How to build your business plan. Where to start your business - a step-by-step plan from scratch for beginners

Many financiers and entrepreneurs wonder how to write a business plan. Step-by-step instructions with an example would be very helpful. We wrote it. Use it. You can also download samples and examples.

How to write a business plan: preparatory stage

The success of a company is associated with its ability to develop and its readiness to move towards new goals. Like red blood cells, which are formed in the body every second, maintaining the life of the human body, new ideas should fuel the activities of any, even the most conservative organization. In order for these updates to bring profit to the company without negatively affecting its sustainability, you need to seriously prepare for the preparation of the document.

So, where to start writing a business plan? First you need to find and collect the following information:

texts of UNIDO recommendations. There are no uniform standards in Russia, so it is customary to use the standards of UNIDO - the United Nations Industrial Development Organization;
requirements of the Ministry of Economic Development;
requirements of the regional and regional administrations of Russia (in case the project is submitted to these structures for participation in a competition or grants);
requirements of potential investors for the project;
certified software products for drawing up plans, assessing the financial condition of an enterprise, calculating the project budget;
copies of contracts, agreements, licenses, etc.;
copies of documents on which the plan data will be based;
price lists of suppliers;
financial information of the company for several years (calculations of financial indicators);
list of experts who can help before presenting the document to investors.

It is also necessary to form a working group and appoint a leader.

How will the bank evaluate your business plan?

There are no officially approved requirements. Everything is determined by the rules of a particular bank, its credit policy and approaches to working with clients. It is possible that the initial version of the business plan (or its equivalent) will undergo significant changes. The editors of the Financial Director magazine interviewed bankers and found out that bankers do not judge the prospects of a project by traditional indicators of investment efficiency.
For a credit institution, a potential borrower’s business plan is by no means an empty formality, but the main source of data for assessing risks. That is why bankers almost unanimously noted that there are several most important sections of the document on the basis of which they judge the prospects.

Step. 1. Define your business plan goals

First of all, it is necessary to determine the purpose - whether the document will be needed only for internal use, or the circle of potential readers will be wider. For example, will investors consider it for financial projection. It is advisable, in any case, to compose it as if it would be studied by seasoned heads of investment funds or heads of large banks (). If you were them, would you give personal money to this project? How much do you personally need what will become the goal of the project - as a manager, specialist or ordinary person? What is the tangible value of your proposal? Be the strictest reader, only from this point of view it will be possible to see. Then, a list of information sources is compiled and the structure of the document is developed.

Step 2: Gather all the necessary information

In order to understand how to make a business plan from scratch, you will need to collect the necessary information - about the sales market, price forecasts for services / goods, legislation that may affect the company's work, and other accurate data that every from statements and forecasts. Some can be collected independently, from industry media, scientific periodicals, stock exchange news, ready-made marketing research, information about similar projects of other companies. If this information is not enough, you should conduct or order your own marketing research from specialized companies.

When should you draw up a business plan yourself, and when should you turn to professionals?

Expert commentary

Ksenia Shvetsova, business trainer

The higher the significance of the project and the requirements for it, and the larger the amount involved, the higher the likelihood that the company will turn to third-party specialists. If the company has competent employees in management, marketing and financial planning, it is quite possible to cope with the task on its own. If they are not there, it is advisable to order the development of the document from professionals.

Turning to third-party specialists is also relevant when an investment project is drawn up for certain competitions or government programs. Specialized firms have experience in this matter and know the subtleties and nuances that may be unknown to entrepreneurs. If a business plan is being created for internal use, then it is more effective to first write it yourself, and then, if necessary, seek help from professionals.

How to write a business plan that will definitely give you a loan

In an effort to obtain a loan, companies often draw up a formal business plan and tailor it to the bank’s requirements. As a result, they do not take into account the specifics of the project and make mistakes. See six tips that will help you objectively assess the effectiveness of your future project and increase your chances of funding.

Step 3: Develop a Marketing Plan

Now let's look at the main sections of the business plan. The marketing plan is one of the most important sections. First, you need to conduct a marketing study in which to evaluate profitability and payback in different situations, depending and not depending on the company’s activities, including the volume of financial investments. Next, create a marketing plan. It is he who will determine the direction of the development of the project and give an understanding of the most suitable tools and means to achieve the goals. Include the following items:

1. Marketing strategic planning:

Company's mission;
company goals;
competitive advantage of the company;
marketing strategy, its characteristics;

2. Product Description:

product description and assortment;
main product characteristics, performance characteristics;
attractiveness for the client, benefits of using the product;
requirements for consumer properties of the product;
competitive advantages of the product and competitiveness of the product;
patents, licenses, certificates for the product;
product packaging;
delivery conditions;
guarantees and service;
taxation feature.

