What's the plan?

When I wrote a piece about the banks recently I was contacted by Graham and Paul, who recently opened Fresh, a card and gift outlet in Witney. Graham was telling me just how much work they’d put into the business plan to make sure they received the support they needed and how supportive their bank had been. I’m pleased to be able to say that they got the support and business is booming!

Sixteen years ago I was sat in the offices of the Thames Business Advice Centre in Botley desperately trying to learn how to put a business plan together when I realised that I what I actually needed was a survival plan!...especially if I was going to be able to afford to pay the mortgage and bills!! I needed to know where the bottom line was if I was going to get past first base.

In truth, the basic two page document ended up being rows of numbers with the bare minimum when it came to competitor review, SWOT analysis and Sales & Marketing strategy. This was largely because the Thames Business Mentor had been seconded from Barclays bank and his view of the business world was a numerical one. Oh, and we only prepared a one year plan!

Subsequently everyone had a view on ‘the plan’. My Bank Manager didn’t believe it, the Accountant said cut the numbers in half, and the suppliers (from whom I needed a line of credit) reckoned I wouldn’t be placing enough business to make it worth their while. Crucially, I had lost confidence in the plan because it had become a compromise in my quest to tell everyone what I thought they wanted to hear.

A funny thing happened though and my year one income and profits were pretty much in line with my original thinking – before interference from people who knew better…they were realistic projections after all. In essence I’d wasted far too much time cobbling together a document that I thought needed to convince people that I would make a success of things.

The upside of only preparing a one year survival plan was that at least we could look at year two with objectivity and we produced a simple but meaningful six page document – a real business plan. This plan included sales revenues, our costs and the resulting profits but not too much in the way of financial detail. Instead we focussed on who was going to buy what from us and why.

Our SWOT - or Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities & Threats - analysis was an honest appraisal of how we viewed the business moving forward and we even scrutinised the good and bad points of our competitors in our quest for differentiation and improvement. This was much more like it, a working document that we could reference and even extend every six months. It became our ‘Operational Business Plan’.

Thames Business Advice Centre is now known as TBAC and, even if I do say so as one of the voluntary business mentors, it has a much more rounded approach to business planning. Current thinking is focussed on SWOTs and Sales & Marketing plans, but also building in flexibility so that you are prepared for change or disruption to your operations. Mike Jennings of TBAC always suggests that you should have you plan scrutinised and challenged – preferably by someone who’ll tell you what they really think. Mike also believes that the plan is for you, the business owner and not for the bank – it’s something that you mould to suit your requirements. This is exactly the sort of guidance I needed all those years ago!

You can download a copy of the free TBAC business plan template by going to www.tbac.org.uk/mentoring/

All the best, Brendon

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