An essential tool for the entrepreneur, the business plan or “business plan” describes the key points of your business creation project and proves its solidity over the long term. How to build an effective business plan? What points to address to better convince? Discover our guide to assist you in drafting your business plan.
What is a business plan for?
- The writing of the business plan marks the realization of your project. After the stages of market research and the choice of legal status , the business plan brings together all the concrete aspects of creating or taking over a business.
It allows you to structure your project by addressing all the major questions to anticipate. A well-constructed business plan is insurance against unpleasant surprises.
Like a roadmap, it highlights a solid and well-thought-out project. It is a benchmark to know where you are going.
- In addition to marking the path of the entrepreneur, creating a business plan is also used to raise funds and convince your contacts: investors, partners, suppliers , professional networks.
The content of the business plan: examples of points to be addressed
A solid and convincing business plan is built in stages by taking the time to explore certain key questions in depth. For this, the structure of your business plan is essential. Our eworldtrade business plan template shows you the 5 essential points to address.
The presentation of the project
Your business plan should start with what is called an “executive summary”.
This summary of two pages maximum outlines your project. Written after you have completed your business plan, it aims to make your readers’ mouths water to make them want to know more about your project.
- Then, we get to the heart of the matter with the first step of the business plan: the presentation of the project . Its function is to expose the basics of your project.
The following elements must be presented:
- Your activity and your sector of activity: it is important to be as specific as possible. For example, for a restaurant , specify whether you offer meals to take away or to eat on site, the number of services provided per week, the chef’s specialties, etc.
- The values of your structure: choose the values that describe your company (ethics, solidarity, ecological…). Other elements to develop, the vision of your company as well as its mission ;
- Your profile and the members of your team: present their background, their experience and their strengths. The idea is to highlight their complementarily and the skills they will bring to the company. Don’t forget to enter your route as well.
To go further on the presentation of the business plan
Which business plan model to use?
Market research
Market research is an analysis of your market. The purpose of market research is to show that your product or service meets a real demand in the market. In other words, there must be a match between supply and demand!
Example: you want to open a traveling food-truck selling pizzas in a seaside resort. Your business meets the needs of your future customers: eat on the go at any time of the day and without going too far from the beach. There is no similar service around because the restaurant owners only offer pizzas at mealtimes. You have to wait a long time to eat and get to the city center which is a bit remote.
In summary, the market study evokes:
- Market analysis;
- Trends observed in the market;
- The constraints and regulations of your sector of activity (obligation to obtain a professional qualification or an authorization to practice, etc.);
- The location of your establishment (seaside terrace, town center, shopping center, etc.);
- The profile of your future clients in detail (age group, socio-professional category, geographical area, etc.);
- Your competitors : the goal is to clearly identify them and show how you will differentiate yourself from them;
- You’re positioning and your competitive advantage: Positioning is how you will approach the market in relation to your competitors. It goes hand in hand with the notion of competitive advantage, that is to say your little “extra thing”. Examples of competitive advantages: a patent, technical know-how, a very low price, partnerships with recognized brands, superior product quality, etc.
The economic part of the business plan
By relying on the study of your market, your target and the existing competition, you will be able to establish your business model or economic model.
- The latter is to explain how the company will make money. There are several types of business models : relying on advertising to generate income, building a subscription system or simply selling your products.
- We often use the 4 Ps method (also called mix-marketing) to concretely define the company’s commercial strategy:
- Price: the pricing policy (price range, formulas, sliding scale prices, etc.);
- Product: the catalog of products and their characteristics;
- Place (distribution): the company’s distribution strategy, i.e. the way in which the company distributes its products (shop, resellers, website, etc.);
- Promotion (communication): the communication strategy.
- These elements must be coherent and flow from each other so that the company can develop its activity. Nobody wants to buy socks three times the price if the quality is not there!
- It is at this moment that it will also be necessary to develop the communication strategy and the marketing strategy of the company. These allow you to promote your business. You need to explain how the business will attract and retain customers. You will also have to think about your brand image (logo, sales pitch, etc.).