3. Pricing policy:

factors influencing pricing;

4. Sales of products:

volume and level of development of the industry;
main categories of clients;
target markets and their comparative characteristics;
barriers to entry and development in the market;
product sales strategy;
product distribution scheme;
sales channels;

5. Promotion:

sales promotion methods;
advertising.

6. Schedule planning of the intended strategic plan:

dates for achieving intermediate goals;
date of achievement of the final goal.

7. Detailing of the plan down to specific performers and designated responsible persons. Answers to the questions of who should do what, when, where, with what resources and how it affects the final result.

8. Formation of a marketing budget:

sales volume forecast;
cost forecast;
determining the budget for marketing activities.

Marketing planning will help determine the price level for a product or service - the maximum amount that a buyer is willing to pay for your offer. The more accurate this forecast is, the more stable the profit will be and the more effective promotion costs will be.

It is equally important to correctly identify the choice of suppliers of equipment, tools, services and other things that are necessary in the implementation of the project. Don’t chase cheapness, find even a smaller quantity, but find those companies that do not let you down with supplies and quality. You also need to identify the sales market, potential buyers or service users. No matter how reliable a small number of them may seem, the disappearance of the need for your product will reduce all the effort and cost to zero. Therefore, expand your customer base in advance. At the same time, it is important to correlate the search for clients with promotion costs. The business plan budget is not infinite, advertising agencies promise a lot, but be realistic, even large audience coverage does not always bring target clients.

Reflect in your marketing plan the sales methods you will use - directly to the consumer, through a network of distributors, etc.

Step 4: Create a production plan

The next part of creating a business plan is the production plan. Here you need to answer the following questions:

Where is the production located?
Is it provided with transport routes?
Are all necessary communications available?
Is the construction of production facilities required?
How are the equipment supply issues resolved?
Is the enterprise staffed with qualified personnel?
What technologies are planned to be used?
Is cooperation established with suppliers and subcontractors?
How is the problem of waste disposal solved?

Answering these questions should be based on the information provided in the market research.

Production control

Particular attention should be paid to the description of the production of the product and the quality control system at each stage. To do this, the TQM control chart (process quality control chart) and the economic order quantity model are used.

The key point of the production plan is evidence of the need for the selected production technology (service provision). If there is a choice of production processes, then you need to mention them all, listing the serious disadvantages so that the merits of the technology the company needs appear reasonable. You can consider the possibility of saving budget funds at each point of the plan: using leasing, renting equipment, collaborating with freelancers instead of permanent employees, transferring some functions to outsourcing. It is very important to identify the most effective and low-cost opportunity to conquer an economic niche in the market.

Recruitment

Recruitment is another important part of the production system, because its success depends on the skills and reactions of project managers. The description of the level of qualifications and the company's provision with the necessary specialists should reflect the real picture. If there is a need for additional recruitment of personnel and a management core, it is important to clarify whether it is possible to find them at the location of production or whether you will have to incur costs to motivate them to move from other cities. Don't waste too many words on the management biography. It is necessary to show that each of the managers is truly a professional in his field, dedicated to him and the team believes in the leader. For this, specific data about his role in participation in other projects is sufficient, while it is not necessary to describe exclusively successes. An adequate analysis of one’s past mistakes and the ability to draw the right conclusions is positively perceived by investors.

Loading production

The next point is production utilization or production capacity (PM). It contains data on the volume of products (services provided) that the company is able to produce (provide) for a specific time period. This paragraph examines the company's PM in several categories: project, current, reserve, and from the point of view of its possible increase and decrease. Here you need to provide information about how flexible production will be - whether it is possible to quickly increase or reduce the production of goods without significant losses and breaks in the production-supply chain.

The production plan must include a layout of equipment and its justification.

Aggregate plan and work schedule

An aggregate production plan for product sales is created to compare marketing data and production capacity for a period from one year to 5–7 years. Characterized by clear definitions of goods/services that must be produced to fulfill the business plan. The production and sales plan is usually divided into periods of up to a year. It can be adjusted every month, depending on the current situation in the company. The very concept of “aggregate” means to enlarge. In this case, we mean the generalization of individual indicators and their reduction into one position.

