LAUNCHING A BUSINESS?

The Importance Of Meticulous Planning

ANSWERS TO ALL THE HOW’S AND WHY’S FOR THOSE PLANNING ON LAUNCHING A NEW BUSINESS, AND THOSE PLANNING THE GROWTH OF THEIR EXISTING BUSINESS

The thrill of supporting people who are creating something that would otherwise not exist never gets old for the City of London’s Small Business Research & Enterprise Centre (SBREC). The startup support service provides data and resources for entrepreneurs to unlock their business potential. We asked for their advice on business planning and the bases that need to be covered.

Wendy Foster, Business Adviser and Operational Manager at Small Business Research & Enterprise Centre shared the

following.

WHY YOU SHOULD INVEST SOME TIME PRIOR TO LAUNCHING YOUR BUSINESS key issues:

■ He very quickly discovered that the number of cars being washed did not cover the costs of the site rental, staff, and the materials. He had not worked out his budget.

■ He hadn’t thought about looking for other potential suppliers of materials and so felt tied in with the existing supplier who may have been overcharging him.

■ He didn’t know why there weren’t more customers. Having not researched the demographics he couldn’t know if the people living or working nearby were likely to have cars they would want hand washed. Were there competitors nearby taking away custom?

Words by Levitha Biji

The simple answer is that it gives you the best opportunities to make a great success of starting and growing your business. It is building a foundation, and the effort you can put in at the start, the stronger the foundation. That sounds simplistic, so let’s use an example of someone who bought an existing car-washing business but who had not done any research, to highlight some

■ He wasn’t sure how to attract and retain customers. Researching consumers helps identify what marketing they respond to, whether it’s one or more social media platforms, printed flyers, word of mouth or adverts in magazines. Knowing this helps with marketing plans and campaigns, for example, if many of his consumers live nearby could he offer a loyalty discount, or a package discount. Referral discounts are also very popular. These discounts would be factored into his pricing strategy and plan so that this would still generate enough income for a healthy budget and cashflow – this technique is called a loss leader.

■ Before starting out he hadn’t even thought about what might go wrong and so hadn’t worked on the risks and how to manage them.

Spending time doing research and planning before launching your business helps you address these areas, stopping them from even becoming a problem. This entrepreneur had great passion and energy but found he should have directed some of that energy into the preparation. The second time round, he did exactly that and had a solid foundation and clear direction for his new business venture.

How You Should Invest Some Time Prior To Launching Your Business

The great news is that there are many tools and support services to help you with this. Using tools like the Business Model Canvas and SWOT (strengths, weakness, opportunities, threats) analysis are both good places to help you start brainstorming your ideas, whether you are at the very start or are looking to diversify or grow. As you start working on these you will find areas that you need to research for more information.

WHAT CAN BE DONE TO BENEFIT YOUR BUSINESS?

A range of specialist business databases to help you with this are available at The Small Business Research & Enterprise Centre (SBREC) to help you. Having data on markets and industries both for the UK and worldwide which look at what is happening in an industry now and what is forecast to happen over the next five years as well as what might impact that industry is something you should look out for.

The data also includes company profiles of how easy it might be for entrepreneurs to enter that market, and what the running costs might be. The company also offers company profiles, including SWOT analyses which can give you a few pointers when you start thinking about your own SWOT analysis. SBREC has company data for over six million active UK businesses, plus international directories. When you are looking for suppliers or companies to sell to, then being able to search by industry, location, and more, can help you identify potential contacts in companies that you won’t even have previously heard of.

As well as the specialist data, seek out webinars, blogs, and networking events. SBREC is a forum of entrepreneurs and small businesses who thrive through networking and working together. Whether you are starting out or growing your business, then do reach out to SBREC.

To find out more on what you can do to help launch your business, or to plan its growth, visit cityoflondon.gov.uk/sbrec.