Why is writing a business plan important?

Fail to plan, plan to fail”. This is certainly the case when it comes to Business Planning.

If you were about to embark on a journey, I am sure you would find out where you were starting from, where you wanted to get to and how you were going to get there. It is the same for Business Planning. Business Plans are one of the most effective tools for a small business owner when starting, growing and managing their business.

Unsurprisingly, most entrepreneurs don’t necessary like Business Planning– it does require time and effort to put it together, many of us feel we already know enough about our offer and customers and we just “want to get on with it”.

However the final business plan and the process of putting it together is well worth the time and effort. You learn so much about you, the business and potential customers.

Here are some reasons why you should have a business plan and why you should register to find out “How to write a business plan”:

• Help you have a starting point for future planning by identifying specific short, medium and long terms goals
• Help you to create an action plan outlining your priorities, setting timescales and monitoring mechanisms to control when things get done.
• Help you to take a step back critically assessing your business – whether there are any gaps, areas that require further development or if the business it fundamentally flawed.
• Help you estimate the start up costs.
• Help you when securing funding. You will need a business plan when approaching financial institutions and investors.
• Help you to communicate to customers, suppliers and employees what is the vision, mission and values of the business.
• Help you to understand your customers better by exploring the opportunities and threats in the marketplace.
• Help you contingency plan by identifying potential risks and problems and planning what you can do to deal with or prevent from happening.
• Help you make comparisons to your competitors and how you can take advantage of their weaknesses.

Finally research suggests that businesses that do have a business plan not only stay in business for much longer but they also generate much higher sales growth and profits than those that don’t have a formal plan.

Written by Bobby Singh