The next items are scheduling work and planning material requirements. For this it is convenient to use .

Step 5: Prepare a Financial Plan

This part of the business plan is designed to evaluate the project in terms of its costs and profitability. It should justify the need for finance, describe ways to replenish the project budget, and guarantees. It also provides a description of the economic situation in the area of interest of the project, difficult to predict factors and possible options for financial behavior under several scenarios for the development of events. Preparing to work on a financial plan consists of drawing up an estimate and the degree of its accuracy.

It is important to list in detail all planned expenses for the project and the rationale for their necessity by year, dividing them into quarters. It is advisable to plan the first year monthly.

For each month (quarter, year) of the project, you need to reflect:

taxes and their rates;
inflation;
information on capitalization methods;
loan repayment schedule.

Take data from:

;
documentation on the movement of money;
balance sheet.

How to write a business plan so that investors and bankers like it

It depends on how the business plan is designed, what issues are covered in it and how, whether it will be possible to get money for the idea. We have prepared recommendations that will help you create a business plan that is understandable to investors and bankers, and not miss anything really important.

Recommendations to help you write a competent business plan yourself

Reflect in the plan the approximate period when the invested funds will be returned and what specific steps are provided for this.
When making forecasts, check project performance indicators.
Experts advise, after accurately calculating the costs of implementing the project, to double this figure. Lack of funds can ruin the most promising project.
Compare the timing of receipt of funds with the timing of the company’s regular expenses.
Create a financial reserve while the income growth from the project exists only on paper.
Create informed profitability forecasts. It is better to expect less than to be captured by illusory expectations and create a difficult financial situation for the company.
Tightly control costs until operational returns are achieved.

Let's give a simple example of a business plan. It should be borne in mind that this is only one of the possible options, and presented in a very compressed form.

Target: Produce confectionery products, mainly cakes, for city residents. Take a leading position in the upper price segment of this market.

Tasks:
1. Create a compact confectionery shop.
2. Provide the production process with the necessary raw materials and labor, some of which will be hired.
3. Initially occupy 30% of the market segment through the implementation of a developed marketing strategy, which involves squeezing out the main competitors with dumping prices and new recipes for the consumer.
4. Raise the missing investment funds from the bank using available real estate as collateral.

An example of drawing up a business plan for an enterprise

Let's look at an example of a manufacturing business plan. It is planned to open a small tailoring shop. Let's consider how promising this business is in a specific market.

1. Summary. Opening of small production on January 1, 2014. Form of ownership – LLC. The planned period is 42 months.

2. General provisions. Purchasing equipment that will allow you to use a variety of fabrics and perform different finishes. It is planned to partially raise borrowed funds for the purchase of equipment and rental of premises. The tailoring service will be provided to the population, as well as to legal entities in need of special clothing, as well as sewing curtains and bedding for subsequent sale.

3. Market analysis and marketing plan. Currently there are 350 enterprises represented on the market. Through strict adherence to deadlines and quality, it is planned to create a positive image of the company, which will allow it to occupy a niche in the market.

4. Costs. Estimated direct and variable costs, including wages and premises rental, for 3 years will amount to 13.5 million rubles. Of these, 50 million rubles are own funds. The planned sales volume will be 15 million rubles, which, minus tax deductions, will allow the project to reach payback by the end of the third year.

5. Production schedule. Release of 1000 units of goods.

6. Investments. Attracting partners on the terms of joint business.

Brief example of a business plan

If you are about to open a shoe repair shop, then in the most general form, developing a business plan using an example looks like this:

– Fixed costs (equipment) – 300 thousand rubles.
– Variable costs (threads, glue, rent) - 10 thousand rubles.
– Investment required – 100 thousand rubles in the form of a bank loan at 23% per annum for 10 years with a progressive scale and deferred repayment for 1 year.
– Form of ownership – individual entrepreneur
– Tax deductions 24 thousand rubles.
– Planned revenue – 20 thousand rubles per month.
– Revenue for 1 year – 97 thousand rubles.
– Financial result – 73 thousand rubles.

As a result, the entrepreneur has reasons to invest money in this project. The margin of safety is large enough so that possible deviations from the predicted values do not lead to financial collapse.

