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Business plan for small businesses from scratch: guidelines and samples with calculations

How to write a business plan correctly? We share recommendations, convenient ways, samples and calculations.

Business plan Is the document that the implementation should start with. If you do not make a preliminary calculation of expenses and income, do not take into account the demand and the presence of already working competitors, you can waste your budget. In our article you will find a sample business plan with calculations and learn how to prepare it for yourself.

But when the development of a business plan for a small enterprise is needed specifically for investors, guarantors, creditors, then the document must comply with the requirements of the Federal Fund for Small Business Support. You can learn how to draw up a business plan in accordance with these requirements from, and consider a brief structure of the plan here.

The structure of a business plan from the Federal Fund for Small Business Support:

If you follow all the recommendations of the Federal Fund for the Support of Small Business, then it is quite difficult to draw up your own business plan on your own. But there is another way to calculate the prospects of your project - with the help of the SME Business Navigator.

How to write a business plan yourself

If you decide to open such a store, you will need to find the missing amount of 1.7 million rubles. Of course, you can take out a loan, especially since the Business Navigator offers to choose one of the partner banks. However, one should not forget that such interest-bearing borrowed funds increase the cost of the project and extend its payback period. We need to weigh well whether it is worth doing.

If you do not want to attract additional funds to the project, especially borrowed funds, then the navigator will offer you to choose the type of business by the amount of investment. Go to the appropriate tab and see an extensive list of projects that you can start using only your own funds. It remains only to choose a few areas of interest to you and calculate their payback.

Now you know how to make a business plan with calculations for a small business in a specific situation. On the Internet, you will find many more methods of writing and drawing up business plans, samples for different businesses (coffee shops, car service, beauty salon, etc.). But remember - you need a business plan for your specific business, individual, and no one has written such a plan for you yet. Here in this video, briefly and succinctly "on the fingers of a milling machine" tells how to do this:

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Many business ideas come to mind - the question is, what are these ideas worth. That is why, if you are going to translate an idea into business, it is worth creating a business plan in which you can detail your concept and prove its effectiveness, both organizationally and financially.

A business plan is a document that outlines your business. In it, you talk about exactly what you will be doing, about the structure of the business, the state of the market, how you plan to sell your product or service, what resources you need, what is your financial forecast, and also give permits, leases and any other you need. documentation.

In fact, a business plan helps you prove to yourself and others whether it is worth developing your business idea... This is the best way to take a step back, consider the idea from all sides and protect yourself from potential problems for years to come.

In this article, we share tips for writing a successful business plan, describe the points to include in the plan, and provide examples.

The translation of the article was prepared with the support of the online school of English. Before diving into the details, let's start with some basic, general tips.

Focus on your specifics

Before you go headlong into drawing up a business plan, you should carefully consider what makes your business unique. For example, if you're looking to start a sportswear brand, you need a way to stand out from the many other sports brands already on the market.

What makes your brand stand out from others? Are you planning to design clothing for a specific workout or activity like yoga, tennis or hiking? Are you using environmentally friendly materials? Do you donate part of your proceeds to charity? Does the brand promote a positive perception of its own body?

Remember: you are selling more than just a product or service - you are selling a product, value and brand experience... Consider and answer these important questions before delving into the details of the research for your business plan.

Be short

A modern business plan is required to be shorter and more concise than ever before. Resist the temptation to include all of your marketing research, detail each product you plan to sell, and detail what your site will look like. In the format of a business plan, this information will not give much benefit, rather the opposite.

All of the above details are important to collect and keep in mind, but only the most important should be included in the business plan itself... Otherwise, readers may lose interest in you.

Make a good decoration

Your business plan should not only be easy to read - it is important that the reader can understand the essence without going into details... Formatting plays a big role here. Use headings and bulleted lists, and highlight in bold or color those key points and metrics that you want to draw your readers' attention to. You can even use labels and bookmarks in your document (both digital and print) for easy reference.

Edit as you compose

Remember that your plan is a living, breathing document, which means you can edit it as you work. For example, update the plan a year or two after starting the business, before submitting a new funding request.

Here are the key elements in a business plan template:

1. Marketing and sales plan
2. Financial plan
3. Application

Let's take a closer look at what is included in each of the elements of the business plan:

The purpose of this section is to give readers a clear understanding of the company and the market before you dive into the details. Tip: Sometimes it's worth writing the outline after you've written the rest of the business plan so you can easily isolate the key points.

Fundamentals should be about a page. Please spare 1-2 paragraphs for each of the following points:

• Overview: Tell us briefly what your company is, where it will be located, what exactly and to whom you are going to sell.
• About the company: Describe the structure of your business, tell us about the owner, what experience and skills you already have, and who are you going to hire first.
• Products and / or Services: Briefly describe what you will sell.
• Market: Summarize the key findings of the market research.
• Financial forecast: Tell us how you plan to receive funding and what are your financial expectations.

Example of a Fundamentals Section

Jolly's Java and Bakery (JJB) startup is a coffee and baked goods store located in southwest Washington. JJB plans to reach an audience of regular customers by offering them a wide selection of coffees and pastries. The company plans to take a strong market position in the city thanks to the professional experience of partners and the mild competitive climate in the area.

JJB is committed to offering products at competitive prices in order to meet the market demand of the area's residents and tourists with middle and upper middle incomes.

The next item in the plan is a description of the company. Here you can describe what your company is doing, articulate a mission, talk about the structure of the company and its owners, location, as well as the market needs that your company is trying to meet and how you are going to do it.

Example of a "Company Description" section

NALB Creative Center is a startup that enters the market this summer. We will offer our customers a wide range of goods for creativity and handicrafts, primarily goods that are currently not available on the island of Hawaii. Our competitor remains the Internet, as artists tend to buy familiar products online. We will supply items that are not necessarily well known to local artists. We will also continue to monitor prices and include products available online in price comparisons.

We will conduct master classes on working with new materials and techniques.

