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Polishing Business Plans

Developing business plans takes time, effort and patience. It is a plan for success, no matter how you define success. The business plan can be used to find funding for a start-up or expansion, or to guide an existing business. Some people think the business plan is only needed when searching for financing, but that is faulty thinking. The business plan forces business owners and managers to define goals and then make plans to meet them within a set of circumstances that include competition.

Following are some tips for refining your business plan. The business plan template is the best guide available to ensure that all elements are completed. These tips will simply add a bit of polish to the plan.

 

  1. Do the Executive Summary last and not first. The summary needs to concisely state the nature of your business. The best way to ensure the important information is included despite the brevity of the summary is to develop the plan details first. In that way, the Executive Summary is much easier to develop.
  2. Market strategies are more than just numbers and some statements defining the market. It should also define what makes your selling proposition different from that of your competitors.  What does your business bring to the marketplace that is different in terms of products or services, customer services, selling approach and so on? A polished business plan emphasizes uniqueness.
  3. In the competitive analysis, don’t simply describe the competition. You need to explain the distinct advantage your business has over the competition. Once again, the polished business plan makes differences and not sameness clear.
  4. In the operations plan, don’t forget to discuss the benefits that your business will bring to the community. This has become especially important in light of the current economic condition. Will your business opportunity create new jobs or support economic growth?

 

In the final analysis, polishing business plans means adding the information that turns a paper business into a real business for the readers.

More detailed information and useful advice can be found at www.funded.com Created by Mark Favre, it offers expertise and assistance with developing and funding your concept, including a private forum for queries and discussions. If you need access to investors and funding providers, please do check our website.

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When Opportunity Knocks, the Business Plan Can Answer

Business plans can be viewed in a lot of ways, but in some cases they represent a plan to answer an opportunity. A business opportunity is basically a packaged business that you can start but is not necessarily a franchise. Unlike a franchise, a packaged business is fully controlled by you, and the seller has no say in how you operate your business. Once the business sale is completed, the buyer is on his or her own. The business purchase includes buying equipment or specialized materials and then establishing whatever type of operations you want.

When a business opportunity comes along, it is important to thoroughly evaluate it, of course. There are unfortunately a lot of scam artists who promise big returns if you will only make the initial investment. A good example is a cabinet company that promised business owners enormous returns for redoing cabinet faces. An investment basically bought you a manual and a half day of training. That may be enough for some people, but for others it was a plan for failure. The company was taking advantage of people desperate to get a side business started.

Review From All Angles

The business plan template can be used to ensure you evaluate the business opportunity from every angle. Naturally, you want to ensure the business is legitimate, follows state laws and regulations, and can support its claims with a list of others who have bought the opportunity. If it passes the first review, then use the business plan template as a guide for further evaluation.

For example, in the market strategies section you would be guided towards doing research on the niche market the business opportunity would target, the type of strategies that would be most successful, and the competition. The template can help you make sure that you consider all the important business factors before investing.

Evaluating a business opportunity after it has been purchased is not a good idea. The evaluation needs to be thorough before the opportunity is purchased. The business plan template is the best guide you can use.

Browse www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.

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Adding Internet Marketing to Your Business Plans

Incorporating internet marketing in business plans has become an imperative as opposed to an option. That probably became true when even the large storefront businesses began to do internet marketing. Judging by the number of websites, online accounts and emails sent with discounts for online shopping, the internet is playing a larger and larger role in all business models.

The implication is that internet marketing should not be a separate strategy. It needs to be integrated in the total marketing plan. It should not be a standalone subsection in the marketing plan. It needs to be weaved into the various marketing efforts, in addition to be being a unique effort.

For example, the business plan can include the development of a website and a discount campaign. However, the offline marketing efforts need to incorporate the website and the discount campaign also. For example, direct mailing of advertisements can be integrated with online marketing by developing the tactics the big department stores have successfully developed. The offline direct mail advertisements encourage online shopping by offering discounts, and the online emails encourage offline shopping with special discounts.

Of course, you can have a description in the business plan for specific internet only strategies. For example, you can discuss strategies for obtaining client leads and set goals for the lead-to-customer conversion rate, the number of transactions and the targeted average dollar sale. Yet there is still integration needed with offline marketing needed. Offline marketing will play a supporting role in driving people to the website to find the online-only discounts.

There are a number of online marketing strategies that can be addressed in business plans. They include developing the business website, participating in social media and blogging, and so on. The important point to keep in mind is that the marketing plan needs to be a cohesive integrated plan and not a disjointed set of offline and offline activities.

More detailed information and useful advice can be found at www.funded.com.  Created by Mark Favre, it offers expertise and assistance with developing and funding your concept, including a private forum for queries and discussions.  If you need to access a vast network of business people, entrepreneurs, partners and service providers to help you start, finance and run your business, check out our website.