Example of a business plan with calculations

Opening a small store selling used children's items also requires a preliminary assessment. Enterprise business plan example:

The assessment of goods purchased from the population will be based on the cost of 1 kg.
To begin with, you will need to create an assortment of 100 units.
The cost of 1 kg is 400 conventional units. One product weighs on average 1 kg. Thus, the cost of the product will be 100 * 100 = 40,000 USD. The cost of replenishing working capital will be 100 units, which equals 10,000 USD. per month
The rent of the premises will be 10,000 USD.
Variable costs, including advertising and unforeseen expenses - 10 USD.

Sales volume in the first 6 months will be 130 products per month;
in subsequent years - 280 products per month.
The average unit price will be 250 USD.
Revenue for 1 year = 130 * 250 * 12 + 280 * 250 * 12 = (10,000 * 12,000 + 40,000 + 10,000 * 12 + 10,000 * 12,000) = 420,195 – 361,240 = 58,955.
The tax will be 25,000 USD.
Financial result – 33,955 USD

At first glance, the business seems attractive, given the low input costs and quick payback, but after performing a simple calculation, the entrepreneur will come to the conclusion that the profitability is very low and, although the risk is small (the product is in stable demand), it is unprofitable to engage in this business without achieving scale .

View an example of a business plan

Schematically planning, for example, growing vegetables looks like this:

1. Summary. A summary of the remaining pages is shown here.
2. Marketing part. Who will be the buyer and how will it be possible to conquer the market? Settlement part – 5 tons of carrots for 100,000 USD
3. Costs. Rent of land and equipment – 27,000 USD
Payment for hired labor – 30,000 USD.
4. Revenue– 23 USD
5. Sources of financing. Bank loan for 50,000 USD at 18% per annum for 10 years.
6. Financial result– 9 USD

This activity, if the pessimistic scenario is fulfilled, will not generate income at all in the first year. In addition, the entrepreneur will be able to work fully and invest in development only after repaying the entire loan amount.

Download ready-made examples of business plans

On this resource you can download examples of business plans for free. Downloading the file makes it possible to get acquainted with more detailed calculation options, which will allow you not only to understand the essence, but also to make, by analogy, your own calculation to justify the feasibility of investing funds.

If you have no experience at all, it is not at all necessary to order development from a specialized company. It is enough to get acquainted with an example of planning for a similar activity, where you can study in detail the features of market analysis and calculation of production costs for a particular business.

To download, click on the link:

Be sure to watch the video: “What is a business plan?”

Successful business development directly depends on drawing up a business plan.

It’s not enough to just make a plan; you need to constantly adjust it in accordance with market changes.

This will allow your business to “stay afloat”, receiving income and conducting clear planning of budget expenditures.

Every successful individual entrepreneur (IP) knows that a well-drafted business plan is the “foundation” of any activity. Using a business plan, an individual entrepreneur can attract investors or apply for a loan from a bank.

A business plan is a full-fledged program for launching and developing a business, containing detailed information about a product, its production and distribution. The business plan reflects the planned profitability of the company, and also demonstrates the financial return on investment.

Preparing a business plan for lenders should focus on specific financial indicators. The basic rule for drawing up a successful business plan is to present the material dynamically and be concise (no more than 15-20 sheets). Let's consider how to write a business plan yourself?

Title page

How to write a business plan? This requires a model, especially for a beginner. Any work, first of all, consists of a title page.

This is the “face” of your business. The title page “introduces” a potential investor to a business idea, so it is very important to learn how to format it correctly.

The title page should be attractive and succinctly inform the investor about the essence of the business. The required items on the title page are:

name of the individual entrepreneur;
contact details of the company (telephone, address, etc.);
privacy notice;
short name of the project;
Full name of the head of the individual entrepreneur, his contact details;
information about the preparation of a business plan (who compiled it, when, where);
information about the timing of the project.

Want to know more about writing business plans? Then the next topic is for you. : purpose and structure, algorithm and examples.

Read about how to open an online store for free and quickly.

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Summary.
Project descriptions.
Conducting market analysis and competitor assessments.
Marketing strategy.
Production, organizational and financial plans.

A summary is brief and general information about the project. The volume of the resume should not exceed 1 printed page. The resume contains information about the company's field of activity and expected financial results. The summary also substantiates the goals of creating the project, its uniqueness and benefits for investors.

Product Description

When writing a description of a product, it is necessary to focus on the usefulness of the product.

You can also make a brief comparison of this product with analogues, focusing on the main differences.

The “Product Description” section should provide an opportunity to analyze further business development.

Description of the business model

The business model is a simplified version of the functioning of all systems and business processes of an individual entrepreneur. Creating a business model is one of the most important steps at the strategic planning stage of a company's activities.

