Continued business planning

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Business planning after the start-up phase

The importance of ongoing business planning

Your business plan shouldn't be discarded once you've started your business.

There's a temptation for many businesses to use their plan merely to secure funding from a bank at the outset and then to ignore it. However, a good plan should set the course of a business over its lifespan and be a means of ensuring that certain key targets are met.

Maximise your chances of success by adopting a continuous and regular business-planning cycle that keeps the plan up-to-date.

Hold regular business planning meetings and involve key people from the business in them.

When you review your business plan you need to take stock of where the business currently is, where you want it to go and then use the plan to set a course to achieve the objectives you have set. You can find out more in our guides on how to review your business performance and assess your options for growth.

If you regularly assess your performance against the plans and targets you have set it gives you the best chance of meeting your objectives. And it can also provide a useful indication of where and why you're going astray. Many businesses choose to assess progress every three or six months.

The assessment will also help you in discussions with banks, investors and even potential buyers of your business. It should also be used to show direction and commitment to employees, customers and suppliers.

Defining your company's purpose in your business plan keeps you focused, inspires your employees and attracts customers.

From http://www.businesslink.gov.uk