Once you present a business plan to an investor or lender, questions may begin to fly at you. If this happens, do not be alarmed! It is evidence that they are truly interested in your business. You can prepare for these questions by running through potential questions, like these seven, ahead of time.

“Why did you choose to begin with this target market?”

“We have to start somewhere” is not a great answer. Consider why the costs are lower or returns greater with your chosen first target market, or, better yet, how tackling that market first will make entry into additional markets easier later on.

“Why can’t competitors imitate your competitive advantage?”

Know the strengths, weaknesses, and branding of your competitors to understand what will stand in their way from doing what you are doing. It could be that your competitive advantage is contradictory to what they are trying to do or that you have protected intellectual property in your business, for example.

“Why is your team best qualified to launch this company?”

Funders know that there are potential managers in the job market who could be hired to run a startup like yours. Know how your chosen team combines industry, functional, and leadership experience with an understanding of startups.

“What best practices of the industry will your business use?”

Study best practices companies in the industry use to become more efficient and know which will translate into your startup, which can be implemented only as you grow, and which will not be possible because of their conflict with your underlying strategy.

“What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?”

If someone asks what makes your new business unique, you had better have an answer. This should be stated explicitly in the business plan.

“What would it take to reach break even sooner?”

Be prepared to defend the time you estimate it will take for the company to break even and to start making a profit. If funders want to see you break even sooner, know what it would take in terms of different staff, additional resources, or increased investment, but do not be too quick to push your schedule up. This only shows funders that your estimates were based on flimsy assumptions to begin with.

“What are your projections of growth based on?”

Be able to explain the assumptions about the market and your company’s conversion rates (of potential customers to actual customers, for example) which led to your projections of growth. You should know how your projections compare to other success stories in your industry and in other industries so you can be sure there is precedent for the growth you anticipate.

Are you at a point with your business where you just don’t know what to do next?
Do you have a business plan?
How about a growth business plan?

Have you looked at a lot of different ways to grow your business and nothing seems to work?

The right growth business plan could be your answer. If a growth business plan is done the right way it may open up some opportunities you have never thought about before. A growth business plan can be developed many different ways but I would like to discuss a growth business plan that you may have never thought about.

Here is the way I would encourage you to set up a growth business plan:

• Do some dreaming about what you would like your lifestyle to be
• By dreaming decide on an average income you would like to have over the next few years
• Decide how many years out you would like your plan to cover
• Decide how much profit you would like for your business to generate above the income you want for yourself.
• Set up a profit and loss statement of your existing business or your proposed business
• With the right business knowledge and a profit and loss statement you can actually use that data to see what your business would need to do for you to give you that income and profit
• Even better you can determine what size market you would need and even determine whether your market would support your business presently and in the future.

To me a small business is one of the best things you can have if you enjoy operating a business; however, it does require a lot more than just enjoying ownership and running a business. Especially if you are starting a small business and even if you have had a business for many years, you should know what you want for your future. Never guess about your business. You see, without a plan, you are just guessing. We business people work hard and we always continue to hope for the best but when we guess, we’re taking a lot of risks. You’ve probably heard the old saying from an unknown author that says, “If you fail to plan, then plan to fail.”

As a matter of fact, did you know that the Small Business Administration says that 50% of small business owners will fail sometime during their first 5 years? There are lots of reasons but one big one is that owners don’t have a plan. Another is they have picked a product or service that doesn’t have a big enough market to sustain their business and sometime during their future they will run out of customers.

Now as I said, there are many other reasons too.

After graduating from college, I started out in manufacturing as an engineer in a pretty large company and now, 45 years later, retiring as a of Director of Manufacturing, I have discovered an awful lot about business. Not only did I learn and teach a lot about business, I worked with small business owners as well. I’ve learned that it comes down to this. Too many owners work hard in their business but less on their business.

