Creating an effective Business Plan

- For existing businesses

Most business plans are not worth the paper they are written on!

Is your business clearly different? Do you find it easy to win sales at good rates/ margins? Can you clearly
articulate where your business is headed- to the point that your enthusiasm is inspiring? Are your energy
levels high?

Is you cannot answer yes to all these questions- you need a better business plan and you need it now!

A truly effective business plan:

◦ generates powerful business momentum

◦ inspires all those involved to achieve more than they would have thought possible
◦ makes the eventual outcome crystal clear
◦ allows you to track progress

I will guide you through some simple steps that will allow you to do just that.
It will challenge your thinking and be fun. Above all, if you follow this guide you will achieve excellent business
results. It will not just allow you to generate more sales- it will allow you to create an engine for business
growth.

Before we start, let me set the scene:

What a Business Plan is and is not!

Wikipedia states: “A business plan is a formal statement of a set of business goals, the reasons why they are
believed attainable, and the plan for reaching those goals. It may also contain background information about
the organization or team attempting to reach those goals.”

Actually, it does not need to be formal. It does not need to be a “set” of business goals.
Wikipedia has omitted the most important part- above all, it needs to powerfully drive the business forward!

Jim Collins, best selling author of “Good to Great”, refers to outstanding leaders of the past three decades:
e.g. Steve Jobs, Anita Roddick, Yvon Chouinard, Howard Schultz, Jeff Bezos. He makes it clear that their
success comes from having visions that inspire them. For Steve Jobs, it was about much more than selling
computers. For Howard Schultz, far more than coffee. For Jeff Bezos, more than online retailing.” Their
ambitions and plans inspired them so much that they achieved all they wanted and more!
Now that is what a good business plan will achieve!

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4 Simple Steps to creating your own Business Plan
If you already know your customers well you will be able to create an effective Business plan in 1-2 days.
Otherwise, if you need to find out what your clients and prospects focus on, what they most want to achieve
and what keeps them awake at night, it will take you 5- 10 working days. The results are so impressive it
would merit taking far longer than that…. There’s no need though so let’s get started.

1. The Foundation
No business plan can start with you or your company. It needs to start with the people who pay you, your
customers.
There are 2 parts to this: a) Selecting your target customers; and b) Segmenting your customers.

a) Select your target customers

Choose who your ideal customers are. Without a very precise niche focus, you are trying to be all things to
all people. This makes it 100 times harder for your company to be successful!
Did you know that only 20% of new businesses survive their first year? Only 20% of those survive the
following 4 years?1 That means that after 5 years only 4% of small businesses are still in existence. What a
waste! One of the main reasons for this is that they do not target a specific market. As a result they are
unable to understand their target customers and are unable to meet their needs well.

So look at your current customers:

20% of them will account for 80% of your profit. Tim Ferriss, author of the “4 Hour Work Week” discovered
that 5 customers never needed chasing to spend more, spent more and more and were good to work with.
Yet 2 customers took up immense amounts of his time and were never happy. He decided to stop wasting
time on the 2 and to use his time looking for more customers like the top 5!

Work it out for your business- it doesn’t need to take long. Just do some rough but honest calculations.

Your Top
20%
The rest of your market Most
profitable
Hard
work Average profit
Most
Quite enjoyable enjoyable
Least
profit
Appreciate you to some extent Appreciate
you most

Spread the
word

1
Michael Gerber “The EMyth”

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Once you’ve done that you can make some effective decisions:

◦ Which customers are just taking up ridiculous amounts of your time? What will you do about
them
◦ Which customers are most profitable?
◦ Which customers do you most enjoy working with?
◦ Which customers most appreciate you? (Are most likely to recommend you to others)?

Profile the best ones. What is similar about them?

◦ Industry
◦ Background
◦ Character
◦ Values
◦ Business type (if relevant)
◦ Issue with which they want help
◦ etc.

These people are the ones who will respond most easily to your sales message.

Do you know how to find more like them? If not, how can you find out?

Now that you’ve defined your market, you have a very precise target. You can get to know them and find out
what they really need.

The best way to do this is to ask if you can spend some time face to face. People enjoy talking about
themselves so go on- just ask them. Be cautious about simply sending to a questionnaire- the response rate
will be low and the answer can be mis leading.

Find out what they most want? On a Monday morning what do they wake up sweating about and thinking: “I
must get that sorted this week?” In this economic environment, customers only spend money on things that
cause them pain or on special treats. What does your ideal target market want to resolve or improve so
much that they will go out of their way to buy it from you?

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b) Segment your customers
Consider this picture for a moment:

This was created for ICI to depict the different types of farmers who bought fertiliser2.

