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Business Plan InformationBusiness Plans- What Consultants Don’t tell You!
by:
Greg Chapman
Copyright 2005 Empower Business Solutions
Do you have a Business Plan? Congratulations, but you are in a small minority. And if you have a plan, is it integral to your business, and instrumental to its growth? If the answer to this question is yes, then you need to see no further. However, most business owners who really go to the trouble to write a business plan have left it languishing on their bottom shelf, gathering dust! This is the dirty little private secret of business consultants.
Most business consultants are only interested in merchandising their time or their ‘Business Plan in a Box’ but cognize that for a business plan to be useful, it has to be part of a Business Management System. But this is a more harder proposition for the adviser to sell, particularly to small business owners who are simply looking for a quick fix. So most consultants simply sell a quick fix solution- a business plan that they cognize will, inside
months, end up on the bottom shelf. Once owners have prepared their “fill in the blanks” plan, they expect it to transform their business nightlong simply by its mere existence. And because this makes not happen, they ne'er
look at it again.
Business Plans do work, but you have to do them work. It is not a one-off exercise. If you buy a ‘Business Plan in a Box’, you need to understand that you are responsible for maintaining the plan. You besides need to satisfy yourself that the product you buy is not simply a fill in the blanks product. These plans always end up on the bottom shelf. They don’t show you how to do your strategic analysis (which is ne'er
a fill in the blanks exercise- no matter what person tells you).
Business Planning is a real soul searching exercise for the business owner. You have to be viciously honest with yourself. Even as if you prepare your plan yourself (without a coach), get person else involved to support you honest! Looking at examples of what others have done can help, but your business wish have some strengths and weaknesses and wish operate in a some marketplace. And lastly, do sure any off-the-shelf product you choose wish show you how to implement your plan into your business.
When you use a consultant, insist that they show you how the plan should be enforced
into your business process. And have the adviser give you at least one review of your performance against your plan six months after the plan has been delivered. Piece this wish cost you extra, this wish ensure that your plan makes not end up on the bottom shelf- because you cognize you wish be control to account!
Business Planning is not an easy process. It takes time and commitment. You don’t simply do it once. This is not what business owners want to hear, and what most consultants won’t tell you, because it mightiness cost them a sale. But the rewards from a well enforced
business plan are worth galore times your investment.
Just about the author:
Dr Greg Chapman assists small to medium eightpenny businesses with business planning, business systems and marketing strategy. To find out how you can Multiply Your Profits & Do Your Business Run without You, and to find out How Nice Your Business Actually Is with a Free Online Business Medical, go to Empower Business Solutions website at:
http://www.empowersolutions.comau
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