Do you work on your business as much as you work in your business? Do you ever dream about having a good lifestyle but just haven’t quite figured out what to do about it. Have you ever thought about seeing what your business would need to do to give you those dreams? Developing a growth business plan could be the answer.

So, why should you make a growth business plan? Well in simple terms you need to know where you’re going and how and when you’re going to get there.

Some of the questions a growth business plan might ask you are:

– Are you comfortable that the market wants and is willing to buy your product or service?
– Is your product or service priced so it is competitive in your market?
– What’s different about your product or service? Why would a customer purchase it over someone else’s?
– Is your market big enough to support your business? What about 15 years into the future?
– If you wanted a better lifestyle, what would your business need to do to give you that lifestyle?
– How much sales would your business need to generate to give you that income?
– How much sales would your business need to generate to give you the income you want 15 years into the future?
– What will be the cost of your labor and material?
– What will your expenses run?
– How much will it cost to overcome the capacity constraints that will occur as your business grows to meet your income requirements?
– Will your profit give you the income you want in the future and at the same time maintain a healthy business for you as well?

If you develop a good Profit & Loss Statement for your existing business for the current year or for the first year of your proposed business, you can use this data to actually project how much sales you would need to yield the income you want and the profit margin you want. You can plan ahead as far as you want. Sound impossible? It’s actually pretty simple and can be pretty accurate plan.

A plan like this would show you how much sales your business would need to do, what your fixed and variable expenses would be, what your material cost, labor cost and profit would need to be to provide the income and profit margin you want. You can see pretty quickly if it’s possible for you to get your business to that level. I don’t know of any better way than to have your business give you the income and profit you want. What’s neat is you can determine what you want your income to be and your profit to be over the next few years and develop a plan that can show you exactly what your business would need to do to give you that income and profit.

And with just a little more data you can actually determine how many customers you would need for each year you plan for and how many leads you would need. From that you can actually determine what size market you would need and whether your market is big enough to supply those leads that could be converted into customers.

Learn more about how to develop a growth business plan. Visit http://www.StrategicBusinessSolutionsLLC.com

Making the decision to start up your own small business can be one of the biggest choices you make in your life. Running a business takes serious commitment, and a lot of hard work, and isn’t a decision that should be entered into lightly, but if you have decided that this is definitely the route for you, then writing up your business plan is one of the first things you need to consider.

Your business plan will lay out in detail exactly what you want to achieve, and how you plan on doing it, the more detailed your plan is the better. You will need this plan not only for yourself, but also for your bank if you are going to be applying for financial help to start your business, so make sure it is written professionally, as the bank won’t be impressed if you turn up with coffee stained scraps of paper with a few ideas jotted down.

• The first thing you need to make obvious within your business plan is exactly what your business will do, what products or services you will be offering, how you will offer these to customers (online, by phone or from a shop etc), and how you will approach the pricing. Clearly defining your business in this way will make it easier for the bank to decide if you are viable for a loan. It will also help you in the long run as you will know exactly where you are heading.
• Think about who your customers will be, it is essential to have a clear idea of who you are marketing your products or services to so you can promote your business effectively. Questions to ask yourself may be; Are your customers young or old? What are their lifestyles like? How will you market your business to them? The more information you have regarding your potential customers the better.
• Choosing a name for your new business is essential, and you should put a lot of consideration into this. The name should suit your business and reflect the image you wish to portray. Look online and check if there are any businesses already using this name or something very similar, you can do this by going on a website registry site and typing in the name you wish to use. Try to choose a name that isn’t too long and can be easily remembered.
• If you are going to need to take on staff include this in your plan, as this will be an extra expense you will need to think of. Also you will need to familiarise yourself with employment laws.

These are just a few of the things to consider when starting your business plan. Remember your plan isn’t set in stone, as your company grows you may need to adjust areas, or add sections you hadn’t thought of before.

One thing to remember is that to be successful in setting up a new business you need to be flexible and realistic