The business plan never gets stagnant. It is dynamic and goes on changing throughout the business’s life. Therefore, it must be updated at least twice a year. Did you know that many business owners change their plans every quarter of a year? You should do the same.

This sort of a methodical approach can help you keep a check on your progress. For example, if you look at the projected milestones towards the goal and list out the ones you have achieved and the ones you haven’t, you will be able to a set an accurate time limit for reaching these milestones.

You might come across aspects of the initial plan that haven’t worked out and thus need to be changed or gotten rid of completely. At the same time, you might see just where you have achieved beyond expectations. Again if the sales from catalogs have turned out to be far better than expected, you would want to change the plan to emphasize more on catalogs, perhaps get it published twice or three times a year instead of what the usual plan was.

Once you have your plan in front of you, you can check if your financial projections have been achieved or exceeded. This helps you to find other ways to change the sales and marketing strategies or maintain the status quo. Not only can you change your plan to guide you, but you can add new products line or a new service, alter your plan to show a different method of operations.

Again an Example, you may call for an increase in the number of orders just so you can serve the clients or customers better or something else of the kind to help out the business to work smoothly and bring in more profits. Businesses have to forcefully make changes due to a number of external factors and they should be included in the business plan.

You may wish to read more at: Sample Business Plans and Business Plan Templates.

For any company to succeed it is imperative to do business planning. The reason I am stating this is because most small business owners do not have a written plan. A company that has a plan has better chances of surviving than one that does not. A business plan should include a mission statement and a description of the business values.

Before starting a company include in your business planning an issue like market analysis to know the current trends and draw a marketing plan on how you intend to reach your target market. Choose the marketing tools you intend to use and be flexible in case you need a new approach. Also, have a financial projection to ensure a steady cash flow.

Put in place sound management structures to make sure there is smooth business operation. As you prepare, include structures that will enable your staff to be innovative and come up with new business ideas, this will encourage business growth. Rather than viewing creativity as a time consuming venture, device ways of assessing and implementing good business ideas.

Though having capital is paramount in setting up a company, it should not hinder you from coming up with sound business planning. There are ways you can follow to implement a plan without a capital. But if you have capital, seek for help from financial and business experts.

Mentorship is crucial if your plan is to work. Preferably, get help from people who are in the same line as you. It is better to learn from the mistakes of other people rather than learning from experience. This will help your organization grow faster and avoid wasting time.

Read more insightful material on proper business planning methods by following the links below.

A famed book by Stephen Covey highlights one habit that makes individuals and organizations succeed – begin with the end in mind. This is a very good answer to the question “why write a business plan”? It is tempting to put up a business and have a see-what-happens-next approach towards its management, twitching things along the way and be flexible enough to the challenges of running a business. But the truth is, even though that sounds simpler than drafting an exhaustive plan in paper, it can really get complicated – fast. In fact a business without a business plan is, put bluntly, a business that is planning to fail. A business must be intentional, and nothing can facilitate this better than having a written plan of what the business is all about, its direction, its goals, and its ultimate purpose. This will serve as the glue for the stakeholders of the business, a point of agreement on how the business should be run, and the route it would take to realize its profit targets.

It is simply impossible to grow a business if there is no tangible point of reference to where the business should go. Vision, mission, objectives and values of the business are all included in the drafting of the business plan, thereby making it possible for organizations to have objective metrics of performance. It is only then changes and adjustments can be effectively implemented. You simply cannot improve what you cannot measure.

Writing a business plan is important because it allows a business to sell itself better to its customers. The business plan is a 360 profile of your business model, giving you a bird’s eye view of what you can offer to your clients. Marketing would not be as hard because the point of differentiation and the niche market you want to develop overtime can be clearly seen. You can identify your competitive advantages and then capitalize on that exhaustively. It can also bolster your positioning efforts because you understand the strengths of your services or products. You can simply develop strategies that puts you in the best spot to both retain and attract new customers.

Why write a business plan? One of the most profound answers to this question is to be able to get the right people to run the business. It is of course a well established fact that a business is as good as the people that leads it to greatness. Well, you can have the best of the best in the field, but if they do not fit in, they are doomed to fail in establishing your organization as an industry leader. A business plan can help you implement a very good human capitalization effort. This simply means you are able to identify the right person for the job and then help that person identify himself with the job, and then the business.

Many small and medium enterprises downplay the question of why write a business plan. And this is the reason why many fail to reach its growth projections. Do you want your business to run smoothly? First things first. Write a business plan!