Is it how descriptive? Or is it about how well it is written and formulated? No. There are a number of critical factors that go about the building of a business plan. This requires a strategic approach and a clear mode of action.
It essential for follow 4 ideals: simplicity, practicality, specificity and completeness. If a plan conform to the requirements of these ideals, it becomes a lot easier to achieve your goals through the plan. A plan is required to be straightforward and simplistic in nature; providing all necessary details without complicating things or confusing the audience is very crucial in order to keep your clients interested in your plan. It is essential to state objectives that are measurable and straightforward. This also ensures that your client or customer reads your plan more profusely and intently. Apart from being simple, your plan must reflect practicality and must be realistic, in order to be conceived. A plan that is beyond your strength or control, will hardly sustain your business.
Also, if is not clear and specific, it may not interest your customer; being ambiguous is one of the greatest mistakes in entrepreneurship. One must be specific about all their statements, be it your goals, or your facts and figures. Being truthful and honest is extremely essential in order to earn loyal customers. Apart from everything else, your plan must be complete in all aspects and cover all your fields of interest. Missing out on any crucial parts of your business must not happen; or else it is a direct loss to you. One must remember that a successful business implementation begins with the inception of a good plan.
How to develop a business - the strict don'ts
While there are a bundle of things that build the business plan, there are a number of things that must be avoided in order to prevent your plan from backfiring. Ensuring that these mistakes do not hamper your business plan and eventually your business, one must make a note of several things that they must avoid doing with their business plan.
It is essential that you depict your knowledge about the market scenario and what is the current state that will affect your business, directly or indirectly. However, overdoing the same will portray over confidence and materialize into nothing. In fact, one must never use the business plan to portray their knowledge of the market scenario or how much they know about business. Keep the aim simple; to depict what your business basically is all about.
Also, it is worthy to note that no banker or investor would be interested in reading a plan that goes beyond 50 pages. What they are looking for , is a crisp and concise plan, that meets all their requirements and covers all the details of the business. Therefore, an entrepreneur must be able to depict the whole scenario of their business in a condensed and simplified form, and not unnecessarily elaborate or long. Keeping such tips in mind and ensuring that you don't do any of the above, will give you a greater edge over all your competitors and business counterparts.
How to develop a business - myths and misconceptions
With the rise of business plans, a number of facts, rules and myths were also born. It is essential that an entrepreneur starting a venture know of myths and facts, before they turn back to gearing up for the plan. There are a number of business planning software products and templates that are available, in order to make business planning dreadfully easy for you.
The myth is that using such a software or templates makes your business plan the most perfect one possible. One must understand that every business is different on its own; with different credentials, resources and capabilities. Therefore, using pre-built templates doesn't make the project plan that you otherwise assume to be the best. It is always better to sit down with your team mates, analyze your situation and future prospects and perform a detailed study, for a higher quality of planning. The second myth is that most entrepreneurs gauge the perfection or success of their plan by the number of pages in their plan. This is probably the worst way of gauging a company's credentials; and no banker or investor ever gives importance to the increasing number of pages in your plan. In fact, what they are looking for is a condensed, clear and simple plan, without unnecessary and elaborate content.
The third very popular myth is that a business plan is solely for raising investment for your business. One needs to view the business plan as a tool for organizing, strategizing and monitoring your organization's path towards growth and success. Viewing it as an investment raising tool will eventually restrict your horizon and prevent you from looking at the bigger picture. Some entrepreneurs also worry that creating a business plan would mean publicizing their idea and allowing people to steal it. However, this is another misconception because it is beyond any chance that one can steal a great idea and turn it into a success. One must clearly understand such myths so that there is lesser chance for any mistakes in your plan.
Maria Chandraker worked in Business development at OS Digital a digital marketing company agency in Delhi, specialised in Bulk SMS, and PPC, voice call and other paid advertising service in India as well as International.