We also organize a tourist program "Artist's Oasis". We will provide local bed and breakfast reservations, open-air maps and routes, easel and material rentals, paint and other supplies, and deliver finished work to customers after the canvases are dry.

In the future, the store will turn into an art center that will combine: an art gallery, where original works of art can be purchased at wholesale prices; studio space with musical instruments; classrooms for music and art lessons; literature on music and art; coffee bar with live music; handicraft items such as branded T-shirts, badges, postcards, ceramics for tourist trade.

One of the first questions to ask yourself when testing a business idea is whether there is a place for it in the market. It is the market that will dictate how successful your business is. Decide what audience you are targeting and why customers will want to buy from you.

Add specifics. Let's say you sell bedding. Don't include everyone who sleeps in bed in your target audience. First, define a small target customer group for yourself. This could be, for example, adolescents from middle-income families. Having decided on the target audience, try to answer the following questions:

• How many middle-income teenagers live in your country?
• What kind of accessories do they need?
• Is the market growing or remains the same?

When analyzing the market, take into account both the already available research conducted by others, and the primary data that you have collected yourself, through surveys, interviews or in any other way.

This should also include competitor analysis. In our example, one might ask such questions: how many other bedding companies already have a market share, and who are these companies? Describe the strengths and weaknesses of your potential competitors, and the strategies that will give you a competitive advantage.

An example of a consolidated section "Market Analysis"

Green Investments has identified two distinct target customer groups that differ in terms of family wealth. One group included clients with a household income of less than a million dollars, the other - with an income of more than a million. The main thing that characterizes both of these groups and makes them attractive to us as a company is their desire to change the world for the better by making financial investments taking into account environmental factors.

There are many different niches in the financial services industry. Some advisors provide general investment services. Others offer one type of investment, such as mutual funds or bonds. Some service providers focus on a specific niche like technology or socially responsible business.

Market segmentation

Green Investments segmented their target audience into two separate categories based on family wealth: over and under $ 1 million.

• <1 миллиона долларов (семейный бюджет): представители среднего класса, которых волнуют проблемы окружающей среды и которые вносят личный вклад в ее защиту, приобретая акции компаний, которые демонстрируют высокие экономические и экологические показатели. Так как свободных денег у таких людей немного, они предпочитают инвестировать в акции без особого риска. В целом акции составляют 35%-45% от общего портфеля.
• $ 1 million (family budget): These clients have average or above average income. They have accumulated over a million dollars and are investing quite carefully (either themselves or the people they hired). These people are usually concerned about the return on investment, but they are also concerned about the environment.

This is where you can go deeper into the details of what exactly you are selling and what your customer benefit is. If you can't articulate exactly how you can be of service to your customers, your business idea may not be all that great.

Start by describing the problem your business is solving. Then take a look at how you plan to tackle the problem and how well your product or service fits into the big picture. Finally, think about the competitive landscape: what other companies provide solutions to this particular problem, and how is your solution different?

Example of the section "Products and services"

AMT provides computer products and services to help small businesses. We mainly provide networking equipment and network maintenance for small and medium businesses. These are both LAN-based computer systems and server-controlled minicomputer-based systems. Our services include the design and installation of network systems, training and support.

Description of goods and services

In the field of personal computers, we support three main areas:

1. Super Home is our smallest and least expensive line of computers that are initially marketed as home computers by the manufacturer. We mainly use them as low cost workstations for small businesses. Specifications include ... [additional details omitted]
2. Power User is our main premium line. It is our main system for organizing high-performance home stations and basic workstations for small businesses, thanks to ... The main advantages of the system ... Specifications include ... [additional details omitted]
3. Business Special is a mid-level system, intermediate in positioning. Its specifications include ... [additional details omitted]

When it comes to peripheral, auxiliary and other hardware, here we provide a complete set of necessary equipment, from cables to molds and mouse pads. … [Additional details omitted]

We offer a wide range of service and support services in our office and onsite, as well as service and warranty contracts. So far, we have not been successful in securing support contracts. Our networking opportunities ... [more details omitted]

Competitive analysis

The only way to gain an advantage and stand out from the competition is by offering our clients an IT partnership. We will in no way be able to effectively compete with network providers that offer out-of-the-box or hardware / software solutions. We must offer our clients a true partnership.

The advantages of this approach include many intangible assets: reliability and confidence that the client will always receive help and answers to his questions at the right time.

The products we supply and work with require serious knowledge and experience, while our competitors only sell the product itself.

Unfortunately, we cannot sell products at a higher price just because we provide a service - market conditions demonstrate that this approach will not be effective. Therefore, we will provide service for a fee.

In this section, you can briefly describe the features of the organizational and management structure of the business (taking into account the fact that it may change). Who will be responsible for what? How will tasks and responsibilities be assigned to each person or team?

Include a curriculum vitae of each member of your team here. Explain why these people are the right people for the job - talk about their experiences and backgrounds that are relevant to your business. If you haven't already hired performers for the planned roles, that's okay - but make sure to be clear about those gaps and explain what the people in those roles will be responsible for.

An example of a personnel plan in the section "Operational management"

DIY Wash N 'Fix doesn't require a lot of manpower. The company will hire a general manager who will work part-time to handle corporate responsibilities and inter-organizational issues. DIY Wash N 'Fix will also hire three certified mechanics / managers to handle the day to day tasks at the firm. These responsibilities fall into two categories: managerial and operational. Management tasks include planning, inventory and general accounting. Employees are also responsible for operational tasks: security, regulatory matters, customer service, and repair advice.

In addition, service staff will be hired to carry out the most basic tasks. Their functions will include customer service and content and storage control. DIY Wash N'Fix will hire one general manager to coordinate all external business operations and partnerships. Business relationships include accounting services, legal advice, communication with manufacturers and suppliers, as well as service providers, advertising and marketing, and investment services. This managerial position will be taken by Laurie Snyder. She will receive an MBA from the University of Notre Dame in May 2001.

