Human Resources:

Important Questions that Need to be Answered in a Business Plan

Before you share your business plan with perspective investors and such, you should make sure you have answered all the necessary questions that encompass a successful business plans. Here’s some you want to make sure you have not missed.

• Do your goals truly represent what you have said in your mission statement? Basically, this means you should try to go in the same direction that you intended to from the beginning. Be sure that your goals remain the same and you don't start to sway from them.
• Are you ready to face difficulties in the future? Does your business plan include a contingency plan if your business doesn't do as well as possible? Try to include something in there that shows your foresight.
• What customers are you pursuing? Who do you have in your mind as consumers of your product? Is it a certain demographic or group of people? Does your business plan try to show how your product will be successful with certain people and how you will meet their needs?
• Can your numbers stand the test of time? Your financial forecasts are the most important part of the business plan. Investors want to know how you plan to handle the company in the future and how much money it’s going to make. The numbers that you have drawn for the income statements must include a discussion of the assumptions you made for the future and why they would work.
• Can you keep up? One thing that is the foundation of success in the business world is change. Your business plan should reflect your desires to change the company policies and the direction towards which your business is headed if you run into trouble. What if the public in the way that you had hoped doesn’t accept your product? You must have something else to fall back on. Back up plans are the key here.