sample business plan

sample business plan

Developing a Successful Business Plan

1. Executive Summary

Primarily, this business plan is intended to be read by a passerby or investor. Primarily we are trying to sell the idea of our company and of us as business people. The reader will be looking for evidence or confidence in the people who are going to be running the business. Sections in the business plan should build on each other and hence uphold the reader’s concept of our business. All the way through, we have to try to answer any questions that the reader may have had while reading our plan. Many times we can provide links to other sections in the plan to help uphold this. An example would be in the second section “Developing Your Product”. Here we can relate a part of the product to a marketing strategy. This marketing strategy could be located in the promotion section of the plan. Always refer the reader to this later section of the plan, which would suggest that this plan was logically written and thought out, and creating yet more confidence in the reader.

In most cases, the executive summary will be considered the first chapter in the business plan. This is where you will state the “mission statement” for the plan. In the summary, you will want to keep your points to a minimum and instead focus on the mission for your business and the business philosophy. The basic points to include in your summary would be: business name, location, expectations of growth, a brief description of the service or product that applies to the mission, aims and objectives, and finally a persuasive argument as to why the plan writer is the right person or team to bring this plan to fruition. Always keep the executive summary at around 1-2 pages in length. Be aware the reader will more than likely be pushed for time, so this is your final chance to persuade this person to read on!

2. Company Description

Our clothing is very professional for the work environment, yet comfortable and stylish. Ten years of customer surveys and feedback led us to believe that the working class is dying for this style of clothing. Too many men are tired of wearing a suit and tie and making too much of an effort, yet they want to stray away from the typical jeans and t-shirt. The new line will be a breath of fresh air for men in the work environment looking for the perfect blend of style and comfort. The potential of this new line is limitless. Men from all types of professions are in need of nice work attire. It’s required in so many professions for employees to dress nicely, yet at the same time, it isn’t casual enough to wear the traditional t-shirt and jeans. From teachers to businessmen to doctors and much more, this clothing can be worn all year round for any casual work attire. This also includes a large array of customers. With both a male and female line, there is potential around the world with so many different cultures and work environments. Last but not least, it is no secret that women love shopping! With a successful male line, the addition of a female line the following year will likely double the success in sales and revenue.

Our design team is developing a clothing line that complements the usual line of professional work attire. This new line will be known as business casual. The new line will include polos, sweaters, casual button downs, and khakis and is focused around middle-upper class men aged 25-50, whether single or married, with or without children. This line is designed for in-store and online shopping. All features of the new line will carry into one year later when we will introduce the female line for women.

3. Market Analysis

The second way to segment the market is to ascertain the number of people who wish to visit the countries in which we will operate. This information can be taken from travel industry statistics. One of the key driving factors for people choosing activity holidays, particularly skiing and snowboarding, is the quality of the resort. We can use some of the information from the previous paragraph here to see the types of people who want to specifically do these activities. By compiling these figures, we should gain a good indication of the number of people who are interested in the location of their ideal activity holiday.

Looking first at the specific activities that we will offer, we must assess the number of people who currently partake in these activities. One way to do this is to look at the UK sports industry to access the number of people who are interested in, for example, skiing or snowboarding. This information is readily available and not too expensive. Anything above these figures must be taken with a pinch of salt. We can then look at the specific people’s previous adventure holidays and the type of activity that they did during this time. By combining these two factors, we can assess how many active holiday types are currently available. This should give a good indication of potential activity-specific customers.

Having just identified the gap in the market for a new travel company, it is important to look at the market in order to segment the market for adventure holidays. We can do this in two separate ways: looking at those who are interested in the activities that we will offer, and also those who wish to go to specific locations.

4. Marketing and Sales Strategy

The primary goal of the marketing and sales section of your business plan is to outline just how you intend to make your service or product and bring it to your customers. The marketing portion of this section will detail where the customers are (where you can find them), what they’re thinking about, and how you can persuade them to purchase from you. The sales portion of this section is a bit simpler for businesses that have consumers make a purchase immediately and then buy again at a later date. In general, for your business, this portion of the marketing and sales is about converting customers into paying customers. At each step in this plan, we will offer the customer or the product free holiday food or desire product. Then we will describe Santa’s follow-up after each step. This is a crucial point: Santa will constantly make use of the fact that his post-customers have received personalized letters from Santa Claus in the past to remind them that their children would smile and treasure a personalized letter from Santa. This, along with customers’ past positive results, will often lead to repeat purchases of the product.

5. Financial Projections

In the case of Karl and Jacky, they decided to utilize their personal savings that they had accumulated while working in their respective fields. Additionally, they discussed and had different opinions on secondary financial levers such as the possibility of contract or part-time work. To assess the potential expenses associated with these options, they used a decision tree. This allowed them to map out the probability and potential events that could occur for each option, along with the related costs. The decision tree is a straightforward and intuitive method to calculate specific possible costs and consider the conditions that may impact a business’s operations over time.

The section “5. Financial Projections” focuses on estimating start-up costs for a business. This process can be challenging as it depends on various factors such as the size and type of the business. To ensure accuracy, it is recommended to adopt a bottom-up approach. This involves creating an inventory of all the necessary items needed to start operations at a basic level and then researching the potential cost of each item. For example, this could include estimating the cost of a computer, phone line, renting space, or consulting fees. By thoroughly evaluating the needed start-up capital using this approach, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions.