10 Keys to Success in Business Planning

Engage in Business Planning

Ready to look for a shortcut around the business

planning process?

You may want to reconsider.

Engage in Business Planning

Business planning has many benefits. The process forces you to think through issues that you might otherwise avoid.

As the saying goes, “you can’t hit a target you don’t see.”

Learn how to hit the target with our Strategic Planning Basics.

10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful

The Center for Business Modeling wants to help. We’ve identified 10 ways marketers can make their business planning much more successful.

10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful

1. Start early – be proactive, not reactive. Start planning well before you are ready to implement the plan.

2. Start small and iterate often – Launch your ventures with a minimum viable product (MVP) or service (MVS). Practice the principle of “fail fast and move on”.

10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful

3. Don’t spend major time on minor issues – Don’t spend countless hours trying to calculate trivial matters like what titles to give the founding team. As an entrepreneur, your time is precious – invest it wisely.

4. Focus on your differentiation – If you are using the business plan to attract investors, partners, or employees, ensure that it is not a “me too” type plan. State how you are different from the competition in terms of products, expertise, target audience, etc.

10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful

5. Make sure your numbers are realistic – Resist the temptation to wildly exaggerate your financial projections. Investors know the difference between a pipe dream and what is achievable.

6. Spend time on your SWOT analysis – SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Understand how you rate against your competition in each of these four areas.

Review a paper on SWOT Analysis on our Resources page!

10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful

7. Define your mission, vision and objectives – Don’t neglect to talk about these important subjects early in the business plan. Everything you write and every action you take should be based on supporting these.

8. Specify the necessary actions to achieve objectives – A business plan is for more than outcomes – it is a specific roadmap to success.

10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful

9. Focus on critical metrics – Every business plan should showcase the specific measurements that will be used to evaluate ongoing performance and the means to track and monitor results.

10. Identify assumptions, risks and contingencies –Investors love to see flexibility. Business owners should realize that the marketplace and buyer preferences are continually changing. Identify the potential barriers early and plan accordingly.

Keys to Success in Business Planning

The complete version of this article can be found at: centerforbusinessmodeling.com

About the Center for Business Modeling

CBM is the leading provider of proprietary software and planning tools. We offer an online peer group of subject

matter experts and practical user-friendly resources. Our tools are designed to accelerate your business’s

profitability and growth.

Click here to learn more about the Center for Business ModelingFollow us on Twitter: @Ctr4BizModeling

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/center-for-business-modeling