallow analysis of the market and the industry, shortcomings in financial miscalculations.
Conceptual inaccuracies. This is mainly due to the lack of experience, misunderstanding of production technology, lack of special education.
Methodical errors. This may be an incorrectly chosen legal basis for registering a business, an incorrect form of taxation, uncertainty regarding the ownership of the production part, premises. All this can alert the investor, demonstrating your incompetence and forcing him to refuse to invest in the project.

Where to start a business plan?

Any planning must start with the idea itself.

The work on the plan in stages can be represented as follows:

Search for an initial idea.
Analysis of the competitive environment.
Work on the financial part of the project.
Drawing up a document.

Spending time on an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment, on assessing opportunities and threats, you will receive a detailed, high-quality document that you can use to obtain a bank loan or convince potential investors that your business is a real place to place your money.

How to write a business plan yourself?

For many people who are just thinking about starting their own business, the very idea of \u200b\u200bwriting such a document is scary and repulsive.

Beginners often find this difficult to do, and they prefer to seek help from specialists. As mentioned above, there is a certain risk in the failure of such an idea. People who are poorly versed in the specifics of the customer's business may not be able to do a deep analysis of the situation, which will initially distort the data and will not give a real idea of \u200b\u200bthe prospects and direction of the business.

To facilitate the task, experts advise turning to specialists and third-party organizations only for certain calculations, where deep economic knowledge is required.

Plan structure

Whatever field of activity the business belongs to, it is necessary to adhere to a clear structure, without missing any of the sections:

Title (company address, name, contact details).
Summary.
General description of the idea and mission.
Market analysis.
Marketing part.
Production plan.
Organizational part (search for premises, recruitment, purchase of equipment).
Financial plan (business model, calculation of profitability, payback).

Step-by-step instructions: how to write a business plan correctly

Title

This is the first front side of the document, which should reflect the name of the organization, full name. director, date.

Sometimes it is allowed to make thesis the main financial indicators on the title page.

Summary

Despite the fact that this section comes first, it is written after all the calculations. By this time, a detailed analysis of the competitive environment, SWOT analysis, calculations of payback and profitability should already be in hand.

It is with the resume that potential investors and lenders begin their acquaintance.

The following aspects should be reflected here:

corporate values \u200b\u200bof the company;
mission;
corporate vision.

Corporate values

In this part, it is necessary to concisely explain what the idea, essence and corporate values \u200b\u200bare. The description of corporate values \u200b\u200bis not an empty formality. This is what determines the further path of the company, indicates its further vector, the path of development.

Any company, regardless of size and staff, must have specific values \u200b\u200band goals. This is what will help keep the company afloat in the first crisis.

How do you find the very corporate values \u200b\u200bthat will reflect your company's idea? It's just enough to think about the staff who will work in the company, what it should be, and briefly outline the attitude towards the client and service. Put all these thoughts on paper, and then correctly transfer them to the document.

The task, of course, is not an easy one, but a clear understanding of the principles, understanding of the goal sometimes allows you to keep the company afloat even in a difficult economic situation.

Mission

The mission statement of the company allows you to summarize the essence of the project and indicate why your company will be useful to people. This part should not contain a word about making a profit and further development firms.

Focus on what you ultimately plan to sell, market, produce. Just 2-3 sentences are enough to indicate the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe company. For example, Apple's mission statement is "It works to meet the knowledge and innovation needs of people." And the Coca-Cola company promises to bring joy and optimism to people.

Corporate vision

This is also a short and succinct part, where in two or three sentences you should indicate what kind of company you see in the foreseeable future. There is no need to make long-term plans and indicate the profit in numbers. The item should demonstrate the purpose of what the firm is striving for. Vision and mission must overlap.

After defining the goal and mission, you should move on to drawing up short-term and long-term goals. How do they differ and how to compose them correctly?

Short-term goals, as a rule, are drawn up for 6-12 months and clearly answer the question of what financial indicator the company should come to in a year. Long term goals can be drawn up for 1-5 years and allow you to see the financial prospects.

When setting goals, you must adhere to the following rules:

They should be clear and specific. For example: “The company needs to increase profits by 20%. Open a second branch, etc. ”.
Goals must be measurable and realistic. You need to be clearly aware of the maximum percentage you can increase sales and profits.
It is necessary to be precisely tied to the time, taking into account such factors as seasonality, conditions of the region, the resources that the firm has.

Market analysis

It often happens that, having burst into flames with an idea, entrepreneurs do not understand much in which direction to move on and how filled this niche is.

In-depth market analysis is designed to get answers to questions such as:

potential opportunities;
definition target audience;
percentage of competition;
major players and their strengths / weaknesses;
development trends.