Consider Arthur, 2 from the right at the top. He likes to wheel and deal- to know that he has got the best
deal. Simon, the rich looking farmer at the bottom right is interested to know that he has the best brand,
that he is buying the very best, even if he has to pay a premium. Fred (top left) wants no bells and whistles,
nothing that will cost him more. John (bottom left) wants all the technical information before he will make up
his mind.
Needless to say, if you were to interact with Arthur, Fred, Simon and John in the same way, none of them
would be happy.
So who are your different segments? What do they like and dislike?

Having decided that- how will you interact with each of them most effectively? How will it differ? How will you
reach each of them? They will each go to different places to find people to help them. How can you find out
where they go? What else do you need to know about your different segments to build a robust, powerful
foundation for your business plan?

2
Professor Malcolm McDonald, best selling author of “Marketing Plans”

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2. What is your lighthouse statement?
Which telecommunications company do you use? Bear with me for a moment- you will see the relevance
very shortly:

Compare your telecommunications supplier with the others:

◦ Do they use similar call centres, identical automated voice response systems?
◦ How different are the services they offer- other than the price?
◦ If you took away their logo, could you tell them apart?

Now think of insurance companies, mortgage suppliers, banks, restaurant chains etc. Without their logo
could you tell any of them apart?
No. I did not think so.

They all copy each other- thinking it’s the best approach. Actually it makes sales and marketing massively
harder. Do you remember in the 1970s and early 80s Tesco was not doing incredibly well. Then one day
their CEO realised they were more focused on Sainsbury than on their customers. They changed radically,
coming to understand their customer base so well that they outstripped Sainsbury. Now of course they are
phenomenally successful with stores in many countries around the world.

90% of businesses are small to medium enterprises. They have far less money than the big companies you
have just been considering. Yet they also copy each other. From the customers’ perspective it is almost
impossible to tell one from the other. Then they wonder why they do not earn more money.

It is time to be different.

You need a lighthouse statement- something that will make your business shine so brightly that, rather than
having to work so hard, customers will be drawn to you.

Defining your Lighthouse Statement

Where you That will make What customers

soar you stand out most want

What customers most want

In 1 a. you started to define this arrow. Do you know what your customers want? Do you know what is
stopping them achieve it? What keeps them awake at night? If not, then you absolutely need to find out. Look
in their press. Think of who you know and get in front of some of them. This is the foundation of your
business- you need this insight.

Where you soar

The next step is to work out the “Where you soar?” arrow.

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Think back to specific times in your business life where you were in your element? When did it feel so good
that you thought “Wow- I want this to go on and on”. Paint each picture clearly in your head- with as much
detail as possible.

Write down each remembered experience. How did you feel?

If possible you are best to get someone to coach you through this part- it is such a fundamental part of your
business plan. I love coaching business people on this as I get to see the real person emerge!

Once you have done this, compare the different examples. What do they have in common? Spend some
time. It is fun.

So, where is the overlap? At your very best- what are you doing? In other words- where do you soar? This is
the left hand arrow.

This will make you stand out

So now you have 2 of the arrows. If you now make the link between the “what customers most want” arrow
and the “where you soar” arrow you can pull out a very specific lighthouse focus that “will make you stand
out.”

If you do this and build it into the heart of your business consistently, you will win so many more clients you
will wonder at the ease of it all!

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3. Creating the Business Plan

Your Vision/ Goal

Now you have a clear idea of where you soar, what is your vision for where you will take your business? Aim
to make it bigger than you think is realistic. Big Hairy Audacious Goals/ Visions are inspiring. “Most people
over estimate what they can achieve in a year but massively underestimate what they can achieve in 5 or 10
years.”3

Did you know that a belief is just a thought you think so often that it becomes a certainty? So, once you have
a rough idea of your vision- work on it. Be as specific as you can. There is nothing more rewarding than
knowing that you’ve achieved what you set out to do.

Then set to dreaming about it. To start with it may feel awkward but that is just because it’s a new way of
seeing yourself. The more you can see yourself there, having achieved your vision the easier it will be and the
faster you will get there.

Putting it on Paper
So now you have most of the key elements of your plan:
◦ Customer focus and insight: The foundation of your plan
◦ Your target market and segments
◦ Your lighthouse statement: Where you are clearly different
◦ Your vision/ goal

See the picture below:

Creating a Business Plan- Pictorial View

Measuring
progress

Your Goal
Specific services

with target
reputation
Building a

Etc.

Your Lighthouse Statement

Customer Focus and Insight – Your Foundation

3
Tony Robbins- Multi millionaire business leader, coach and speaker

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Strategies to Achieve your Goal
All that remains is to stand back and work out what 2-3 key “strategies” you need to use to achieve your
vision. This is easy. You are now so clear about where you are going that everything else will click into place.
What is more, the strategies will fall directly out of the foundation and lighthouse statement.
For instance:
◦ What specific products/ services will you offer? Make them as tangible as possible
◦ How will you build credibility with your target audience? Now that you’re clear who they are and
what segments they fall into it is so much easier to do this. It will be fun too!
◦ Remember only to do things you really enjoy. It’s your company. You need to spread the word but
only do it your way.

