While every business has elements that are unique to it, every successful business shares common characteristics with other successful businesses.
The first element of a successful business is a clear concept of what the business is, its aims and ambitions. This concept includes more than the idea of a product or service or technology. This includes the market need and opportunity to have the potential for profit.
It is never easy to define the business concept in the initial stages or understand the true market potential of your business model. However, you can identify such elements through observation, trends or personal experience. These elements include these three fundamentals.
Executive Summary:
An executive summary is a snapshot of your business plan. If your company is a startup, then focus on your background. If you are better established, make sure to include details such as when the business was started, the names of the founders and their roles, how many employees you have and where your operations are situated. Key elements that should be included in the executive summary are
*Business Concept: This describes your business, the products and the market it serves. It speaks about what will be sold, to whom and why the business will hold a competitive advantage.
*Financial Features: This gives you the financial points of the business including sales, profits, cash flow and returns on investment.
Business Description:
Explain what your company does and how it stands out from the competitors. List major customers as well as markets you plan to target in the future. You will have to include competitive advantages, such as expert personnel you hired or the location.
You should also provide information on any new products or developments that will benefit your business in the marketplace. Using all the reliable data and appropriate information regarding the company, you can also approach investors for funding. Apart from describing the business, you should also concentrate on structure and all the necessary legalities. This information should include whether the business is a sole proprietorship, partnership or corporation and its principals.
Market Analysis:
It is crucial to understand the market you plan to enter. Find out who your competitors are, then analyze their cash flow, profit margins and research technological developments in the industry.
Analyze your customers based on how much they spend on products and create a general market consensus. For instance, if the distribution of your product is confined to a specific geographical area, then you can further define the target market to reflect the number of users or sales of that product within that geographic segment. Once the target market is ready, further determine the total feasibility of the market. This will help you understand the portion of the market that can be captured within the environment with very little competition.
Such key elements help companies come up with solutions that will enable brands to make more informed marketing decisions and, ultimately, increase sales.
