The Type of Planning that is Essential for the Small Business

 

Photo by Michael Burrows from Pexels

Small businesses are on the rise but many fail and the main reason is arguably the lack of planning and foresight. The statisticians will more likely put this down to lack of finance or access to funding; however, the truth of the matter is that the roots of the failure are still purely based in the lack of planning. This article will look at what this means and provide some practical examples of how this planning should  e executed in the real world.

Know Who Your Suppliers Are

Being able to cogently identify what supplies your business will need and then finding suppliers that will be able to reliably provide you with these supplies when and as you need them is a critical planning element of the small business. Cash flow is not always available and as such, prior planning will be the only way to ensure that you have the supplies you need for the business to function.

As an example, if you decide to open a cupcake business because you make the absolutely best cakes, but you don’t know where to get supplies as simple as the individual cupcake boxes bulk supply, then your idea is dead in the water.

Know the Market and Your Buyers

As a small business there is only one route to success and sustainability and that is to have sufficient buyers or consumers of your products or services. This is essentially the life blood of the business, to find those who need and want your product or service and then to convince them to buy from you on an ongoing basis. To do this you need to know who they are and what they want. There will need to be some serious planning around this collection of customer information and market research.

In keeping with the cupcake analogy, if you don’t know that most of your potential clients or customers want vanilla rather than your own personal favorite of dark chocolate, it’s not going to matter that you make the best cupcakes in the world. The vanilla buyers out there won’t be frequenting the store and you’re unlikely to be making the money that you should.

Know that if you’re not Online, You’re Not in Business

The online marketplace is the be all and end all of modern business. As a small business especially, the internet allows for you to be able to compete with the biggest concerns in the market. It is also one of the only growth points in retail and the service industry is not far behind. To finish off with the cupcakes, if you’re online then you have the chance to buy from a wider range of suppliers as well as being able to sell to a wider range of people. The chocolate that you like to make can become a niche and a specialized marketing campaign online and could lead to a very bespoke dark chocolate only cupcake connoisseur club. It’s possible if you’re online and have done the planning as advised.

As a small business, pre-planning and preparation will be key to your success. The aspects of such planning as aforementioned are presented in a fairly simplistic manner, and for good reason, because these are the basics of the small business and will be the deciding factors and form the foundations for success or failure.