The analysis allows you to determine in which direction you need to move in order to take its rightful place in the market, bypassing competitors, and what are the development trends of the idea itself. This part of the document must necessarily take into account the specifics of the business industry, regional characteristics, product release time, seasonality, etc. It is necessary to be objective and realistically look at things, evaluating strong competitors and determining the market share that can be taken by coming out with your product / service.

Analysis of the external environment

This is an indispensable part of a business plan and helps to identify the main players in the market. For convenience, competitors can be divided into two categories: main and indirect.

The main rivals are companies providing similar services. It is necessary to collect complete information about their product, service, price, quality of service, work experience, suppliers, etc. This information will help you assess their strengths and weaknesses and outline ways to combat them.

Indirect competitors are companies that offer a similar service, but do not pose a serious threat to business development.

In this section, it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis, which systematizes the strengths and weaknesses of the project, indicates the prospects and ways of avoiding possible risks. This is a powerful tool that allows you to form the future strategy of the enterprise.

Swot analysis will objectively show the whole project from the outside

SWOT analysis allows you to look at the entire project objectively from the outside and work out the following issues:

assess the strengths of competitors;
conduct comparative analysis the strengths of competitors with their own;
identify hidden threats;
what weaknesses of the project require correction;
take into account the factors of the internal and external environment.

To systematize all information, we use a standard matrix.

When working on a spreadsheet, you should focus on the following points:

Narrow down the scope of your analysis. You don't have to try to cover the whole business at once. If you're just entering the market, focus on a new product or service. This will give you a more accurate result. If a business involves development in several directions at once, then it is logical to conduct its own analysis in each separate segment.
Make a clear distinction between outside and inside. Threats to the company, as well as opportunities, are external factors that do not always depend on the actions of management or personnel. But the strengths and weaknesses are internal factors.
Try to be as objective as possible. There is no need to distort the data, embellish the factors. Make a SWOT analysis based only on objective facts. When describing strengths and weaknesses, try to look at it through the eyes of the consumer and the competitor. The document should not contain your subjective conclusions.
State all facts clearly. The more accurate the wording, the better the analysis result will be.

Let's consider the technology of creating a matrix using the example of the well-known trading network Auchan, which is represented all over the world by hypermarkets with food and non-food products.

Strengths (S)	Weaknesses (W)
extensive experience in the market	high level of competition
a wide range of	high staff turnover
effective customer loyalty program	lack of experienced managers
wide target audience
Opportunities (O)	Threats (T)
own brands	changes in the taxation system in the country
the Russian market is not yet saturated enough, which makes it possible to develop a large network	emergence of a strong competitor and rapid capture of territory
introduction of additional services	low income of the average buyer
expansion of the range of services

The analysis shows that each side of the matrix is \u200b\u200bbalanced, which indicates a fairly stable position of the company in Russia.

SWOT analysis allows you to develop a further strategy and eliminate those weak links that hinder the development of the company.

In this regard, the following table format is convenient:

What does such an analysis give other than an objective picture?

The matrix allows you to combine results and develop an action strategy. The combination of strengths and opportunities (SIV) allows you to find a competent development path for the company.

The combination of strengths and threats (IMS) helps to see how to minimize risks by using company strengths.

The combination of SLE (weaknesses / opportunities) helps to design measures to overcome weaknesses, using the opportunities that the company has.

And the work of a pair of SLUs (weaknesses / threats) will tell you what exactly can put the business at risk.

Determining the target audience

Determining the target audience is an important stage in planning, as it gives a clear understanding of the concept of a product or service and allows you to correctly calculate the development trend.

The product can target the consumer or industrial market.

When working with consumer market to determine the target audience, it is important to consider the following factors:

consumer age;
social status;
marital status;
level of education and nature of specialization;
buying behavior, etc.

For the manufacturing market, these factors are irrelevant. The technical features of the product and the specifics of the industry are important there.

When determining the target audience, it is necessary to create a portrait of the average buyer, describe what exactly the person is guided by when purchasing a service or product. This will allow in the next section, the marketing part, when developing sales channels to correctly determine the direction.

Pricing

The pricing stage is an important step, which, in many respects, predetermines the final profit and the search for sales channels.

It should be understood that the final profit is influenced not so much by the cost of the product as by the turnover. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the competitor's price at the moment of market analysis. Understand what it consists of and what is included in it. This point especially applies to firms that provide services.

When setting a price tag, it is important to consider the following points:

cost of production;
the cost of this product from competitors;
cost of product promotion.

