Business Planning for Business Success



Almost everyone advising on business, talks about the importance of a business plan and the need to prepare one at the outset and for each subsequent year. I am no different. They say that if you fail to plan, you are essentially planning to fail.

As 2009 comes to end, you need to start thinking about your business plan for the 2010 year and embark on the planning process.

Business Planning is a lot more than a budget or a financial forecast. It is a wholistech process which encourages you to look at your business objectively and establish your goals and objectives for the coming year and beyond. As you document these goals and objectives, you are also forced to think about and develop the strategies to achieve these goals.

A common approach to preparing the plan is the ‘now, where, how’ approach.

This requires consideration of three main questions:

1. Now – where is the business now?
2. Where – where do you want the business to be in the short and medium term?
3. How – how are you going to get there?

The following headings provide an outline of a business plan for small to medium enterprises:

1. Market analysis
2. Competitor/SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis
3. Defined goals and objectives, business and personal
4. Marketing plan
5. Organisational and management issues
6. Financial plan
7. Production plan
8. Pricing and distribution Strategies

There are some other important points to keep in mind.

1. The process of preparing the plan is often as important and useful as the final document.
2. The plan is a working document and should be referred to regularly.
3. The planning process continues through the entire life of the business and is not a one-off event.

The business plan for an SME does not need to be an encyclopaedia or a work of art. Nor is it a template that guarantees the success of the business.

The whole process is about making you think about the issues and the challenges and the opportunities you will face once you start the business, so that you develop strategies to deal with the risks and capitalise on the opportunities.

It may be appropriate at various stages to seek expert assistance from accountants, lawyers, business consultants and other specialists. The extent of this assistance will depend on the size and type of business, your own background and experience and your financial constraints.

Prior to starting our business in Dubai, I have been involved with running my own firm for many years in Australia and Pakistan. In case you are wondering, if I prepared a business plan for my business on a regular basis; the answer is yes!

For every one of my 15-plus years in business I prepared a plan and set goals and targets for the financial year – this is the only way I could keep myself focussed and it was a key factor in motivating my team.

It was also a way of measuring our success as a firm from year to year.

Business planning or planning in general is not only for big corporations and multinationals – it is just as important if not more so for SMEs; after all, we do not have the resources or the reserves to survive if things don’t go as they should.

I may also add that a plan being carried around in your head is not a ‘real plan’. A plan must be in writing. And because of the overlap of personal and business issues in the life of owners of SMEs, it is likely that the plan will also cover a lot of personal goals and objectives – and that is how it should be.

So whether you have been in business for ten years or are still thinking about it – the time to prepare a plan is now.