Would you have someone build a house for you without a blueprint? Would you be confident that the house would pass inspections and be up to code if they didn’t? Consider a business plan for your business the same as a blueprint for building a house. The blueprint tells you why you’re building the house, the tools you need, and it outlines other things you may need as well, like the help of an electrician for example. If you are operating a business without a plan, then you may be planning to fail. Vancouver is a large market and to remain competitive, you will need to know where your business stands compared to others like you in the area. Here are five reasons why you need a business plan.
- Introduces the Business and Your Team
- Determines the Mission and Vision
- Identifies Your Products or Services
- Address your Strengths and Weaknesses
- Gives you a Financial Plan
Identifies Who You Are
Every organization begins with an organizational structure. If it’s just you or you and your family, or you have a large team, everyone needs to know what they do and how their role affects the overall mission of the business. It identifies who your ideal customer is as well. Most of it all, it identifies your business entity type and provides a window into why the business was founded.
Communicates Your Mission and Vision
Your mission answers a simple question: Why are you in business? Your mission statement gives your business a cause, and this cause should closely align with your operational process. For example, you wouldn’t have a mission that says your business’s mission is to save animals from slaughter, but your primary business operations include providing beef for consumption. A well-thought-out mission statement keeps your business grounded. Along with that, a vision statement ensures that your business is on track to meet the objectives of its mission.
Identifies What You Do or Sell
An effective business plan will help you organize your products and services. This is where your market research begins. Market research includes studying the demand for the products or services that you have. When you include this as a part of your plan, it helps you determine if a product or service you have will be profitable for you. It also helps you determine how large your competition is.
It Determines Your Position in Your Market
The biggest value a business plan will bring to your business is the information it gives you about your position among your competitors. A good business plan will have a Strength-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threat (SWOT) analysis in it. A SWOT analysis shows you where you are weak as a competitor in your market, and it also shows you where you are strong.
- Strength: Accesses things about your operations, staff, products, locations, and many other things that give you a competitive advantage over your competition.
- Weaknesses: Determines the areas in your business that are weak compared to your market.
- Opportunities: Identifies the opportunities your business must have a stronger position in the market compared to your competitors.
- Threats: Reveals things in the market or with competitors, or sometimes within your operations that are threats to your competitive advantage.
A SWOT analysis is a necessary outcome of your market research. After you have studied your products and services and the market you’re operating in, you will begin to quickly identify how your plan to sell these products and services stack against your competition. A SWOT analysis requires a lot of research on things like pricing, supply and demand, distribution, and many more topics that will require a skilled marketing coach to assist you with.
Projects Your Financial Plan
The financial section is very important as well, and it helps you determine the start-up capital you will need and how to budget it. It also helps you project your sales goals. These financial statements can be used by banks and lenders and potential investors to help them determine the profitability of your business. They also give you the numbers to create a valuation for potential investors.
Get a Business Plan Done with Us
A business plan is a tool that helps you keep your business on track. It helps you with scaling for growth as well as improving your profitability. These plans are not simple to complete, and it requires a lot of market research. Let us help you identify where you stand. We know the Vancouver market and can ensure your research is accurate. Contact us to get started with your plan. We can redo an existing plan or work with you from scratch.