I see a fair amount of business plans - it's an occupational hazard.
Not long ago I sat with a company to discuss their business plan. The CEO and founder of this start-up presented his operating and fundraising plan. His basic plan was to raise $8-10M in a second round of financing.
They had all the charts, financial data, revenue forecasts, market studies, etc. Every chart was “up and to the right”; every conclusion was a tremendous profit in years 3-5.
What caused this post were their less than confident and convincing answers to the following questions I had of their plan:
1. Why should I believe you'll achieve your plan?
2. How are you going to assure success in the first 6, 12, and 18 months of your plan?
3. Forget the multiyear success you expect, what specific things are you going to do to achieve your plan in the next 4-6 quarters?
4. What is your sales cycle?
5. How many suspects need to be "touched" to reach your revenue plan?
6. How many prospects do you need to close to reach your revenue projections?
7. How are you going to support the customers you win?
My message to them is if you can’t convince me you can be successful in the near term, why should I believe you’ll be successful in the long term.
You should be able to see the near term clearly. You should know your business, market, and tactical plans for the next few to several quarters. If you can’t convince me you can be successful now, your chances of being successful later are slim to none.
If you say you’re going to achieve something this year, you should be able to detail the tactics used to achieve it.
About the Author
Jim Logan is founder of Accelerate Business Group, LLC, a revenue growth company. Accelerate Business Group partners with their customers to build revenue the only three ways possible - getting more new customers, increasing the value of your average sale, and getting more repeat business. Jim can be reached at http://www.jslogan.com.