Regardless of whether yours is a new venture struggling to grow or an established and growing company, a well thought of business plan is necessary for both. There are instances of businesses failing to take off simply because the management did not have a sound business plan and missed the available opportunities for marketing as well a funding.

Business plan is not a once in lifetime affair but a continuous process that has to be reviewed and updated periodically. With changing times your business plan too much change but at any given point of time you need to have a current business. This is the basic mantra for success of any business.

In any business the bottom line is that ultimately it is only after someone buys your product or service that you will make a profit. A good salesperson should be fully conversant with the product or service s/he is selling. Unless you have all the necessary information it becomes difficult to persuade a potential buyer to spend money. The important point here is that your knowledge of what you are selling should be extraordinary, much more than what is normally known by your clients.

Look at it this way. Your clients are your potential investors and unless they believe in you they are not likely to be convinced. To convince your customers you have to be fully sure of what you are talking about your business. Even if you think that you are an expert, you need to refine or calibrate your knowledge. Gaining knowledge, as you know, is a continuous process and no point of time can you say that there is nothing new to add to what you already know.

For that purpose you should be ready to collect whatever information that you are able to gather regarding the business you are in. In this age of information technology you can gather information regarding almost anything and everything. The moot point is that you should be able to sift through the redundant and what will help you in development of your business. To help you in your efforts to find relevant and useful information we have prepared a list of the main components that should be part of any good business plan.

• Executive Summary - a brief summary of the plan.
• Market Analysis - your knowledge and the research you have done.
• Company Description & Organization - the nature of your business and reasons for your belief in the success of your business.
• Management Team - brief details of structure and qualification of the management.
• Marketing Strategies - how you plan to market your product/service.
• Service or Product Line - description of what you are selling.
• Funding Request - the amount of funds you are asking for.
• Financials - list of financial statements.
• The Appendix - specific information as needed.