Business planning defines where the business is going and how it intends to get there.
A business plan must show that the business has the means and the method to achieve its desired results.
There are 2 main reasons for business planning:
1. Studies show that a business is more likely to achieve greater success if it follows a well-structured business plan. It can help prevent a business getting out of balance as it develops; and it helps to create focus, motivation, confidence and positive results.
2. When a business requires access to external funding or investment it will need a robust business plan to give confidence to lenders or investors.
Any business can be broken into just 3 elements:
1. Winning it
2. Doing it
3. Getting paid for it
There’s always a lag between winning it, doing it and getting paid for it, which creates a cash requirement that needs to be funded.
If you want to develop you have to spend more on winning it and then doing it before you get paid; so you’ll have a growing cash requirement.
And the steeper your desired development Gradient, the deeper your Cash Requirement.
The great news is that for a given level of growth the cash requirement is predictable.
The not so good news is that it’s difficult to calculate, so it often doesn’t get done.
Yet it’s one of the most significant outcomes of your business plan – the Cash Requirement needed to fund your development Gradient and how you intend to fund it. If you can not fund it, you have to scale back your development Gradient.
Companies can show healthy profits and still go bust – CASH IS KING.
The right development Gradient is one that enables you to balance the scale of your ambition and your funding by always keeping in balance the 3 critical ‘C’s: Customers, Capacity and Cash.
A cashflow problem is actually an unforeseen cash requirement. The business plan must show that you can cover your Cash Requirement at every point of your development. When it comes to business planning, there’s no right answer, because everyone’s situation and attitude are not the same.
Whatever the level of ambition you choose – to be successful – you have to keep the 3 critical ‘C’s in balance as you develop.
You tell us about your business (or your business idea) – i.e. your customers and your products or services and about your ambitions for the business.
We’ll model it using our unique business planning system to generate a business plan with a development gradient that best suits your specific situation.
1. Model it – Create a model of the business that links the 3 critical ‘C’s: Customers, Capacity and Cash. At this stage there is no scale to the plan.
2. Balance it – Balance the scale of your ambition and funding to specify a Strategic Objective(s) and generate a development Gradient.
3. Sense check it – Check the plan makes sense compared with the scale of the market and conduct a Sensitivity Analysis.
Our system will calculate the maximum Cash Requirement to reach your ambitions and we’ll help you decide how best to cover it.
We will process all the numbers you need for your business plan – from Customers through to Cash flow.
Our process works on marketing and finance as part of the same process. This is the basis of the Zinnovation service. You have no obligation to take any of our other services. However, once you’ve developed your business plan you will have to implement it. And we all know that business isn’t static, so the other Services we offer are available to you at any time you need assistance to help you progress your plan.
We’ll help you stay on track to deliver your ambition. Success comes to those who plan for it and implement it and progress it. Click here for an overview of our services. Please contact us for an initial consultation with one of our Business Catalysts. Save yourself time, money and frustration with a Zinnovation Business Plan.