Business Development: Making the Most of Your Business Plan

A common mistake among small business owners is to forget about their business plan and its empowering management potential, once it has served its initial purpose of securing a loan for the small business. A business plan should be viewed as a powerful business tool that can be used not only for the day-to-day management of your small business and for communicating within a partnership, but also for long-term business development.

A business plan can be used in three main ways to help your small business:

One of the best ways to attract potential investors, lenders and key partnership personnel is through a professionally written and presented business plan. For example, a comprehensive business plan can be used to communicate information about the feasibility and viability of your small business and to convince investors that your small business possesses the necessary resources, as well as the management and organizational skills to succeed in business. Evidence in your business plan of in-depth market analysis and an attempt to address possible pitfalls will communicate to potential investors, partnerships and management that you really mean business.

 

If your business plan can communicate effectively with investors, then the right investors, as well as key management and partnership personnel, are more likely to want to come on board.

Often under-used in a small business management context, the business plan offers huge scope and potential for growing your small business. A detailed business plan, for example, offers an effective tool for tracking, monitoring, reporting, evaluating and setting targets on a daily basis. Using a business plan as a "hands-on" management tool means that small problems are identified (and dealt with), at the earliest opportunity. A business plan can also highlight opportunities for management to trim costs and streamline business procedures.

As with management control, your business plan also provides a powerful tool for immediate, medium-, and long-term strategic development of your small business. The financial projections, forecasts and marketing plan, originally compiled to attract investors and partnership management personnel, should be put to good use for business development and planning. Using your business plan as a "working" document will give you an edge over the competition and enable management and fellow members of the partnership to deal with problems in a proactive manner.