Use These 7 Analysis Tools To Prepare A Killer Business Plan

When starting a new business, we usually have nothing more than a great idea that we would like to see through. In order to make an idea become a reality, it takes a lot more than just wishful thinking and optimism, it’s important to have a detailed plan of how we are going to see our idea through. A well-crafted business plan is essentially your strategy that includes taking into consideration both internal and external factors that could influence the realization of your enterprise.

In order to help you create a business plan that will set you on the right track, we have decided to let you in on 7 tools that will help you prepare a business plan.

#1 PEST

This is an external analysis tool that allows you to get a better understanding of the Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors (hence PEST) that influence your market strategy, growth prospect, and your overall position on the market. Through each of the four factors, you can understand legislative challenges that matter for your business, the demographic image of your future market, economic factors that affect your business through export taxes, currency exchange rate.

It’s important to know that some business models rely on political factors more than on technological, while others could be under the influence of social factors more than any other. Therefore, for each of the PEST factors, it’s possible to use 5W (who, what, when, where, why) segmentation in order to understand which factors influence our business the most.

#2 SWOT

Focusing on both internal and external factors, Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, this tool allows you to analyze the factors that you can leverage against your competitors. The most common use of SWOT analysis is with specific product or service of a certain business. Placing your strengths against your weaknesses and Opportunities against Threats can help you understand which aspects of your product or services you want to focus on and use to your advantage.

#3 T-Chart

This one is pretty much the simplest you can choose in order to compare the pros and cons of any aspect of your business. It can be used in choosing your market, launch date, simply by comparing the arguments for and against the idea you are analyzing. If you would start a college paper writing service, using T-chart you could determine the pros and cons of focusing on college audience.

#4 Cost-Benefit Analysis

As most startups have a limited budget, wasting money on unnecessary investments can put your business to a stop before it even gets the chance to properly develop. The process is rather simple, all it takes is comparing the implementation costs with the benefits that implementation offers. Per example, choosing between the best essay writing service for your content marketing strategy or a freelance writer could undergo this procedure. You can take into account various options like essay shark and some other options and analyze each option severalty.

#5 Decision Matrix

This tool allows you to decide the most valuable option based on the most relevant factors. Per example, if you need to choose a content writing service, you could create a table with a list of different options like essay shark and others divided into rows. The factors that influence the value of each supplier like cost, availability, shipping period, and others should stand in separate columns which you can grade (1-5). The highest scoring agency is your winner.

#6 Market Research

In order to create the best possible business plan, you need to conduct proper market research. This doesn’t mean you have to pay a ton of money to a consultant, there are various techniques that you can apply yourself that don’t cost anything but time. The value of market research is that it helps you figure out who your prospects are, what kind of approach they prefer, as well as where you have to focus your efforts in order to overcome your competitors. Snooping around the competition website is also a good way to feel the pulse of your future market and see what works and what doesn’t.

#7 Feasibility Study

As the name would suggest, this tool allows you to understand all the potential issues that might influence the success of your project. It’s a process that encompasses two major components: is the project technically feasible, taking into account aspects such as manpower, necessary equipment, etc. and financial feasibility which determines if the proposed budget covers all the costs, as well as if it’s profitable to start the project in the first place.

Conclusion

A good business plan is not only valuable for the success of your future enterprise, but it can also serve as a document that you can use in order to attract potential partners or get a necessary loan from the bank. Digging in deep into every single aspect of your project can help you prevent issues that might arise later when you least expect them. Using these tools, however, doesn’t put a stamp on the success of your plan, the overall value of your idea plays a significant role also but it makes the success closer and easier to achieve.

 

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