Business Plans For Dummies (UK Edition)





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Reasons Why Small Businesses Fail


Many different conditions can cause a small business to fail; some of the major reasons may be down to one or a few of the following. Safeguard your business by making sure you don’t fall into any bad practices such as these:



  • Lack of a long-term company vision



  • Failure to establish clear goals and objectives



  • Misunderstanding what customers want



  • Underestimating the competition



  • Inadequate financial planning



  • Lack of strong leadership



  • Ineffective procedures and systems



  • Absence of critical business skills



  • Inability to change



  • Failure to communicate the plan







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Checklist of Small Business Planning Essentials


When planning your business make sure that you have all the elements covered so that you can achieve optimum performance and results – ensure you don’t miss out any of these planning essentials:



  • Get everyone involved in setting goals and objectives



  • Learn all you can about your customers



  • Understand who your competitors are



  • Identify your strengths and weaknesses in relation to opportunities and threats



  • Determine which capabilities you absolutely need to succeed



  • List all the things that you do that add customer value



  • Make sure that you do your financial homework



  • Imagine several different versions of your company’s future







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What Makes a Business Work?


The successful running of a business is made up of certain major factors and elements, allowing it to adapt, survive and ultimately grow. These key elements should feature within any progressing business:



  • Plans: Company mission, vision, goals, and objectives that all work together



  • Organisation: A structure for your company that makes sense



  • Procedures: Efficient and effective ways of doing things



  • Leadership: An ability to influence and encourage others around you



  • Skills: The talents and expertise your people need to succeed



  • Culture: Beliefs and attitudes that lead to doing the right thing







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Customers, Competitors, and the Businessperson


The customers, the rivals and a successful business model are the three major focal points that a business needs to analyse, consider and respond to respectively. Here are three questions to think about on each:


Three customer questions



  • Who is buying?



  • What do they buy?



  • Why do they buy?




Three competitor questions



  • How big are they?



  • Which customers are they after?



  • What is their strategy?




Three ways to win as a businessowner



  • Cut costs to the bone



  • Offer something unique



  • Focus on one customer group







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Major Pieces of a Business Plan


Business plans are made up of several uniquely important corporate factors and processes. The following are the major elements of a company's business plan documents:



  • Executive summary



  • Company overview



  • Business environment



  • Company description



  • Company strategy



  • Financial review



  • Action plan







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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/business-plans-for-dummies-cheat-sheet0.html

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