Business Plan Template
Preview our downloadable Business Plan template below:
Whether you’re starting a business or exploring ways to expand an existing one, a business plan is an important tool to help guide your decisions. A Business Plan is a roadmap to success, providing clarity on all aspects of your business, from marketing and finance to operations and product / service details.
A Business Plan helps you to check the viability of a business before investing too much time or money in it. The purpose of a business plan is to help articulate a strategy for starting or changing your business. It also provides insight on steps to be taken, resources required for achieving your business goals and a timeline of anticipated results.
For existing businesses, a business plan should be updated annually as a way to guide growth and navigate the expansion into new markets. Your plan should include explicit objectives for hiring new employees, spelling out their duties and indicating how they’ll help your business prosper and grow.
Benefits of a Business Plan:
1. Increases Clarity
A business plan can bring clarity to the decision-making process regarding key aspects of the business such as capital investments, leases, resourcing, etc.
2. Creates a Marketing Roadmap
Marketing is an important aspect of a business plan. It helps to define your target market(s), target customers and how you will promote and place your product / service to these markets / customers.
3. Support for Funding
Whether you’re seeking credit from a bank or capital from investors, a business plan that answers questions about profitability and revenue generation is often required.
4. Secures Talent
For a business to succeed, attracting talented workers and partners is vital. Part of a business plan’s purpose is to help bring in the right talent, at the right time. It can also help secure vendor accounts, especially with exclusive suppliers.
5. Provides Structure
A business plan provides structure and defines business management objectives. It becomes a reference tool to keep the business on track with sales targets and operational milestones. When used properly and consulted regularly, it can help measure and manage your priority areas of focus.
