I recently answered a question on LinkedIn about the value of a business plan for small professional practices. I am posting my response here, as I thought it would of interest to Toronto Marketing Blog readers:
QUESTION
Should the owner of a small professional practice take the time to write up and formalize a business plan?
ANSWER
Regardless as to whether or not you need to generate financing, a business plan is critical because it will help you to mitigate risk and maximize opportunity and which professional practice can afford to do away with either?
That said it is not the act of completing the standard business planning templates that will mitigate risk or maximize opportunity. In fact, you could go through the business planning process and fool yourself into believing that you have done your due diligence.
The business plan will only serve you in these stated goals if it is an honest, strategic response to your marketplace. As such, you will need to have (or work with someone who has) the expertise and the objectivity to:
- Analyze your competitive edge based on market research findings
- Identify gaps in your process
- Assess the realism of your projections based on your efforts and investment
As the practice owner you will always be the visionary. The business planning process will give you information and guidance to fine-tune that vision to ensure that it is positioned for success and to know how and when to respond when things don’t go as planned.
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