The day-to-day business management tasks will be handled by a lead mechanic. While DIY Wash N 'Fix does not provide a full range of repair services, it can be expected that some customers will try to do repairs that they have never done before, which means they will need advice. Therefore, we intend to hire three fully certified mechanics. These mechanics will be prohibited from performing any work on the customer's car, but they will be able to inspect the car and assess the breakdown. We believe that only professional mechanics should advise clients - this will reduce our liability for incorrectly performed repairs. The main task of the mechanics will be customer service and management functions.

6) Marketing and sales plan

Here you can describe your marketing and sales strategies and how you are going to sell your product. Before you start developing your marketing and sales plan, do a complete market analysis and target your ideal customers.

From a marketing perspective, you may need to answer questions like: How are you going to enter the market? How will you develop your business? What distribution channels will you focus on? How will communication with clients be organized?

When it comes to sales, try answering questions like: What is your sales strategy? How will the sales department work and how will you develop it in the future? How many sales calls does it take to close a deal? What is the average selling price? Talking about the average cost of sale, you can go into the details of your pricing strategy.

A business plan is what helps an entrepreneur navigate the market environment and see goals. Many successful people point out that an idea needs to be written down on paper, otherwise it will never be realized. Therefore, a business plan is essential for a successful business. How to write a business plan yourself: a sample and step-by-step instructions are included in our new publication!

A business plan is the program by which a company operates. It is necessary in order to competently coordinate the actions of the organization and see the directions of its development.

A business plan can be called a kind of rehearsal. The entrepreneur plays various scenarios during which he can see the problems and find ways to fix them. At the same time, the person does not lose money, as it would happen in a real situation.

Business plan objectives

• Formulate the goals of the organization (both short-term and long-term)
• Set a project timeline
• Determine the target audience and product markets
• Analyze the competitiveness of the organization
• Determine the benefits of the company
• Estimate the level of costs
• Develop an action plan aimed at increasing the economic efficiency of the organization
• Predict the amount of profit and the level of profitability of the business.

General scheme for the development of a business plan and feasibility study.

What's in a business plan?

1. Title page and content

Here should be indicated the output of the company and the contact details of the founders, as well as the content of the document.

2. Summary (introduction)

This part is a summary of the entire business plan. The most important thing should be here, i.e. justification of the relevance of the business and the financial part.

Your resume shouldn't be about two pages long. Although it is located at the very beginning, you need to start drawing it up at the end. This must be approached responsibly, because this is the part that the investor studies.

3. Company history

If you already have an operating organization, then you need to tell about the history of its origin, about its successes.

4. Market opportunities

In this section, it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis of the enterprise, i.e. identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

7. Business model

This is a financial plan. Here it is necessary to describe all the sources of income and the size of the costs. You also need to indicate your suppliers and main buyers.

Cafe business plan: an example with calculations and step-by-step instructions for creating your own cafe from scratch are

8. Forecast

In this section, you need to make a financial forecast. It is necessary to write about the amount of profit and the payback period of the project.

The entire business plan should be 30-40 pages long.

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for small businesses

Let's consider some sections of a business plan using an example

SWOT Analysis Matrix

How to write a business plan yourself: a sample for small businesses.

A business plan is the first step towards the implementation of any project and implementation of activities. After all, any idea, even the most original and promising, must be confirmed by a deep analysis of the competitive environment, financial calculations. In this article, we will expand on what a business plan is, its basic structure and provide a step-by-step guide to writing it.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs make a very common mistake and don't bother writing a business plan. Believing it to be a waste of time, they are missing out on the opportunities that planning provides. They do not see the benefits that can be obtained by analyzing and planning activities.

You should not treat this document as a simple formality that is necessary to meet with investors and present your idea to creditors and business partners. The work on the document should be comprehensive. Even if different sections are assigned to individual specialists: economists, marketers, etc., they must work as a team. Indeed, the document must take into account all aspects of the project: the technical, legal part, the nuances of taxation, product sales.

When attracting investors and creditors, experts recommend working on two documents at the same time: on the internal and external plan. The external document is carried out for business partners, people who need to be convinced to invest money. It should not distort the data, because it will be studied by specialists.

At the same time, analyzing the competitive environment or assessing all the weaknesses of the project, you can focus more on the advantages and strengths. This way, investors will see the idea as promising, and you have a better chance of getting approved.

The inner plan is your personal step-by-step guide, which should fully reflect the real situation. Here it is no longer necessary to keep silent about some of the weaknesses of the project, but to try to calculate all kinds of risks that may jeopardize the implementation of the idea.

5 reasons to start planning

Business security assessment

Before expanding activities and investing in the purchase of equipment, rental of premises, you should assess the main risks that threaten to nullify all efforts.

A business plan will help you see the failure of an idea even before its implementation. If already at the planning stage, when calculating expenses, income and assessing profitability, financial errors are noticeable, then perhaps you should postpone the implementation of the idea until better times or even switch to another project.

Attraction of additional investments from outside

Most business ideas require an impressive start-up capital, which a budding entrepreneur may not always have. At the same time, there are people who are ready to invest their money in an interesting project, provided that it is relevant and promising.

In this case, one cannot do without such a document, and detailed planning, market analysis, assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the project will allow investors to evaluate the idea and make a decision on the investment.

Getting a loan from a bank

Today there are many credit organizations that are ready to issue a loan for a business, but they need to demonstrate a document that lists expenses, payback period, and calculation of profitability.

A business plan allows you to effectively manage an existing business

This moment is of interest to those entrepreneurs who are thinking about expanding their business, opening additional branches or diversifying. Detailed planning and assessment of the market situation will make sure that the company needs to expand, avoid financial losses and possible mistakes.

Clear goal setting

In addition to wanting to start your own business that will generate income, you need to set a clear goal. Of course, it should be expressed in monetary terms, but other indicators are also important, such as the volume of the company, quality of service, range of services, etc. A business plan will allow you not to deviate from the chosen course and calculate the shortest path to achieving your goal.

Mistakes when writing a business plan

A business plan is a kind of roadmap, a scheme that will allow you to move in the right direction, bypassing all obstacles and dangers. As in any other business, when writing a business plan, it is easy to make mistakes that not only prevent you from moving on, but can also cause serious financial risks.

There are two serious mistakes that planning initiators make. The first is the assignment of writing a plan to companies specializing in the provision of such services. The second is data distortion and errors in financial, marketing or production planning.

The first mistake can lead to the fact that third-party specialists will not be able to fully assess all possible risks and specific features of the business. The second mistake leads to financial ruin, because without understanding the intricacies of drawing up a document, an entrepreneur makes many serious mistakes.

There are no stereotyped business plans, just as there are no identical situations. Even if the document is drawn up for similar stores located in the same region, they will have completely different performance indicators.

All mistakes that aspiring entrepreneurs can make in the document can be divided into three categories:

1. Technical flaws. As a rule, this is due to incorrect statistical data, shallow analysis of the market and the industry, shortcomings in financial miscalculations.
2. Conceptual inaccuracies. This is mainly due to the lack of experience, misunderstanding of production technology, lack of special education.
3. Methodological errors. This may be the wrongly chosen legal basis for registering a business, the wrong form of taxation, ambiguity regarding the ownership of the production part, premises. All this can alert the investor, demonstrating your incompetence and forcing him to refuse to invest in the project.

Where to start a business plan?

Any planning must start with the idea itself.

Step by step work on the plan can be represented as follows:

1. Searching for an initial idea.
2. Analysis of the competitive environment.
3. Work on the financial part of the project.
4. Drawing up a document.

Spending time on an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment, on assessing opportunities and threats, you will receive a detailed, high-quality document that you can use to obtain a bank loan or convince potential investors that your business is a real place to place your money.

How to write a business plan yourself?

For many people who are just thinking about starting their own business, the very thought of writing such a document is scary and repulsive.

Beginners often find this difficult to do, and they prefer to seek help from specialists. As mentioned above, there is a certain risk in the failure of such an idea. People who are poorly versed in the specifics of the customer's business may not be able to do a deep analysis of the situation, which initially distorts the data and does not give a real idea of ​​the prospects and direction of the business.

To facilitate the task, experts advise contacting specialists and third-party organizations only for certain calculations where deep economic knowledge is required.

Plan structure

Whatever field of activity the business belongs to, it is necessary to adhere to a clear structure, without missing any of the sections:

1. Title (company address, name, contact details).
2. Summary.
3. General description of the idea and mission.
4. Market analysis.
5. Marketing part.
6. Production plan.
7. Organizational part (search for premises, recruitment, purchase of equipment).
8. Financial plan (business model, calculation of profitability, payback).

Step-by-step instructions: how to write a business plan correctly

Title

This is the first front side of the document, which should reflect the name of the organization, full name. director, date.

Sometimes it is allowed to make a thesis of the main financial indicators on the title page.

Summary

Despite the fact that this section comes first, it is written after all the calculations. By this time, a detailed analysis of the competitive environment, SWOT analysis, calculations of payback and profitability should already be in hand.

It is with the resume that potential investors and lenders begin their acquaintance.

The following aspects should be reflected here:

• corporate values ​​of the company;
• mission;
• corporate vision.

Corporate values

In this part, it is necessary to concisely explain what the idea, essence and corporate values ​​are. The description of corporate values ​​is not an empty formality. This is what determines the further path of the company, indicates its further vector, the path of development.

Any company, regardless of size and staff, must have specific values ​​and goals. This is what will help keep the company afloat in the first crisis.

How do you find the very corporate values ​​that will reflect your company's idea? It's just enough to think about the staff who will work in the company, what it should be, and briefly outline the attitude towards the client and service. Put all these thoughts on paper, and then correctly transfer them to the document.

The task, of course, is not an easy one, but a clear understanding of the principles, understanding of the goal sometimes allows you to keep the company afloat even in a difficult economic situation.

Mission

The mission statement of the company allows you to summarize the essence of the project and indicate why your company will be useful to people. In this part, there should not be a word about making a profit and the further development of the company.

Focus on what you ultimately plan to sell, market, produce. Just 2-3 sentences are enough to indicate the main idea of ​​the company. For example, Apple's mission statement is "It works to meet the knowledge and innovation needs of people." And the Coca-Cola company promises to bring joy and optimism to people.

Corporate vision

This is also a short and succinct part, where in two or three sentences you should indicate what kind of company you see in the foreseeable future. There is no need to make long-term plans and indicate the profit in numbers. The item should demonstrate the purpose of what the firm is striving for. Vision and mission must overlap.

After defining the goal and mission, you should move on to drawing up short-term and long-term goals. How do they differ and how to compose them correctly?

Short-term goals, as a rule, are drawn up for 6-12 months and clearly answer the question of what financial indicator the company should come to in a year. Long-term goals can be drawn up for 1-5 years and allow you to see the financial prospects.

When setting goals, you must adhere to the following rules:

1. They should be clear and specific. For example: “The company needs to increase its profits by 20%. Open a second branch, etc. ”.
2. Goals must be measurable and realistic. It is necessary to be clearly aware of the maximum percentage you can increase sales and profits.
3. It is necessary to be precisely tied to the time, taking into account such factors as seasonality, conditions of the region, the resources that the company has at its disposal.

Market analysis

It often happens that, having burst into flames with an idea, entrepreneurs have little understanding in which direction to move further and how filled this niche is.

In-depth market analysis is designed to get answers to questions such as:

• potential opportunities;
• determination of the target audience;
• percentage of competition;
• major players and their strengths / weaknesses;
• development trends.

The analysis allows you to determine in which direction you need to move in order to take a worthy place in the market, bypassing competitors, and what are the development trends of the idea itself. This part of the document must necessarily take into account the specifics of the business industry, regional characteristics, product release time, seasonality, etc. It is necessary to be objective and realistically look at things, assessing strong competitors and determining the market share that can be taken by coming out with your product / service.