 

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Brand Your Business to Attract Investors

Investors are going to be attracted to a business that has a strong and reputable brand. When a business is ready to expand and needs a capital injection, having an established brand adds value to the business proposal. A positive brand is a business asset because it differentiates the business. That is the kind of business characteristic investors will look for as part of their business plan analysis.

Investors are well aware that brand recognition gives a company a competitive edge.  A business already established in the marketplace creates a brand image either purposefully or by accident. A brand created purposefully should reflect the positive image and reputation of the business based on the product delivered and the customer service. A brand created by accident may or may not be positive.

Branding is a message sent to the marketplace, but it can also help you deliver a message to investors. Investors know that a good brand image, even if the company is young, is important to future success. Customers are more supportive, and marketing can be more effective when the business has a solid brand image.

Branding can also be the common theme that ties together the business plan, products and services, customers and employees. It is related to the business culture and thus has specific value. Investors considering funding a business will be more likely to do so when the brand image is well accepted in the marketplace and employees can take pride in what they offer customers.

Browse www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.

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Keeping the Business Plan Focused on Purpose

Business plans are used for many purposes, and that purpose can influence what is emphasized in the plan.  Every business plan has sections that include the executive summary, business description, marketing plan, competitive analysis, development plan, management and operations plan, and financial statements and plan. It’s what goes into each section that must specifically address the purpose of the plan.

Business plans are as important for startup companies as they are for the large corporation ready to expand. Small and medium-sized companies, as well as the corporate giants develop business plans because they provide benchmarks for measuring progress. That’s one of the purposes then for developing a business plan – measuring actual results against strategic goals. Each section will establish periodic goals like number of marketing campaigns to run in a year, sales growth projections and net profit goals.

Another reason for preparing a business plan is to raise money. In that case, you will need to develop a well honed mission, clear objectives and goals and an executive summary that explains the type of business being started, the amount of capital needed and the type of financing. In addition, the marketing and financial plans need to be crafted so that they make sense in terms of the market and competition. This business plan will be used to get the attention of investors so you will want to show that the business will be able to make money or grow sufficiently to service the debt. If the investors will be equity partners, then the business plan will have to indicate how the company will be able to secure the investment and produce the desired rate of return.

A third reason business plans are developed is to attract people who aren’t investors. For example, a business plan can be used as a marketing tool when pursuing new customers representing large buyers. It is also used to attract suppliers or exceptional staff. The sections of the plan these people are most interested in needs to be fully developed. For example, large suppliers want to know you will have the right kind and volume of business and that plans for growth equates to supplier success also. Executive talent will read the business plan to discover information about corporate culture and the growth agenda.

In other words, a business plan is not just for attracting investors. It’s for all businesses at any stage of development and is used for multiple purposes.

Browse www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.

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Business Plan Writing When the Economy is Less Than Desirable

Writing a business plan for a new business to secure funding in a weak economy may seem like an impossible task. That’s the wrong attitude to have though because it’s actually quite the opposite. In a weak economy funders are looking for innovative and creative ideas that give them an opportunity to make a profitable investment when other financial vehicles are experiencing low returns.

Investors have trouble making money when the Federal Reserve is keeping the federal funds rate at 0 to one-quarter percent. In fact, the U.S. Central Bank Open Market Committee just reiterated on April 25, 2012 that it’s holding interest rates to near zero levels through the end of next year. That means investors must turn to alternative investments to compensate for lack of opportunity in the traditional financial markets.

Writing a business plan in a less than desirable economy should be viewed as an opportunity rather than an impossible task. As an entrepreneur, you are presenting the opportunity to increase investor cash flow and earnings. The business plan can also prove that a weak economy offers unique competitive conditions that increase the odds of success.

For example, the high unemployment rate means specialized labor is available at affordable wage rates. Another business advantage is the fact many potential competitors have already gone out of business which creates market opportunities. Also, the marketplace is ready for innovation in an economy that demands high performance levels. Your business plan can present strategies that take advantage of these opportunities, and that’s just the kind of thinking that gets the attention of funders.

So don’t think of the weak economy with discouragement. Think of it as opportunity for innovation, and then present those opportunities in your business plan with confidence.

More detailed information and useful advice can be found at www.funded.com Created by Mark Favre, it offers expertise and assistance with developing and funding your concept, including a private forum for queries and discussions. If you need access to investors and funding providers, please do check our website.

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Crowdfunding Facilitated with New Legislation

Smaller investors can now be solicited via the internet to pool resources in a practice called crowdfunding. The recently passed Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act (JOBS Act) sent to President Obama for signing is designed to make it easier for small businesses to raise capital. The main foundation of the legislation rests in giving businesses the ability to raise a limited amount of seed money or growth capital by encouraging investors to visit an SEC registered website where projects are listed.

