Case Studies...
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10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Going Into Business
Here are ten key questions that lead to many more. They are designed to help you decide whether going into business is really the right thing for you....
All About Attracting New Clients
A business must make sales to be successful. A new business must attract new clients. You should make a plan to look for prospects, narrow them down and turn them into clients for your business....
All About Branding in your Business Plan
Aspects of a brand – name, logo, colours, slogan, music – should help create a positive impression of your product or company, so that customers buy from you rather than a competitor. You need to be c...
All About Building for Growth
A business that wants to achieve growth must sell more to new customers and new markets. Cutting costs, increasing prices and selling to current customers all have limitations. The key to a business b...
All About Business Ownership
Business plans define business ownership and organisational structure. Here we see the different types of business, how they are set up and what they mean for the owners....
All About Business Plan Strategies
Strategies help set the direction for a business, being broad statements of direction and focus. Based on the company’s vision and values they provide a basis for key decisions....
Basic Costs to Run a Business
Although a new business might not be able to forecast all its future costs, it should at least consider as many of the visible costs as possible. However, as well as the costs you can see, there are a...
Bookkeeping and Accounts
Most new business owners do not relish the task of bookkeeping. Yet accurate accounts are something that cannot and should not be avoided. Good financial records will help you keep your business under...
Business Organisations Explained
The way a business is set up, and its structure is important information for potential investors to understand. The business plan should contain an outline of this information....
Business Plan: Operational Details
A business plan should include a section on operational details. It should give an indication of the physical set-up of the business, how and where the product will be made, the equipment needed, and ...
Business Plan: What do you Produce?
What your business produces, or what it does, may be slightly different in reality from what you started out as, and what your headlines say. Behind the scenes, there’s a lot more going on. What does ...
Business Plan: Cash flow Analysis
A business plan should contain an indication of projected cash flow for the first three years to demonstrate that cash flow will be under control. Beyond that, cash flow analysis should be performed r...
Business Plan: Marketing
To run a successful business you need people to buy your product or service and for them to do that they need to be aware of your business and attract them to buy. This is why a marketing plan is esse...
Business Plan: Measuring Actual vs. Forecast
The business plan should contain forecasts and measurable objectives against which you can measure what actually happens. The plan sets the direction for the business, and the objectives set targets. ...
Business Planning Problems and How to Get Round Them
Your business plan is critical to the success of your business. However, writing a business plan can be problematical. Here we look at a few possible problems, and give some advice on how to conquer t...
Defining the Organisational Structure
Defining the organisational structure is important in any business so that people know their roles, and anyone reading the business plan knows who will runs the business, and how....
Effectively Completing the Operations Plan
A business plan should contain an operations plan describing the nuts and bolts of the physical side of the business. This includes machinery and plant, and the premises and location of the business, ...
Estimated Profit and Loss for the Next 3-5 Years
Forecasting profit and loss for future years is a difficult exercise, but makes a crucial appendix to the business plan. The amount of finance investors are prepared to put into the business could dep...
Four Rule Breakers Who Made it Big: A Case Study
What are the business rules? Do you have to abide by them? Here we look at four successful business people who have not been afraid to be innovative and break the rules....
How to Create a Marketing Plan
Your marketing plan is developed from your marketing strategy. It should be based around your customers, both existing and new. You should strive to keep customers as well as gain new ones. Monitor an...
How to Manage Existing Clients
Managing your existing clients is vital to the success of your business. You want to keep the good ones, and they potentially lead to referrals too. Money spent on attracting new clients should be fol...
How to Set a Marketing Budget
Planning for marketing is not always top of the agenda for a new business. However, without marketing no one will know what you are selling. You need to look at the market, your competitors and your f...
How to Write a Business Plan Using SMART Objectives
A business plan written with SMART business objectives gives your business well-defined, focused and achievable targets which you can use for your marketing, and they will help you grow your business ...
How Your Business Plan Can Motivate Your Staff
You cannot motivate your staff by creating the business plan on your own and presenting it as a finished job. Without your staff’s involvement you’ll get nowhere, and therein lies the key....
Including Business Processes in Your Plan
A business must be based on defined processes if it is to grow in the future. These can be anything from answering the phone to constructing your top product. A business must be systems-dependent, not...