A business model succinctly describes how a company creates and sells its product. The development of a business model is entrusted to the management team of the individual entrepreneur.

Market and industry analysis

At the stage of market analysis, it is necessary to familiarize yourself with the situation in detail and analyze the total volumes of potential sales for the products produced. You can also make a trial batch of goods in order to study the behavior and reaction to it on the part of customers. When analyzing the market, it is necessary to evaluate competitors.

General scheme for competently drawing up a business plan

How to write the right business plan? A competent business plan contains detailed information about the main competitors to understand the prospects for the development of the individual entrepreneur.

Strategic SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is carried out to determine the actual state of the company and highlight the prospects for its development in the long term.

At the SWOT analysis stage, the strengths and weaknesses of the company are studied, risk factors and market opportunities are assessed.

SWOT analysis helps IP management evaluate the following points:

the presence of an advantage for individual entrepreneurs in the market for similar goods;
vulnerable (“bottleneck”) places of the company;
chances of making a profit;
threats from the market and competitors.

Risk assessment and management

An integral part of the business plan is the risk management concept.

This section is intended to prevent the occurrence of unfavorable events in the company’s activities in order to avoid significant financial losses.

Active risk management implies their prevention at the decision-making stage. In this case, risk management is associated with marketing market research, which shows the likelihood of losses based on an assessment of demand and pricing policies of competitors.

Any investor who makes a decision to invest funds pays attention to the risk of loss of invested capital.

Sales strategy

A sales strategy is a comprehensive planning consisting of answers to the following questions:

How (through what channels) will the product be distributed?
What will the price of the product be?
How to interest buyers?
How to create an advertisement? How much money should I allocate for this?

In this section, it is necessary to analyze the market and create a clear description of the conditions under which potential buyers will become clients of the individual entrepreneur.

Organizational plan

The “Organizational plan” section, as a rule, indicates the general structure of the individual entrepreneur and the role of each of its links in the process of production and sale of goods. In addition to the general structure of the enterprise, investors are interested in information about each member of management (if the company plans to raise capital).

At this point, a general table of the company’s income and expenses is demonstrated, a forecast balance is drawn up, and calculations are made for the calculation (cost) of goods.

When drawing up a financial plan, it is necessary to calculate the payback period of the project with a breakdown of cash flows by month.

When working on a business plan, you should not overdo it. Consider only basic information. It is important that the investor, after reading the first two pages, already understands what is at stake. The data used in drawing up the business plan must be 100% reliable.

Video on the topic

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

Many new entrepreneurs make a very common mistake and do not bother writing a business plan. Believing it to be a waste of time, they miss out on the opportunities that planning brings. They do not see the benefits that can be obtained by analyzing and planning activities.

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

When attracting investors and creditors, experts recommend working on two documents simultaneously: an internal and an external plan. An 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, by analyzing the competitive environment or assessing all the weaknesses of the project, you can place greater emphasis on the advantages and strengths. In this case, investors will see the promise of the idea, and you will have a better chance of getting approval.

The internal plan is your personal step-by-step guide, which should fully reflect the real situation. Here you no longer need to remain silent about some of the weaknesses of the project, but try to calculate all sorts of risks that could jeopardize the implementation of the idea.

5 reasons to start planning

Business security assessment

Before launching an activity and investing money in purchasing equipment or renting premises, you should assess the main risks that threaten to nullify all efforts.

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

Attracting additional investment from outside

Most business ideas require significant initial capital, which is not always available to a new entrepreneur. 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, such a document cannot be avoided, and detailed planning, market analysis, and assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the project will allow investors to evaluate the idea and make a decision on investment.

Getting a loan from a bank

Today there are many credit institutions that are ready to issue a loan for a business, but they need to demonstrate a document that outlines the costs, payback period, and calculation of profitability.

A business plan allows you to effectively manage an existing business

This point 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 of the need to expand the company, avoid financial losses and possible mistakes.

Clear goal setting

In addition to the desire 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 size 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 road map, a diagram that will allow you to move in the right direction, avoiding all obstacles and dangers. As in any other endeavor, when writing a business plan it is easy to make mistakes that not only prevent you from moving forward, but can also cause serious financial risks.

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

The first mistake may result in third-party specialists not being 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 document preparation, the entrepreneur makes many serious mistakes.