Analysis of the external environment

This is an indispensable part of a business plan and helps to identify the main players in the market. For convenience, competitors can be divided into two categories: main and indirect.

The main rivals include companies providing similar services. It is necessary to collect complete information about their product, service, price, quality of service, work experience, suppliers, etc. This information will help you assess their strengths and weaknesses and outline ways to combat them.

Indirect competitors are companies that offer a similar service but do not pose a significant threat to business development.

In this section, it is necessary to conduct a SWOT analysis, which systematizes the strengths and weaknesses of the project, indicates the prospects and ways to avoid possible risks. This is a powerful tool that allows you to form the future strategy of the enterprise.

Swot analysis will objectively show the whole project from the outside

SWOT analysis allows you to look at the entire project objectively from the outside and work out the following issues:

• assess the strengths of competitors;
• conduct a comparative analysis of the strengths of competitors with their own;
• identify hidden threats;
• what weaknesses of the project require adjustment;
• take into account the factors of the internal and external environment.

To systematize all information, we use a standard matrix.

When working on a spreadsheet, you should focus on the following points:

1. Narrow down the scope of your analysis. You don't have to try to cover the whole business at once. If you're just entering the market, focus on a new product or service. This will give you a more accurate result. If a business involves development in several directions at once, then it is logical to conduct its own analysis in each separate segment.
2. Make a clear distinction between outside and inside. Threats to the company, as well as opportunities, are external factors that do not always depend on the actions of management or personnel. But the strengths and weaknesses are internal factors.
3. Try to be as objective as possible. There is no need to distort the data, to embellish the factors. Make a SWOT analysis based on objective facts only. When describing strengths and weaknesses, try to look at it through the eyes of the consumer and the competitor. The document should not contain your subjective conclusions.
4. State all facts clearly. The more accurate the wording, the better the analysis result will be.

Let's look at the technology for creating a matrix using the example of the well-known Auchan retail chain, which is represented all over the world by hypermarkets with food and non-food products.

Strengths (S)	Weaknesses (W)
extensive experience in the market	high level of competition
wide range of	high staff turnover
effective customer loyalty program	lack of experienced managers
wide target audience
Opportunities (O)	Threats (T)
own brands	changes in the taxation system in the country
the Russian market is not yet saturated enough, which makes it possible to develop a large network	the emergence of a strong competitor and the rapid seizure of territory
introduction of additional services	low income of the average buyer
expansion of the range of services

The analysis shows that each side of the matrix is ​​balanced, which indicates a fairly stable position of the company in Russia.

SWOT analysis allows you to develop a further strategy and eliminate those weak links that hinder the development of the company.

In this regard, the following table format is convenient:

What does such an analysis give other than an objective picture?

The matrix allows you to combine results and develop an action strategy. The combination of strengths and opportunities (SIV) allows you to find a competent way of development for the company.

The combination of strengths and threats (IMS) helps to see how to minimize risks with the help of company strengths.

The combination of SLE (weaknesses / opportunities) helps to design measures to overcome weaknesses, using the opportunities that the company has.

And the work of a pair of SLUs (weaknesses / threats) will tell you what exactly can put the business in jeopardy.

Determining the target audience

Determining the target audience is an important stage in planning, as it gives a clear understanding of the concept of a product, service and allows you to correctly calculate the development trend.

The product can target the consumer or industrial market.

When working with the consumer market, it is important to consider the following factors to determine the target audience:

• consumer age;
• social status;
• marital status;
• the level of education and the nature of specialization;
• buying behavior, etc.

For the manufacturing market, these factors are irrelevant. There, the technical features of the product and the specifics of the industry are important.

When determining the target audience, it is necessary to create a portrait of the average buyer, describe what exactly the person is guided by when purchasing a service or product. This will allow in the next section, the marketing part, when developing distribution channels to correctly determine the direction.

Pricing

The pricing stage is an important step, which, in many respects, predetermines the final profit and the search for distribution channels.

It should be understood that the final profit is influenced not so much by the cost of the product as by the turnover. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the competitor's price at the moment of market analysis. Understand what it consists of and what is included in it. This point especially applies to firms that provide services.

When setting a price tag, it is important to consider the following points:

• production cost;
• the cost of this product from competitors;
• the cost of promoting a product.

In no case should you understate the price in order to intercept competitors. Firstly, this can cause the enterprise to be unprofitable, and secondly, it will force to reduce the quality of service or raw materials to reduce the cost. In this way, you will create a negative reputation. Therefore, it is very important to find "your buyer" and, focusing on his demand and opportunities, offer a really high-quality and unique product / service.

Pricing methods

Given the huge number of pricing methods, business owners use only a few that allow them to correctly determine the price tag.

Before you start choosing a pricing methodology, you need to understand the goal of entering the market. This could be:

• retention of positions and survival in the market;
• extracting maximum profit;
• changing the target audience.
  The goals may be different, but the pricing method and the calculation of the final cost of the product / service will depend on them.

When entering a highly competitive market, manufacturers often choose to follow the competitor. The bottom line comes down to choosing a leading company. The price is set at the same level, regardless of the cost of the product and the level of costs.

The advantage of this method is in holding market positions. The downside is the loss of control. If the leader modernizes the equipment, goes to suppliers with cheaper raw materials, then you will not be able to reduce the price after him, without incurring losses.

It is also important to mention popular methods such as:

• costly;
• cost-marketing;
• value approach;
• a price neutral strategy;
• method of skimming;
• price breakout strategy.

One of the simplest methods is costly. Here it is important to correctly calculate the cost of goods and add the planned profit on top. The advantage of this strategy is the guaranteed profit. Minus - it is not valid when there is a lot of competition in the market.

One of the varieties of the cost-effective strategy is the method based on the break-even analysis. Here it is important to determine the break-even point and already, based on these parameters, make a mark-up that will allow you to make a profit.

The cost-marketing method is one of the most difficult. It combines the analysis of pricing, taking into account the marketing strategy and the cost of goods. There is no clear formula here. The process should be approached creatively, but the result can be high.

