{"id":6724,"date":"2023-05-24T09:59:45","date_gmt":"2023-05-24T09:59:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessmentoring.lu\/actualite\/the-business-plan-bp\/"},"modified":"2024-10-15T09:16:15","modified_gmt":"2024-10-15T09:16:15","slug":"the-business-plan-bp","status":"publish","type":"actualite","link":"https:\/\/www.businessmentoring.lu\/en\/actualite\/the-business-plan-bp\/","title":{"rendered":"The Business Plan (BP)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sometimes called a<strong> business plan <\/strong>or<strong> development plan<\/strong>, the <strong>Business Plan<\/strong> is a document that formalizes in writing and focuses the situation and development projections of your company.<\/p>\n<p>The term Business Plan is sometimes used in a reductive way to designate only the Financial Plan whereas it covers and should cover several other components that we will see here.<\/p>\n<p>There have been, are and will be many articles on the subject. The purpose of this article is not to be exhaustive but to remind what is the purpose of a Business Planet. I will also give you some personal recommendations!<\/p>\n<p><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\">A. What a business plan is and what it is used for<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In summary, your Business Plan describes your project and your prospects, lists the information and your assumptions, argues your choices and summarizes these data in tables.<\/p>\n<p>It is a tool that allows your contacts to understand your project and gives them confidence in its viability:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>investors such as bankers and financiers, jury or future shareholders<\/li>\n<li>your partners, your possible associates<\/li>\n<li>your team and future team<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is also a key support for you, the contractor, as it contains\/should contain:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The structuring of your project<\/li>\n<li>The reference point for your initial choices and their justification<\/li>\n<li>The reference point of the projected evolution<\/li>\n<li>The activity\/project strategy guide<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>B. The 11 parts of your business plan  <\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Executive summary\n<ul>\n<li>A global view of your project<\/li>\n<li>The business, the sector in which it is inserted<\/li>\n<li>The main aspects of the project and your strategy<\/li>\n<li>Key success factors<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Vision and missions\n<ul>\n<li>What is it about?<\/li>\n<li>Which strategic directions? Vision at 5 and 10 years<\/li>\n<li>Reasons for your choice<\/li>\n<li>What values do you defend?<\/li>\n<li>What are reasonable and ambitious goals?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>The project leader \/ team\n<ul>\n<li>Anything that helps to demonstrate that alone or as part of a team, you can lead the project to success<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Products and services<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Your products\/services in relation to customer needs<\/li>\n<li>What differentiates these products\/services from the existing ones<\/li>\n<li>The added value of this difference for your customers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>The market, the targets<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>The economic and commercial environment<\/li>\n<li>The actors<\/li>\n<li>End users<\/li>\n<li>The size of the market<\/li>\n<li>The trends<\/li>\n<li>The development of the sector<\/li>\n<li>Size of your segment in the overall market<\/li>\n<li>Key drivers of your segment and the global market<\/li>\n<li>SWOT<\/li>\n<li>Periodicity of the request<\/li>\n<li>Barriers to entry<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"6\">\n<li>The competition<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Competition: how does the market work? What are your differences?<\/li>\n<li>What are your assets and risks?<\/li>\n<li>What are their assets, strengths and weaknesses and your responses?<\/li>\n<li>Structure of the competition, main figures and staff, their leaders<\/li>\n<li>Catchment area<\/li>\n<li>History<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"7\">\n<li>Strategic marketing<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Strategic marketing deduced from the market study: your concrete choices and actions to best meet the needs of your target<\/li>\n<li>Market positioning: your product offer, criteria that will influence the purchase decision<\/li>\n<li>Pricing policy: Prices and price range, Promotions, Discounts and rebates, Warranty extensions<\/li>\n<li>Distribution: Direct or On line, Distribution channel: retail, B2B, B2C&#8230;, Sales team, Training\/motivation<\/li>\n<li>Advertising and Public Relations: Strategy, Media Selection, Budget, Impact Measurement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"8\">\n<li>Suppliers and partners<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>  Suppliers :<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>Who are they?<\/li>\n<li>What recognition on the market?<\/li>\n<li>What product\/service offering?