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

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

Technical shortcomings. As a rule, this is due to incorrect statistical data, shallow analysis of the market and industry, and shortcomings in financial miscalculations.
Conceptual inaccuracies. This is mainly due to lack of experience, incorrect understanding of production technology, and lack of special education.
Methodological errors. This may be an incorrectly chosen legal basis for registering a business, an incorrect form of taxation, or uncertainty regarding the ownership of the production part or premises. All this can alert the investor, demonstrating your incompetence and force him to refuse to invest money in the project.

Where to start a business plan?

Any planning must begin with the idea itself.

The work on the plan can be presented step by step as follows:

Search for the initial idea.
Conducting an analysis of the competitive environment.
Work on the financial part of the project.
Drawing up a document.

By taking the time to deeply analyze your competitive environment and assess opportunities and threats, you'll end up with a detailed, high-quality document that you can use to secure a bank loan or convince potential investors that your business is a viable place to invest their 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 accomplish, and they prefer to seek help from specialists. As mentioned above, there is a certain risk that such an idea will fail. People who have little understanding of the specifics of the customer’s business may not be able to conduct a deep analysis of the situation, which will initially distort the data and will not give a real idea of the prospects and direction of the business.

To make the task easier, experts advise turning to specialists and third-party organizations only for some calculations that require deep economic knowledge.

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:

Title (company address, name, contact details).
Summary.
General description of the idea and mission.
Market analysis.
Marketing part.
Production plan.
Organizational part (search for premises, selection of personnel, purchase of equipment).
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 permissible to summarize 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, you should already have a detailed analysis of the competitive environment, SWOT analysis, and calculations of payback and profitability carried out.

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 briefly explain what the idea, essence and corporate values are. The description of corporate values is not an empty formality. This is what determines the future path of the company, indicates its future vector, path of development.

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

How to find those corporate values that reflect the idea of your company? You just need to think about the personnel who will work in the company, what they should be like, and briefly outline their attitude towards the client and service. Put all these thoughts on paper, and then correctly transfer them into a document.

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

Mission

The company's mission allows you to briefly outline 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 further development of the company.

Focus on what you ultimately plan to sell, implement, produce. Just 2-3 sentences are enough to indicate the main idea of the company. For example, Apple's mission statement states that it "works to meet people's needs for knowledge and innovative technologies." And the Coca-Cola company promises to bring joy and give optimism to people.

Corporate Vision

This is also a short and succinct part, where in two or three sentences you should indicate how you see the company in the foreseeable future. There is no need to make long-term plans and indicate profits in numbers. The paragraph should demonstrate the goal of what the company strives for. Vision and mission must resonate.

After defining the goal and mission, you should move on to drawing up short-term and long-term goals. How are they different 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 achieve in a year. Long-term goals can be drawn up for 1-5 years and allow you to see financial prospects.

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

They must be clear and specific. For example: “The company must increase profits by 20%. Open a second branch, etc.”
Goals must be measurable and realistic. You need to clearly understand by what maximum percentage you can increase sales and profits.
You need to be precise in timing, taking into account factors such as seasonality, regional conditions, and the resources the company has.

Market analysis

It often happens that, having caught fire with an idea, entrepreneurs have little understanding of which direction to move next and how filled this niche is.

An in-depth market analysis is designed to provide answers to questions such as:

potential opportunities;
identifying the target audience;
percentage of competition;
main players and their strengths/weaknesses;
development trends.

The analysis makes it possible to determine in which direction it is necessary to move in order to take its rightful place in the market, beating 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, time of product release, seasonality, etc. It is necessary to be objective and look at things realistically, assessing strong competitors and determining the market share that you can take by coming out with your product/service.

External environment analysis

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

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

Indirect competitors are companies that offer a similar service, but do not pose a serious 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 prospects and ways to circumvent possible risks. This is a powerful tool that allows you to formulate the future strategy of the enterprise.

Swot analysis will show the entire project objectively 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 your own;
identify hidden threats;
what weak points of the project require correction;
take into account internal and external environmental factors.

To systematize all information we use a standard matrix.

When working on the table, you should focus on the following points:

Specify the area of analysis. There is no need to try to cover the entire business at once. If you're just entering the market, focus on a new product or service. This will allow you to get 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 individual segment.
Clearly separate the outside and the inside. Threats to the company, as well as opportunities, relate to external factors that do not always depend on the actions of management or personnel. But strengths and weaknesses relate to internal factors.
Try to be as objective as possible. There is no need to distort data or embellish factors. Create a SWOT analysis based only on objective facts. When describing strengths and weaknesses, try to look at it through the eyes of the consumer and competitor. The document should not contain your subjective conclusions.
State all the facts clearly. The more precise the formulation, the better the analysis result will be.