The value-based approach focuses on the price / cost ratio. Thus, the manufacturer, in order to extract more profit, sets the maximum price that the manufacturer can pay for the offered quality of the product.

The price neutral strategy is one of the most popular in the market in highly competitive niches. The bottom line comes down to one thing - setting prices, in the same way as competitors. For a company that is just entering the market, it is important to ensure that it does not lose its positions in the market by exceeding the average price, but also not to underestimate it, losing on profit.

The skimming strategy assumes the short-term extraction of the maximum profit. This strategy is possible when several conditions are met:

• powerful advertising;
• fundamentally new product;
• a promoted brand or, on the contrary, a new company that uses the most powerful and promising advertising;

The advantage of this approach is profit maximization. The downside is the fact that competitors can quickly take advantage of the overpriced and prevent the company from gaining a foothold in the market. Here it is important to clearly limit the time frame of such a strategy, and in the future use a different pricing method.

It is important to understand that not every new product will allow you to operate according to the “skimming” scheme. It should be an expensive product, aimed at a buyer who is ready to pay for quality and level. By the way, Apple uses this method, releasing a new version of the legendary iPhone every year. This policy of price discrimination at different times is entirely justified. The buyer is willing to pay for a unique premium product and admits that the price is somewhat overpriced.

The price breakout method is the opposite of the skimming strategy. It is advisable to conduct it for enterprises that plan to occupy a large part of the market niche. The following conditions are important here:

• you need to be sure that competitors do not beat the price;
• the product should be in great demand among a wide audience;
• the product should not be of an everyday nature.

As you can see from the description, each of the methods has its own advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, manufacturers often experiment at the planning stage, determining the most optimal option for themselves.

For example, when opening a grocery store in a small residential area, it is advisable to use a cost-effective method or a price-neutral strategy. To this end, it is necessary to conduct an in-depth analysis of the competitive environment and determine the pricing of competitors. But for a company that enters the market with an innovative product, you can set a price, guided by a skimming strategy.

Marketing part

This section explores the primary target market, including geographic location, demographic data, and the needs of the target market. The section should show that you have a clear idea of ​​the target audience to which you plan to sell a product or service.

When researching methods for promoting a product or service on the market, it is important to focus on the target audience and take into account the behavioral factors that you described in the previous section. It is also important to focus on the company's pricing policy, because the expansion of sales channels will largely depend on this.

The questions that should be reflected in this part of the document are as follows:

• What group of goods or services are you planning to sell?
• What will the sales market be like?
• Which customer group are you targeting?

Here it is important to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the product, and you should not embellish the information or distort the data, because all this will negatively affect the promotion of services and the final profit.

It is necessary to understand what makes the proposal unique. It can be a high-quality comprehensive service, an individual approach, original packaging, high-quality raw materials, etc.

You need to understand that speaking about the uniqueness of the trade proposal (USP), we are not trying to create a truly unique product that has no analogues on the market. Today it is almost impossible to do this. And the novelty of an idea that is not present on the market requires large initial costs, labor and time resources. Therefore, it is important to consider the uniqueness of the service, packaging, new sales format, etc.

For example, the iPhone created by Steve Jobs was not an innovative product in and of itself. A talented businessman simply took a finished product and came up with a unique selling proposition.

Advice. When creating a USP, think about how to interest “your customer” and offer him what he cannot get from competitors.

When determining the market and pricing, it is important to take into account the seasonality of the product. Indeed, at different times of the year, the need of buyers for a particular service / product can be completely different, which will affect the price. This will allow you to correctly assess the volume of services, select the required number of personnel, calculate the profitability of the business and the break-even point.

You should also describe in detail the organization of sales, ways of informing customers about entering the market, the format of advertising and promotion.

Promotion of a service / product can be implemented as follows:

• outdoor advertising design;
• promotion in social networks;
• contextual and banner advertising on websites;
• discounts and bonus programs for regular customers;
• distribution of leaflets, etc.

The method and type of promotion is largely determined by the target audience. For example, if a product is targeted at the 50-70 age group, then promotion through social networks will not have a big effect. Conversely, online advertising is the best way for young audiences.

When developing a marketing strategy, it is important to take into account not only the target audience, but also the geography of the outlet, the seasonality of the product.

In the last paragraphs of the marketing plan, it is advisable to make a sales forecast for a specific period of time, taking into account all external and internal factors. You do not need to take a period of more than a year. Enough 6-12 months with a monthly or quarterly breakdown to reflect the sales forecast.

You don't need to overload your marketing plan with a huge amount of numbers, a detailed description of your actions. Even if the document is intended for presentation to investors and lenders, it is better to use diagrams, charts and tables for clarity.

Production plan

This section should provide an accurate description of the process of creating a product or providing a service.

The production process consists of many links that are interconnected with each other. In order to reduce risks and successfully promote a service or product, it is necessary to carefully develop and take into account all production processes.

In the production part of the plan, such issues as the volume of raw materials, technical and labor resources, requirements for stocks and control over product quality are resolved.

For the successful implementation of the project, it is necessary at the planning stage in the production part of the document to determine the required capacities, their disadvantages and advantages.

All the information presented in detail in this section helps to draw up an effective organizational plan, which will allow you to implement your plans in stages.

In the production part of the plan, it is important to correctly calculate the required area and location of the premises. Whether it's a workshop, warehouse or store in the city center. Based on the performed market analysis, the selected target audience and other factors, it is necessary to correctly determine the location of the business.

Also, experts immediately recommend considering the prospects of the technology in this part. Indeed, when purchasing equipment, one should analyze the development of a business for more than a dozen years. It is necessary to correctly assess the need for production facilities, the level of technical equipment and the possibility of modernizing equipment over time.

It is in this part of the document that the supply of raw materials and equipment necessary for the business is determined. If production requires additional materials, raw materials, then you need to immediately assess the quality control, determine the list of suppliers.

Organizational plan

Step 1. Business registration.

In this part of the document, one should touch upon the organizational and legal form of the business and take into account the tendency of the enterprise's development in the future.

