A business plan can have many names: strategic plan, operating plan, internal plan ... but ultimately it is the strategy to follow your business to achieve certain goals. There are several ways to draw it up , it can be more traditional and extensive or more informal and summarized a single sheet. All this will depend on your type of business and how you use it go to give. Then we will talk about the different types of business plans and differences between them so you can plan the future of your company successfully.
1. Lean Business Plan
All companies can use a Business Plan Lean to manage strategies, tactics, dates, deadlines, activities and cash flow. The Lean Plan is faster, agile and efficient than a formal business plan , because it does not include summaries, descriptions and minor details that you or your employees and partners already know. On the other hand, it includes specific milestones and deadlines, the budget allocated to each activity and the objectives to be achieved. Read a business plan includes four key elements:
Setting the strategy. Use simple bullet points to define the target market, the commercial offer, and long - term goals. No additional text is needed.
. Tactics to execute the strategy uses bullets again: marketing decisions, such as pricing, channels, website, social media, promotion and advertising. The tactics of the products or services release dates, new releases and the package also apply here, including the price.
Specific details. Milestones, objectives, responsibilities and tasks.
Essential numbers. Forecast sales, expenditure budget and cash flow.
The value of this type of plan is in the plan itself. The management adapts to your business since you so you check and go over frequently , monitoring their progress and make adjustments regularly.
2. The standard Business Plan
The business plan standard is not very extensive. It covers the needs of a business plan point that can be presented to a bank, a potential investor, a vendor, partner, partner or employee. The standard business plan begins with a summary and includes sections or chapters covering the company, the product or service being sold, the target market, the strategy and its implementation, milestones and goals, management team and financial forecasting .
A plan can be read a first draft of a standard plan. You can start there and adding an executive summary, company description and product, a detailed market analysis, the description of the main strategy and tactics, and the management team. Strategies and tactics often also appear in the Marketing Plan . It is advisable to create from the sales forecast and expense budget to establish a complete financial projections that include 3 essential economic projections. Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow All standard plan needs to include these 3 elements in addition to a plan sales. The projected cash flow is an essential part of a standard business plan. Businesses need cash to remain open. Even if a company can survive temporarily without benefits, still you need money to pay their bills. And as profits alone do not guarantee cash in the bank, the projected cash flow is essential.
Many of these plans also incorporate a table for personal expenses; others need additional projections to meet the needs of a particular plan.
A standard business plan will begin with a summary describing the key points and end with appendices showing monthly projections for the first year and annual projections for the second and third year.
3. The Business Plan for a Startup
In most cases the business plan of a startup is read a business plan that incorporates an extra screening of possible costs, steps and objectives .
Initial expenses include costs incurred before its release, such as legal fees, logos and graphics, website , reforms; and the necessary assets, such as the initial inventory, vehicles, equipment, office furniture, etc.
While the plan read, with additional information on the initial expenses it is fine for most startups, when financing from banks or investors required, the business plan rather look to one standard , including exit strategies for investors and stating the intended use of the funds required.
This no frills type of plan is good for deciding whether or not you should carry out an idea to help assess whether the business is worth. If you decide to continue, you can always turn to the business plan and make changes and additions. As your business grows, you can give body sections and add details.
When you present the business plan to people outside the project it is courtesy add an executive summary, a description of the company, management team, market, marketing plan and product plan. Even if you do not count the exact numbers, it is a good idea to include a preliminary analysis of costs, prices and possible expenses.
4. The business plan of a page
It is summarize the Business Plan on a single page as holders that offer a quick overview of the business . It is included in the target audience, the business proposal, the main objectives and essential sales forecasts.
Such summaries can be very useful as handouts to a bank, potential investors, vendors, alliances, workers ... This type of plan is also called business pitch . 5. Feasibility Plan
For some experts the Viability Plan and a Startup is the same. Others use it to refer to the concrete measures taken to validate a new technology, product or market .
A feasibility plan for the introduction of a product into a new market often requires consumers to quickly capture and validate the idea with people who would really willing to pay for it.
Plans rare viability time include the full range of issues that one would expect from a standard chart of business or even a business plan read. They tend to be focused on whether the product will work or if the market is interesting , not including strategies , tactical and financial projections.
6. Internal Plan
An internal business plan is mostly what we call as above business plan read. Since the purpose of an internal plan is specific to those directly involved with the company, the more likely it is that is shorter and more concise than a standard business plan fully detailed.
7. Annual Operations Plan or Plan
An operations plan includes specific goals for implementation, project deadlines and responsibilities of team members and managers . This is the plan used to stay on track and meet business objectives. Planning goals of a company enables prioritization and focus on results and track your progress. The operations plan covers the inner workings of the business. It sets out the details of who should do what is outlined, and when you should be doing. It also resembles a business plan read.
Of course, the cash flow figures come here too. Milestones need to have sufficient funds for its implementation, and should track your progress to know how much is being spent.
8. Plan for growth or expansion
It could be a standard read or Plan but focuses on a specific area of the company . For example, a plan for creating a new product is a growth plan. These plans may be internal or not, depending on whether they are being linked to applications for loans or new investments. An expansion plan will require new investments so you probably have to include a complete description of the company, the product, the market, and the management team, the same as a standard plan for investors.
However, an internal growth plan used to establish the stages of growth or expansion funded internally could skip these descriptions, like a plan read. It may not be necessary to include detailed financial projections for the company in general, but at least should include detailed forecasts of sales and expenses of the new company or product .
9. The Strategic Plan
Usually, a strategic plan is an internal plan, but does not include many details about specific aspects and financial projections. So however, the strategy is useless without implementation, so a good strategic plan takes into account the application, which means some consideration of resources and time.
As you build your business strategy and decide how to implement it , you will have to examine their strengths and weaknesses as a business .
The strategy is often a matter of selecting the right opportunities. Resources must be strategically channeled to the areas that provide the greatest overall benefit.
Normally this type of approach are in big companies with large teams, hard to find small companies where such plans are developed, but it is usually incorporated into the business plan read or standard. Once you are clear about how you want your strategy, you must have a plan to implement it.
Whatever the business plan to be developed, it is always essential to assign responsibilities and establish a schedule for fulfilling the objectives. Implementation tactics help you move in the right direction, which is the essential function of any business plan.