<\/li>\n<li>How will you work with them?<\/li>\n<li>What are the conditions of purchase, price and payment?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Partners (partnership contracts \/ reciprocal commitments)\n<ul>\n<li>Who are they?<\/li>\n<li>What is their involvement?<\/li>\n<li>What are their strengths?<\/li>\n<li>What would be the risks of working with them?<\/li>\n<li>What do they bring to your project?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"9\">\n<li>Management and structure\n<ul>\n<li>Your organization to ensure the process of prospecting to order to production to sale and to face the various hazards<\/li>\n<li>Which organization chart, which distribution of responsibilities?<\/li>\n<li>What developments (qualitative, quantitative)?<\/li>\n<li>Skills and experience present, needed to be added?<\/li>\n<li>Management methods: objectives, incentives, participation in decisions&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"10\">\n<li>Financing plan: the essential shift from qualitative to quantitative<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I quote<em> Anders Wester, Vice President of Tetra Pack Group 2<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;Simply put, you can&#8217;t manage what you can&#8217;t measure. <\/em><em>Measurement is the antidote to ambiguity. <\/em><em>It forces you to be clear on concepts that would otherwise remain vague and it forces you to act.<\/em><em> <\/em><\/p>\n<p>The financing plan is a quantified summary of your analyses. It concretely identifies the needs of the project and the explanations of its financing.<\/p>\n<p>It shall contain:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li>Profit and loss forecast<\/li>\n<li>Balance sheet forecast<\/li>\n<li>Cash flow plan<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Estimate the initial financing needs and the different sources of financing (loans, subsidies, shareholders, investors &#8230;) to cover the needs<\/li>\n<li>To be done over 3 years with the<sup>1st<\/sup> year detailed month by month<\/li>\n<li>Calculate profitability from the difference between sales and operating costs<\/li>\n<li>Evaluate your room for manoeuvre<\/li>\n<li>The cash flow plan is a function of the operating cycle and the terms of payment of customers and suppliers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol start=\"11\">\n<li>Roadmap<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>It is the &#8220;helicopter&#8221; vision that leads to success. You can present it in a synthetic way on a time scale with the steps you consider important.<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>C. How to write your business plan ?<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>An effective way is to review the following questions: Q Q O Q C P C<\/p>\n<p><strong> <\/strong>i.e. Who, What, Where, When, How much, Why and How<\/p>\n<p>And the golden rule for writing it is &#8220;keep it simple!&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Ensure easy understanding by others than yourself<\/li>\n<li>Highlight the value of your project by focusing on the essentials<\/li>\n<li>Use short sentences because concise explanations have more impact<\/li>\n<li>Structure your document so that people can follow the logical coherence of your arguments<\/li>\n<li>Make sure your text is well spaced out and illustrated with photos, diagrams<\/li>\n<li>Be factual in your arguments<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> <strong> D. <\/strong><strong style=\"font-size: 16px;\"><br \/>\n  <u>My Recommendations<\/u><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Know the reality of each number and only enter the ones you believe in, that you can justify<\/li>\n<li>Clearly state each of your assumptions<\/li>\n<li>Review each section carefully and make sure you haven&#8217;t used any jargon<\/li>\n<li>Have you identified the main levers, the major risks?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>And three crucial questions to ask yourself:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Does the PO contain everything that helps to demonstrate that I can successfully carry out this project alone or as part of a team?<\/li>\n<li>Am I convinced by my BP and my Financial Plan? If you are not convinced yourself, bankers and financiers will probably not be more convinced than you are<\/li>\n<li>Do I know what I have to do in the next few weeks?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>It&#8217;s up to you!<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Marie-Fran\u00e7oise Terlier, BML Mentor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"class_list":["post-6724","actualite","type-actualite","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Business Plan (BP) - Business Mentoring Luxembourg<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businessmentoring.lu\/en\/actualite\/the-business-plan-bp\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Business Plan (BP) - Business Mentoring Luxembourg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sometimes called a business plan or development plan, the Business Plan is a document that formalizes in writing and focuses the situation and development projections of your company. 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