Workshop Three - The Business Plan
- Welcome
-
A business plan is a document that identifies the nature of the business opportunity and
attempts to explain how the business will seek to exploit that opportunity.
- A Continuing Process
- An Operating Manual
- A Selling Tool
- Three Principle Areas of Small Business Planning
- Operations
- Marketing
- Finance
- Business Plan Details
- Vision and Mission Statement (e.g. quality of food supply; exceptional service,
history and status of industry)
- Product (Focus, Differentiation, Use of Proprietary or Unique Resources)
- Does market research support the marketability of your product?
- Product Fulfillment (Channeling, Delivery, Support)
- Physical Infrastructure (Property, Equipment, Vehicles, Data Processing,
Communication, Supplies, Insurance, Security, Maintenance)
- If Manufacturing (Specialized Equipment, Patents, Raw Materials, Safety and
Environmental Concerns, Legal and Inspection Requirements, Production
Scheduling, Detailed Drawings, and Detailed Costing)
- Staffing (Management, Employees, Job Descriptions, Personnel Policies, Employee
Training, Contractors)
- Marketing (Promotions, Pricing, Qualifying, Competitive Analysis, Strategic
Relationships - Technical and Marketing Support, Leads, Exclusives, Etc.)
- Finance (Accounting, Working Capital Management, Forecasts, Credit, Record
Keeping, Inventory, Controls, Legal)
- Quality Control (Achieve Quality, Mediocrity-Creep, Customer-Driven, Crisis-
Management, Priorities, Flexibility, Profit-Sharing, Internal Communications)
- Entrepreneurship or What makes you so special?
- Excitement
- Responsibility
- Commitment
- Experience (Incl. Diversity)