develop a business plan for your new product

Table of Contents

How to make a business plan

How to make a good business plan: step-by-step guide.

A business plan is a strategic roadmap used to navigate the challenging journey of entrepreneurship. It's the foundation upon which you build a successful business.

A well-crafted business plan can help you define your vision, clarify your goals, and identify potential problems before they arise.

But where do you start? How do you create a business plan that sets you up for success?

This article will explore the step-by-step process of creating a comprehensive business plan.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a formal document that outlines a business's objectives, strategies, and operational procedures. It typically includes the following information about a company:

Products or services

Target market

Competitors

Marketing and sales strategies

Financial plan

Management team

A business plan serves as a roadmap for a company's success and provides a blueprint for its growth and development. It helps entrepreneurs and business owners organize their ideas, evaluate the feasibility, and identify potential challenges and opportunities.

As well as serving as a guide for business owners, a business plan can attract investors and secure funding. It demonstrates the company's understanding of the market, its ability to generate revenue and profits, and its strategy for managing risks and achieving success.

Business plan vs. business model canvas

A business plan may seem similar to a business model canvas, but each document serves a different purpose.

A business model canvas is a high-level overview that helps entrepreneurs and business owners quickly test and iterate their ideas. It is often a one-page document that briefly outlines the following:

Key partnerships

Key activities

Key propositions

Customer relationships

Customer segments

Key resources

Cost structure

Revenue streams

On the other hand, a Business Plan Template provides a more in-depth analysis of a company's strategy and operations. It is typically a lengthy document and requires significant time and effort to develop.

A business model shouldn’t replace a business plan, and vice versa. Business owners should lay the foundations and visually capture the most important information with a Business Model Canvas Template . Because this is a fast and efficient way to communicate a business idea, a business model canvas is a good starting point before developing a more comprehensive business plan.

A business plan can aim to secure funding from investors or lenders, while a business model canvas communicates a business idea to potential customers or partners.

Why is a business plan important?

A business plan is crucial for any entrepreneur or business owner wanting to increase their chances of success.

Here are some of the many benefits of having a thorough business plan.

Helps to define the business goals and objectives

A business plan encourages you to think critically about your goals and objectives. Doing so lets you clearly understand what you want to achieve and how you plan to get there.

A well-defined set of goals, objectives, and key results also provides a sense of direction and purpose, which helps keep business owners focused and motivated.

Guides decision-making

A business plan requires you to consider different scenarios and potential problems that may arise in your business. This awareness allows you to devise strategies to deal with these issues and avoid pitfalls.

With a clear plan, entrepreneurs can make informed decisions aligning with their overall business goals and objectives. This helps reduce the risk of making costly mistakes and ensures they make decisions with long-term success in mind.

Attracts investors and secures funding

Investors and lenders often require a business plan before considering investing in your business. A document that outlines the company's goals, objectives, and financial forecasts can help instill confidence in potential investors and lenders.

A well-written business plan demonstrates that you have thoroughly thought through your business idea and have a solid plan for success.

Identifies potential challenges and risks

A business plan requires entrepreneurs to consider potential challenges and risks that could impact their business. For example:

Is there enough demand for my product or service?

Will I have enough capital to start my business?

Is the market oversaturated with too many competitors?

What will happen if my marketing strategy is ineffective?

By identifying these potential challenges, entrepreneurs can develop strategies to mitigate risks and overcome challenges. This can reduce the likelihood of costly mistakes and ensure the business is well-positioned to take on any challenges.

Provides a basis for measuring success

A business plan serves as a framework for measuring success by providing clear goals and financial projections . Entrepreneurs can regularly refer to the original business plan as a benchmark to measure progress. By comparing the current business position to initial forecasts, business owners can answer questions such as:

Are we where we want to be at this point?

Did we achieve our goals?

If not, why not, and what do we need to do?

After assessing whether the business is meeting its objectives or falling short, business owners can adjust their strategies as needed.

How to make a business plan step by step

The steps below will guide you through the process of creating a business plan and what key components you need to include.

1. Create an executive summary

Start with a brief overview of your entire plan. The executive summary should cover your business plan's main points and key takeaways.

Keep your executive summary concise and clear with the Executive Summary Template . The simple design helps readers understand the crux of your business plan without reading the entire document.

2. Write your company description

Provide a detailed explanation of your company. Include information on what your company does, the mission statement, and your vision for the future.

Provide additional background information on the history of your company, the founders, and any notable achievements or milestones.

3. Conduct a market analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of your industry, competitors, and target market. This is best done with a SWOT analysis to identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Next, identify your target market's needs, demographics, and behaviors.