It is necessary to dwell in detail on permits, the cost of registering a business, the time spent on registration of all licenses.

The list of documents for registering a business and for obtaining all permits must be specified in each individual case. You should immediately clarify for what period of time before starting a business you need to submit documents.

Step 2. Selection of premises.

You need to pay attention to the following points:

• the ability to comply with fire regulations;
• compliance with production requirements;
• required area;
• the presence of ventilation, sewerage and water supply.

Location is of great importance for retail outlets. These factors must be fulfilled taking into account the selected target audience and product category.

Step 3. Staff recruitment.

Take a closer look at the employee's questionnaire, make a list of his qualifications necessary for the job.

This will make it easier to select potential employees, save time and help you find a good team.

Step 4. Equipment purchase.

Financial plan

The financial part is one of the most difficult. All calculations must be clearly justified and verified. Before entering an item of expenditure into a document, it is necessary to carefully monitor prices, study a lot of documents and information.

This part of the document is worth dwelling on in detail:

• on project costs;
• execute the income forecast;
• analyze funding sources.

Expenses

It is the expense item that largely influences pricing, allows you to correctly calculate the break-even point and profitability.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs make serious planning mistakes in this part of the document. They simply forget about some categories of expense, which entails an incorrect calculation of the cost of production, jeopardizing the development of the business as a whole.

The main “forgotten” expenses are usually:

• loading or unloading of goods;
• taxes;
• service maintenance;
• installation of equipment;
• professional development of employees, their training;
• loss or failure of products during transportation.

This part indicates the costs of the selected taxation scheme, taking into account the organizational and legal framework.

Calculating costs, it is advisable to divide all costs into 3 categories:

• initial;
• permanent;
• variables.

The initial costs include all funds, equipment, raw materials needed to start a business. This also includes the costs of registering a business and obtaining permits.

Permanent ones include the salary of employees, payment of rent and utilities, etc.

Variable costs include those costs that depend on the season, production volumes. This should include transportation costs, piecework, purchase of consumables, repairs.

In order to clearly demonstrate the financial part of the document, it is better to present the entire estimate in the form of a table, where the following points should be.

P / p No.	Expense item name	Amount, rub.
1. Business registration	-	-
2. Taxes	-	-
3. Rent of premises (land)	-	-
4. Purchase of raw materials	-	-
5. Purchase of machinery and equipment	-	-
6. Expenses for auxiliary equipment	-	-
7. Wage fund	-	-
8. Transport costs	-	-
9. Advertising and promotion of products	-	-
10. Utility bills	-	-
11. Other running costs	-	-

It is difficult to imagine business development at the first stage without additional funding from personal capital or from investors. Such "additions" are also losses, since they do not allow making a profit from the project. But at the same time, they are aimed at business development and allow you to get income in the future.

Income

In this section, it is necessary to justify the feasibility of the project from an economic point of view. It is important to demonstrate profitability and correctly forecast the expected profit.

Having a clear cost estimate and projected income, it is important to correctly determine the break-even point.

The break-even point is one of the key economic indicators, which indicates how much it is necessary to sell products in order to equalize expense and income. The break-even point is that extreme line, below which you cannot go, otherwise you can go bankrupt. Profit is not an idea here. The indicator only shows the necessary income so that after paying all taxes, rent, utilities, wages, the company remains afloat.

To calculate the efficiency of doing business and assess the prospects of an enterprise, many economic indicators are used. One of the key and optimal ones is the calculation of profitability.

The simplicity and transparency of this indicator makes it almost the main indicator that allows you to objectively assess the feasibility of conducting a particular project.

For comparison, the analysis of total revenue, turnover or net profit are not objective indicators, since they do not reflect the true state of affairs and do not allow an analysis of the work of a similar company.

If for the implementation of the business it is necessary to involve investments from the outside, then the profitability must be calculated taking into account these investments.

Profitability is calculated using the standard formula:

R = (total profit from sales / cost price) * 100%

Risk assessment

This is an important section of the document, which must be taken seriously and carefully considered all the options, unfavorable conditions that can become a threat to the business.

Often, investors, having briefly familiarized themselves with the resume and the financial side of the issue, study in detail exactly the section of risk assessment. The investor must be 100% sure that the money invested will pay off and that in any situation you have a clear plan of action.

Describing all the risks and adverse conditions that may affect the project, divide them into two parts:

• external (do not depend on you);
• internal.

External risks include fluctuations in the foreign exchange market, inflation, natural disasters, fire, theft, damage to property, changes in the legal framework, unfavorable weather conditions (when it comes to businesses that are directly dependent on these conditions), etc.

Internal include:

• failure of the technical part of production;
• incorrect actions of personnel or management;
• negligence in control over production technology or quality of service;
• lack of sufficient qualifications or experience among employees.

In order to protect yourself as much as possible from force majeure situations, experts recommend creating the most pessimistic scenario. This will allow you to develop a clear algorithm of actions in any of the situations and in real life to successfully overcome difficulties.

The final, but optional, section might be the appendix. In this part, it is advisable to submit all documents, letters, contracts, price lists, commercial proposals of competitors that helped to analyze and calculate.

7 rules for successful planning

1. Don't misrepresent the data or deceive yourself. No matter how pessimistic the forecast is, there is no need to deliberately understate an item of expenditure or increase revenues.
2. When describing your resume, try to be as concise as possible. Try to imagine how you can describe your business project in two or three words and present it to investors in a favorable light. Often, lenders and investors pay attention precisely to the part and financial calculations.
3. When developing your marketing strategy and forecasting revenues, be sure to set clear timelines. They will allow you not to deviate from the vector and analyze the success of the enterprise after a certain period of time. Reconciliation of real and projected indicators will allow you to quickly make adjustments if the business does not bring the expected profit.
4. Be laconic, adhere to a clear structure of the document, but do not ignore in-depth analysis of economic indicators and market environment. This data will allow you to get a full understanding of the environment in which you plan to grow your business.
5. Do not use when planning templates downloaded from the Internet. Remember that every project is unique and individual. Therefore, more than one typical business plan will not allow you to thoroughly work out internal and external factors, analyze the specifics of the company's activities and outline a development strategy.
6. During the planning phase, clearly state the authority and responsibilities of the staff. This will allow you to select the right state.
7. When analyzing the competitive environment, elaborate on the description of their strengths. The document should analyze at least 5-7 competitors from a similar and related field in order to form a complete objective picture.

