Nicky Hawkins - Customer Service Director, Clearview
A strong business plan is well thought through, covers all eventualities, addresses the needs of all stakeholders, is measurable and is well presented.
Have a look at our "Top Five Tips for Effective Business Planning".
(Below is a summary of the advice set out in Nicky's link)
1. Define a single strategic direction and supporting business strategy. Developing and embedding a single, connected business strategy and supporting plan ensures your business and its employees know exactly where the organisation is and also enables you to streamline your strategic planning, improve the quality of your final plan and work towards consistent, complementary objectives.
2. Implement a clear organisational mission, vision and set of values. These should link directly to your business plan and focus on the strategic elements of your business. The aim here is to achieve clarity and consistency.
3. Carry out a SWOT analysis and STEP analysis. A SWOT analysis is an internal review of an organisation's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and strengths. In contrast, a STEP analysis is a review of the external environment and considers the social, technological, economic and political landscapes and how these may affect the business. These steps provide an organisation with a rounded view of the current position of the business internally and externally and helps you define achievable goals or objectives.
4. Shape, purpose and set SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timed). Look at each of your current and future corporate goals and ask yourself whether they can be classed as SMART. If not, try to make them SMART by going through each step in the SMART process or simply remove goals which cannot be made SMART. This is an important part of the business planning process as it enables your organisation to prioritise and allocate your corporate goals according to their value to the business.
5. Integrate service excellence standards and measures. It is crucial to put appropriate measures in place to ensure your organisation meets its strategic and operational objectives. This can be achieved by developing your own indicators or using existing external standards such as Investors in People or industry-specific measures. Putting clear measures in place enables your organisation to track and score your progress against agreed outcomes, highlight and address gaps in performance and inform future strategic planning activity.
Twitter:@ClearviewSysLtd
Annika Small, chief executive, Nominet Trust
My three tips are:
1) Focus on your Why - it explains your motivations, differentiates you from everyone else and creates the foundations for your future
2) Engage with your target market so that you can evidence demand for what you will be providing
3) Clearly articulate the outcomes of your project - define the social value that your intervention will create, the impact it will have on beneficiaries and how lives and communities will be improved.
Resources: hubwestminster.net (a forum) and www.horsesmouth.co.uk (provides online coaching and mentoring.)
Twitter: @annikasmall
Christoff Oosthuysen - Flow Finders International
The fact is that the world is changing so fast that you can ill afford to take half a year to research and write up your business plan.
Start with the question what it is that you love doing and with which you can make a good contribution to improving the world? What are you good at, or better at than most others? Then you ask what the focus of your business could be in support of this and what the transactions are you can conclude based on that focus.
To build your team is perhaps one of the most difficult parts of social business. You want to work with people who share your commitment to the social cause, however you also need to have a balance of "energies"/"personalities".
The best advice I can give you is to identify where such people are within your immediate environment. It may be physical meeting places, online networks, or organisations in your community. Since they may not be strong in identifying a new idea, they may jump at the opportunity when they notice you.
So, rather than try and locate a person, locate the "place", then show up there and stand out from the crowd so that you attract the right person.
In addition to Anika's tips above I would add:
4) Be explicit on your transactions so that you can remove obstacles.
5) Organise your resources efficiently within an accountable structure.
Resource: I speak about this in a class I present on the Flow Canvas Planning Tool. You can view this class online on our company website -- see www.flowfinders.com/fc -- where you can see how to compile this into a one-page business plan.
Twitter: @christoff008
Estelle Rowe - business mentor and consultant, Northstar Strategic
1) Before you pick up a pen or attempt a spreadsheet, visualise your business model as someone else would understand it; test test test - involve your team and/or potential customers as much as possible
2) Ask someone qualified to look over your financial projections. Be as robust as you can. Don't expect anyone to be soft on you because you are a SE
3) Put as much of yourself into the plan as you can - not only the emotional commitment you are making with your values and ethos, but also the financial commitment you are putting in.
And be human. Show them what inspires you, what you have learned in your journey and why you do what you do. I keep banging on about first impressions, but it is true that decisions are influenced by the gut as well as the logical brain.
Twitter: @estellenorthsta
Anne Tunnicliffe, Social Investment Business
Here at The Social Investment Business, we see a lot of business plans. For those of you who are new to business planning, I would suggest the following:
1) Keep your first draft very short (say 10 sides)
2) Don't write a lot about need - instead we want to hear about who will pay you money so that you can deliver your products or services
3) Include a simple cash flow projection showing what types of income you are hoping to secure and how much
4) Ask for feedback. If you don't know where to start, find someone who has written or advised on business plans and talk to them and then ask if they could jot down some headings for the business plan to help you get started.
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