A superior business plan should be a document that we refer to throughout the life of the business. It is a recurring and iterative process, so a superior business plan can be a good tool even to get back on track in times of crisis. It is a recommended procedure for both large organizations and small companies.

Although it may seem complicated to do, it is not that bad. Once you overcome the fear of the blank page, making a superior business plan is a matter of completing the phases that are usually common to all business plans. Although there are different superior business plan examples, most of them share some large basic areas.

Presentation of the business

In this first phase of analysis, you must include the company’s name, describe the business concept, the specific offer you are launching on the market, the differential value proposition and competitive advantages of your business, and the global objectives that chase. In this first phase, we will also include the mission, vision, and values.

Analysis of the environment

We must have a good understanding of the sector in which we are going to develop our activity, its evolution over time, its behavior and new trends that influence it. In this phase, it is necessary to analyze the potential market that will affect the new company. It is also advisable to analyze the competition and potential customers. It is about determining the weaknesses of our company, the threats, the strengths and the opportunities of the business initiative that you are going to undertake.

Commercial strategy

In this phase, we can define the most suitable location for the business, the price strategy, the sales and distribution strategy and the product strategy. With all this, we will be able to specify the marketing and communication plan to achieve the objectives that we have set for ourselves. Besides the marketing strategies, it is advisable to define the actions we will develop in each strategy.

Human resources and production

At this point, we can define the production process that we are going to follow and the human capital that we are going to need, detailing its specific functions. Even if you start the project alone, working on this part will allow you to grow your company on paper, and you stay to prepare for the need to incorporate new members into the team.

Economic-financial analysis

The part of the finances usually can give us the most headaches when writing the business plan, but it provides one of the most valuable information in the plan. It is a key aspect that you should not fail to analyze, as it will determine whether your company will be profitable or not. In this phase, you must prepare different documents.

It is possible to highlight a three-year projected balance sheet and the financing obtained by different means. Another important report is the cash flow in which you can define your collection policies, the sales cycle of your company, as well as the obligations in terms of payment terms contracted with your suppliers.