If you’d like to get professional help in writing your business plan and creating your financial model, Book a free call with one of our senior consultants at Sam&Wright.
Its 2021, and YES – business plans are still very much relevant today. But the question is why do you need a business plan in 2021?
Firstly, you need to understand that so many businesses today fail woefully within the first 12 months because they gave little to no time in properly planning their business.
Venturing into a business without proper preparation and planning can be the end of such a business even before it begins. A business plan is needed to make a business succeed and grow.
A business plan is a document written formally which contains the goals of a business, the way of achieving those goals, and the period for attaining the goals.
A lucid business plan helps one to focus on the mission and vision of the business that are important to succeed in the daily operations and decisions.
A business plan can be considered as the roadmap used in the journey to attain a successful business. Without a roadmap, you may miss or have a delay in your destination.
Businesses with a good business plan are the most successful, viable, long-lasting, and prosperous ones. It doesn’t matter whether it is a small business or a large business, a business plan will help guide your decisions. It clarifies all aspects of the business starting from the marketing, finance, operation to the product and service ranges.
There are several reasons why a business plan is important before starting a business which includes:
1. It helps to attract investors
A good business plan will allow you to seek investment for your business. It is a gateway to finance proposals.
Having a great marketing plan is not enough, a business plan is still much important to secure funds. MeanwhiIe, investors like to partner with a business that exhibits transparency about their profitability and revenue generation.
Investors expect your business plan to cover all the main criteria. A proper business plan will also determine how much an investor might choose to invest.
2. It helps to employ the right talent/ employees
For a business to succeed, talented staff is of utmost importance. A business plan helps to employ competent staff from the managerial level to skilled staff by aligning them in the potentials, aims, and direction of the business.
The business plan inspires and motivates them to see how sound the ideas and strategies to achieve the goals are. And the more inspired you are, the more inspired your workers will be too.
3. It helps to monitor the business growth
Making a business plan regularly gives a better insight into what is needed to do to attain the goals and to also succeed.
It helps to set goals regularly, work progressively towards the goals, and make changes to the business where and when necessary.
A good business plan serves as a yardstick in measuring the growth rate of the business consequently. Statistics have shown that companies with good plan reviews do grow 30 percent faster and also perform better.
4. It helps to achieve attainable/ desirable goals
A proper business plan is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-conscious. It raises a standard to work towards.
Main goals to achieve such as expanding by opening a new branch, reaching a targeted sales level, are all included in the business plan. It also helps business owners to work better because of these visible goals.
5. It helps to reduce the risk of failure
Starting a business can be risky, but the risk is significantly manageable and can be reduced to a minimal level when it is done against a great business plan.
A business plan containing revenue and expense projections, logistics and operational plans, market surveys, and competitive landscape helps to reduce the risk of running at loss.
Hence, a business plan allows one to make a better decision, and see a clearer view of what the future holds for the company.
If you’d like to get professional help in writing your business plan and creating your financial model, Book a free call with one of our senior consultants at Sam&Wright.
6. It helps to determine financial needs
A good business plan answers the questions of how much do I need to start this business?
It helps to know in particular, how much capital is needed to start a business and what it would be used for.
A business plan is important to raise capital for business and for employing the capital efficiently. It allows one to plan ahead especially if the needs arise to raise more funds later in the future.
7. It helps to understand competition better
Every company has competitors which can be directly or indirectly.
However, it is very important to know and understand one’s company competitive advantages, as these advantages after being figured out can be used against the competitors to gain them.
A good business plan helps to analyze the competition. Research shows that companies with higher competitive advantages have a longer lifespan than their competitors.
8. It allows one to confidently take big decisions
One of the importance of having a business plan is that it helps entrepreneurs to make great decisions.
A business cannot stand without having to make crucial decisions and also manage crises and that’s why one needs a good business plan.
It also allows one to predict and answer unforeseen questions like what products to sell, will my product strive in the market? Having a business plan helps to think deeply about ideas and strategies needed to enlarge your business.
9. It helps to sell your business
Buyers need to understand what you have, its worth, and reasons why they should patronize you.
A business plan can help to achieve this because it is an important part of selling your business to customers.
It allows business owners to do a lot of market research, find out what it takes to grow, and what prospective customers they are looking for. A business plan helps you to find solutions to those needs.
10. It helps to stay focused and determined about a business
Determination is the wheel needed for a smooth business. Business owners need to be determined and stay focused on the business goal.
A business plan can help to fight bad habits like procrastination so as to meet the set-up business target.
A good business plan also helps to stay conscious of whatever decision you are about to take, for instance, it won’t allow you to move a short-term goal to a long-term strategy.
If you’d like to get professional help in writing your business plan and creating your financial model, Book a free call with one of our senior consultants at Sam&Wright.
About Sam&Wright Consulting
Sam&Wright Consulting offers business and financial advisory services to an ever-growing community of early stage startups across the globe. To learn more about us visit: https://samandwright.com/about-us/
Take the next step by booking a FREE strategy session with one of our senior consultants.
5 Reasons To Work With Sam&Wright On Your Business Plan Project
Here are 5 reasons to work with Sam&Wright Consulting in creating your business plan:
I. Expertise: Our team is led by Fortune-500 trained business consultants with investment banking experience who have been writing business plans for almost a decade. We also boast of a full squad of experienced financial analysts, designers, project managers, etc.
II. Funding: Our business plans have helped clients raise millions of dollars via debt financing (banks/SBA loans) and equity financing (Angel Investors/VCs). We can provide valuable insights to help you close your next fund raising round.
III. Experience: Our industry experience spans Tech, Manufacturing, FMCGs, Retail/Ecommerce, Media & Entertainment, Energy, Professional services, Non-profits, etc. We have equally worked with clients across North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Middle East/GCC.
IV. Credibility: We have worked on more than 4000 business plans at a 99% client satisfaction rate. You name it, we have done it. These plans range from a small restaurant seeking $200,000 to an Energy company seeking $10,000,000.
V. Customer Service Excellence: We are a customer-first agency. We guarantee fast responsiveness and an overall customer satisfaction.
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