3 questions to ask:
i) Does this plan inspire you? To what level out of 10?

If it is not at least 10/10 then what is needed to increase the

score?

This is essential. Do not settle for second best?

You will be working with other people- whether they work for
you or not. Will your focus make it easy for you to align
powerfully, like the British Red Arrows, who can fly at incredibly
fast speeds with their wing tips just 2 feet apart?

ii) Stand back. Is anything missing? It is your business plan- make sure it covers everything you need it to.
Will you outsource things? What staff will you need? Make sure you plan from the perspective of having
achieved your vision.

iii) Now that you have created the Business plan for you, do you need to add anything for other potential
audiences?

If you need to use it for funding you will need to show some logical assumptions to back up your predicted
revenue and profit. If you want to keep your real dreams to yourself then create a second version and only
tell them what you want to.

The customer analysis you have done will strengthen your position a great deal. You can often also get useful
data on customer numbers from big libraries.

Don’t damp down the passion and inspiration- it will count for a great deal, making you stand out from the
masses.

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4. Measures
You now need to find a few indicators so you can track your progress, to learn and to feel good about the
progress you are making.

Internal Measures
Revenue, cash in the bank and profit are obvious. Tracking cash is essential as lack of cash is the main
cause of small businesses failing. However, these are “lagging indicators.”

In addition you need “leading indicators” which I will now explain:

External Measures
Revenue etc. are internal measures. All the most successful companies track external measures- the things
that are important to your customers.

So start to closely track what your clients want to achieve. Each time they use your product/ service, track
their success or otherwise- from their perspective. For instance, a client does not pay for advertising to see
themselves in print- they do so to increase awareness or to generate leads. Are they getting the results they
want?

Even after they have stopped working with you track their success- some clients get the full benefit later on.
What’s more they will appreciate your continued interest which will undoubtedly lead to more business
opportunities with them or their contacts.

Other Leading Indicators

Now refer back to your strategies. What will you track to ensure you are progressing against each one?

e.g. How many articles have you published? How many speaking events have you done this month/ year?
How many solid relationships have you built through networking? How many leads are you getting through
your web site?

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A Final Word from Jane
I hope you find this guide helpful. Remember, it is meant to be fun and inspiring.

Do let me know how you get on- and the results you gain from it.

If you’d like to receive ongoing emails with tips and hints, sign up to my bi monthly email here.

For more information contact me, Jane Bromley on:

Tel: +44 (0)207 0604 006
Email: jane.bromley@growtharrows.com
Web: www.growtharrows.com

About the Author

Jane Bromley is an internationally renowned Senior Consultant and Executive
Business Coach. She guides firms to understand their ideal customers and then
leads them to deliver fast, sustainable commercial growth. She has a reputation
for her commitment to producing outstanding results. Her specialist expertise is
in helping leadership teams to interact with their customers in a way that
increases sales, improves repeat sales and turns customers into loyal
advocates.
Jane has 20 years experience working with Fortune 500 firms and companies
intent on fast growth. E.g. Microsoft, Merck, Npower, Hewlett Packard, Intel,
Vodafone. Over the past 10 years she has advised Senior Management teams
and Boards on ways to significantly increase £m/ $m revenue.

It all about results

◦ A small IT company increased revenue from £4m to £12m in 2 ½ years
◦ A coaching business was able to triple revenue to £300k in under 3 years
◦ Helped a stalled PLC to grow from £16m to £24m in just over 2 years

She likes nothing better than to coach Directors and their senior teams to build unstoppable business
momentum.

Jane understands what it takes to develop a business that is built on powerful clarity, achieving the goals its
sets, generating revenue quickly and inspiring its staff to work at their highest level.

What her clients say:

“In the 6 weeks of working with you I doubled revenue. What is more I am a happier and more balanced
person. Thank you!”
William W, Sales Manager

“I recommend Jane to anyone wanting to build business success and confidence”

Catherine M. MD, Coaching Business

“I wanted answers. Instead, I got better questions that helped me discover answers for myself. Our
engagement wasn't conventional consulting - it was much more significant. I'm damn good at what I do. Our
session helped to reignite my enthusiasm and passion about my work.”
David Thompson, CEO, Total Awareness Coaching

“Not only was working with you enjoyable, but it served to clarify what we are trying to do in Prysm Softech.
We are making more money and from a personal perspective, it seems less stressful..”
MD, Prysm Softech

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