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You have already developed and described your business development strategy. Now it's time to calculate everything in detail. This step-by-step guide will help you: how to draw up a business plan.
A business plan is a detailed description of your project with calculations and prospects for the next few years. It is needed by potential investors or the bank to which you will go for a loan; partners, intermediaries, your team and, ultimately, you as the creator of the project.
A business plan is usually written three to five years in advance. But you can take a year as well, as economic conditions are changing rapidly.
The main task of a business plan is to convince potential partners that this is an interesting project from the point of view of investments, which will pay off the money and effort invested.
If you are going to open a typical offline business or a franchise business (for example, a coffee shop), the Business Navigator of the Federal Corporation for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME Corporation) will help you to automatically draw up a business plan in a minute.
After registering on the site, you can choose the type of business, select the appropriate geolocation in your city, assess the competition and get a forecast for income. Enter the required parameters and you will immediately receive a finished document, which will only have to be printed. If you need a loan, with this document you can go straight to one of the banks that cooperate with the SME Corporation.
If you have your own unusual business idea, you will have to draw up a business plan yourself.
A business plan includes a description of a product or service, a market analysis, a production plan, your company's organizational structure, a marketing strategy for promoting products, and a financial plan that summarizes all the basic calculations. A business plan must answer the questions: how much money is required to launch a project and how long will it pay off?
1. Summary
The resume is at the beginning of the business plan, but you will write it at the very end. This is a summary of the entire document - the conclusions that you will draw based on detailed calculations. After reading the resume, investors decide whether to study your plan further or not to spend time on it.
This item includes a brief description of the project and its competitive advantages, information about potential customers and partners. Tell us how you are going to sell your product or service and how to advertise it. Indicate what kind of start-up capital you need and where you plan to get it. Describe the key stages in the development of the project and be sure to provide the payback period and projected profitability.
Let's consider how to draw up a business plan using the example of an online chocolate store with delivery in a small city. Unlike analogs, in this store the customer himself will be able to choose the original filling, design and packaging. For this, the site will have a special constructor.
2. Product description
In this section, you need to describe in detail the service or product that you offer, and analyze their potential.
You can compare your product with similar ones and suggest options for improving your product.
Sample product description
Business type - Online store of original chocolate products with an online constructor for self-assembly.
Product / Service - Colored chocolate with unusual additives, unique design and unusual decoration, which the customer can choose himself. There are no direct analogs in the city.
Business model - Development and promotion of the product in-house, production first on our own, then with the help of a private factory, sale and delivery with the involvement of freelance contractors.
Relevance - Online commerce is growing, interest in confectionery is not decreasing. New interactive format can attract audiences.
Development options - Expand the assortment, open a chocolateria and, in the long term, sell a franchise.
3. Market analysis
From the already developed business strategy, transfer the market analysis into the business plan. Competitors' proposals are worth considering in even more detail.
In the case of an online chocolate store, competitors will be not only online candy stores, but also pastry shops, gift stores, supermarkets and private craftsmen who make sweets to order.
Supermarkets. There are 5 large supermarkets in your city with a wide range of chocolates. They account for 55% of chocolate sales.
Confectionery shops. There are 50 points of sale of sweets in the city, 5 of them sell online. 10 sell only chocolate and only 1 of them has a website. 25% of the market in terms of sales.
Shops for original gifts. 30 online gift shops. 10% of the market in terms of sales.
Private online sellers. About 20 profitable private traders. 10% in terms of sales.
Based on the analysis, draw a conclusion: what market share you can apply for.
For example, you estimate that in the first three years of operation, your online chocolate store will account for 35% of the city's online chocolate sales.
4. Characteristics of potential buyers
Describe in detail who you are targeting, to whom you will offer your product or service. Answer: "Everyone" is wrong. It's like firing a cannon at sparrows. At the stage of writing a business strategy, you had to define your target audience.
Suppose you have selected original buyers for an online store of original chocolate. They love unusual things and should appreciate the opportunity to make chocolate according to their own taste and design. You estimated the share of these users at 20% of the total number of those who buy sweets online. This should ensure that 2,500 chocolate bars are sold per month, one year after launch.
