Thinking About Your Plan

Thinking About Your Plan
 
Why are you preparing it? – Desperation, expansion, opportunity, threat, time-of-life, peer pressure, spouse pressure or it just feels right?
 
Who will read it? – Grant managers, bank managers, venture capitalists, trade financiers, invoice discounters, leasing managers, business angels or just you?
 
What is your timescale? – Next week, next month, next year, tomorrow or yesterday?
 
Most plans fail. Why?
 
1. Unsustainable business proposition.
2. Inadequate management skills.
3. Unrealistic objectives.
4. Poor presentation, style and structure.
5. Weak content.
6. Insufficient market research.
7. Unsustainable financial requirements.
8. Inadequate financial information.
9. Unrealistic financial assumptions and projections.
 
And, most importantly;
 
10. Lack of conviction.
 
Almost everyone the plan is given to wants to lend you money. Almost everyone you meet has targets to meet of their own and almost everyone would rather invest in a profitable, expanding business than put the money on deposit at the bank.
 
If you want the money, you will get it. Maybe not all you want, maybe with strings attached and certainly not without the expectation that the investor will see something in return. Lack of conviction is the main cause of plans failing. It is the only one of the ten reasons that cannot be rectified.
 
The plan must radiate confidence. Yes, it must be realistic and the success you guarantee must have a reasonable chance of being achievable. That's the easy part, if the business objectives have been set correctly and the strategy to achieve them has clearly been well thought out. But isn't that the sort of thing you think about every day?
 
The plan must have balance, with both strengths and weaknesses identified. Think of any well-known business, McDonalds for example. There are clearly a lot of strengths in the underlying plans of that particular enterprise, but are there any weaknesses? Of course there are. Vegetarians are not keen on them, not many companies hold functions there, there is not much scope for the introduction of high profit luxury goods, the properties are of limited value to anyone but McDonalds and their major product is beef! Would you go into the market selling beef, or even take a business plan to the bank which suggests that selling beef is a good venture to get into?
 
Don't hide weaknesses. A discussion of your weaknesses can greatly enhance the plan as it demonstrates your ability to identify risk; it also has no little benefit in demonstrating honesty. Plans should be realistic and the odd, clearly identified, weakness removes the accusation of being fanciful.
 
Think about your plan before you begin to set it down on paper, and when you are about to start writing it out, stop, and think about it again. Think through your plan and plan your success.
 

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