Use the Competitive Analysis Template to brainstorm answers to simple questions like:

What does the current market look like?

Who are your competitors?

What are they offering?

What will give you a competitive advantage?

Who is your target market?

What are they looking for and why?

How will your product or service satisfy a need?

These questions should give you valuable insights into the current market and where your business stands.

4. Describe your products and services

Provide detailed information about your products and services. This includes pricing information, product features, and any unique selling points.

Use the Product/Market Fit Template to explain how your products meet the needs of your target market. Describe what sets them apart from the competition.

5. Design a marketing and sales strategy

Outline how you plan to promote and sell your products. Your marketing strategy and sales strategy should include information about your:

Pricing strategy

Advertising and promotional tactics

Sales channels

The Go to Market Strategy Template is a great way to visually map how you plan to launch your product or service in a new or existing market.

6. Determine budget and financial projections

Document detailed information on your business’ finances. Describe the current financial position of the company and how you expect the finances to play out.

Some details to include in this section are:

Startup costs

Revenue projections

Profit and loss statement

Funding you have received or plan to receive

Strategy for raising funds

7. Set the organization and management structure

Define how your company is structured and who will be responsible for each aspect of the business. Use the Business Organizational Chart Template to visually map the company’s teams, roles, and hierarchy.

As well as the organization and management structure, discuss the legal structure of your business. Clarify whether your business is a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, or LLC.

8. Make an action plan

At this point in your business plan, you’ve described what you’re aiming for. But how are you going to get there? The Action Plan Template describes the following steps to move your business plan forward. Outline the next steps you plan to take to bring your business plan to fruition.

Types of business plans

Several types of business plans cater to different purposes and stages of a company's lifecycle. Here are some of the most common types of business plans.

Startup business plan

A startup business plan is typically an entrepreneur's first business plan. This document helps entrepreneurs articulate their business idea when starting a new business.

Not sure how to make a business plan for a startup? It’s pretty similar to a regular business plan, except the primary purpose of a startup business plan is to convince investors to provide funding for the business. A startup business plan also outlines the potential target market, product/service offering, marketing plan, and financial projections.

Strategic business plan

A strategic business plan is a long-term plan that outlines a company's overall strategy, objectives, and tactics. This type of strategic plan focuses on the big picture and helps business owners set goals and priorities and measure progress.

The primary purpose of a strategic business plan is to provide direction and guidance to the company's management team and stakeholders. The plan typically covers a period of three to five years.

Operational business plan

An operational business plan is a detailed document that outlines the day-to-day operations of a business. It focuses on the specific activities and processes required to run the business, such as:

Organizational structure

Staffing plan

Production plan

Quality control

Inventory management

Supply chain

The primary purpose of an operational business plan is to ensure that the business runs efficiently and effectively. It helps business owners manage their resources, track their performance, and identify areas for improvement.

Growth-business plan

A growth-business plan is a strategic plan that outlines how a company plans to expand its business. It helps business owners identify new market opportunities and increase revenue and profitability. The primary purpose of a growth-business plan is to provide a roadmap for the company's expansion and growth.

The 3 Horizons of Growth Template is a great tool to identify new areas of growth. This framework categorizes growth opportunities into three categories: Horizon 1 (core business), Horizon 2 (emerging business), and Horizon 3 (potential business).

One-page business plan

A one-page business plan is a condensed version of a full business plan that focuses on the most critical aspects of a business. It’s a great tool for entrepreneurs who want to quickly communicate their business idea to potential investors, partners, or employees.

A one-page business plan typically includes sections such as business concept, value proposition, revenue streams, and cost structure.

Best practices for how to make a good business plan

Here are some additional tips for creating a business plan:

Use a template

A template can help you organize your thoughts and effectively communicate your business ideas and strategies. Starting with a template can also save you time and effort when formatting your plan.

Miro’s extensive library of customizable templates includes all the necessary sections for a comprehensive business plan. With our templates, you can confidently present your business plans to stakeholders and investors.

Be practical

Avoid overestimating revenue projections or underestimating expenses. Your business plan should be grounded in practical realities like your budget, resources, and capabilities.

Be specific

Provide as much detail as possible in your business plan. A specific plan is easier to execute because it provides clear guidance on what needs to be done and how. Without specific details, your plan may be too broad or vague, making it difficult to know where to start or how to measure success.

Be thorough with your research

Conduct thorough research to fully understand the market, your competitors, and your target audience . By conducting thorough research, you can identify potential risks and challenges your business may face and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Get input from others

It can be easy to become overly focused on your vision and ideas, leading to tunnel vision and a lack of objectivity. By seeking input from others, you can identify potential opportunities you may have overlooked.

