BA 1301 Business Plan

BUSINESS PLAN

PURPOSE

A business plan serves several purposes. It can help convince investors or lenders to finance your business. It can

persuade partners or key employees to join your company. Most importantly, it serves as a roadmap guiding the

launch and growth of your new business. Writing a business plan is an opportunity to carefully think through steps

of starting your company so you can prepare for success. This is your chance to discover any weaknesses in your

business idea, identify opportunities you may not have considered, and plan how you will deal with challenges that

are likely to arise or contingency plans for the unexpected (i.e. Covid-19). A good business plan is clear and

concise. A person outside of your industry should be able to understand it.

Note: Even if you never intend to start a business, learning about a business plan is an important part of the

world of business.

YOUR JOB

This assignment will be completed individually. You are an entrepreneur(s) and have decided to open a small

business. To get the funding together, you will present a written business plan to a group of investors. You need to

approach this Business Plan within the Covid-19 Pandemic environment.

The plan will only highlight the most important elements.

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

• Approx. 5 pages not including Cover Page, Executive Summary, Table of Contents

TEMPLATE GUIDE

This template is a guide only! You do not need to address every detail…many of the details are just

“prompts” to help you think through the process. Please do not get overwhelmed…reach out to me for

any concerns. Only highlight the most important elements for this project!

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Business Plan

Company name

[Insert Date]

Add a picture/logo

Member(s)

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Table of Contents

I. Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 3

II. Company Description ............................................................................................................................................. 7

III. Products & Services .............................................................................................................................................. 9

Product & Service Description Worksheet ............................................................................................................. 10

IV. Marketing Plan .................................................................................................................................................... 11

SWOT Analysis Worksheet ...................................................................................................................................... 12

Executive Summary

The Executive Summary is the most important part of your business plan. Often, it’s the only part that a prospective

investor or lender reads before deciding whether or not to read the rest of your plan. It should convey your

enthusiasm for your business idea and get readers excited about it, too.

Write your Executive Summary LAST, after you have completed the rest of the business plan. That way, you’ll

have thought through all the elements of your startup and be prepared to summarize them.

The Executive Summary should briefly explain each of the below. Limit your Summary to ½ page.

1. An overview of your business idea (one or two sentences). 2. A brief description of your product and/or service. What problem(s) are you solving for your

target customers?

3. What differentiates your business.

II. Company Description

1. Company mission statement A mission statement is a brief explanation of your company’s reason for being. It can be as short as a

marketing tagline (“MoreDough is an app that helps consumers manage their personal finances in a fun, convenient way”) or more involved: (“Doggie Tales is a dog daycare and grooming salon specializing in

convenient services for urban pet lovers. Our mission is to provide service, safety and a family atmosphere,

enabling busy dog owners to spend less time taking care of their dog’s basic needs and more time having fun with their pet.”) In general, it’s best to keep your mission statement to one or two sentences.

2. Company philosophy and vision a. Are you a Sole Proprietorship, Partnership, Corporation? (Chp 4) b. What values does your business live by? Honesty, integrity, fun, innovation and community are

values that might be important to your business philosophy.

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c. Vision refers to the long-term outlook for your business. What do you ultimately want it to become? For instance, your vision for your doggie day-care center might be to expand and become

a national chain, franchise or to sell to a larger company.

d. Business Ethics & Social Responsibility (i.e. maybe you use biodegradable utensils and plates, give a portion of your revenue to charity) (Chp 2)

III. Products & Services

1. Your company’s products and/or services: What do you sell, and how is it provided? 2. 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.

3. Any after-sale services you plan to provide, such as:

• Product delivery

• Warranty/guarantee

• Service contracts

• Ongoing support

• Training

• Refund policy

IV. Marketing Plan

Describe your industry and what makes your business competitive: Is the industry growing, mature or stable?

Barriers to entry?

• High startup costs

• High production costs

• High marketing costs

• Brand recognition challenges

• Finding qualified employees

• Need for specialized technology

Target customer

• Describe your target customer. (This is also known as the ideal customer)

• Trends in the target market – is it growing or shrinking? How are customer needs or preferences changing? (i.e. Millennials, Baby Boomers, healthy conscious)

You may have more than one target customer group.

• Age

• Gender

• Location

• Income

• Occupation

• Education level

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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

• Out-of-home

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

How do you plan to set prices? Keep in mind that few small businesses can compete on price without hurting their

profit margins. Instead of offering the lowest price, is it better to go with an average price and compete 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 .

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Location or proposed 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:

• Convenient location for customers

• Adequate parking for employees and customers

• Proximity to public transportation or major roads

• Type of space (industrial, retail, etc.)

• Types of businesses nearby

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