In no case should you understate the price in order to intercept competitors. Firstly, this can cause the enterprise to be unprofitable, and secondly, it will force to reduce the quality of service or raw materials to reduce the cost. Thus, you will create a negative reputation. Therefore, it is very important to find “your buyer” and, focusing on his demand and opportunities, offer a really high-quality and unique product / service.

Pricing methods

Given the huge number of pricing methods, business owners use only a few that allow the most correct price tag.

Before you start choosing a pricing methodology, you need to understand the goal of entering the market. This could be:

retention of positions and survival in the market;
extraction maximum profit;
changing the target audience.
The goals may be different, but the pricing method and the calculation of the final cost of the product / service will depend on them.

When entering the market with high level competition, manufacturers often choose the “follow the competitor” method. The bottom line comes down to choosing a leading company. The price is set at the same level, regardless of the cost of the product and the level of costs.

The advantage of this method is in holding market positions. The downside is the loss of control. If the leader modernizes the equipment, goes to suppliers with cheaper raw materials, then you will not be able to reduce the price after him without incurring losses.

It is also important to mention popular methods such as:

costly;
cost-marketing;
value approach;
a price neutral strategy;
method of skimming;
price breakout strategy.

One of the simplest methods is costly. Here it is important to correctly calculate the cost of goods and add the planned profit on top. The advantage of this strategy is guaranteed receipt arrived. Minus - it is not valid when there is a lot of competition in the market.

One of the varieties of costly strategy is the method based on the break-even analysis. Here it is important to determine the break-even point and, based on these parameters, make a markup that will allow you to make a profit.

The cost-marketing method is one of the most difficult. It combines the analysis of pricing, taking into account the marketing strategy and the cost of goods. There is no clear formula here. The process should be approached creatively, but the result can be high.

The value approach focuses on the price / cost ratio. Thus, the manufacturer, in order to generate more profit, sets the maximum price that the manufacturer can pay for the offered quality of the product.

The price neutral strategy is one of the most popular in the market in highly competitive niches. The bottom line comes down to one thing - setting prices, in the same way as competitors. For a company that is just entering the market, it is important to ensure that it does not lose its positions in the market by exceeding the average price, but also not to underestimate it, losing on profit.

The skimming strategy assumes short-term maximum profit. This strategy is possible under several conditions:

powerful advertising;
fundamentally new product;
a promoted brand or, on the contrary, a new company that uses the most powerful and promising advertising;

The advantage of this approach is profit maximization. The downside is the fact that competitors can quickly take advantage of the overpriced and prevent the company from gaining a foothold in the market. Here it is important to clearly limit the time frame of such a strategy, and in the future, use a different pricing method.

It is important to understand that not every new product will allow you to operate according to the “skimming” scheme. It should be an expensive product aimed at a buyer who is ready to pay for quality and level. By the way, apple uses this method, releasing a new version of the legendary iPhone every year. This policy of price discrimination at different times is entirely justified. The buyer is willing to pay for a unique premium product and admits that the price is somewhat overpriced.

The price breakout method is the opposite of the skimming strategy. It is advisable to conduct it for enterprises that plan to occupy a large part of the market niche. The following conditions are important here:

you need to be sure that competitors do not beat the price;
the product should be in great demand among a wide audience;
the product should not be of an everyday nature.

As you can see from the description, each of the methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, manufacturers often experiment at the planning stage, determining the most optimal option for themselves.

For example, opening grocery store in a small residential area, it is advisable to use a cost method or a strategy of neutral prices. To this end, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment and determine the pricing of competitors. But for a company that enters the market with an innovative product, you can set a price, guided by a skimming strategy.

Marketing part

This section explores the primary target market, including geographic location, demographic data, and the needs of the target market. The section should show that you have a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe target audience to which you plan to sell a product or service.

When researching methods for promoting a product or service on the market, it is important to focus on the target audience and take into account the behavioral factors that you described in the previous section. It is also important to focus on the company's pricing policy, because the expansion of sales channels will largely depend on this.

The questions that should be reflected in this part of the document are as follows:

What group of goods or services are you planning to sell?
What will be the sales market?
Which customer group are you targeting?

It is important here to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the product, and you should not embellish the information or distort the data, because all this will negatively affect the promotion of services and the final profit.

It is necessary to understand what makes the offer unique. It can be a high-quality comprehensive service, an individual approach, original packaging, high-quality raw materials, etc.

You need to understand that speaking about the uniqueness of the sales proposal (USP), we are not trying to create a truly unique product that has no analogues on the market. Today it is almost impossible to do this. And the novelty of an idea that is not present on the market requires large initial costs, labor and time resources. Therefore, it is important to consider the uniqueness of the service, packaging, new sales format, etc.

