9 Strategies for Crafting a Better Business Plan

Creating a solid business plan can feel overwhelming, but it's essential to creating strategic plans and being ready in case of unexpected events. 

To help your SME clients start their business with a solid foundation, here are essential tips for better business planning:  

Have a Well-Researched Framework 

A good business plan begins with a background containing two parts:  

• an external one elaborating on the state of the industry where your business belongs, bolstered by market research, and information on your target audience and your competitors, and  
• an internal one focusing on your company’s organizational structure, financial reports, and other relevant information that will enable you to understand how your business is currently performing. 

This is where the importance of research and data kicks in. Using data to drive your framework provides you with a reliable foundation for your business plan. 

Understand Your Business Goals 

Once you gain a better understanding of your business idea, you should be able to identify the needs of the company. More importantly, it should set a direction for your business.  

These goals must also be clearly defined in the executive summary and throughout the business plan to increase its feasibility within a given time. 

Set Realistic Deadlines 

Coming up with a timeline that plots your deadlines for specific goals and issues to be addressed significantly helps keep your business plan on track. Deadlines should always be consistent with your business goals. Be sure to properly gauge and estimate the number of weeks or months assigned to meet your objectives. 

Create Feasible Strategies 

Keep in mind that a great business strategy bridges the gap between the reality and the target you have in mind (in this case, your entrepreneurial goals). Creating feasible strategies appears frequently in the advice and tips provided by strategic planning professionals in creating better business plans. 

Your strategies should consider your current resources, projected gains, and other means that will help you attain your goals, including your competitive advantage, and your vulnerabilities towards achieving them. 

Pursuing these goals means discussing operations with the people involved such as the key stakeholders, partners, and implementing staff for accurate, experience-based knowledge. You can also use these pertinent data to your advantage by plotting them out strategically in your operational plan, a critical part of your business plan. 

Make Plans within Your Means 

Your detailed strategy should go hand-in-hand with the assets that your company owns. It’s always important to weave your ideas with your available resources such as your business capital, manpower, and existing facilities, making sure every product or service offered has been thoroughly planned for within the business plan. 

Keep in Mind the Risks 

One key tip in better business planning is to always consider the risks in every step of your operational plan. This is the main reason why you must take into consideration potential business problems and devise solutions ahead of time. Additionally, you can assess your vulnerabilities and make sure to do everything you can in order to minimize your business risks. 

Conduct Regular Assessments of Your Plan 

Just like a growing business, you should treat your strategy as something dynamic and flexible. It should be subject to review and be adaptive to the changes that may come along the way. This implies including this process in the written document as part of ongoing strategic planning activities. 

RELATED: Know Your Business' Strengths & Weaknesses with a SWOT Analysis Report 

Make Your Plan Cohesive 

A good business plan should not exceed 50 pages and needs to be cohesive to keep stakeholders and all the members of your organization focused on the goals of the business and the role that they are going to play in this type of business. 

Follow Through with Implementation 

Finally, the success of your business plan can only be measured by the degree to which it has been properly put into action. As such, you need to make serious efforts to ensure the strict implementation of your business plans, which is crucial to gaining that competitive advantage. 

From understanding how to write a business plan to following through with implementation, these points ensure a much-needed surge in your annual profits. Are you ready to revamp your business plan to include all necessary parts of your business for success? 

Need a Professional to Strengthen Your Financial Strategy? 

Whether you're revising your existing business plan or starting fresh, the importance of a solid financial strategy cannot be overstated. As a trusted finance and accounting provider with over a decade of experience, D&V Philippines can guide you towards the best approach to achieve your financial goals. Contact us today to start your journey towards financial success. 

You may also read our whitepaper, Your Talent Sourcing Partner, to find out how D&V Philippines, a trusted finance and accounting outsourcing expert, can help you access top talent to guide you towards the best approach.      

This article was first published on 15 January 2015 and updated on 19 June 2024. Edited by: Angelica Garcia