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Developing, Writing and Implementing a Business Plan Takes Commitment and Diligence

November 12, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

One question: Do you have what it takes to see a business plan process through?

I am always surprised as a Business Plan Consultant how a business planning process brings a company to its knees. Admittedly business planning is difficult, but it certainly isn’t impossible. I just find that business owners and entrepreneurs don’t like to do it and want to skip ahead of it. By skipping ahead, they are taking a huge risk, inestimably saying, “I will guess how to be successful with my business.” Do you want to guess with your hard earned dollars and risk the livelihoods of those who come everyday to work for you? Of course not…

To Develop a Good Business Plan Takes 75 – 150 Hours

And sometimes business plans require 200-300 hours of work. It really depends on the circumstance and size of the company, scope of the market and how comprehensive the business plan needs to be. If you are working with a Business Consultant on the plan, plan on dividing that time between you. No matter how good and experienced the business consultant, good business planning takes a lot of involvement from the business owner and team members.

Work on the Plan a Little Bit Everyday and Make it a Priority

Business owners and team members are busy. I get it. You have a business to run. Set aside 2 hours per day for your business planning. That’s it. Doing a little work on it everyday is better than trying to work 5-10 hours on it at one time. Business Planning is a marathon, not a race. Doing a little bit every day of the week will quickly add up and real progress will be. Moreover, you won’t get burned out and your thought process behind the business planning process will remain sharp and fresh. I recommend doing your business planning first thing in the morning before your busy day starts. Make it a priority, and it will get done in a timely, efficient and effective manner.

A Business Plan Process Builds Momentum

If you look at the totality of a business plan, it becomes very daunting. But if the business planning process breaks it down into little steps and in a building block architecture, then the Business Planning gains momentum over time, becoming easier and much more enjoyable as you progress. Business planning can be enjoyable if you get that momentum and see the result of discovering things about your business, market and competition that you didn’t know prior.

When the Business Plan Document is Done, You are Just Getting Started

What use is a Business Plan if you don’t implement it? Otherwise, it is just a document collecting dust. A business plan is a roadmap to success and should have step by step implementation as part of the Strategic Plan roll out. A business plan is really never done. It is a continuous tool, process and system to use to sustain competitive edge, to quickly spot market trends, to anticipate problems, and to uncover hidden opportunities. A business plan is a living, breathing, dynamic tool to use on a daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis to guide a business through the minefields to come.

ABC Business Consulting offers 4 levels of business plans to meet most business planning needs, goals, budgets and objectives.

Posted in Business Planning. 2 Comments

Top 10 Reasons a Business Plan Fails to Help a Company Obtain Funding

November 5, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

In my Previous Blog Post, I discussed two of the fundamental reasons why a company’s Funding Business Plan Fails to Help Obtain Funding. These two often missed business planning fundamentals are: Inadequate Business Plan Process and The Business Plan Didn’t Adequately Prove How the Business will Succeed. In this blog post, I continue with 10 more top reasons why Funding Business Plans fail to help a company obtain funding.  

#1 – Experience Level of the Company Principals is Lacking

This is a biggie. If you don’t have the right mix of experience on the founding team and management, then finding funding will be extremely difficult. In your Business Planning, identify your management gaps and determine ways to fill them and overcome them.

#2 – Lack of a Business Track Record

This goes along with #1. To obtain Business Finance, whether from a bank or investor/venture capital, the business plan clearly needs to show previous successful and unsuccessful business track records. Unsuccessful business experiences are good since they show how an entrepreneur has learned and adapted, as long as, the non-successes don’t overshadow the successes. At the end of the day, the company principals need to show successful track records. They did it once, they can probably do it again is the thinking.

#3 – Unrealistic Financial Projections

As a Business Consultant I see this all the time in Business Plans. If the Business Planning Process builds a well researched and reasoned Marketing Plan and Strategic Plan, then more times than not, the Business Financials will be based on good assumptions and reflect real market realism. However, many companies in their business planning short the marketing and strategic planning processes, which produce wild guesses in forming the financial projections.

#4 – Lack of Existing Cash Flow

Bankers and investors alike want to see a company that is bringing in some cash flow. This makes the business plan objectives and projections a lot more believable and the funding request a lot more palatable. Signed contracts also indicate future cash flow if funding comes through- this is a great hot button for funders.

#5 – Lack of Company Principals Cash Contributions

If you can’t / won’t commit personal funds to your venture, why should anyone commit theirs? Need I say more? 10-20% principal cash contribution makes for a strong funding request.

