What Are The Different Types Of Business Plans?
Setting up a business isn’t just about investing capital and hiring people to do specific jobs. It requires a business plan that you can follow as a roadmap to help a business grow, accomplishing each of its milestones as it progresses. A good business plan keeps track of all aspects and accounts for contingencies and strategies to opt for in different situations to keep the business afloat. Knowing all the different types of business plans and how to use them can effectively help achieve the said goals.
What is a Business Plan?
A business plan is a set of objectives, strategies and an overview of a company’s goal that it can resort to at every intersection of growth. It helps businesses navigate the countless obstacles that might come in the way, helps create strategies and contingency plans for different situations, and marks future financial requirements. Without a business plan, even the most brilliant businesses can get lost. Let’s check out the various business plans you should know about.
Lean Plan
As the name suggests, a lean plan is a concise set of strategies, tactics, milestones, sales forecast, cash flow, activities, dates, and other verticals a business would need. It cuts all the waste elements and instead uses a value-added approach to the management of a company with consistent tracking and monitoring along the way. It helps businesses with course correction that enables them to stay on the right path to growth with tactics and specific parameters to measure the progress. All in all, it is a no-fuss business plan.
Start up Plan
A start-up plan is the crux of an enterprise just starting. The initial plan of action is that companies construct to find a path and grow the business from scratch. A start up plan describes an executive summary, an overview of the company, what value it adds, market evaluation, start up costs, cash flows and other essential details. Companies can adjust as and when they progress in the business.
Strategic Plan
A strategic plan for a business describes the strategies it will follow to obtain the objectives and goals it was established for. It includes company vision, mission, key factors that will help a business succeed, and all other details that can help sustain a business in any situation, such as a pandemic.
A SWOT analysis is often performed in the strategic plan to determine the traits mentioned above that companies can use to adjust the plan accordingly. The goal is to produce a potentially positive outcome by combating challenges.
Feasibility Plan
A feasibility plan is usually constructed to know the feasibility of any venture, be it a project, product or business. It includes crowd-sourced data analysis to find if a company can sustain itself in the current market or if a product can sell and churn out profits. A feasibility plan usually takes metrics, such as target audience, product and service in question, capital required, and others, to account for testing out feasibility in the current market so a product or a business can be launched.
Growth Plan
Also known as an expansion plan, a growth plan is utilized when a company looks to expand. The plan can be raised for internal or external purposes, each with different requirements that need to be addressed in the plan. If a company seeks to raise capital, it must introduce the management team, company description and other details. The business looking to expand with no capital requirement often relies on expense projections and other data.
Of course, these aren’t the only business plans available for your business. Many others can help you attain success in your endeavours. However, you need a mentor that can guide you through. Don Vierboom at Four Tree Coaching is a renowned business consultant that can help you construct the best business plans and adhere to them in different scenarios. With 35+ years of experience, we have transformed hundreds of businesses from scratch to multi-million dollar valuations.