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THE BUSINESS PLAN - SELF-PACED ACTIVITY

During this activity you will:

Briefly describe what goes into a business plan.
Identify advantages of developing the marketing, management and financial management plans.
List financial projections included in the financial management plan.
Sketch an outline for a business plan.

THE BUSINESS PLAN - APPENDIX 1

MARKETING

1. THE MARKETING PLAN

2. PRICE/QUALITY MATRIX

3. MARKETING TIPS, TRICKS & TRAPS

_________________________________________________________________

THE ENTREPRENEUR'S

MARKETING PLAN

This is the marketing plan of____________________________

I. MARKET ANALYSIS

A. Target Market - Who are the customers?

1. We will be selling primarily to (check all that apply):

Total Percent

of Business

a. Private sector _______ ______

b. Wholesalers _______ ______

c. Retailers _______ ______

d. Government _______ ______

e. Other _______ ______

2. We will be targeting customers by:

a. Product line/services.

We will target specific lines ________________

b. Geographic area? Which areas? ________________

c. Sales? We will target sales of ________________

d. Industry? Our target industry is ________________

e. Other? ________________

3. How much will our selected market spend on our type of product or service this coming year?

$________________

B. Competition

1. Who are our competitors?

NAME ________________________________________

ADDRESS _________________________________________

_________________________________________

Years in Business ___________________

Market Share ___________________

Price/Strategy ___________________

Product/Service

Features ___________________

NAME _________________________________________

ADDRESS _________________________________________

_________________________________________

Years in Business ____________________

Market Share ____________________

Price/Strategy ____________________

Product/Service

Features ____________________

2. How competitive is the market?

High ____________________

Medium ____________________

Low ____________________

3. List below your strengths and weaknesses compared to your competition (consider such areas as location, size of resources, reputation, services, personnel, etc.):

Strengths Weaknesses

1._______________________ 1._____________________

2._______________________ 2._____________________

3._______________________ 3._____________________

4._______________________ 4._____________________

C. Environment

1. The following are some important economic factors that will affect our product or service (such as trade area growth, industry health, economic trends, taxes, rising energy prices, etc.):

________________________________________________

2. The following are some important legal factors that will affect our market:

________________________________________________

3. The following are some important government factors:

________________________________________________

4. The following are other environmental factors that will affect our market, but over which we have no control:

________________________________________________

II. PRODUCT OR SERVICE ANALYSIS

A. Description

1. Describe here what the product/service is and what it does:

________________________________________________

B. Comparison

1. What advantages does our product/service have over those of the competition (consider such things as unique features, patents, expertise, special training, etc.)?

__________________________________________________

2. What disadvantages does it have?

__________________________________________________

C. Some Considerations

1. Where will you get your materials and supplies?

__________________________________________________

2. List other considerations:

__________________________________________________

III. MARKETING STRATEGIES - MARKET MIX

A. Image

1. First, what kind of image do we want to have (such as cheap but good, or exclusiveness, or customer-oriented or highest quality, or convenience, or speed, or ...)?

__________________________________________________

B. Features

1. List the features we will emphasize:

a. __________________________________________

b. __________________________________________

c. __________________________________________

C. Pricing

1. We will be using the following pricing strategy:

a. Markup on cost ____ What % markup? _____

b. Suggested price ____

c. Competitive ____

d. Below competition ____

e. Premium price ____

f. Other ____

2. Are our prices in line with our image?

YES___ NO___

3. Do our prices cover costs and leave a margin of

profit?

YES___ NO___

D. Customer Services

1. List the customer services we provide:

a. ____________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________

2. These are our sales/credit terms:

a. ____________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________ c._____________________________________________

3. The competition offers the following services:

a. ____________________________________________

b. ____________________________________________

c. ____________________________________________

E. Advertising/Promotion

1. These are the things we wish to say about the business:

____________________________________________________

2. We will use the following advertising/promotion sources:

1. Television ________

2. Radio ________

3. Direct mail ________

4. Personal contacts ________

5. Trade associations ________

6. Newspaper ________

7. Magazines ________

8. Yellow Pages ________

9. Billboard ________

10. Other___________ ________

3. The following are the reasons why we consider the media we have chosen to be the most effective:

__________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________