Let's look at the technology for creating a matrix using the example of the famous 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
a wide range of	high staff turnover
effective customer loyalty program	lack of experienced managers
wide target audience
Opportunities (O)	Threats (T)
own brands	changing the tax system in the country
The Russian market is not yet saturated enough, which makes it possible for the network to develop greatly	the emergence of a strong competitor and rapid seizure of territory
introduction of additional services	low income of the average buyer
expansion of the range of services

From the analysis performed, it is clear that each of the sides 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 provide 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 development path for the company.

Strengths and Threats (Strengths and Threats) help you see how to minimize risks by leveraging your company's strengths.

The combination of SLOs (weaknesses/opportunities) helps to develop 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 at risk.

Determining the target audience

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

The product may be intended for 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;
Family status;
level of education and nature of specialization;
purchasing behavior, etc.

For the production market, these factors do not matter. The technical features of the product and the specifics of the industry are important there.

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

Pricing

The pricing stage is an important step, which largely determines 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 turnover. Therefore, it is very important to monitor the competitor’s price at the time of market analysis. Understand what it consists of and what is included in it. This point especially applies to companies that sell services.

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

production cost;
the cost of this product from competitors;
cost of product promotion.

In no case should you lower the price in order to intercept competitors. Firstly, this may cause the enterprise to become unprofitable, and secondly, it will force a reduction in the quality of service or raw materials to reduce costs. This way you will create a negative reputation. Therefore, it is very important to find “your buyer” and, focusing on his demand and capabilities, offer a truly 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 determine the price tag as correctly as possible.

Before you begin choosing a pricing methodology, you need to understand the purpose of entering the market. It could be:

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

When entering a highly competitive market, manufacturers often choose the “follow the competitor” method. 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 to maintain market positions. The downside is the loss of control. If the leader modernizes equipment and reaches out 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 such popular methods as:

expensive;
cost-marketing;
value approach;
neutral price strategy;
skimming method;
price breakout strategy.

One of the simplest methods is expensive. Here it is important to correctly calculate the cost of the product and add the planned profit on top. The advantage of this strategy is guaranteed profit. The downside is that it is not valid if there is a lot of competition in the market.

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

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

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

The neutral pricing strategy is one of the most popular on the market in highly competitive niches. The essence 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 position in the market by exceeding the average price, but also not to underestimate it, losing on profits.

The skimming strategy involves short-term extraction of maximum profit. This strategy is possible if several conditions are met:

powerful advertising;
a fundamentally new product;
a well-promoted brand or, on the contrary, a new company that uses powerful, promising advertising;

The advantage of this approach is profit maximization. The downside is the fact that competitors can quickly take advantage of the inflated price and will not allow the company to gain a strong 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 act according to the skimming scheme. This should be an expensive product, aimed at a buyer willing to pay for quality and level. By the way, Apple uses exactly this method, releasing a new version of the legendary iPhone every year. This policy of price discrimination over different periods of time 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 niche in the market. The following conditions are important here:

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

As can be seen from the description, each method 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 neutral pricing strategy. For this purpose, 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 based on a skimming strategy.

Marketing part

This section examines the primary target market, including geographic location, demographics, and target market needs. The section should show that you have a clear understanding of the target audience to whom you plan to sell the 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 addressed in this part of the document are as follows:

What group of goods or services do you plan 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 information or distort data, because all this will negatively affect the promotion of services and final profits.

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

You need to understand that when talking about a unique selling proposition (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 presented on the market requires large initial costs, labor and time resources. Therefore, it is important to think about the uniqueness of the service, packaging, new sales format, etc.

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

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

When determining the sales market and pricing, it is important to take into account the seasonality of the product. After all, at different times of the year, customers’ needs 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, format of advertising and promotion.

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

design of outdoor advertising;
promotion on 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 much effect. And, on the contrary, for a young audience the best way is to advertise on the Internet.

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

In the last paragraphs of the marketing plan, it is advisable to draw up a sales forecast for a specific period of time, taking into account all external and internal factors. There is no need to take a period of more than a year. 6-12 months with a monthly or quarterly breakdown is sufficient to reflect the sales forecast.

There is no need to overload your marketing plan with a huge number of numbers and a detailed description of your actions. Even if the document is intended for presentation to investors and creditors, it is better to use diagrams, diagrams 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. 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.

