BUSINESS PLAN
PURPOSE
Note: Even if you never intend to start a business, learning about a business plan is an important part of the world of business.
Written Paper Requirements
Proofread your completed plan to make sure it’s free of spelling and grammatical errors.
11 or 12 point font
One inch margins
Double spaced
Times New Roman or Arial font
Typed in a Word doc or converted to a word doc from a Mac file
Cover Page, Executive Summary, Table of Content
Member(s) Jasmine Jones only
2
Table of Contents
I. Executive Summary 5
II. Company Description 7
III. Products & Services 9
Product & Service Description Worksheet 10
IV. Marketing Plan 11
SWOT Analysis Wo
Executive Summary
Write your Executive Summary
An overview of your business idea (one or two sentences).
A brief description of your product and/or service. What problem(s) are you solving for your target customers?
What differentiates your business.
II. Company Description
Company mission statement
Company philosophy and vision
Are you a Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation? (Chp 4)
What values does your business live by?
III. Products & Services
Your company’s products and/or services: What do you sell, and how is it provided?
The problem the product or service solves: Every business needs to solve a problem that its customers face. Explain what the problem is and how your product or service solves it. What are its benefits, features and unique selling proposition? Yours won’t be the only solution (every business has competitors), but you need to explain why your solution is better than the others, targets a customer base your competitors are ignoring, or has some other characteristic that gives it a competitive edge.
Any after-sale services you plan to provide, such as:
Product delivery
Warranty/guarantee
Service contracts
Ongoing support
Training
Refund policy
Key Competitors
One of the biggest mistakes you can make in a business plan is to claim you have “no competition.” Every business has competitors. Your plan must show that you’ve identified yours and understand how to differentiate your business.
List key companies that compete with you, products that compete with yours and/or services that compete with yours. Do they compete across the board, or just for specific products, for certain customers or in certain geographic areas?
Also include indirect competitors. For instance, if you’re opening a restaurant that relies on consumers’ discretionary spending, then bars and nightclubs are indirect competitors.
How you will market your product/service
In this section, explain the marketing and advertising tactics you plan to use.
Advertising may include:
Online
Print
Radio
Cable television
Which media will you advertise in, why and how often?
Marketing may include:
Business website
Social media marketing
Email marketing
Mobile marketing
Search engine optimization
Content marketing
Print marketing materials (brochures, flyers, business cards)
Public relations
Trade shows
Networking
Word-of-mouth
Referrals
Pricing
on quality and service?
Does your pricing strategy reflect your positioning?
Compare your prices with your competitors’. Are they higher, lower or the same?
How important is price to your customers? It may not be a deciding factor.
Give a very brief example of some menu items and their prices
Location
If you have a location picked out, explain why you believe this is a good location for your startup.
If you haven’t chosen a location yet, explain what you’ll be looking for in a location and why. For example:
Types of businesses nearby
Last Completed Projects
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