Business plans present a direct course of action for businesses to take. Without this plan, securing investment capital is almost impossible from investors or banks. You may very well have planned everything out in your head, but it still needs to be put down on paper for others to see.

You do not want to make any decisions, set priorities, or train managers before having a plan in place. You are going to need more than a bunch of number to do this. Facts are what you need because every plan needs to strike a balance between the factual and the ideal.

Writing a business plan requires you to acquire as much information as possible on the materials you're selling; as well as your target market. To do this, you need to invest in magazine articles, journals, business literature, and even information from the Small Business Association. Read literature that is inspiring but factual, so that you know 'how to' drive the market into your place of business. You'll need to know 'what steps' to take, and 'who' would be interested in what you're selling.

You can start writing your plan once you have gathered all of the relevant information. The Internet has sites offering business plan templates in case you feel overwhelmed or confused by the whole process.

Assembling the Facts You Need

Gathering the Relevant Information

Aside from learning the mechanics of writing an effective business plan, you should also scour the Internet for other useful information like business names, location, pricing, and the market itself in which you plan to enter. All of this knowledge will help you craft a more effective business plan so get out some paper and note the following:

You can find out more information than simply how to write up a business plan on the Internet. You can use the web to gather information on competitors so make note of their names, location, and of course how much they are charging. You can use this information when drafting your own business plan and it will make the plan much more realistic.

Pricing: You want to research your competition to find out what they are charging for the same products or services you intend to offer. Are your prices more or less? Is there anything unique about your services or products? Who are the people you intend to sell to?

Product/Service Cost: Since you already know what you want to sell but aren't exactly sure what to charge, find competitors in the area and see what they are charging for their products or services. Are your prices in line with theirs? Do you offer some unique service or product that they cannot? Finally, just who exactly do you expect to want what your company has to offer?

Business Location: They say that location is everything in business. Profits are definitely related to where your company is situated. If there are two auto repair shops on a street and you own one of them, the odds of you dominating the market and reaping huge profits are slim indeed. But, if you specialize in custom restorations while the other place is a low-end quickie paint shop, things definitely look better.

The Help: Employee costs are a huge expense in any business and your investors will want to know what you plan to do to control them. If you keep this expense down in the first 3 to 5 years which is the most critical time for your business, then you can spend more money building business equity. Who are your star performers and how much are you willing to pay them?

Keeping Sensible Notes

Your contribution to developing a business plan, time and research, is valuable to those who assist you near the end. Investors and banks want to know that "you know your stuff". Coming into a business endeavor without any background in the industry or research is a huge mistake. Immediately investors and banks think you're not serious.

A first impression is everything! You want the investors to believe in your vision and understand how your business will be different than the competition. So, avoid arriving at meetings with legal pads and disorganized notes.

All data should have a proper place within the organization of your notes and business plan. Check over the plan and ask yourself some potential questions that investors are likely to answer. Do you know the answer right away? Finally, just double check the plan for spelling or grammatical errors.

About the Author:

Nyall Bakk writes exclusively for Advertising WorldWide it's one of the webs most up to date Business sites, their free newsletter is well worth signing up for too. If you want to read more Business articles go to: http://www.advertisingww.com/articles To swap links, go to http://www.advertisingww.com/links

Back to small-business