The production portion of the plan addresses issues such as the volume of raw materials, technical and labor resources, inventory requirements, and product quality control.

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

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

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

Experts also immediately recommend considering the prospects of the technology in this part. After all, when purchasing equipment, you should analyze the development of the business for more than a dozen years. It is necessary to correctly assess the need for production capacity, the level of technical equipment and the possibility of upgrading 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 additional materials or raw materials are needed for production, then you need to immediately evaluate quality control and determine a 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 development trend of the enterprise in the future.

You should dwell in detail on permitting documents, the cost of registering a business, and the time spent on obtaining all licenses.

The list of documents for registering a business and obtaining all permitting certificates must be clarified in each individual case. You should immediately clarify how long before starting a business you need to submit documents.

Step 2. Selection of premises.

It is necessary to pay attention to the following points:

ability to comply with fire safety standards;
compliance with production requirements;
required area;
availability of ventilation, sewerage and water supply.

For retail outlets, location is of great importance. These factors must be carried out taking into account the selected target audience and product category.

Step 3. Personnel selection.

Dive into detail on the employee's profile and make a list of his qualifications required for the job.

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

Step 4. Purchase of equipment.

Financial plan

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

This part of the document is worth going into detail:

on project costs;
perform income forecast;
analyze sources of funding.

Expenses

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

Many novice entrepreneurs make serious mistakes when planning in this part of the document. They simply forget about some expense categories, which entails an incorrect calculation of product costs and jeopardizes the development of the business as a whole.

The main “forgotten” expenses are usually:

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

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

When calculating expenses, it is advisable to divide all costs into 3 categories:

initial;
permanent;
variables.

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

Constants include employee salaries, rent and utilities, etc.

Variable costs include those costs that depend on the season and production volumes. This must include transportation costs, payment for piecework, purchase of consumables, and 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, which should contain the following points.

No.	Name of expense item	Amount, rub.
1. Business registration	-	-
2. Taxes	-	-
3. Renting premises (land)	-	-
4. Purchase of raw materials	-	-
5. Purchase of machinery and equipment	-	-
6. Expenses for auxiliary equipment	-	-
7. Payroll fund	-	-
8. Transport costs	-	-
9. Advertising and product promotion	-	-
10. Utility payments	-	-
11. Other operating expenses	-	-

It is difficult to imagine business development at the first stage without additional funding from personal capital or from investors. Such “additions” are 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 generate 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 execute the expected profit forecast.

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 exactly how much products need to be sold in order to equalize costs and income. The break-even point is the extreme line below which you cannot fall, otherwise you may go bankrupt. We are not talking about profit here. The indicator only shows the necessary income so that after paying all taxes, rent, utilities, and wages, the enterprise 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 perhaps the main indicator that allows you to objectively assess the feasibility of conducting a particular project.

For comparison, 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 for analysis of the work of a similar company.

If the implementation of a business requires the involvement of investments from 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)*100%

Risk assessment

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

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

When 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 legislative framework, adverse weather conditions (if we are talking about a business that directly depends on these conditions), etc.

Internal ones include:

failure of the technical part of production;
incorrect actions of personnel or management;
negligent attitude to 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 situation and successfully overcome difficulties in real life.

The final section, but optional, can be an application. In this part, it is advisable to present all documents, letters, contracts, price lists, commercial offers of competitors that helped carry out the analysis and calculations.

7 rules for successful planning

Don't misrepresent data and don't deceive yourself. No matter how pessimistic the forecast is, there is no need to deliberately underestimate expenses or increase income.
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 specifically to the part and financial calculations.
When developing a marketing strategy and forecasting revenue, be sure to set clear time targets. They will allow you not to deviate from the vector and analyze the success of the enterprise after a certain period. Reconciliation of real and predicted indicators will allow you to quickly make adjustments if the business does not bring the expected profit.
Be concise, adhere to a clear structure of the document, but do not ignore a deep analysis of economic indicators and the market environment. This data will allow you to get a complete picture of the environment in which you plan to develop your business.
When planning, do not use templates downloaded from the Internet. Remember that every project is unique and individual. Therefore, not one standard business plan will allow you to carefully study internal and external factors, analyze the specifics of the company’s activities and outline a development strategy.
During the planning stage, clearly state the powers and responsibilities of staff. This will allow you to choose the right staff.
When analyzing the competitive environment, describe their strengths in detail. The document must analyze at least 5-7 competitors from a similar and related area in order to form a complete objective picture.