5. Production plan and cost calculation
To calculate the cost, you need to estimate:
Example of a production plan - Name - Price for 1 piece ($)
Quantity (pcs.) - Price, $ - Cost contribution
Refrigerator - 350 - 2 - 700
$ 700 / 10 years / 12 months / 500 tiles per month = *** $
Milk 50 l - $ 25 / 500 tiles = ***
Electricity 50 kWh 100/500 tiles = $ 0.02
Total cost $ ***
So, the cost of one tile is $ 0.15. You cannot lower prices below this figure, otherwise you will face losses.
6. Promotion plan
The goal of promotion is to successfully bring the product to the market and capture your share of consumers.
The promotion plan answers the questions:
Suppose you decide to set a price for a ready-made chocolate bar - 150 rubles, and for a custom-made bar - 200 rubles. When buying two tiles, the third one will go as a gift. In the future, to stimulate sales, you can offer customers a bonus card.
Since you are selling online, the main advertising support will be online. But your company is also planning to participate in workshops, promotions and barter partnerships.
Example of a promotion cost plan
Communication type - Price per month, $.
Advertising in public Facebook - 100
Contextual advertising in Google.Ads and Yandex.Direct - 150 - 1 month
An article in the feed of a popular local blogger - 50
Total - 300
A local online flower shop and a fashionable beauty salon can be partners. They can offer discounts and coupons for your chocolate, and you for their services.
7. Organizational plan
This is where you describe the structure of the company.
Organizational and legal form - LLC or individual entrepreneur
The structure of the company - Planned divisions
Management composition - Full name, age, education, work experience
Staff - The number of employees, their positions and their remuneration
Indicate which subdivisions will be included in it, who reports to whom, and also draw up a staffing table: a list of the necessary specialists with an indication of salaries. It is important to define the scope of their responsibilities and the order of interaction between departments.
For an online chocolate shop, everything is easier: you hire employees to work remotely. Your main labor resources are a website developer, a copywriter, operators on the phone for receiving orders, couriers, an accountant for one-time work. In the first months, while sales are low, you can make your own chocolate, take and deliver orders - and save on it.
If you plan to attract partners for the production of goods or purchase an already finished product for resale, for example, you will sell postcards along with chocolate, also include them in the organizational plan. Describe the terms of cooperation.
8. Financial plan
You need to describe all sources of funding and income, as well as all expenses - one-time, regular and recurring - taking into account the marketing, production and organizational plans.
Consider in advance how much money you will use to develop your business. How much of your own funds are you willing to invest? From whom could you borrow additional ones? For example, from banks or microfinance organizations. Or maybe you turn to investors who will receive a stake in the company and become your partners. Do not forget about the possibilities of state support for small businesses and crowdfunding.
Let's say you are ready to invest $ 3000 of your own funds in the project and you managed to get the same amount from investors. In total, this is $ 6000. It is also worth evaluating the expected income in the first month. For example, you are planning to sell 2 chocolates at 4 $ each. In total, your expected income in the first month is $ 300.
Example of a cost plan for the first month
View - Articles - Cost, $.
Company registration costs - 8
Domain purchase - 2 One-time
Site creation - 1500
Purchase of equipment - 700
Advertising campaign for the launch of the project - 800
Advertising - 300 Monthly
Employee salaries - 300
Production costs - 45
Periodic Making booklets for events - 25
Making business cards - 5
Total - 3685
And such a calculation will need to be done every month.
Do not forget about the taxes that will need to be paid at the end of the calendar year. To calculate taxes, select one of five taxation systems.
For a small online store, you can choose, for example, a simplified taxation system for individual entrepreneurs. Under this system, you pay only income tax on individual entrepreneurs - 6%, and in some regions - only 1%. If the profit is negative, you do not need to pay tax.
Taking into account the financial plan, you can calculate how much money you need to launch the project, when it becomes self-sufficient and when you will be able to return all the invested funds.
An example of a financial plan for an online chocolate store
Conclusion: the store will break even in the third month. By the end of the year, the project will fully recoup the investment. The business idea is worthy of implementation.
If you doubt your calculations, it is better to involve a specialist in drawing up a financial plan. It costs some money, but the costs will be much lower than in the case of a mistake.
The text was prepared with the support of experts from the public organization of small and medium-sized enterprises "Support".
A business plan is a detailed description of your project with calculations and prospects for the next few years. It is needed by potential investors or the bank to which you will go for a loan; partners, intermediaries, your team and, ultimately, you as the creator of the project.
A business plan is usually written three to five years in advance. But you can take a year as well, as economic conditions are changing rapidly.
