For more information contact:
James W. Wolfson, PhD.,MBA, CPA
610 Philadelphia Avenue
Chambersburg, Pennsylvania 17201
Tel (717)(263-0531) FAX (717)709-1143
Email: wolfson.james@gmail.com
Section 1 - Overview and Plan Objectives
Objectives of business plan / current situation analysis in the
marketplace
What the business wants (in terms of time goals, profit goals,
productivity goals, and required financing) Break financing into large segments
– startup, pilot testing, operations, progress monitoring, etc.
Brief description of business opportunities (including overview
of client/customer needs to be served)
Obstacles to be overcome
How client/customer needs (in detail, hopefully, based on
research described below) are to be served by the business.
Brief Description of business resources (all, including human,
financial, and intangible)
Be sure to answer these questions at the outset: where is
your seed money? What is it for? Then, where is the collateral? If you
don’t have this funding, do not continue with this plan until you raise it.
The following section requires you to write a paragraph summary for each
succeeding topic.
Section 2 – Experience and Capabilities
Principals
Partners, Community Partners
Current Business Accomplishments
Related Past Businesses, their accomplishments
Work Force Experience and Capabilities
Business Assets
Create summaries for each topic here.
Section 3 – Marketing Plan and Forecast
Statement of marketing objectives
Market research (must demonstrate need for proposed services)
Description of opportunity in the marketplace, including building the case for
why
people will say,
“I would be an absolute fool to do business with anyone but you, regardless of
price.”
Analysis of competitive environment – Exactly how is this business
better?
This must be seen through the eyes of the potential client/consumer
Develop Marketing Strategy In Terms of Major Variables
Product/Service
Price
Distribution
Advertising
Personal Selling
The focus of this section is strategy, but your spirit matters, too. You must
have the burning desire to make all your communications in the appropriate
variety of media come alive, reach out and grab prospects and make them want to
listen to the message. Simply do your best to create the following forecasts.
This is best done with numbers and narratives from your marketing
plan. Your narratives will be critically analyzed,
so pay heed to the first two sentences of this paragraph. This effort will be
finalized in the pro forma financial statements in Section 6.
5-year Sales Forecast
Matching 5-year Resources Forecast (divided into variable
expenses-those that vary with sales and fixed expenses-those that do not change
over long periods)
Matching 5-year Operating Budget (sales, variable and fixed
expenses monthly over the first 12 months, quarterly over
years 2 and 3, and annually over years 4 and
5.
Contingency Plan and Budget Ramifications
Financing Requirements
These are mechanical variables that must reflect the
marketing strategy and some realistic assumptions about its impact in the
marketplace. You really need to make your case here.
Section 4 - Development Plan ( Execution of Marketing Strategy)
Expected growth of demand and how your business will meet it
Detail of expenditures
Describe new facilities
Describe new personnel
Describe new product line or services
Describe new anything else
Advertising and promotion
Advertising and promotion provides the means for the marketplace to buy the
product or service. It must involve a systematic process that continuously
nurtures prospects and gives them enough information on a consistent basis so
that, when they finally become ready, they instantly, automatically choose your
product or service.
Other expenditures to execute marketing strategy
Section 4 must be based on realistic projections about
marketing the product or service and the acquisition of the resources that will
make it possible.
Section 5 – Plan of Action
Create your detailed
Plan of Action
here, complete with its financial implications. The plan of action details the
resources (intellectual, research, human. and physical resources you will use,
in your business development, in a specified, phased order. The phases usually
involved initial market research and marketing plan, gathering of potential
resources, determination of pre-operation activities costs and financing,
determination and sourcing of all resources needed for operations and their cost
and financing, the incurrence of revenue and the cost of operations, the cost of
monitoring and special maintenance, and the cost of new product or service
research and development. The plan should be written out in a stepwise manner
in chronological order. It should include a timetable for your progression.
Section 6 – Pro Forma Financial Statements
The
Pro Forma Financial Statements
are constructed on a spreadsheet that Wolfsons provides. They include, in line
item form: Your marketing plan costs, adding all of the support necessary to
execute it. Sales forecasts (from above), Variable expenses, fixed expenses, and
profit or surplus monthly for 12 months, quarterly for years 2 and 3 and
annually for years 4 and 5)
Cash Flows, and Balance Sheets) for at least 3 years
Present detailed notes to support each statement’s line item (from Plan of
Action)
Also:
Make available all Relevant Past or Ancillary Financial Statements and Tax
Returns
Develop and present a Sensitivity Analysis on all critical input factors (sales,
costs, expenses, interest rates, debt characteristics, equity characteristics)
Section 7 - Valuation of Business Assets
Present appraised values of tangible and intangible assets
Present evidence of contracts and covenants
The final step is to match your needs to the appropriate financing source. Wolfsons
is available for counseling on that issue. Writing a business plan is, of
course, of indispensable value in its own right, but the usual objective is to
obtain financing.
