With 2019 just a few weeks away, managers and business owners are charged with writing a business plan. Shared by experts, here are 10 tips for jump starting your planning process:
- Know your competition, and be willing to capitalize on your competitive differences in the delivery of your packaging, pricing, products and services.
- Take time to identify your target customers and research industry trends that could impact your business performance.
- Use your past performance as a guide post when setting your business goals versus relying on your intuition.
- Identify variables that positively or negatively impacted your performance this year, and identify any potential threats that will impact your performance next year.
- Be conservative when it comes to your financial projections, and always build in a financial cushion in the event of lag performance or market variations. Cash flow is still king (or queen in case of the women business owner/executive)!
- Present your financial projections in a standard business format.
- Be realistic about your team’s competencies and capabilities when defining your business goals.
- Think like a journalist and avoid superlative adjectives like “amazing” and “outstanding.” Instead, aim for clarity and brevity without being needlessly wordy.
- Be prepared to support your business assumptions when presenting your plan to vested parties by answering the questions you think are likely to be asked during your presentation and,
- Finally, commit to your plan by monitoring and measuring your performance regularly.
These 10 tips should help when it comes to jump starting your planning process for 2019. For more support writing a business plan for your business, click here to join the American Business Women’s Association.
