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Writing A Business Plan What Makes A Good One
Description: Writing a business plan can be a lot of hard work or it can be great fun. An effective plan can help your company to greatness. A poor one can lead you out of business. No plan is like asking to fail before you even start. Not every business needs a 200 page bound business plan. However every business needs to have some idea of where they want to go and how they are going to get there. This article covers some key insights into writing a business plan that get your business to where you want to be. The first stage of any plan is ANALYSIS. You need to take a very objective look at a number of factors that may impact your business. There are many factors to consider but the two major ones are competition and your operating environment. Let’s look first at competition. Every business has competition, even if you think your product or service is unique. How is this? Well it’s quite simple really, people have choices to make. The most fundamental choice they make in most cases is whether to buy what you offer or but something else. For example I could buy a game console or I could buy groceries instead. Customers only have so much money available so you first task is to ask yourself what is my competition like and can I beat them? The more you understand your competition the more you can develop your business strategy of being different and outperforming them. Now let’s look at operating environment. This understands what factors around your area of operation are likely to affect your business performance. For some companies this includes looking around the World in other cases it’s just your local neighborhood. You need to ask questions such as: How is the economy going? What is consumer confidence like? Where is technology heading in my industry? After answering all the questions you need to decide how these might negatively or positively influence your performance. Now you know more about your competition and operating environment it’s time to set some OBJECTIVES. This is what you want to achieve in the period your business plan covers. It is said that good objectives are SMART. That is specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and targeted. Here’s an example of a SMART objective for a hypothetical business. “By the end of this year we will have increased sales of product X by 7.5% over the previous year.” You can see how clear this objective is. It is much easier to achieve high performance with clear objectives. Now you need to outline your STRATEGY. How are you going to reach you objective(s)? This is where your marketing plan often comes in as it helps describe the programs you will run to achieve your desired objective(s). To continue the example above our strategy may be to gain distribution for our product in one new major retail chain. To make your strategy work you must then allocate appropriate RESOURCES. Certain things will need to be provided to reach your goal. This could be dollars, people, equipment, etc. Your plan must have included the resources you are allocating and why you believe this is adequate to get the result. Every business plans also has some PROJECTIONS. This is your basic financials that you plan will deliver. Are you expecting a profit or loss? How much? Lastly you need to allow for CONTINGENCIES. Things change all the time and your plan needs to consider these possibilities in advance. A good way to do this is to ask What if? What if a new competitor enters our market? What if a distributor delists our product? What if interest rates rise? Your analysis should give you some idea of likely contingencies. It saves a lot of stress if you have some documented ideas for dealing with them before they become a big problem. Writing a business plan is never perfect, the plan is on paper and you’re operating in the real world. However a good plan can really guide you in the right direction. Take time to put real thought into preparing your plan an above all make sure you USE YOUR PLAN!
Added on: 09-Mar-2008 Hits: 6
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Vibratory part/parts feeders - vibratory feeder bowl/bowls - hoppers, conveyors - spring separators
Description: Carter Enterprises, Inc. is a designer and manufacturer of hand-crafted vibratory part feeders and automation equipment, both stock and custom, for service in the printing, automotive, pharmaceutical, food, appliance, and general logistics industries.
Added on: 10-Aug-2006 Hits: 36
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USA VIDEO INTERACTIVE
Description: USVO is a developer and supplier of Internet media delivery services, systems, and innovative end-to-end solutions. The Company developed its MediaSentinel™ digital watermarking technology and its StreamHQ™ architecture to provide a wide range of business customers with value-added media delivery services. USVO holds the pioneering patent for store-and-forward video, filed in 1990 and issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office on July 14, 1992; it has been cited by at least 165 other patents. USVO holds similar patents in Germany, Canada, England, France, Spain, Italy, and Japan
Added on: 13-May-2005 Hits: 180
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Unified Credit Services - Repair Your Credit Report. Improve Your FICO Score. Fix Bad Credit.
Description: Unified Credit Services leverages your consumer rights and our experience to engage the credit bureaus and your individual creditors. We work on your behalf to remove questionable negative items from your credit reports, ultimately improving your credit score. We pride ourselves in our commitment to not only providing quick and efficient service, but also to maintaining our reputation for honest and direct approach to our customers' needs.
Added on: 07-Apr-2008 Hits: 10 Rating: 10 (1 Vote)
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UHN President and CEO, Dr. Robert Bell to Deliver Opening Keynote at Health Technologies Conference
Description: December 20, 2007 – Toronto, Canada – Dr. Robert Bell, president and CEO of the University Health Network will be keynoting at the 2008 Government and Health Technologies Conference and Expo, being hosted April 15 & 16, 2008 at the Design Exchange in Toronto Canada
Added on: 16-Jan-2008 Hits: 27
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Translation Services
Description: Translation Services - Your source for quality language translation service on the Web.
Added on: 13-Jun-2005 Hits: 103
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TopBuildingJobs.com
Description: TopBuildingJobs.com is the leading online resource for job seekers searching for commercial construction jobs and residential home building jobs. Job seekers can search thousands of open positions posted by home builders, developers, and construction employers.
Added on: 07-Nov-2006 Hits: 90
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thebuynsell.com
Description: Thebuynsell.com is an online marketplace where members can sell items for a small fee of 50 cents. New members reiceve a $5.00 sign up bonus and membership is 100% free.
Added on: 23-May-2008 Hits: 12
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TheBizStation, Inc
Description: TheBizStation, Inc., consulting center for legal, accounting, marketing, information technology, human resources, office support and administration.
Added on: 30-Sep-2006 Hits: 58
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The original idea about saving fresh water with the means from advertisers was brought by unknown ch
Description: Most experts think that the lack of drinking water will lead to a global crisis in the nearest time. The original idea about saving fresh water with the means from advertisers was brought by unknown chemists.
Added on: 16-Jan-2008 Hits: 20
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