Review and revise regularly

A business plan is a living document. You should update it regularly to reflect market, industry, and business changes. Set aside time for regular reviews and revisions to ensure your plan remains relevant and effective.

Create a winning business plan to chart your path to success

Starting or growing a business can be challenging, but it doesn't have to be. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting, a well-written business plan can make or break your business’ success.

The purpose of a business plan is more than just to secure funding and attract investors. It also serves as a roadmap for achieving your business goals and realizing your vision. With the right mindset, tools, and strategies, you can develop a visually appealing, persuasive business plan.

Ready to make an effective business plan that works for you? Check out our library of ready-made strategy and planning templates and chart your path to success.

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How to Design and Present a New Product Business Plan

develop a business plan for your new product

Every product you roll out for your business needs a business plan presentation. We’re going to go over business plan design, presentation and more below, so you know exactly how to formulate your new product business plan.

Defining a Business Plan

Have you ever thought of a new product and jotted a few ideas on things you needed to do to turn your idea into a reality? If so, you’ve already written a basic business plan, or at least the key components. At the core, a business plan is simply a plan for how your product would work and what you have to do to bring your product to life and make it exceed.

A business plan ranges from a single page to several pages. Most businesses can get by with a very lean plan with a few bullet points that focus on your product strategy, tactics you’ll use to develop and sell your product and milestones that’ll help track responsibilities and tasks. It should also include the financial projections you’ll have to apply to your product, like budget, cash flow and expenses .

How to Design a Product Business Plan

Before you present your product business plan , you have to design and write it out first. We’re going to outline everything you need to do to write a concise and strong product business plan that sells. The steps are:

Step One – Research, Research, Research

Analyse and research your product, your target market, and your objective expertise. Ideally, you’ll spend twice as much time on this step than you’ll spend on actually writing the product business plan. Evaluate your product and think about what you want to do with it. You have to know your company inside and out, what your product brings, any competition you may have for it. Also, do not forget the market in which you want to sell it. It’s your job to know everything you can possibly know about the market your product will enter, to build your case on why your product will beat your competition.

Step Two – Determine Your Plan’s Purpose

A product business plan is a written document that describes the product, your marketing and sales strategy , the financial implications and a profit and loss statement . Think of it as a plan or map that helps you avoid bumps in product production. If you want to attract investors for your new product, your plan will have a different purpose. Now you’ll have to write out a business plan that targets your potential investors, so it will be as concise and clear as possible.

Step Three – Create a Product Profile

Your product profile includes your audience, target market, resources, what makes your product unique, and how your product will solve a problem. Use this profile to attract your potential customers, and to describe your product plan as well as your company. This is one of the first written parts of your plan, and having this product profile makes the entire plan come together much more quickly.

Step Four – Document Every Aspect of Your Product

Any potential investors or your company board want to see how your new product is going to generate revenue for your company. Because of this, investors and the board want to know everything possible about the product. To help you with this process, you want to document everything from your cash flow and expenses to any projections you have. Don’t forget any minor details, like the licensing agreements and location strategy.

Step Five – Set Up a Strategic Marketing Plan

Defining a Business Plan - Prepare a Marketing Plan

A solid product new product business plan / marketing plan will always include an aggressive and strategic element. You’ll want to outline various marketing objectives, such as:

Product outline
Defining business plan images relevant to your product and/or product function
Building and extending the market for your product
Breaking into new markets with your product
Boosting sales for your new product, and be specific
Cross-selling your new product with another
Entering into a long-term contract with targeted clients
Raising prices without taking away from sales
Refining your new product
Having a content marketing strategy in place to generate interest
Enhance your product delivery and manufacturing process

Every new product plan should have several goals outlined, along with tactics for hitting these goals with new products. So now focus on the “what” and “why” of your marketing plan for the product’s debut year, followed by the “where”, “who”, “how” and “when”. Now it’s time to allocate a budget for every activity you plan for your new product. Create separate budgets for your out-of-pocket costs and your internal or staff costs.

Step Six – Make Your Product Plan Adaptable for Different Audiences

Your potential product plan will have a varied bunch of readers that range from employees and venture capitalists to bankers or investors. Each type of reader has different interests, and you need to know these interests up front. This way, you can take them into account when you write up your business plan for specific audiences. For example, your staff will be more interested in the plan’s objectives while the investors will be more interested in cash flow statements and balance sheets. Make sure you can easily modify your business plan design and tailor it to your audience.

