Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 1 The Business planning Template This template is designed in such a way that you can start writing almost immediately. All you need to do is highlight all the text on this page, and copy it into a new document in your word processor. If you have any trouble at all please email our help staff. Save the document on your own computer and simply fill in the blanks. At the end of the process you can delete our text but retain all the titles. Provided you can type a letter on your computer you should have no trouble with the template. If you prefer a more sophisticated planning tool then please refer back to the Getting Started section where links to tools were provided. The sections of the business plan in the template are exactly as they are in the guide. Each section has a separate page. Cover We have left this bit for you! Contents Page no. Cover and contents…………………………………………………………. Executive Summary………………………………………………………… The Company, its Products and Opportunities …………………………….. An Overview The Opportunity and Strategy Products and Services Competitive advantage Design and Development plan Market Research ……………………………………………………………. Industry analysis Market size and trends Customers Ongoing marketing evaluation Marketing plan ………………………………………………………………. Target Markets Pricing Sales plan Services Advertising and Promotion Distribution Operations Plan ………………………………………………………………… Location Facilities and equipment Staffing Supply chain Production costs Administration and Control Regulations Management Team ……………………………………………………………… Risks and Opportunities ………………………………………………………… Market risks Other Overall Schedule ………………………………………………………………… Financial plan ……………………………………………………………………. Cash Flow Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 2 Profit and Loss Balance Sheet Breakeven and risk assessment Financial Management Summary The Investment Opportunity …………………………………………………. Appendices ……………………………………………………………………… The Executive Summary The Business concept and the business Describe your business concept or vision. Make sure you describe how valuable your service or product will be to your customers. You also need to describe the company, its ownership/legal structure, when it was formed what it does, its unique and successful features/technologies, its track record. Insert your text here The management Summarise the key knowledge experiences and talents of your leading entrepreneur(s) and the management team. Include profit-making record if you can. Insert your text here The Opportunity Summarise the opportunity and how you will realise it. Outline the important features of the opportunity and your objectives for entry and growth. Insert your text here Market and Marketing Describe the industry, market, and segments. How will you position your products and service and how will you reach your customers. Detail sales estimates and pricing strategy. Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 3 Insert your text here Competitive advantages Why is your product better than those offered by your competitors? You might draw on design features, production methods, service quality etc. Insert your text here Summary of Financial projections Provide gross and operating margins, expected profitability, time frames to break-even and positive cash flow. Include details of financing required, how much of the company you are prepared to relinquish, what you want the capital for and how the investor will receive a rate of return. Insert your text here The Company, its Products and Opportunities Overview This section of the plan introduces your company. You need to give a brief overview of the business concept and objectives, how long you have been in operation, how successful you have been and who owns and manages the company. You should also include details of your goals i.e. where you want to take your company. Insert your text here The Opportunity and the business strategy This is where you state your business objectives. You should describe where you want the company to be in 5 or 10 years time. Very clearly, you can then go on Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 4 to explain the opportunity that you have recognised and your strategy for achieving your objectives. That is, Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time bound targets for the short and longer term. Insert your text here Briefly describe the opportunity you have recognised and the strategy you will adopt to realise it. Insert your text here Products and Services Having given a brief overview of your company and where you want to take it, you now need to describe in detail what it is you sell (or plan to sell for a start up company). Insert your text here Competitive advantage What benefit do your customers derive from your products? In comparisons with other similar products what is special about your products or services? What unique value is enjoyed by your customers – put a pay back time to this value if you can. Insert your text here Design and development plans You need to describe the current state of development of products and what remains to be done in order to bring these products to market. You should describe any testing that is being done. What the results are to date and whether customers are involved in testing. Insert your text here Market Research Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 5 Industry Analysis Your industry probably includes a range of companies, large and small, successful and not, old and new. You need to be able to describe the overall size of your industry e.g. number of companies, revenue or employment, the way it operates, the main products and the basis on which custmers make decisions to buy. Insert your text here Market size and trends Show actual market size figures for 3 to 5 previous years and projected figures for three years. Describe what influences market size. This could be industry trends, inflation, recession, demographic changes. Insert your text here Customers You need to