Including Product and Service Information
One section in your business plan must be about your product or service. This is your chance to tell people what you produce or what you do. Make it clear, concise and show what it is about your produ...
Knowing Your Business Vision
A Business Vision is the encapsulation of what the business is trying to achieve, with some relation to core values and strategies for the future....
Managing a Business Plan Action Plan
Action plans for a business plan are built from a top-down approach. Clear action plans will help a business to achieve success, as long as the objectives upon which they are built adhere to SMART pri...
Market Analysis for Your Business Plan
Market analysis is important for your business to be successful, taking the right products to the right customers. The analysis will help with your sales and profit and loss forecasting, and should be...
Marketing Facts and Figures
Here are some facts and figures about marketing which may be of help to you in your marketing campaigns. There are also some myths debunked....
Marketing for Next to Nothing
Marketing is crucial to the success of a business, and it needn’t cost a fortune. There are plenty of ways you can get the word out about your business on only a small budget....
Marketing Strategy Explained
A marketing strategy is the process an organisation uses to harness its resources to create opportunities to increase sales. In general the term marketing is used to describe the way in which customer...
Monitoring your Business Plan
The business plan should be used to monitor the plan to enable managers to properly manage the business. Measure actuals against forecast and targets to keep the business moving forward to success....
Operations Strategy and Processes
At the core of a business are its operations. It is important that the operations and processes of a business are set up and remain aligned with the overall strategies of the business. Owners and mana...
Organisational Structure of a Business Plan
In your business plan it is important to clearly define the management structure of your organisation. If you plan to recruit staff for your business, you should show that too....
Predicted Sales for the Next 3-5 Years
Forecasting sales is an extremely difficult exercise, but a business must make forecasts and get them as accurate as possible. Here we look at estimating market demand and estimating company demand to...
Preparing a Business Plan
Preparing a business plan is a case of asking yourself several questions about your business, and making sure that you can get the message across to interested parties....
Researching and Analysing the Competition
You are unlikely to be starting up a business with a completely new product or service. Therefore you will have competition. It is important to research and analyse that competition and the market. Th...
Setting Goals and Objectives in your Business Plan
The business plan should clearly state the goals and objectives taken from the overall strategy. Everyone who reads the plan should understand what the business is trying to do. People within the busi...
Take Our Marketing Questionnaire
Marketing is an essential function for a business plan as a successful business needs people to buy its products or services. It is sometimes neglected and misunderstood by small and new businesses....
The Basic Layout of a Business Plan
It is important to get key messages across in a business plan. Here is a template of key headings to assist you in the task....
The Basic Structure of a Business
The structure of a business is important for the way it will raise finances, be run, and for its liabilities. It is up to the business owner to choose the structure, and specify it in the business pla...
The Importance of Budgeting in Your Business Plan
To control the finances of a business, budgeting is essential. You must always know where the finances of the business are going in the coming months and years, so that you can ensure positive cash fl...
The Importance of Business Management
Measurement and management against the business plan in an iterative process is the way a business can understand where its success and failures are coming from....
The Main Elements of a Business Plan
If you’re starting up in business, then you must have a business plan. Here we outline the main elements that will go to make up your business plan....
The Purpose of a Business Plan
A business plan is an essential start-point for a business. Here we discuss the multiple purposes of a business plan....
What Are Business Plan Objectives?
Business plan objectives help you measure and manage the business. Derived from higher level strategies, objectives in the business plan help you understand whether or not your business is heading on ...
What Business Values Will Be Important Beyond 2010?
The business world is changing and the years beyond 2010 could see changing business values. What should you look out for as we look beyond the current recession?...
Who Needs a Business Plan?
Everyone in business needs a business plan. But why? The reasons are explored in this article....
Why Starting a Business in a Recession Can Work
Business, entrepreneur, recession, finance...
Why Starting a Business Should Not Be a Last Resort
Many people start a business when they are left with little alternative. This is not the best time. It is best to start a business when you want to, when you are ready....
Writing a Business Plan to Raise Finance
A key reason for a business plan is to raise finance. Investors are looking for a return on their investment, and the business plan should help them see how they will achieve this. Investors will be l...
Your Business and the Environment
After a period of respite due to the recession, environmental issues will quickly come back to the top of the agends. Companies who are already taking action to reduce their impact on the environment ...