Category Archive for "Planning"

RECESSION CONTINGENCY PLANNING
Intelligent and experienced observers may disagree about exactly where the economy is today, and where it’s headed, but there’s certainly no disagreement about the fact that we are living in very difficult economic times:

• George Soros: “We are in the midst of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s.

• Warren Buffett: “I believe that we are already in a recession… perhaps not in the sense defined by economists. … But people are already feeling the effects of a recession…. It will be deeper and longer than what many think.

• Alan Greenspan: “…there is a greater than 50% probability of recession.”

• CNN “A growing number of top economists believe that the U.S. economy
  has now toppled into recession.”

Of course, this isn’t the first recession—and it certainly won’t be the last.  So in determining how to turn this particular problem into real opportunity, a good place for us to start is by learning what leading management consultants have recommended in the past. Continue Reading »

by Amit Jain

cpSphere

Here are the six elements I find to be most important in a successful business plan:

#1: Conducting a Thorough and Complete Competitive Analysis

Many business plans stress the uniqueness of the company, product, or service and neglect studying the competitors.

However, this can have an adverse affect. If there are few or limited companies in a market space, perhaps it’s because there are not enough customers to support the company’s products and/or services.

According to a partner at a technology company, business plans should include a reference to successful and/or public companies in a competitive space to prove that the market is large enough to support the new operation. It also gives investors the assurance that if management executes well, the company has the potential to be an acquisition target.

#2: Forming Partnerships and Alliances

Forging partnerships and alliances to improve market penetration and/or operations has become commonplace in the new business environment.

It can also help brand a new company and add an installed base of customers before the actual launch. These partnership agreements should be equitable and explicit in the business plan. They must seem logical and realistic to an investor.

For instance, stating that Yahoo is a “potential partner” but adding nothing substantive to support the claim can cause an investor lose confidence in the plan.

#3: Highlighting a Successful Track Record

Valuations of a company and investments are based on a firm’s projected performance. But, one of the best indicators of success is past performance, or a company’ track record.

Business plans must demonstrate what quantitative milestones or accomplishments a company has achieved. Past success in achieving goals gives investors the assurance that the team will execute successfully in the future.

For start-up companies, providing a track record has to be more creative. Including a case-study within the business plan on a similar business venture or similar strategy employed by another business in a parallel industry can provide enough insight. The strength of the management team can also instill confidence in the business plan.

#4: Targeting Your Audience

Investors, like the rest of us, have different tastes and different backgrounds. One investor may love a business concept and/or business plan while the next may hate both. One investor might be more in-tune with marketing while another is strictly focused on operations because of their career backgrounds.

Thus to be successful, the plan must address the expectations and characteristics of the specific audience that it addresses.

#5: Providing a Realistic Portrayal of the Market Size

Defining a company’s market size too broadly provides little to no value for the investor.

For example, mentioning the “trillion dollar” U.S. healthcare or business process outsourcing markets is a redundant exercise because no company could reap $1 trillion in sales in either market while every business is going after a “multibillion-dollar market.”

Be as specific as possible about the possible size of the total market opportunity. Defining and communicating a credible market size and a plan to capture a significant share of it is far more powerful and convincing to investors.

#6: Presenting Accurate, Realistic Financial Projections

Many investors focus directly on the financial analysis of the business plan in an attempt to get to the bottom line. It is imperative that the assumptions and projections in this section be realistic.

Well-reasoned financial assumptions and projections communicate prime operations and credibility. By utilizing projections based on the financial performance of public companies in the same market segment can provide proper evidence for the sustainability of the business. Be prepared to have this section examined in-depth, with many questions posed by the investors.

All in all, a business plan must include a great idea and a realistic opportunity that can be seized.

The ROI (Return on Investment) must be something that the investors view as an affordable risk.

The presentation of the plan must exude confidence and look sharp so that the audience is convinced about the value and feasibility of the plan. That would help the audience ask the right questions in the Q&A session.

Here are some practical steps to conduct a successful business meeting…

Communicate the following information to all meeting participants well in advance and ask for their confirmation that they received the invitation and they will or will not participate in the meeting.

Optional: From those who decline to participate, you may ask the reason as well to help you plan the next meeting.

1) Decide

- who will be the meeting leader,
- what date and time the meeting will be held,
- location of the meeting (on-line or at a physical location),
- the length of the meeting.

Note: For tele- or video-conferences, or webinars, confirm connection information like telephone number, web site URL, entry password, etc. Make clear what the minimum technical requirements are for the hookup.

2) Decide on the agenda of the meeting, including its purpose and items to be discussed.

3) If there’ll be any voting, decide in advance what the voting rules will be. For elections, the names and bios of the candidates, as well as the ballots, must also be distributed well in advance to all the eligible voters.

4) If there are any presentations, reports or written, audio or video materials to be discussed, distribute them well in advance and ask the participants to study them before coming to the meeting.

5) As the meeting leader, be the first one to sign in, or show up in the meeting room to welcome the others. When participants show up first and wait for the meeting “leader,” it does not contribute to the group morale.

6) Recent studies show that, in general, up to 25% of the meeting time is spent on irrelevant issues. During the meeting try to prevent the participants from discussing matters not specified in the agenda.

Preparation before and control during a meeting are the two golden keys to a productive session.

Make sure do your homework in advance. And once the meeting is underway, try to maintain a calm and unemotional approach to reconcile the differences and reach a definite conclusion on every item specified in the agenda.

After the meeting, don’t forget to send a follow up report, listing those who have participated and thanking them for their time and effort, and summarizing the main results of the meeting.

See how operational excellence drives the profit of a company. Learn techniques to improve efficiency and effectiveness of your operations.

Download Presentation

Opening a restaurant is not easy. Not only you need to have the right location, right chef, the right menu, the right decoration and extensive PR and marketing, but also the right pre-planning.

And financing is an important part of the work that goes into putting a successful restaurant operation together.

Unless you have deep pockets or have friends and relatives with deep pockets, the chances are very high that you’ll go to a bank or a financial institution to secure the financing. That in itself requires more preparation than putting your menu together or finding the right chef and the personnel.

Mario Churchill, a free-lance author who has written extensively about the restaurant business, provided the following partial list of documents that you need to prepare and submit to the bank before you can get any financing:

“Executive Summary; Company Description; Location; Organization; Business Concept; Concept Statement; Capitalization; Sample Menu; Layouts and Design; Management Partner/Owner; Management Team; Kitchen Manager; General Manager; Management Agreements; Confidentiality Agreements; Market Analysis; Industry Assessment; Competitive Analysis; Target Market; Location Analysis; Marketing Strategy; Customer Database; Frequent Diner; Mail Campaign; Email Campaign; Charity/Community Involvement; Public Relations; Marketing Resources; Business Relationships; Operations; Advertising; Training; Staffing; Daily Operations & Production; Customer Service; Suppliers; Administrative Systems; Management Controls…”

Do you still want to go ahead with your plans for that cozy little piece of the American  Dream on the corner with clean table cloths and delicious dishes? Just make sure you do your homework properly.

Click here to read Churchill’s blog article.