For example, the iPhone created by Steve Jobs was not itself an innovative product. A talented businessman simply took a finished product and came up with a unique selling proposition.

Council. When creating a USP, think about how to interest “your customer” and offer him what he cannot get from competitors.

When determining the market for sale and pricing, it is important to consider the seasonality of the product. Indeed, in different time year, the need of buyers for a particular service / product can be completely different, which will affect the price. This will make it possible to correctly assess the volume of services, select the required number of personnel, calculate the profitability of the business and the break-even point.

You should also describe in detail the organization of sales, ways of informing customers about entering the market, the format of advertising and promotion.

Promotion of a service / product can be implemented as follows:

outdoor advertising design;
promotion to social networks;
contextual and banner advertising on sites;
discounts and bonus programs for regular customers;
distribution of leaflets, etc.

The method and type of promotion is largely determined by the target audience. For example, if a product is targeted at the 50-70 age group, then promotion through social networks will not have a big effect. Conversely, for a young audience the best way will be advertising on the Internet.

By developing marketing strategy, it is important to take into account not only the target audience, but also the geography of the outlet, the seasonality of the product.

In the last paragraphs of the marketing plan, it is advisable to make a sales forecast for a specific period of time, taking into account all external and internal factors. You do not need to take a period of more than a year. Enough 6-12 months with a monthly or quarterly breakdown to reflect the sales forecast.

No need to overload your marketing plan with a lot of numbers, detailed description their actions. Even if the document is intended for presentation to investors and lenders, it is better to use diagrams, diagrams and tables for clarity.

Production plan

This section should provide an accurate description of the process of creating a product or providing a service.

The production process consists of many links that are interconnected with each other. In order to reduce risks and successfully promote a service or product, it is necessary to carefully develop and take into account all production processes.

In the production part of the plan, such issues as the volume of raw materials, technical and labor resources, requirements for stocks and control over product quality are addressed.

For successful implementation of the project, it is necessary at the planning stage in the production part of the document to determine the required capacities, their disadvantages and advantages.

All the information presented in detail in this section helps to draw up an effective organizational plan, which will allow you to implement your plans in stages.

In the production part of the plan, it is important to correctly calculate the required area and location of the premises. Whether it's a workshop, warehouse or store in the city center. Based on the performed market analysis, the selected target audience and other factors, it is necessary to correctly determine the location of the business.

Also, experts immediately recommend considering the prospects of the technology in this part. Indeed, when purchasing equipment, one should analyze the development of a business for more than a dozen years. It is necessary to correctly assess the need for production facilities, the level of technical equipment and the possibility of modernizing equipment over time.

It is in this part of the document that the supply of raw materials and equipment necessary for business is determined. If production requires additional materials, raw materials, then you need to immediately assess quality control, determine a list of suppliers.

Organizational plan

Step 1. Business registration.

In this part of the document, one should touch upon the organizational and legal form of the business and take into account the development trend of the enterprise in the future.

It is necessary to dwell in detail on permits, the cost of registering a business, the time spent on registration of all licenses.

The list of documents for registration of a business and for obtaining all permits must be specified in each individual case. You should immediately clarify for what period of time before starting a business you need to submit documents.

Step 2.Selection of premises.

You need to pay attention to the following points:

the ability to comply with fire regulations;
compliance with production requirements;
required area;
availability of ventilation, sewerage and water supply.

For outlets location matters. These factors must be fulfilled taking into account the selected target audience and product category.

Step 3.Staff recruitment.

Go into detail on the employee's questionnaire, make a list of his qualification skills required for work.

This will make it easier to select potential employees, save time and help you find a good team.

Step 4.Equipment purchase.

Financial plan

The financial part is one of the most difficult. All calculations must be clearly justified and verified. Before entering an item of expenditure into a document, it is necessary to carefully monitor prices, study a lot of documents and information.

This part of the document is worth dwelling on in detail:

on project costs;
run an income forecast;
analyze funding sources.

Expenses

It is the expense item that largely influences pricing, allows you to correctly calculate the break-even point and profitability.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs make serious planning mistakes in this part of the document. They simply forget about some categories of expense, which entails an incorrect calculation of the cost of production, endangering the development of the business as a whole.

The main “forgotten” expenses are usually:

loading or unloading of goods;
taxes;
service maintenance;
installation of equipment;
professional development of employees, their training;
loss or failure of products during transportation.

This part specifies the costs of the selected taxation scheme, taking into account the organizational and legal framework.

When calculating costs, it is advisable to divide all costs into 3 categories:

initial;
permanent;
variables.

