6 Vital Components to Include in a Business Plan

1. A Mission Statement

Your mission statement needs to encapsulate why you are going into business, why you believe in the business and why it is important. The mission statement needs to grab the reader and help them to see why your business is special, so inject it with passion and show that you truly believe in your concept.

2. An Executive Summary

This is a précis of the whole business plan ensuring that the reader can use it as a reference point, rather than having to pick through the whole document. Usually it is easier to write the summary after you have actually written the plan.

3. A Thorough Description of your Business

Although you know what your business entails, other people do not, so always make sure that you write down all the various aspects of the business. Try to be concise, but do not assume that people will automatically know what is involved; it is your duty to inform them.

4. Include an Operational Policy

This will indicate how you trade or how you will trade. Describe the different roles within the company and who has responsibility for what.

5. An Analysis of your Market

You need to actively demonstrate that you know your market. You will have to show that you have identified your target customers, that you have investigated the market thoroughly and that you can prove (note the word prove), that there is a market for your business. Otherwise you cannot show that your business actually has a market.

6. Marketing Strategy

Once you have identified your customers, you need to show that you can let potential customers know about your business. After all, if you don’t market the business, no one will buy from you. So the marketing strategy is actually very important to your business plan.