#6 – Inadequate and Poor Quality Collateral

You probably can’t finance all of your business plan with just cash investment. Good collateral goes a long way toward opening up your funding options and possibilities. Offer clean collateral that is fundable. Good real estate with cash flow is great, good assets, equipment and so forth. Cross collateralizing can be an option and often pulls in the security a funder is looking for to make the leap to fund a company. Collateral that is highly leveraged with liens or poor quality collateral just makes your funding request look sub-par.   

#7 – Bad Executive Summary

The Executive Summary makes the first impression. A poor summary will get your funding business plan quashed in 30 seconds. Give your plan a chance with a well developed and presented executive summary.

#8 – Poor Ancillary Documents

A Business Plan alone isn’t sufficient for funding. You also need a good Loan Package and Investor Overview. Get your documents and packages done prior to starting your funding search so you can be jimmy on the spot with the funder’s request for more information. Good due diligence goes a long way to successful business funding!

#9 – Messy Business Plan

A messy plan means a messy business. Funders don’t fund unprepared companies and companies that don’t care about their work. The business plan needs to be neat, clear, easy to read and scan, legible, and presented using good writing and grammar. While every plan needs substance, it is the polishing of the plan that gives the substance that added edge. An edge that can and will get you funded.

#10 – No Substance Behind the Flashy Colors, Tables and Charts

As a Business Plan Consultant I see these “good looking”, flashy business plans all the time. But upon closer inspection, I find them hollow and lacking any real substance. It is the substance that gets you funded, not the flash, not all the color graphs and charts and photos. It is good to have some of this pizzazz, but the substance and reasoning in the plan is what makes it believable. Many business plans are produced using templates, samples, and cookie cutter content. These types of plans are thrown in the garbage can in 30 seconds or less by a funder. Meld your substance with some flash for best results.  

Need help on your Business Plan? We offer FREE Business Plan Reviews…

Posted in Business Planning. Comment

The Fundamental Reasons Why a Funding Business Plan Fails

November 1, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

Business Plans don’t guarantee funding. It is the foundation and fundamentals behind a Business Plan that give the plan and company the best chance to obtain funding. The distinction is important. No matter how colorful, flashy, professional looking and apparently well written a business plan is, there are business fundamentals which need to be proven out in the plan to make the funding request viable. We see so many business plans on the market that look great from an aesthetic standpoint and appear to have all the necessary ingredients, but upon closer inspection are just canned, cookie cutter plans that prove little as to specifically why a particular company is a good investment or lending risk. A sample business plan that got one company funding won’t get another company funding unless that company has the right business fundamentals in place. Let’s look at the top two business fundamentals often missing in a business plan that fails to help a company obtain funding.

Inadequate Business Plan Process

The quality and depth of the Business Planning Process is more important than the business plan itself. If the process is lacking, then the produced business plan will be significantly lacking. The planning process needs to be customized for the particular business. Our Business Planning Customers often remark that the process behind the business plan development was extremely beneficial, even more so than the finished plan itself. A good business planning process uncovers problems and addresses them prior to sending the plan to a funder, maximizing the reception to the plan and the results of the plan.

Tip: Please see my Business Plan Book for a proven business planning process that can be applied and customized to all types of companies, no matter the stage, size or funding level.

The Business Plan Didn’t Adequately Prove How the Business will Succeed

This is a huge point. As Business Plan Consultants, we see many funding business plans being developed in the marketplace which are shallow, hollow plans that do little to adequately and realistically prove to the funder that the business is capable of being successful, servicing the debt level requested, and being a good investment risk. The underlying principle behind any business plan, no matter its purpose, is to prove out and show how the company will run successful business operations. Due to the success of the operations and marketing of the company, a case can be made for funding. A Funding Business Plan is really just correct formatting and having the information a funder is looking for. It is the fundamentals behind the plan that prove a best chance for business success that helps to position the company for a successful finance campaign. If a plan is lacking these fundamentals, it will never have a chance at obtaining funding.

My next blog post will explore some more of these business fundamentals and other reasons why a business plan fails to help a company to obtain funding.  

Posted in Business Finance, Business Planning. Comment

Have You Updated Your Business Plan Recently?

