(e) Finally, let’s look at your customers – write down:
i) Who they are.
ii) Where they are.
iii) What they like / dislike.
iv) Why they would buy your product or service.
v) How they will find out about you.
vi) When they will buy your product or service.
You may also want to produce a questionnaire and give this to your customers to find out their views.
For the market research section, you are trying to answer the question of “Is there a demand for your product or service?” by giving the reader facts, figures and trends to prove this. You will need to show you have been thorough as this is the area that most business plans fall down on.
6. The other area that people usually struggle with is the cashflow section. For this section it is worth you getting hold of a business plan template, which you can get for free at your local Business Link or bank. Have a look at the cashflow section.
Start with your costs – have a look at the list on the left hand side of the cashflow. Go through each item one by one and see if it applies to you. If it does, when will you have to pay for it? Let’s take an example of a phone. You will probably be making some phone calls in your business. Let’s say you will be spending £20 on this every month – plot £20 in the columns for month 1, 2, 3, 4 etc all the way to the end.
Let’s say the next item is premises and you will paying the rent of £90 every three months – plot £90 in months 1, 4, 7, and 10. Do the same for all the other items in your cashflow. Once you’ve completed your costs, you now need to look at your sales. Work out how many customers you will have a month and on average how much they will pay. Will they pay immediately or will you send them an invoice and give them 30 days to pay? Remember your sales will vary according to the time of year so take this into account too.
Now you just need to add everything up and your cashflow will be complete.
7. I would definitely recommend that you go on a business start-up course to help you write your plan. Most Business Links (www.businesslink.gov.uk) will run one in your area and many of the local colleges do now too. They will be able to walk you through the process of writing a plan.
8. Don’t get hung up on making your plan so perfect that it never gets finished. If you think “Am I doing too much?” the chances are that you probably are doing too much, so you need to stop and evaluate what you’ve done and whether you’ve answered all of your questions.
9. You might want to think about using a professional to write your business plan for you. We’ve worked with many business owners to complete their plan and all of them have been successful as we know what lenders are looking for. We usually work with people who don’t have the time to complete it themselves, so if you’d like to work with us, please feel free to get in touch – helen.dowling@exceptionalthinking.co.uk or call 0845 644 9371.
10. Finally if you have written your business plan and would like us to review it for you for free, please feel free to send it over. We won’t send your plan out to anyone else and we are happy to sign a confidentiality agreement if you would like us to.