Information provided by the Small Business Development Center
If you've been keeping up with this How-To series, you're familiar with the Small Business Development Center, and may be interested in their free services. This week, let's talk about one of their most popular services- writing business plans.
If you want to manage and organize your business effectively, you need a business plan. Sources of capital, investors and lenders, will not even consider providing money to your business unless you have a plan. A good plan helps you focus on markets for your product or service, anticipate future needs, monitor progress and be a proactive- not reactive- manager. It is a very valuable management tool. if you want to know where you are, where you're going, and how you're going, and how you're going to get there, you need a business plan. A good business plan is a roadmap for your business. 
When developing your business plan, you can choose to create a Condensed Business Plan, or a Detailed Business Plan. A Condensed Business Plan takes you through a simplified planning process and will enable you to quicky make a preliminary assessment of your business idea. A Detailed Business Plan requires more extensive research, and will take you step by step through a careful analysis of your business proposal and provide a clear path for your business.
A Condensed Business Plan includes a summary and nine sections:
- Business Description
- Market Analysis
- Product or Service Analysis
- Competition
- Marketing Strategy
- Operations
- Management
- Finances
- Supporting Information
A Detailed Business Plan includes:
- Summary
- Business Description
- Market Analysis
- Competition
- Product or Service Advantages
- Objectives
- Marketing Strategy
- Operations
- Organization and Management
- Timing
- Financial Information
- Exhibits/Appendices
If you're interested in in-depth details about each business plan, reach out to the Watertown SBDC, but keep reading for an overview of each component of a detailed business plan!
1. Summary
The summary is a screening device to help sort out plans. It enables you to convince the reader that you have a viable business idea. Though the Summary appears first, you should write it last- after you have completed the rest of the plan.
2. Business Description
In this section you descirbe the business you are or want to be. It should include the legal form of the business, your specific product or service, the location of your business, your existing and potential customers, a brief history of the business, how the business is financed, and who the owners are.
3. Market Analysis
This is the section where you must preset sufficient evidence to prove that there really is a need for your product or service- and that there is sufficient demand to support the business you have proposed. In this section, identify the need for your product or service, then show how your business meets that need, and finall show how you can sell your product or service at a profit.
4. Competition
Describe the companies and products that are or will be your competition and don't forget to include imports if they are a factor in your market. Remember, even new products have competition.
5. Product or Service Advantages
Investors or lenders want to know how your product or service compared to the competition. They want to know what is unique about your product or service, and to what extent you will have a competitive advantage over similar or existing products, and how long that advantage will last.
6. Objectives
This section describes and quantifies your marketing objectives- where will your product be and when (how many will you sell, at what price, what will your market penetration rate be, and, when will each target happen?)
7. Marketing Strategy
In this section describe the marketing strategy that you will use to achieve the objectives. The strategy is essentially how to do it. This is the section where you assess the market, the competition, your capabiities and how you will set your product or service apart from the others.
8. Operations
In this section you should describe how you will obtain or produce your products or provide your service.
9. Organization and Management
How will you organize your business and who will manage it? Investors and lenders must be convinced that you have people who can manage the business successfully and that you can attract needed new people.
10. Timing
Prepare a schedule that reflects major milestones in your business plan for the next three to five years. You should address planned product launches, changes in workforce or management, noteworthy sales events, etc.
11. Financial Information
Use the sales and cost information developed in the preceding sections to prepare projected financial statements. Unless you have a financial background, you may need professional help with this section (Watertown SBDC).
12. Exhibits/Appendices
Exhibits and appedices provide supportive details for you plan.
It was mentioned earlier that a good business plan is necessary for investors and lenders to even consider granting a business capital. This applied to Lewis County businesses that were awarded the Lewis County Microenterprise Grant in early 2021. Those businesses were:
For more information on business plans, contact the Watertown SBDC!
Source: A Practical Guide to Preparing Your Business Plan, New York State Small Business Developement Center.