Initial costs include all funds, equipment, raw materials needed to start a business. This also includes the costs of registering a business and obtaining permits.

Permanent ones include the salary of employees, payment of rent and utilities, etc.

Variable costs include those costs that depend on the season, production volumes. This should include transport costs, piecework, purchase of consumables, repairs.

In order to clearly demonstrate the financial part of the document, it is better to present the entire estimate in the form of a table, where the following points should be.

P / p No.	Name of expense item	Amount, rub.
1. Business registration	-	-
2. Taxes	-	-
3. Rent of premises (land)	-	-
4. Purchase of raw materials	-	-
5. Purchase of machinery and equipment	-	-
6. Expenses for auxiliary equipment	-	-
7. Wage fund	-	-
8. Transportation costs	-	-
9. Advertising and promotion of products	-	-
10. Utility bills	-	-
11. Other running costs	-	-

It is difficult to imagine business development at the first stage without additional funding from personal capital or from investors. Such "additions" are also losses, since they do not allow making a profit from the project. But at the same time, they are aimed at business development and allow you to get income in the future.

Income

In this section, it is necessary to justify the feasibility of the project from an economic point of view. It is important to demonstrate profitability and correctly forecast the expected profit.

Having a clear cost estimate and projected income, it is important to correctly determine the break-even point.

The break-even point is one of the key economic indicators, which indicates how much it is necessary to sell products in order to equalize expense and income. The break-even point is that extreme line, below which you cannot go, otherwise you can go bankrupt. Profit is not an idea here. The indicator only shows the necessary income so that after paying all taxes, rent, utilities, wages the enterprise remained afloat.

To calculate the efficiency of doing business and assess the prospects of an enterprise, many economic indicators are used. One of the key and optimal ones is the calculation of profitability.

The simplicity and transparency of this indicator makes it almost the main indicator that allows you to objectively assess the feasibility of conducting a particular project.

For comparison, an analysis of total revenue, turnover or net profit are not objective indicators, since they do not reflect the true state of affairs and do not allow an analysis of the work of a similar company.

If for the implementation of the business it is necessary to involve investments from the outside, then the profitability must be calculated taking into account these investments.

Profitability is calculated using the standard formula:

R \u003d (total sales profit / cost) * 100%

Risk assessment

This is an important section of the document, which must be taken seriously and carefully considered all the options, unfavorable conditions that can become a threat to the business.

Often investors, having briefly familiarized themselves with the resume and the financial side of the issue, study in detail exactly the section of risk assessment. The investor must be 100% sure that the money invested will pay off and that in any situation you have a clear plan of action.

Describing all the risks and adverse conditions that may affect the project, divide them into two parts:

external (do not depend on you);
internal.

External risks include fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, inflation, natural disasters, fire, theft, damage to property, changes in the legal framework, unfavorable weather conditions (if we are talking about a business that is directly dependent on these conditions), etc.

The internal ones include:

failure of the technical part of production;
incorrect actions of personnel or management;
negligence in control over production technology or quality of service;
lack of sufficient qualifications or experience among employees.

In order to maximally protect yourself from force majeure situations, experts recommend creating the most pessimistic scenario. This will allow you to develop a clear algorithm of actions in any of the situations and in real life successfully overcome difficulties.

The final, but optional, section might be the appendix. In this part, it is advisable to submit all documents, letters, contracts, price lists, commercial offers competitors who helped make analysis and calculations.

7 rules for successful planning

Don't misrepresent the data or deceive yourself. No matter how pessimistic the forecast is, there is no need to deliberately understate the item of expenditure or increase revenues.
When describing your resume, try to be as laconic as possible. Try to imagine how you can describe your business project in two or three words and present it to investors in a favorable light. Often, lenders and investors pay attention to the part and financial calculations.
When developing your marketing strategy and forecasting revenues, be sure to set clear timelines. They will allow you not to deviate from the vector and analyze the success of the enterprise after a certain period of time. Reconciliation of real and projected indicators will allow you to quickly make adjustments if the business does not bring the expected profit.
Be laconic, adhere to a clear structure of the document, but do not ignore in-depth analysis of economic indicators and the market environment. This data will allow you to get a full understanding of the environment in which you plan to grow your business.
Do not use in planning templates downloaded from the Internet. Remember that every project is unique and individual. Therefore, more than one typical business plan will not allow you to carefully work out internal and external factors, analyze the specifics of the company's activities and outline a development strategy.
During the planning phase, clearly state the authority and responsibilities of the staff. This will allow you to choose the right state.
When analyzing the competitive environment, elaborate on the description of their strengths. The document should analyze at least 5-7 competitors from a similar and related field in order to form a complete objective picture.