Short briefing

You have an idea. You want to create your own business. Fine. What's next? Next, you need to "put everything on the shelves", think over the details (as far as possible), in order, first of all, to understand: is it worth developing this project? Perhaps after researching the market, you will understand that the service or product is not in demand, or you do not have sufficient funds to develop your business. Maybe the project should be slightly improved, abandon unnecessary elements, or, on the contrary, introduce something?

A business plan will help you consider the viability of your venture.

End justifies the means?

When starting to write a business plan, keep in mind its purpose and function. First of all, you carry out preparatory work in order to understand how realistic it is to achieve the planned results, how much time and money is needed to implement the plan.

In addition, a business plan is required to attract investors, obtain a grant or a bank loan. That is, it must include information about the potential profit of the project, the necessary costs and the timing of its payback. Think about what is important and interesting for your recipients to hear.

Use a little cheat sheet for yourself:

• Analyze the market you intend to enter. What company leaders exist in this direction. Explore their experiences and work.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of your project, future opportunities and risks. In short, do a SWOT analysis *.

SWOT analysis - (eng.)Strengths,Weaknesses,Opportunities,Threats - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. The method of planning, strategy development, allowing to identify the main factors affecting business development.

• Decide clearly what you expect from the project. Set a specific goal.

The main thing the business plan is aimed at is helping, first of all, to you yourself in developing the company's strategy and planning its development, as well as assistance in attracting investments.

So any plan has a structure. Regardless of the specifics of the project and the requirements of investors, a business plan, as a rule, contains the following elements:

1. Company CV(short business plan)

• Product description
• Description of the market situation
• Competitive advantages and disadvantages
• Brief description of the organizational structure
• Distribution of funds (investment and own)

2. Marketing plan

• Definition of the "problem" and your solution
• Determining the target audience
• Market and Competition Analysis
• Free niche, unique selling proposition
• Ways and cost of attracting customers
• Sales channels
• Stages and timing of market conquest

3. Plan for the production of goods or services

• Organization of production
• Infrastructure features
• Production resources and areas
• Production equipment
• Manufacturing process
• Quality control
• Calculation of investments and depreciation

4.Workflow organization

• Organizational structure of the enterprise
• Distribution of powers and responsibilities
• Control system

5. Financial plan and risk forecast

• Cost estimation
• Calculation of the cost of a product or service
• Calculation of profit and loss
• Investment period
• Break-even point and payback point
• Cash flow forecast
• Risk forecast
• Ways to minimize risks

It is clear that a business plan is one whole and its parts are inextricably linked with each other. However, a well-designed structure will help you not to forget the important, as well as take a deeper look at each of the aspects.

Summary of the firm. Briefly about the main thing

Marketing plan. There are empty seats?

When drawing up your marketing plan, you will need to analyze the market you are about to enter. Thus, you will identify trends for yourself, collect information about competitors and get to know your consumer, your target audience better.

After evaluating a potential client, his interests and preferences, you must determine the optimal location for an office, retail outlet, etc. It should be comfortable. Calculate the number of clients you need to pay off your business and compare with the audience living or working around the proposed business location. For example, for a business in the field of services to the population, the number of this audience should not be less than 2% of the number of people living within a radius of a short walk or a five-minute car trip.

It is possible that the market you were going to conquer is oversaturated at the moment. Analyze the actions of competitors, create your strategy, focus on your uniqueness, bring something new to occupy an empty niche in a certain area.

Of course, creating something that is not yet on the market is quite difficult. However, you can carefully analyze the situation and open, for example, a point where the consumer really needs it or play on the difference in prices and the level of services provided relative to nearby competitors.

Also, you will definitely have to decide on the sales channels. After reviewing the methods existing on the market, find the best ones for yourself. Calculate how much it costs you to acquire each customer.

Finally, when deciding on pricing, you will need to calculate: which is more profitable? A high price with a small number of sales or a price lower than that of competitors, but a large customer flow. Service should not be forgotten either, because for many consumers it is critical. They are willing to pay a price higher than the market average, but receive a high quality of service.

Production plan. What are we selling?

This is where you finally go into detail about the essence of your business: what do you do?

For example, let's say you decide to manufacture dresses and sell them. In the production plan, indicate the suppliers of fabric and equipment, where you will locate the sewing workshop, what the volume of production will be. You will write down the stages of manufacturing products, the necessary qualifications of employees, calculate the necessary deductions to the depreciation fund, as well as logistics. The costs of the future business will also depend on many factors: from the cost of threads to the cost of labor.

Prescribing the technology for creating your course product, you will pay attention to many little things that you have not thought about before. You may have questions with the storage of goods or difficulties with imported raw materials, problems with finding employees of the necessary qualifications, etc.

When you have finally prescribed the entire path of creating a product or service, it's time to calculate how much your project will cost you. It may well be that later, drawing up financial calculations, you will understand that you need to make adjustments to the production plan: reduce some costs or radically change the technology itself.

Organization of the workflow. How will it work?

Will you manage the business alone or with partners? How will decisions be made? You need to answer these and many more questions in the section "Organization of the workflow".

Here you can write down the entire structure of the enterprise and identify duplication of authority, mutual exclusion, etc. Having seen the whole organization chart, it will be easier for you to optimally distribute rights and responsibilities between departments and employees.

Having understood, first of all, for yourself, how your company functions, it will be possible to more effectively develop a system of interaction between structures, a system for monitoring employees and the entire personnel policy.

The importance of this section is that it describes who and how will implement the project in reality.