Step Seven – Explain Why Consumers Need This Product

No matter if you want to share your plan with a customer, investor or team member, plan has to show that you’re dedicated and passionate. You have to show that you care about expanding your business product line, list the problems the product will solve and lay out what makes your product stand out from your competition. Maybe your product helps people do something more efficiently, or maybe it helps speed up a certain process. By explaining what your product can do for your audience, you can create an emotional connection with people who will support your product from the launch date onwards.

How to Present a New Product Business Plan

Once you write out your new product business plan, it’s time to decide how you want to present it. Business plan presentation is key to getting your product off to a strong start and to generating interest. Take a look at how to present a business plan in seven steps.

1. Get Referrals and Leads

If you have outside investors that can help with your plan, you need their phone numbers, names and addresses. Initiating a client referral program can significantly enhance your networking efforts, encouraging existing contacts to connect you with potential leads.

Start networking, and talk to people you know who can help launch your new product. Ask your people you know for referrals, and make sure to get in touch with the people who you get referrals for. You can also consider buying leads using innovative platforms to grow your business.

And if you are catering to B2B, make sure you are selecting B2B data providers that provide the best solutions for your needs. Lead411, Zoominfo, and Apollo.io are three of the best on the market.

2. Research Your Target

Learn as much as you possibly can about the industries your product will end up in, how much money you or other people will invest in the manufacturing process, and any other requirements. Look in venture capital directories and get an idea of where to present your product.

3. Make a Sales Pitch

Mail or email an introductory letter to your target audience that lets them know what plan you’d like to send to them. Sending an introductory letter is your way of subtly asking the audience if they’d be interested in reading your product business plan. In this introductory letter, you should explain why you’ve picked this person and what your product offers. You also want to explain what you’re looking for from the person like a loan, investor or a long-term supplier relationship. If you have a referral, you want to include who referred you in the start of the letter. Better never underestimate how powerful a referral can be.

Finally, you might want to include the terms under which you present your product plan. You might mention that you’re not sending your plan out to any other investor, or you may disclose that you’re contacting multiple investors. You should let the recipient know whether the communication is confidential or if they can pass it on to someone else. If you plan to include a non-disclosure agreement, you should send it between the introductory letter and your actual business plan.

If they don’t reply within a week, send a short follow-up email, and send a third around two weeks later. If they still don’t respond, look to other sources of investment.

4. Try Face to Face Meetings

Despite the fact that we’re in the midst of a digital age, you should try to meet up face to face. This is especially true if you want to actively seek investors because it’ll be hard to convince them to commit to investing in your products simply through email or texting. Skype may be a viable option, but an in-person meeting is still the best shot you have to make a major financial commitment. If they want you to communicate exclusively via electronic means, follow their lead.

5. Be Prepared to Counter Objections

You may think that your business plan answers every question your audience has, but you haven’t. You have to go into everything prepared to counter objections like assumptions about your product and your potential competitors. Have members of your team, co-workers and friends play the devil’s advocate and throw every possible direction they can think of at you and ask the tough questions. In turn, you’ll have your answers ready with it comes up for real.

6. Lock in Those Commitments

The new product business plan can help you get money for the product development. You won’t get investments in your product unless you ask for them. Once you’ve gone through all of the potential objections, be ready to offer one final concession. It could be something like an ownership percentage for your product or a board seat. Offer this as your last concession and close your deal.

7. Keep Time in Mind

When it comes to pitching your presentation, keep time in mind. You want a more formal pitch presentation for your investors. Cover all of the elements we outlined earlier. Ideally, your entire pitch deck template should last 20 minutes at the very most, and you should have a slideshow that highlights your business plan. Keep it to 10 slides or less with a host, of business plan images and diagrams to get your point across. Increase audience engagement with top-notch presentation slides .

How Billdu Can Help With Your Product Business Plan

Billdu is a user-friendly cloud platform that helps you organise your business’ finances all in one convenient place. You can seamlessly track how your company is doing, and pull invoices or expenses quickly and easily when you need them for the product business plan writing and presenting stages.

Our platform also gives you a great idea on how feasible it is for your business to launch a new product. If you find that your business doesn’t have the cash flow to support everything that comes with setting up your business plan, it won’t look good to your potential investors. However, using Billdu, you’ll know this before you draw up your business plan. It’s an essential tool for helping keep your business on track, and you can generate different types of reports to use in your business plan based on everything Billdu has to offer.

Try Billdu Today!

Are you ready to see how Billdu can help you enhance your business plan and give you all of the information you need to write and present a successful product business plan? If so, you’re in luck! Click the button belowe to try Billdu for free today.

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