describe the customers for your products – their age, income, preferences etc. You are also likely to need to classify them in some way. Insert your text here Competitors and Competitive Edge In this section you need to describe your competitors. You should convince your reader that you have a good understanding of competitors in your wider market and a very thorough understanding of pertinent competitors. You will also need to describe your business strategy in the light of their strengths and weaknesses. Insert your text here Marketing Plan The marketing plan describes how you will achieve your projected sales. You should include your pricing and servicing policies, your advertising and promotion plans and your distribution plans. You need to have thought all this out very well. An investor may want to see a very detailed schedule of activity together with a detailed account of who will be responsible for strategy, monitoring and execution of the plan. Insert your text here Pricing Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 6 Describe your pricing policy. Compare your prices with your competitors. Justify your decisions. Insert your text here Sales You may be using your own sales force, a sales company or the postal service to make your sales. Provide details of your short and longer term plans. Insert your text here Support services and guarantees You may offer support services. Insert your text here Advertising and Promotion How will you promote your products and services? You need to consider a number of possible methods and justify the plan you settle for. Your methods will develop over time and you may be able to list key points at which you will shift your tactics. Insert your text here Distribution How will you distribute your goods? How sensitive is your market to distribution costs? Are there any special arrangements that need to be made with carriers? Insert your text here Operations Plan The production/service delivery process For a manufacturing company this will involve describing the production process in some detail including the machinery and labour that you will need in order to achieve your sales targets. For a service company you will need to consider how you keep your staff productive and your overheads down. Insert your text here Location and facilities This section provides an overview of the location of the business. Insert your text here Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 7 Facilities and equipment You need to describe what your equipment needs are. Describe and list the machines, their cost when you will need them and how long they will last Insert your text here Staffing You need to describe the skill mix, availability and size of your labour force. Will you employ or subcontract? Insert your text here The Supply chain Where will you get your supplies? What kind of arrangements will you have? Insert your text here Anticipated production costs You need to work out costs of materials for various levels of sales. So at start up when you are working below your eventual capacity you will probably have to either have small deliveries of materials or large quantities that then lie about for ages before they are used. Insert your text here Administration and control You will need to control quality, stock levels, manage security and put in place production controls. Insert your text here Relevant regulations Insert your text here The management team Write three or four sentences about each of these: Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 8 Organisation Insert your text here The personnel Insert your text here Skill needs Insert your text here Management incentives Insert your text here Your board Insert your text here Professional services Insert your text here Risks and Opportunities As you have written each section you have talked about what you expect will happen and what might go wrong. In this section you can pull this together. Insert your text here Overall Schedules You will need to include your cash conversion schedule and phasing schedule. There is a worksheet for each of these. You will also need to briefly describe what each schedule shows. Insert your text here Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 9 The financial plan You will need to talk your reader through each of the schedules that you present. There are worksheets to help you do this. You must also list clearly the assumptions underpinning each schedule. This is a complicated section. Read the detailed guide and complete the worksheet before making an attempt at this section. You will include the following: Introduction Insert your text here Cash flow Insert your text here Profit and Loss Insert your text here Balance sheet Insert your text here Breakeven and risk assessment Insert your text here Financial management Insert your text here Summary Explain what each sheet shows and list the assumptions you made in working up the figures. Your Business name Planning for Profit Date 06/02/08 10 It’s not just you who finds this complicated so it is probably a good idea to give your reader a second chance to see what the figures say. Insert your text here The Investment Opportunity You only need this section if you are seeking investors. You will have mentioned in your executive summary and on a number of other occasions that you need investment and what you need it for. You will also have included investors’ cash coming in and going out your financial statements. It is still worth making clear exactly what you want, what you want it for, what you will give in exchange and what payback or reward your investor can expect. Insert your text here Appendices As you build up your business plan you will come across all sorts of things that are pertinent to your case or reasoning but are too bulky to include in your plan. This is where you can put them. You might include: 1. Technical specifications 2. Copies of orders 3. Curriculum vitae of key personnel 4. Consultant’s reports 5. Licenses and agreements 6. Anything else that seems important