October 13, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

A lot has changed in this prolonged recession. Has your Business Plan been updated? Or has your business plan been collecting dust on the shelf somewhere? We are all guilty of this. We shy away from the critical planning that needs to be done on a consistent basis to be successful, no matter what the markets and economy throw at us. Here are reasons why you need to update your business plan today… 

Things Change Constantly in Business 

Your customers, markets, niches, industry trends, etc all are in a flux of change. A successful business stays in touch with change and adapts to best serve markets and customers. Often businesses who fail in this area, have failed to plan. Preparing a business plan is just the first step. Your Marketing Plan and Strategic Plan need to be assessed on a monthly and quarterly basis to determine if your plans meet the expectation and changes occurring in the marketplace. Are your Financial Projections still accurate and the underlying assumptions realistic and correct? The business plan just gets you halfway to first base, it is the implementation, tracking, measurement, assessment and adjustment of the plan as your company moves forward that is most important.

Have You Even Implemented Your Business Plan?  

A business plan is just a document. While the Business Planning Process can be very beneficial for a company, it is the implementation of the business plan that really counts. You will never receive the great benefits of a business plan if you don’t implement it. So dust off your business plan, update it for the current economic and market conditions, then set out a clear cut, step by step plan on how you will implement the plan. Then it is just a matter of tracking the results and making adjustments as you go. 

Update Your Business Plan on a Monthly and Quarterly Basis 

Have a 2-3 hour session every month and a half day session once per quarter to review your plan and the results gained thus far. Make changes and updates to your plan on a team basis so the entire company is involved in the strategic direction and success of the company. A plan should be a living, breathing document. It needs to be intertwined into the fabric of a company to be successful. It is a dynamic tool which needs consistent commitment and diligence. The time put in updating a plan will pay off well in profits later. A little time spent on updating your business plan will have significant ROI in the future. Understanding where your company is going and exactly how you are getting there are two of the most important strategic elements of a successful company.  

For help on your business plan, please consider our FREE Business Plan Review service…

Posted in Business Planning. Comment

Are You Using RSS Feeds in Your Business?

October 7, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

RSS Feed stands for Really Simple Syndication. Simply put, it is a web feed format used to publish frequently updated work, such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video. RSS feeds are a powerful weapon in a company’s arsenal to keep in contact with current customers, find new prospects, effectively use for SEO efforts, and a host of different applications. As a Business Consultant, I strongly recommend you start developing and using RSS Feed Strategies aggressively in your company’s Business Plan and Marketing Plan. Here are some methods to apply using RSS Feeds in your business to profit from this nifty technology.

Keep In Touch With Your Customers

The cheapest acquisition cost is repeat business, verses selling new customers. To sell more products and services to your existing customers, you need to be in front of them. A Newsletter is one good method of staying in contact with existing customers, but the RSS Feed in my opinion, is superior. I use RSS Feeds in two main areas with our existing customers that works really well…

v  To Subscribe to Our Business Success Blog: Every time I make a new post, the RSS Feed sends that post to our customers computers. 

v  To Send Out Company Updates: Things like specials, discounts, announcements, achievements- everything our customers would be interested in hearing about us.  

Find New Customers

I send out the RSS Feed for our website and blog to RSS Directories, Search Engines, Blog Directories, and RSS Feed Sites. This in turn shows up throughout many hundred directories through out the internet and in the search results. When web visitors search the internet, they find our listings and posts which are continuously updated by our RSS Feeds. Pretty nifty! This is an extremely powerful way to keep Fresh content in front of targeted prospects.

Awesome Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Application

One chief ranking factor in the Search Engines is fresh, relevant content. We use our RSS Feeds to tell the search engines on a daily basis where we have fresh content for relevant searches. I can get a top 10 search engine result very often on the same day the content is fed out. Search on Google has turned to Real Time Search and has converged with Social Media results. We use our RSS Feed with not just search engines but through out our Social Media networks to quickly get new content immediately indexed and well ranked. RSS Feeds play into Google’s real time search results extremely well.

Put RSS Feeds to work for your business today!

For help in effectively using RSS Feeds, you may want to consider our SEO Package.

Posted in Business Internet Strategies. 2 Comments

Organic Web Visitors Beat Pay Per Click Visitors

September 28, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

While there is a place for online Pay for Click (PPC) advertising (I use it), I find that visitors who come to me organically through the general search engine results are much sticker, more qualified in many respects and have a much higher closing ratio. While I use both PPC and Search Engine Optimization (SEO), I find that my SEO efforts have a much better return. Of course this can be a little industry and web visitor specific, but I know this can be applied to many types of businesses, whether 100% online company or a brick and mortar with an online presence. Here is why I like SEO derived web visitors so much.

Relevant

The General (organic) search engine results tend to be a lot more relevant than the results for the Sponsored Ad area. This way targeted visitors can really find what they need.

