7 Constructive Steps to Drafting a Successful Business Plan

You cannot plan to expand your business or set up a new one without flawlessly drafted ideas and constructive strategies to streamline all challenges that may come your way. The celebrated entrepreneur Jeff Bezos (CEO of Amazon) is of the opinion that the reality in business might not work according to the plan. But, drafting the plan forces you to think through some of the issues, and strategise all possible measures you must adopt to confront them down the road. Here’s the catch! You should always kick-start your journey, no matter what.

There’s no substitute for planning your moves and executing the same accordingly. For instance, if you see it’s cloudy outside, you would probably think of a potential downpour later. Also, there are chances of no rain, and the weather could continue to remain cloudy. So you are stuck between two probable situations, what would you do? Carry an umbrella or leave without it? Well, you should carry an umbrella. Why? You see, it’s always better to stay prepared for unforeseen challenges.

It’s not necessary that every single strategy or measure would work out for your business. But at least it would help you to stay a step ahead in terms of precautions and contingencies. Now, in case, you have an excellent business idea, follow these seven crucial steps to nurture it strategically.

Happy reading!

Step #1: Draft an executive summary

The marketing management assignment or what is popularly known as a business plan must comprise an executive summary. The section is mainly designed to provide readers with a clear overview of the information you wish to include in your business plan.

Take a look at it key essentials.

Highlight all crucial information, including a 5-years business plan, new products/service ideas and the likes.
Remember, this particular section will typically be about a page long with a couple of paragraphs.
You should also focus on using strong words, short sentences and impactful industry jargons to back your claims or ideas introduced in this section.

Step #2: Now, come up with the company description

Once you are done drafting the executive summary section, it’s time to come up with a descriptive and segment comprising key details regarding your company.

Here’s how you can approach this particular segment.

Refrain from skimping on specifics such as other organisations or businesses you wish to explore or expand in the near future.
You should completely focus on specifically mentioning your current company’s aims or business missions.
Highlight and discuss the business structure you wish to have, such as professional partnership, limited partnership or sole proprietorship.
Do not miss out on including the information or details regarding the location of your business and the likes.

Step #3: Include market research information

This is yet another critical area one must acknowledge while formulating business plans. You cannot plan business expansions or other advancements without brining your market research information into play.

Refer to the following suggestions to go about the segment seamlessly.

Ask industry experts and conduct plenty of research and analysis that fit best for your industry niche.
Figure out whether your potential customer lives in your targeted geographical location of business.
Make sure that the prospective leads will be able to afford your products or services.
Abide by competitive research methodology and choose to keep an eye on your competitors’ products, marketing gimmicks, campaigns and the likes.
Once you are done conducting the research, summarise your research findings in the section in concise, bullet points.

Step #4: Include a vivid description of your products

In this section, you should include every minute detail of the product or service you are offering. It will help your stakeholders and end customers to know about your offerings and pricing aspects in a detailed manner.

Consider paying heed to the following tips to frame this segment perfectly.

Describe how your products and services will prove to be better than what your competitors are offering.
Introduce the consumer pain points and describe how your products and services will help them with the coveted solution.
Always consider adding up something extra. For example, introduce other perks, discount, rebates and other add-ons that come with the product or service.
Also, include the pricing structure with clarity. Refrain from hinting towards any form of hidden cost and other unclear pricing concepts.

Step #5: Explain your managerial and operational structure

This is another section you must prioritise while drafting your business plan. Unless you formulate your business operations and management structure, you will not be able to make your presence felt among the prospective consumers.

So, here are the essentials you must include in the section to add perfection to it.

Explain how your business your function under certain challenging conditions.
Also, include all the details around which certain departments will be responsible for a particular set of operational moves.
You can include the dedicated structure or size of your business along with an organisational chart of your business plan.

Step #6: Highlight your marketing and sales strategies

You cannot expect the business plan to work unless it contains well-knit and clearly explained marketing management and sales strategies. Here are the suggestions you must follow to raft the section with precision.

Explain how you aim or plan to attract or retain customers in the long run.
Describe your expected sales process to be included in the segment.
Decide and highlight all channels that will work best for your product/service promotion strategies.
Also, highlight the aspect of specifying your use of resellers, sales representatives and distributors.
You should also share details like how you wish to explain your sales team in the upcoming days.
Maintain absolute clarity while talking about your business budget, forms of advertisements and other paid/unpaid promotional moves you have on the cards.

Step #7: Lastly, focus on the financial details of your business

Now, before you call it a wrap, include all necessary financial details of the business plan. Refer to the following suggestions for constructive ideas in this matter.

Include informative details on financial projections, funding requests and start-up capital investments.
Highlight other financial aspects such as office space lease, necessary equipments to purchase and resources to utilise.
Create an exhaustive financial chart if possible, and include it in the segment. This will help you to gain productive insights into your business plan.

Key Takeaways

I feel safe to assume that each of the aforementioned strategies will guide you through the assignment of drafting flawless business plans. So, here’s a glimpse of all the key pointers of the blog for your reference on the go.