Planning Process: What is your business?

My first post focused on the need for a business plan to start the planning process. The first item you may want to clarify is "What is your business"? Sounds simple. But it is more than the Who, What, How, When or Where of your business. For planning purposes, you need to know who exactly your target market is. To figure this out, ask yourself some strategic questions: Are you a retailer selling electronics or clothing? Are you a manufacturer? Are you a restaurant?  Your business is more than just the items you produce and/or sell. If you are selling electronics, are you selling innovation? Expertise? If you are a restaurant, are you selling a quick meal on the go? Or a gourmet dining experience? How about selling clothing. Are you selling the latest fashion or a vintage boutique? Defining what your business is will help you decide on who your customer is and how you will market your business. This may be easier to determine if you are an existing business, just take a look at your average customer. Are they fashionistas? Soccer mom's running kids from activity to activity? Techno-geeks looking for the latest and greatest? The customers who are currently purchasing your product already like what you have to offer and you should focus business development and marketing efforts on potential customers like them. If you are a start up, think about who your potential customer is and develop your plan around that customer's needs. Entrepreneurs often get trapped trying to be everything to everyone. You can't do it. You can't afford it! Determine what your business is and then develop your business plan around that target customer. Let me know if you have any  questions, comments, or concerns.  Leave a post and let's discuss! Or, shoot me an email at: lkatz@georgiasbdc.org. 

Year End Planning

Now that the end of 2011 is fast approaching, my thoughts turn to planning for the new year. Corporate America utilizes planning to establish goals for the upcoming year, and often the annual plans are part of a larger 3-5 year planning process. If my clients do not already have a business plan, I recommend that now is the time to do it. Business plans are used for more than just obtaining funding. A business plan is a road map of where you want to take your business. Free business plan templates can be found on the internet and www.score.org has good templates for entreprenuers to download and use. The first part of the business plan helps you to define what your business is, who your target market consists of and your competition. Knowing these three categories are important information for anyone to be successful in business. These will be the building blocks for all your business development efforts. Often clients are overwhelmed by the thought of writing a business plan. The key here is quality of information and not quantity! Especially for planning purposes, you need to put as much or little informatin that will benenfit your own efforts.  For more information on business resources, or free, confidential business consulting go to:  www.GeorgiaSBDC.org.