More Qualified

I see a lot more non-customer type visits on a percentage basis via the Organic Search results than I do coming via PPC. With PPC, you are paying to qualify them, while with SEO derived visitors, they qualify themselves typically. Therefore the customer acquisition cost and conversion rate for SEO customers is much better than PPC.

PPC and Organics Work Best Together

PPC is definitely worth doing but should be part of the overall SEO Strategy and not the other way around (nor treated separately). PPC actually makes your SEO better and can pick up customers where SEO would cost too much to implement or where you don’t have good SEO results. Also PPC is a great research and testing ground for your SEO Strategy. Very quickly you can determine if a keyword phrase has strong potential.

SEO has a lot more Marketing Flexibility

PPC limits how well you can market to your targeted web audience while SEO offers unlimited possibilities on how to market in the general search engine results. You have much more choices as to titles, keywords and descriptions in the organic search results. Your Online Marketing Strategy ought to include SEO for sure!

General Search Results = Credibility

When a web visitor sees a return in the general results, they tend to put a lot more trust and credibility on it, verses seeing a short, paid for advertisement off to the side. This may be a big reason why SEO visitors convert more profitably.

Resources: Here are some previous blog posts on Web SEO to help you.

SEO Basics to Get Good Rankings on the Search Engines

SEO can be More Effective and Profitable than Pay Per Click

Posted in Business Internet Strategies. Comment

Micro Loans are Helping Small Businesses to Start Up and Succeed

September 24, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

Micro Loans have been around for a while but they are now getting some attention, particularly with small businesses needing seed finance or early stage growth finance. In fact micro lending maybe what will help us get out of this recession. Micro loans create new businesses, which will need employees. Additionally these newly seeded businesses will hopefully encourage the larger banking institutions to lend more freely again. More reason for job growth. Small business growth + newly created jobs = a fix we need to exit this recession for good.

What is a Micro Loan?

A Micro loan is generally a loan to a start up or early growth small business for less than $35,000. Mostly controlled by non-profits, and they typically lend to businesses in a particular geographical area- generally a “local” or community based loan. Terms are for 5-6 years with collateral to securitize the loan typically. Micro lenders require a solid Business Plan and Loan Package. You can use micro loans for working capital, equipment, machines, inventory, supplies, furniture, etc.

The Impact of Micro Loans

$56 Million in micro loans will be distributed through the SBA this year. An average US micro loan is around $13,000. The payback rate is an astonishing 98%. A lot of these business loans are going to low income entrepreneurs, giving them an opportunity to succeed and strengthen their local community.

Two Businesses that have Benefited from a Micro Loan

Love Joy Sweet Treats makes cupcakes, cookies, and many other sweet treats. The owner received $1,500 to start up her company, and she is off and running and selling those great treats. The owner of Smart Start Sitters received $10,000 to get her child sitting service off the ground and running full steam. These aren’t high tech companies but they are putting food on the table for the family owners and employing people. Something we should all think about. As a Business Consultant, I truly recommend you try a micro loan if you have the burning desire to be your own boss and create your own destiny.

For more Resources on Micro Loans, please see my blog posts on:

Have You Considered Micro Lending, Community Banks and Credit Unions for Your Business Finance Needs?

Business Finance in a Recession- Part 3: Business Funding Alternatives

Posted in Business Finance. Comment

Free Business Financial Projection Software

September 21, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

Developing Financial Projections for your Business Plan can be a trying and complicated experience if you do it from scratch. It doesn’t have to be that hard, nor does it have to cost a bunch of money to do. There is a lot of business planning and financial projection software out there for purchase. However, if you are looking to develop some solid financials with out the cost of software, then there are some good free financial projection programs out there. One of them is offered for free by SCORE®.

6 Step Worksheet

Very simple to use. It highlights mandatory and optional areas for your input, and it contains a six step worksheet process. Just fill out:

§  Required Start-Up Funds

§  Salaries and Wages

§  Fixed Operating Expenses

§  Projected Sales Forecast (2 sheets)

§  Cash Receipts and Disbursements

Produces The Financials for You

After filling out the necessary information in the six worksheets, the program produces the following financials for you: 

§  Monthly Income Statement for three years

§  Monthly Cash Flow Statement for three years

§  Yearly Balance Sheet for three years

§  Year End Income and Expense Summary for three years

§  3 Year Financial Ratio Analysis

§  Breakeven Analysis

§  12 Month Amortization Schedule for three years

§  Financial Diagnostics Sheet

Be Sure to Read the Notes Explanation

There is a sheet containing explanatory notes for the financial projection program. Be sure to review it before you start.

