8 TACTICS TO CREATE A SOUND BUSINESS PLAN

“Businesses ignite on funding but thrive on planning”, is a common saying in the corporate culture. This one line is self-explanatory as to the importance of a proper business plan for an organization. Nokia, a one-time pioneer mobile company, is now on the verge of extinction owing to its poor business planning. Improper planning leads to faulty executions, which further on, accelerates the deterioration of the company. On the other hand, we have companies such as Apple and Google; which, though had a very feeble start, through proper planning, have established themselves at the top of the business ladder. So, here we have noted down for you a detailed report on how to go about planning your business operations.

1. THE BASIC LAYOUT OF THE BUSINESS-

This is the maiden step, sit back and rub the grey cells of your brain and think of innovative ideas and plans on which your business will sustain its development. Chart out a basic framework of the business that you want to run.

2. OVERVIEW OF THE BUSINESS PLAN-

Next, pen down the details of your business model. This includes the services that your company is going to offer, the benefits that your product will provide to the customers, the means that you will employ to achieve your end goals, and the manner in which you shall handle the hurdles that might come up your path. This phase is basically to let your investors have a glance over the entire business model that you have planned out.

3. BUSINESS DESCRIPTION-

This part includes the vision, mission, and core values upon which your business will run. It includes points such as how the firm got incorporated; and the journey that the company covered over time since its establishment. This will let your existing customers know about the background history and general data about the organization. Further on, it will reinstate and attract the trust of new customers. The people, in general, will get to know your organization better, thereby they will be inclined more towards the services offered by your firm.

4. MARKETING STRATEGY-

LET’S LEARN THIS ONE BY THE EXAMPLE OF ICICI BANK When the ICICI bank first set its foot in the banking sector, the State Bank of India was already a big name. The obstacle for the ICICI Bank was, why would a person put his money into a private bank instead of going for a nationalized bank that is backed by government support? So you will ask what did the officials of the ICICI Bank do? They asked their agents to stand outside the SBI bank branches. After 4 PM, when the bank used to shut down for the day, these agents would go to individual customers getting out of the bank and would ask them about their experience with the SBI bank. SBI, although a well-established bank, was very slow and lethargic with its work, and that is where ICICI found its crack. ICICI Bank well endorsed its features and made the public aware that the bank avoided all those points that made the customers of SBI irritated.

Thus, ICICI became everything that SBI was not. So here, we see the strength of proper and acute marketing strategy deployed by an organization. It would be best if you strived for plotting an effective and viable marketing plan that will have a long-lasting impact on your target customer base.

5. COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS-

Proper and thorough competitive analysis will help you get to know your challenges better. This will further facilitate you in drafting out ways to tackle each of these challenges.

6. DEVELOPMENT PLAN-

Framing out your business development plan will help you gauge your progress over time. You can compare the company’s growth as to what was planned and what is the actual growth status. This will help you mend your ways if necessary, and draft out new strategies for your business firm

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7. PLAN OUT YOUR OPERATIONS-

An integral part of any business unit, Operations fundamentally deals with the running or functioning of the company. It entails the legal as well as non-legal aspects of an enterprise. Planning your operations will help you understand what is it that you must do to achieve your business goals. This assessment will make you realize if there is a lack of human force in the firm or if you need help from some experts, etc.

8. MANAGING OUT FINANCIAL ASPECTS-

Even the best of the plans tend to fail, if there is no proper funding for the execution. Hence, this stage deals with the fiscal aspects pertaining to the business organization. Once you have applied all your creativity and knowledge and have drafted out ways and means to run your business, now you must plan out the inflow of funds to finance your business plan.

At this point, based on all the above-mentioned factors, you can ask your investor for the estimated budget. You may even make changes as per requirements so that the business models remain practically possible through optimum utilization of the funds.