The main task of a business plan is to convince potential partners that this is an interesting project from the point of view of investments, which will pay off the money and effort invested.
If you are going to open a typical offline business or a franchise business (for example, a coffee shop), the Business Navigator of the Federal Corporation for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME Corporation) will help you to automatically draw up a business plan in a minute.
After registering on the site, you can choose the type of business, select the appropriate geolocation in your city, assess the competition and get a forecast for income. Enter the required parameters and you will immediately receive a finished document, which will only have to be printed. If you need a loan, with this document you can go straight to one of the banks that cooperate with the SME Corporation.
If you have your own unusual business idea, you will have to draw up a business plan yourself.
A business plan includes a description of a product or service, a market analysis, a production plan, your company's organizational structure, a marketing strategy for promoting products, and a financial plan that summarizes all the basic calculations. A business plan must answer the questions: how much money is required to launch a project and how long will it pay off?
1. Summary
The resume is at the beginning of the business plan, but you will write it at the very end. This is a summary of the entire document - the conclusions that you will draw based on detailed calculations. After reading the resume, investors decide whether to study your plan further or not to spend time on it.
This item includes a brief description of the project and its competitive advantages, information about potential customers and partners. Tell us how you are going to sell your product or service and how to advertise it. Indicate what kind of start-up capital you need and where you plan to get it. Describe the key stages in the development of the project and be sure to provide the payback period and projected profitability.
Let's consider how to draw up a business plan using the example of an online chocolate store with delivery in a small city. Unlike analogs, in this store the customer himself will be able to choose the original filling, design and packaging. For this, the site will have a special constructor.
2. Product description
In this section, you need to describe in detail the service or product that you offer, and analyze their potential.
You can compare your product with similar ones and suggest options for improving your product.
Sample product description
Business type - Online store of original chocolate products with an online constructor for self-assembly.
Product / Service - Colored chocolate with unusual additives, unique design and unusual decoration, which the customer can choose himself. There are no direct analogs in the city.
Business model - Development and promotion of the product in-house, production first on our own, then with the help of a private factory, sale and delivery with the involvement of freelance contractors.
Relevance - Online commerce is growing, interest in confectionery is not decreasing. New interactive format can attract audiences.
Development options - Expand the assortment, open a chocolateria and, in the long term, sell a franchise.
3. Market analysis
From the already developed business strategy, transfer the market analysis into the business plan. Competitors' proposals are worth considering in even more detail.
In the case of an online chocolate store, competitors will be not only online candy stores, but also pastry shops, gift stores, supermarkets and private craftsmen who make sweets to order.
Supermarkets. There are 5 large supermarkets in your city with a wide range of chocolates. They account for 55% of chocolate sales.
Confectionery shops. There are 50 points of sale of sweets in the city, 5 of them sell online. 10 sell only chocolate and only 1 of them has a website. 25% of the market in terms of sales.
Shops for original gifts. 30 online gift shops. 10% of the market in terms of sales.
Private online sellers. About 20 profitable private traders. 10% in terms of sales.
Based on the analysis, draw a conclusion: what market share you can apply for.
For example, you estimate that in the first three years of operation, your online chocolate store will account for 35% of the city's online chocolate sales.
4. Characteristics of potential buyers
Describe in detail who you are targeting, to whom you will offer your product or service. Answer: "Everyone" is wrong. It's like firing a cannon at sparrows. At the stage of writing a business strategy, you had to define your target audience.
Suppose you have selected original buyers for an online store of original chocolate. They love unusual things and should appreciate the opportunity to make chocolate according to their own taste and design. You estimated the share of these users at 20% of the total number of those who buy sweets online. This should ensure that 2,500 chocolate bars are sold per month, one year after launch.
5. Production plan and cost calculation
To calculate the cost, you need to estimate:
- direct costs of manufacturing or purchasing raw materials and packaging from a supplier;
- remuneration of employees per unit of goods;
- indirect costs: rent of premises and equipment, utilities;
- advertising and promotion costs;
- financial costs of servicing a loan or loan.
Example of a production plan - Name - Price for 1 piece ($)
Quantity (pcs.) - Price, $ - Cost contribution
Refrigerator - 350 - 2 - 700
$ 700 / 10 years / 12 months / 500 tiles per month = *** $
Milk 50 l - $ 25 / 500 tiles = ***
Electricity 50 kWh 100/500 tiles = $ 0.02
Total cost $ ***
So, the cost of one tile is $ 0.15. You cannot lower prices below this figure, otherwise you will face losses.
