The document outlines a '4 x 4 plan' for growing businesses, emphasizing personal development, objective setting, mentoring, and local skill acquisition. It discusses common excuses for not having a written business plan and lists top reasons for business failure, including poor accounting and lack of cash cushion. The essentials for creating a business plan, including market research, operations, and financials, are highlighted to support goal setting and operational efficiency.

1. Promoting
For Growing
Businesses

2. The 4 x 4 Plan
The Best Business Life By Far
Each Month
• Get 4 hours personal development
• Spend 4 hours set & review SMART objectives
• Gift 4 hours mentoring another business
• Buy 4 hours insourced skill locally
The 4 x 4 plan will lead to a better organised more focused,
better networked, more profitable business with a more
fulfilled business life.
Try it for 4 months and see the difference.

3. Planning For

4. Top 6 Excuses For not having a written plan
1. I do not need outside funding – why bother
2. I know what’s wrong – I’m just not selling enough
3. It will be wrong anyway
4. I have it all in my head
5. I always deal with challenges as they arise really well
6. A business plan won’t help me after start-up
Top 10 Reasons For Business Failure
1. The maths just does not add up
 Demand at the price does not add up to a (enough) profit
2. The owner gets in the way
 Stubborn, risk averse, conflict averse, perfectionist, greedy,
self-righteous, paranoid, indignant, insecure……
3. Out of control growth
 Added; products; markets; team members; borrowing. less can
be more
4. Poor accounting (you do not know what’s going on)
 Flying blind always results in a crash - get accounting visibility
5. Lack of cash cushion
 Stuff happens, pay, borrow, or go bust?
6. Operational mediocrity
 Referral business is vital to success, who will refer mediocrity?
7. Operational Inefficiency
 Over-priced labour, rent, materials, as economy tightens and
competition gains
8. Dysfunctional Management
 Lack of vision, focus, planning, standards. Add pressure and
arguments
9. Succession Plan
 Nepotism and favouritism, replace effective performers with
incompetents
10.Declining Market
 Failing to keep in-touch with what customers want to buy.
Change the offer
The Biggest and most Successful businesses
plan every year. Do they just like admin?

5. Top 7 Uses For a Business Plan
1. Money
 Bankers, VC’s, Angels , all lenders need to understand your
chances of success
2. Goal setting
 The map for your vision sets milestone targets
3. Daily Operations
 Policies, operating procedures, quantified daily tasks that add
up to a profit
4. Foresee Issues
 Test the feasibility of your idea, know it will work, measure
results against plan
5. Customer centric
 Research your customers, understand them thoroughly, supply
a need
6. Value creation
 Paying your bills and yourself is a start point, know how to
create value
7. Leadership
 Staff, advisors, mentors, all need to understand your vision,
your route map and your current position. Sat-Nav for your
business
Advanced Marketing for Maximum Profits

6. Your Business Plan
The Essentials
1. Idea
 What will the business do?
2. Market
 Who will your customers be? What competition is there?
3. Operations
 How will you deliver the idea? Promote it? Provide great
service?
4. Financials
 Can you earn more than you spend? How much cash do you
need before you generate enough cash internally?
5. Supporters
 Do you have specialist advisors in each area? Can you partner?
Team?
6. Review and Revise
 Build in measurement, reporting and milestone review
Setting it Out
1. Title and Scope
 Name of Company, Period covered
2. Contents
 Executive Summary (something to hand to the bank)
o Idea, Market, Operations, Financials, Supporters
 Idea
o ‘Elevator Pitch’ why anyone will buy from you - said in one
minute or less
 Market
o Customers who? How many? Their profile? Data to back
up your guess
o Competition Who? How are you different? Strengths &
weaknesses?
 Operations
o CEO who? Why best qualified?
o Sourcing where you get it and how it is made (applies to
services)

7.  Marketing
o How will you promote your offer to your customers? Your
plan…..
 Press,
 how many press releases? Which
publications?
 Online
 will you have a website? Blog? Who will you
link with?
 Social Media
 which? How will you use it?
 Partners
 Who will you tie up with selling to same
audience?
o You know who the customers are. Show how will you talk
to them
 Sales
o How will you identify prospects?
o How will you follow up prospects?
o How will you recycle rejections?
o How will you close sales?
o How will you handle up-sell?
o How will you manage customers?
 Fulfilment
o How will you capture orders?
 When / how will you get paid?
o How will you deliver?
o How will you handle enquiries and failures?
 Infrastructure
o Which IT systems will you use?
 How will you support them?
o What staff will you need?
 Engagement, training, evaluation?
o What advisory board will you have?
 How will that work?
o What reporting will you have?
 How will you review? Re-plan? Manage change?

8.  Financials
o Effort to generate orders
 Convert effort to cost
o Orders generated?
 Convert orders to £revenue
o Cost of sales
 Match sales with the £costs to supply
o Overheads
 Match staff deployed with cost of employment
 List all outgoings and costs including rent, utilities,
professional services and taxes
o Convert the profit and loss to cash flow
o Produce a balance sheet
o Set Assumptions, inflation, prices & changes

9.  Key Objectives
o Sales growth target
o Make price increase stick
o New product development
o Key marketing achievement (new brochure / website)
o Recruit partners
o Set up new system
o Win investment
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time specific
(SMART)
Using Your Plan To Raise Finance?
AVOID GIVING A PERSONAL GUARANTEE
EVER! – THERE WILL ALWAYS BE ANOTHER WAY
StartUp Suffolk is a not for profit organisation sponsored by New Media Business Group
Enquiries: New Media Business Academy Limited, a not for profit company
The Enterprise Centre PO Box 656, Woolpit, Bury St Edmunds IP30 9WR Tel 0203 086 9386
Tim@NewMedia-Group.com