What Good Is a Business Plan, Anyway?

Let’s cut through the B.S. here and take a realistic look at the proverbial Business Plan. It is responsible for more business failures than any other document, dooming many enterprises before they even get started!

Why? It’s complicated, but with a little resolve we can cut to the chase. Here are some of the myths surrounding business plans:

“You can’t get conventional financing without a business plan.”
Bankers do require business plans that they can take to their loan committee. Bankers, by and large, are not risk takers. They can’t live with a loss rate that exceeds one or two percent of the loans they make. Just like HR Departments use your resume to eliminate you (rather than hire you), banks use your business plan to find reasons to reject your application. The fact is that if you need financing for your startup, the money will usually only be lent to you on a personal basis using your home or other asset as collateral. Credit cards and personal lines of credit are the way most entrepreneurs finance a new venture.

“Venture Capitalists need a business plan to fund you.”
While Venture Capitalists can live with more like 20% failures and mediocre performance from 70% of their projects, they have to make their profits from the 10% that “hit it big.” That’s one reason they take such a large piece of the pie. Ask any seasoned V.C. how much stock they put in a business plan and they’re likely to tell you in all candor that they really don’t read a lot more than the Executive Summary. They rely more on things like I.P. (Intellectual Property you own), credentials and proven track record of the Management Team. Purchase orders from established businesses or the government, as well Letters of Intent or Memoranda of Understanding can carry some weight, depending on the market or circumstances.

“The business plan guides the marketing plan.”
Sophisticated Managers and Venture Capitalists know that the plan is good until the first marketing salvo is launched and then it becomes a case of adapt and improvise. The business plan undergoes daily and even hourly revisions. The original plan is nothing more than an historical document, often bearing little or no resemblance to reality. Putting too much time and energy into forecasting at the beginning serves more to delay the startup than to aid it. Better to have a minimal-length plan that can be modified as you go than a cumbersome and rigid plan before you even test the market.
So, what good is the business plan anyway?

The real value is in the building of it in the first place.

The mere act of writing the plan builds “management muscle” and demonstrates the skill of the team to forecast events. Sophisticated readers (think: potential investors) mentally check the box for “ability to draft a document and present data.” Then they move on to the contingency plans section… the “what ifs!”

Too many would-be entrepreneurs believe the myth that they need a business plan to get financing. Accordingly, they spend countless hours, financial resources and emotional energy putting one together. Had they devoted this effort to getting even a handful of paying customers they would be farther ahead in understanding and presenting the value of their business.

From our viewpoint, even a one-page plan is adequate for a real game-changing business concept. For most entrepreneurs, a ten-page plan is sufficient. Make that work for you until you have some actual sales under your belt or really have to go to the bank.

Enhancement Through Personal Branding

The online community remains a landscape filled with anything and everything under the sun. Sometimes it seems that there is no topic that has not be discussed about at length on the internet. However the problem remains that the market runs the risk of being flooded with too much information. So how do you set yourself apart from the rest? How do you stand out on your own? Personal branding certainly helps establish some companies as individual entities thus making them that much more memorable.Professionalism remains an important factor when trying to establish a sense of authoritativeness. Everything associated with your website and business must be of the highest quality. You want to make certain you are projecting an image that not only matches your business but your ideals and your subsequent goals. Even if you have yet to attain everything you hope to achieve in business, projecting an image of confidence goes a long way and sends a message of perceived validity.In order to attain a high level of respected professionalism make sure you closely observe your public behavior. There is nothing wrong with signing up for a Face-book, My-Space or Twitter account of course. There is nothing wrong with having some fun in your private life as well. You just need to remember that when you are aiming to have yourself personally branded as the symbolic face of a business that you must conduct yourself with a strong sense of professional decorum at all times. Do not behave in a manner that is unbecoming to the company. Your clients may not be so quick to separate your public from private image.In order to achieve success in the field of branding you must distinguish yourself from the competition in big ways. You can start by developing a strong business sense, or rather possessing a knack for customer service. Understand not only what your business is capable of offering but what your client desires as well. Work hard to fulfill their needs but do not oversell your capabilities. Do not promise things you have no possible way of guaranteeing. Should you fail on that level you risk alienating clients and sullying your personal branding.

How an Effective Presentation Can Boost Your Business?

In recent years technology has made tremendous advancements. These advancements have reshaped the organisations by creating their business functions integrated and streamlined. Beyond the standard office computers and smart devices, organisations are now implementing new software’s and latest technology equipment’s to run their operations smoothly. One such technological advancement is Slide presentation software PowerPoint is one of the widely used Slide Presentation Software. It is a powerful tool to make your presentation more attractive and engaging. If you want visual effect, collaboration tools, easy access, then PowerPoint will be the perfect option.

Nowadays in every field, there is huge competition. Business and professional firms use the presentation as a tool to educate, train, motivate the internal and external audience. At any point in time, you may require to give a presentation. The presentation is an essential part of branding because the presentation is the primary source which companies use for communication with clients, general public etc. The presentation demonstrates the company profile, and it’s the only tool which makes sure that all your representatives are turning into sales. A well-designed presentation shows presenters professionalism and also builds organisations corporate image.

Presenters are mainly of two types. Firstly, the great ones, who with their commanding charisma, speaking skills and great presentation styles can grasp the audience attention and secondly the Mediocre one who only focuses on the content of the presentation. They come up with great with great content and speak amazingly but fails in their presentation skills. Many times, lacks in gaining audience attention.

You may have complex data for presentation, a great content will be a scrap if not delivered in an entertaining way. Templates contains layout, colour, fonts, effects. powerpoint template helps to convey the information in an attractive way, grabbing the audience attention throughout the topic.

Benefits of an Effective Presentation:

• Face to Face Interaction: A presentation enables to meet your customers and prospects. Face to face interactions strengthens the relation and bond with the customers. An effective presentation can improve sales. According to a recent survey conducted, face to face meetings is fifteen times better than other marketing activities.
• Engagement: Presentation is the easiest way to engage with the audience. Attractive slides, astonishing layouts can hold the audience attention easily. Bullet points and summary texts help the audience to focus on the main subjects.
• Flexibility: Flexibility is the vital feature of the presentation. It helps in saving the time of professionals. PowerPoint presentations allow the user to quickly change the content and change the designs based on the audience.

• Adds professionalism: Presentation can decide the success of any business meetings. The presenter should convey the information most attractively and entertainingly. Adding attractive templates can ensure maximum engagement of audience over the topic.

• Storage: After the presentation, the slides can be quickly distributed among the members for further reference. It can easily be saved on the computers which minimise the chance of loss or misplacement.

• Presentation Important for Business Growth: Having a superior product can never result in success. Advertisement of the product is also mandatory. The product demonstration should be attractive, clear to the audience. The presentation should be eye-catching and should create a lasting impression on the audience. Adding an attractive slide, Infographics icons can ease the work of the presenter.

• Adds Creativity: Nobody like a wall of text, the presentation should look interesting and conveying. The audience can easily remember visual information. Adding images to illustrate point will surely make your presentation engaging. PowerPoint allows the user to add creative clipart’s, attractive fonts to the presentation.


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