Provides an Example Financial Projection Template 

In case you have questions on how the program works and the types of financials it produces, the program provides a fully competed financial projection template to assist you. It also gives you an idea of the finished product.

Free Mentorship 

You can use a local SCORE® mentor to answer any questions you may have developing your business plan and financial projections.

Options 

While Free financial programs don’t have all the bells and whistles, this program will get it done well for many small businesses. Check it out and see if it will work for your needs. Be sure to do some searching on the internet and find the other free financial projection programs out there. There are a bunch of them.  

Disclaimer: ABC Business Consulting and the Blog Author are not endorsing the product mentioned in this blog. This is for informational purposes only.

Posted in Business Financials, Business Planning. Comment

Real Time Search and Social Media Convergence

September 17, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

Google has gone to real time search, and all the search engines are putting a lot of ranking value on Social Media. Now the two have converged. I did a Google search the other day for some of our trending keywords for that particular day and saw a plethora of our social media and blog posts. That really raised an eyebrow for me and my excitement grew. Anytime we post something on our 30+ social sites and blogs, we are seeing our posts immediately in the real time results (and even the “regular” results as well). These results included images as well so our results popped out to searchers. This is huge!

Some tips to get your Social Media and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics up to snuff to take advantage of Google’s real time search (and I am sure the other search engines are to follow)…

Searches are Universal

Google will show lots of web content, including blogs, social media posts, images, video, books, articles, press releases and more, all in the same search results. So consider using all these available platforms and mediums to get your message out there and increase your search engine ranking exposure.

Ping Your Blog Posts

I am picked up with in seconds and minutes of a blog post because I ping over 40 sites and let them know I have just posted valuable content. I find my topics trending for the day high in the search rankings, often in the number one or two place.

Use a Network of Social Media to Get the Word Out

I use the Ping.fm™ service to instantly update our 30+ social sites. I find these posts are very quickly picked up by Google and ranked well for its keywords.

Tie In your Social Media Strategy with your Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

At the end of the day, getting noticed on the internet is all about SEO. Use Social Media as a powerful tool to implement your SEO content strategies in the various mediums and platforms available. Your SEO efforts will pack a power punch, and you’ll find your SEO efforts pay off instantly, instead of having to wait a day, week or month for the SEO to work. Social Media needs to be a major part of your Online Marketing Strategy.

Need SEO and Social Media Strategy help? Feel free to Contact Us or check out our Web SEO and Marketing Package.

Posted in Business Internet Strategies. 2 Comments

Should You Hire a Business Plan Writer or Business Plan Consultant?

September 15, 2010 by Frank Goley, Business Consultant

Should you hire someone to write your business plan? 

The answer is Yes and No.  You do not want a Business Plan Writer or technical writer to build the business plan.  You can use these writers after the business plan is built to make it more professional (i.e. adapted for a Funding Business Plan).  However, hiring an experienced  Business Plan Consultant can be quite advantageous when building a business plan.

A Good Business Plan Consultant Understands Your Business

A good Business Consultant will take the time to get to know you and your business. The business plan consultant will issue you important business plan questions and requirements for you to answer, which when analyzed by the consultant, will build an effective Business Plan.  Nobody can solely write a business plan for you.  The business owner and management team must be integrally involved in the business planning process as you know your business better than anyone else.  A good Business Plan Consultant harnesses the necessary information by asking the right questions in order to build a solid Business Plan, while applying and providing valuable expertise and experience during the planning process.

Benefit from the Experience of a Business Consultant

A  Business Consultant can also offer years of experience in working with many different types businesses, business stages, and business sectors, utilizing that know-how and experience in building your Business Plan.  If you hire a Business Consultant early on in the business development stage, the consultant will not just help to build an effective Business Plan, but also be available for advice as you implement your Business Plan and grow your company.  A Business Consultant can show you effective ways to maximize profits and margins, while minimizing expenses.  Moreover, a Business Consultant can introduce you to important business networks and connections to bolster your company operations.

ABC Business Consulting offers the best of both worlds:  Business Plan Writing and Consulting Services for companies in any stage and industry, for most purposes, including Business Success Plans, Start Up Business Plans, Growth Business Plans, Acquisition Business Plans, Joint Venture Business Plans, Project Business Plans, Marketing Business Plans, Strategic Business Plans, Funding Business Plans, Venture Capital Business Plans, Investor Business Plans, SBA Business Plans, Bank Business Plans, Lender Business Plans and more.

ABC also offers Free Business Plan Reviews.

Posted in Business Consultants, Business Planning. Comment