The SEC registered websites will be used by entrepreneurs to list their businesses and present their funding needs. To drive potential investors to the website, the business will notify family, friends, customers and other individual investors that the business is listed by using social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and other internet based communication systems. The potential investors can visit the website, read about the business idea and then operate as a community to analyze and pick apart the business idea, investment opportunity, business model and so on. Once the business idea is accepted, investment money is sent by individual investors, accumulated and eventually transferred once the funding target is met. There are a number of other requirements, rules and limitations associated with this legislation, and this is only a brief summary of the law.

Legislating crowdfunding is considered by many to be an important step towards making it easier for people to become investors in small businesses. With tight capital markets, this new form of business funding can become an important source of money for startups and small businesses having difficulty accessing traditional funding sources. Professionals who connect businesses with investors can provide more information about the new legislation, and other sources of funding, and provide critical assistance with developing a successful business plan that attracts funding.

Browse www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.

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Showcase Diversity In Your Business

Some investors aren’t just interested in your business ideas. They also want to know that you embrace diversity. A business can have diverse employees or focus on supplier diversity, or encompass both in the business model. As globalization becomes standard practice for all businesses from the large corporation to the sole proprietor working at home, diversity of people and spend becomes more important.

Why do investors care? They care because the makeup of the population and the marketplace are changing. In the U.S. alone, the highest birth rates are among minorities and every state has increased in racial and ethnic diversity since the year 2000. However, the U.S. is just one segment of the total global marketplace, albeit the largest single entity. As businesses go online to find rapid business growth, they must attract a diverse customer base. It only makes sense that the business would add diversity to its internal operations in order to better compete.

When investors are considering funding a business, they want as much assurance as possible that the internal culture, systems and processes mesh well with the reality of the marketplace. An organization that is committed to diversity and has a definitive strategy for ensuring diversity becomes a reality is one that proves it fully understands the complexity of the global marketplace. In other words, diversity can be leveraged into enduring success, and that is what investors want to fund – a business that is on the path to lasting operational success.

Before approaching investors, it’s important to analyze the diversity of your organization. Awareness, alignment and sustainability of diversity in employees and suppliers are concepts that should be put into practice.

Browse http://www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.

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Business Innovation Attracts Investors

Innovation is one of the many qualities investors look for when evaluating a potential investment opportunity. Angel investors, venture capitalists and even banks and other financial institutions are looking for new and creative ideas, problem solving approaches, business models and technology. An espresso machine for the car? Clean coal? Heat generated from fabric? “Green” bridge building material? New take on social media? All of these represent real and innovative products and services that attract investors.

Innovation represents a brand new way of managing something whether its products or services. Innovation adds an edge to competitive dynamics by spurring consumer demand and thus business growth. Investors look for the potential that a company can gain momentum as a startup entrepreneurship or as an existing business that is ready to use innovation for expansion.

Innovation in the marketplace is actually the foundation for commerce. Small businesses have generated approximately 64 percent of the net new jobs in the economy over the last 15 years. Small businesses also hire more than half of the employees working in the private sector. Entrepreneurship in all forms attracts a myriad of investors who are ready to fund the next innovation start ups or business expansions. That’s because innovation, by its very nature, finds untapped markets where consumer or business needs remain unmet. Innovation represents a goldmine of opportunity for the entrepreneur and the investor.

To attract the investors, you will need to put your ideas in a business plan. The plan will need to show how and why that untapped market exists and how and why the new idea can fill the gaps in these potential markets. For some entrepreneurs, the difficult part is not coming up with ideas. The difficult part is capturing the innovative spirit of the idea in a solid business plan. Fortunately, it’s easy to get professional assistance because some innovative ideas are simply too good to let them get away.

Browse http://www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.

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What are Sophisticated Investors?

When you’re searching for business capital, you want investors who can be classified as sophisticated. A sophisticated investor is someone who has the business knowledge and experience to make good decisions about investment opportunities. The knowledge and experience enables the investor to thoroughly weigh the merits and risks of a business plan and make a reasonable decision about potential profitability and thus the likelihood of earning a return on the investment.

There are other ways the term sophisticated investors is used. For example, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the term applies to someone able to make certain restricted investments in exempt offerings. Small companies can sell securities to these investors without registering them. The investor can buy securities without having to worry that an investment loss will impact their net worth to any degree. However, for entrepreneurs seeking small to large private investors, a sophisticated investor is someone who has hands-on experience with start-ups or business expansions and can offer expertise as well as money

All types of investors can quality as sophisticated in its broad sense. The fact is that being wealthy doesn’t automatically mean being financially experienced. There are plenty of wealthy people who have inherited money, were paid an insurance settlement, or even got lucky on an investment, yet have no idea how to manage money. The true sophisticated investor is the angel investor, venture capitalist or equity partner that has the financial savvy to make a sound investment decision after studying the business proposal in detail including the marketing plan, financial information and success strategies. The sophisticated investor understands what he or she is investing in and that’s precisely why you will benefit from their expertise.

Browse http://www.funded.com for more advice about getting your business funded.