Business plan index

A business plan is something larger than a “mere” marketing plan.

Here you present the whole business: your company, its human resources and skills, its governance, and you compare your marketing plan predicted sales data with costs, cash flow and financial issues, reaching a complete projected financial statement.

Your readers (banks, investors, but also your partners, if you want to have a clear idea of your business’s financial dynamics) will be able to see if the business idea you have created is able to sustain itself, on the basis of realistic hypotheses.

Here you find a business plan index. It is not difficult, but you have to pay attention to make sure its realistic and coherent.

Business plan index (not more than 1-2 pages for each section)
The business idea	Describe your idea and the reasons why you think it is a good one
The company	Describe your company, its owners and their curriculum vitae, its managers and their skills, its governance, its recent performance (if it is not a start-up)
Products and services	Describe the composition of your offer, why it is so, your strategic vision, your recent performance (sales, positioning)
The market	Describe the market as you have done in the marketing plan
Competitive analysis	Copy and paste this analysis from the marketing plan
SWOT	Copy and paste this analysis from the marketing plan
Sales objectives and marketing strategy	Copy and paste this analysis from the marketing plan. Projection will cover 3 years.
Marketing mix	Copy and paste this analysis from the marketing plan
Organization, in general and related to the project	Are there organizational requirements you intend to meet in relation with this project? Perhaps you want to reorganize your sales network? You want to hire Chinese – speaking employees?
Investments	Here you have to insert a clear table with the investments that your project requires, their cost, their depreciation plan, their timing (all in the first year? or in which moment?) and divide them into fixed assets, intangible assets.
Necessary capital and sources	How much money do you need to finance these investments? Where does it come from? How long will it take to you to repay loans? Make a realistic table.
Previsional financial statement	Income statement, profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow.

KEEP IN MIND: THE REAL VALUE OF CREATING A BUSINESS PLAN LIES IN THE PROCESS OF RESEARCHING AND THINKING ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS IN A SYSTEMATIC WAY.THE ACT OF PLANNING HELPS YOU TO LOOK AT YOUR IDEAS CRITICALLY!!!