The BPS Blog

What makes a good business plan?

22/03/2011

Business plans are not vague conceptual notions – or at least good business plans are not.  Good business plans are grounded in facts, common sense, and realistic objectives.  It may be difficult, especially for start-up businesses, to know what is realistic and what is, for now, more like daydreaming, but business plans help to establish such boundaries, with pointers to what the value of your business to your customers might be, and a sound approach to defining the benefits of your business.

I Plan Therefore I Am

In many cases, the business plan is used to define the business, and without the plan the business is in danger of simply drifting or, even worse, disintegrating.  The business plan describes the business, looks at how marketing brings the business close to the customers that will give it life, analyses how the financial side of the business should look, and states how the management team for the business operates.  Business plans should contain all these elements, maintaining at all times a realistic view of the customers and finances as essential parts of the business operation.  Furthermore, a business plan should contain an executive summary, including such things as the mission statement, and this part of the plan will help not only in presentation to the outside world but also in internal definition.  By having a succinct view of the reason that the business exists and what it hopes to achieve, the business has a greater chance of coming into being in that way in which you intend.