You can find many sources of good information about the elements you need to include in your business plan. If you have decided to bypass the planning process, you might want to reconsider. Business planning has many benefits in addition to what is contained in the plan itself. From our many experiences creating our own business plans, we have identified 11 things you can do to make your business planning much more successful.

1. 10 Keys to Success in Business Planning

2. Engage in Business Planning
Ready to look for a shortcut
around the business
planning process?
You may want to
reconsider.

3. Engage in Business Planning
Business planning has many
benefits. The process forces
you to think through issues
that you might otherwise
avoid.
As the saying goes, “you can’t
hit a target you don’t see.”
Learn how to hit the target with our Strategic Planning Basics.

4. 10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful
The Center for Business Modeling wants to help. We’ve
identified 10 ways marketers can make their business
planning much more successful.

5. 10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful
1. Start early – be proactive, not reactive. Start
planning well before you are ready to implement
the plan.
2. Start small and iterate often – Launch your
ventures with a minimum viable product (MVP) or
service (MVS). Practice the principle of “fail fast and
move on”.

6. 10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful
3. Don’t spend major time on minor issues – Don’t
spend countless hours trying to calculate trivial
matters like what titles to give the founding team.
As an entrepreneur, your time is precious – invest it
wisely.
4. Focus on your differentiation – If you are using the
business plan to attract investors, partners, or
employees, ensure that it is not a “me too” type
plan. State how you are different from the
competition in terms of products, expertise, target
audience, etc.

7. 10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful
5. Make sure your numbers are realistic – Resist the
temptation to wildly exaggerate your financial
projections. Investors know the difference between
a pipe dream and what is achievable.
6. Spend time on your SWOT analysis – SWOT stands
for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and
Threats. Understand how you rate against your
competition in each of these four areas.
Review a paper on SWOT Analysis on our Resources page!

8. 10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful
7. Define your mission, vision and objectives – Don’t
neglect to talk about these important subjects early
in the business plan. Everything you write and every
action you take should be based on supporting
these.
8. Specify the necessary actions to achieve objectives
– A business plan is for more than outcomes – it is a
specific roadmap to success.

9. 10 Ways to Make Your Business Successful
9. Focus on critical metrics – Every business plan
should showcase the specific measurements that
will be used to evaluate ongoing performance and
the means to track and monitor results.
10. Identify assumptions, risks and contingencies –
Investors love to see flexibility. Business owners
should realize that the marketplace and buyer
preferences are continually changing. Identify the
potential barriers early and plan accordingly.

10. Keys to Success in Business Planning
The complete version of this
article can be found at:
centerforbusinessmodeling.com

11. About the Center for Business Modeling
CBM is the leading provider of proprietary software and
planning tools. We offer an online peer group of subject
matter experts and practical user-friendly resources.
Our tools are designed to accelerate your business’s
profitability and growth.
Click here to learn more about the Center for Business Modeling
Follow us on Twitter: @Ctr4BizModeling
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/center-for-business-
modeling