6. Promotion plan
The goal of promotion is to successfully bring the product to the market and capture your share of consumers.
The promotion plan answers the questions:
- What offer to make to the buyer?. It includes not only the price of the product itself, but also additional services, such as free shipping, discounts and special offers.
- What sales channels should you use?. These can be not only direct contacts with buyers, but also partner channels.
- How to stimulate sales?. You can enter bonus programs, discounts for regular customers, customer cards.
- Which advertising support should you choose?. You can use direct advertising, participate in partner events, prepare articles for popular online resources, become a sponsor of contests in social networks, and so on.
Suppose you decide to set a price for a ready-made chocolate bar - 150 rubles, and for a custom-made bar - 200 rubles. When buying two tiles, the third one will go as a gift. In the future, to stimulate sales, you can offer customers a bonus card.
Since you are selling online, the main advertising support will be online. But your company is also planning to participate in workshops, promotions and barter partnerships.
Example of a promotion cost plan
Communication type - Price per month, $.
Advertising in public Facebook - 100
Contextual advertising in Google.Ads and Yandex.Direct - 150 - 1 month
An article in the feed of a popular local blogger - 50
Total - 300
A local online flower shop and a fashionable beauty salon can be partners. They can offer discounts and coupons for your chocolate, and you for their services.
7. Organizational plan
This is where you describe the structure of the company.
Organizational and legal form - LLC or individual entrepreneur
The structure of the company - Planned divisions
Management composition - Full name, age, education, work experience
Staff - The number of employees, their positions and their remuneration
Indicate which subdivisions will be included in it, who reports to whom, and also draw up a staffing table: a list of the necessary specialists with an indication of salaries. It is important to define the scope of their responsibilities and the order of interaction between departments.
For an online chocolate shop, everything is easier: you hire employees to work remotely. Your main labor resources are a website developer, a copywriter, operators on the phone for receiving orders, couriers, an accountant for one-time work. In the first months, while sales are low, you can make your own chocolate, take and deliver orders - and save on it.
If you plan to attract partners for the production of goods or purchase an already finished product for resale, for example, you will sell postcards along with chocolate, also include them in the organizational plan. Describe the terms of cooperation.
8. Financial plan
You need to describe all sources of funding and income, as well as all expenses - one-time, regular and recurring - taking into account the marketing, production and organizational plans.
Consider in advance how much money you will use to develop your business. How much of your own funds are you willing to invest? From whom could you borrow additional ones? For example, from banks or microfinance organizations. Or maybe you turn to investors who will receive a stake in the company and become your partners. Do not forget about the possibilities of state support for small businesses and crowdfunding.
Let's say you are ready to invest $ 3000 of your own funds in the project and you managed to get the same amount from investors. In total, this is $ 6000. It is also worth evaluating the expected income in the first month. For example, you are planning to sell 2 chocolates at 4 $ each. In total, your expected income in the first month is $ 300.
Example of a cost plan for the first month
View - Articles - Cost, $.
Company registration costs - 8
Domain purchase - 2 One-time
Site creation - 1500
Purchase of equipment - 700
Advertising campaign for the launch of the project - 800
Advertising - 300 Monthly
Employee salaries - 300
Production costs - 45
Periodic Making booklets for events - 25
Making business cards - 5
Total - 3685
And such a calculation will need to be done every month.
Do not forget about the taxes that will need to be paid at the end of the calendar year. To calculate taxes, select one of five taxation systems.
For a small online store, you can choose, for example, a simplified taxation system for individual entrepreneurs. Under this system, you pay only income tax on individual entrepreneurs - 6%, and in some regions - only 1%. If the profit is negative, you do not need to pay tax.
Taking into account the financial plan, you can calculate how much money you need to launch the project, when it becomes self-sufficient and when you will be able to return all the invested funds.
An example of a financial plan for an online chocolate store
Conclusion: the store will break even in the third month. By the end of the year, the project will fully recoup the investment. The business idea is worthy of implementation.
If you doubt your calculations, it is better to involve a specialist in drawing up a financial plan. It costs some money, but the costs will be much lower than in the case of a mistake.
The text was prepared with the support of experts from the public organization of small and medium-sized enterprises "Support".