Including Product and Service Information
Your business is all about your product or service. What do you do? What is it that you make or provide? What is different about your product or service? Why is someone going to buy from you rather than other, perhaps more established, competitors?
The business plan needs to contain information on the topic of your product. It is likely that your initial plan, when you are starting up the business, will need to contain enough compelling information to entice investors to part with their money to help set your business on its way.
What Does Your Business Do?
Incredibly, the question “What does your business do?” is often overlooked or only stated in vague terms. People set up businesses because they want to set up and own a business, rather than because they have something worthwhile to sell. Your business must have a true sense of purpose.The business plan will – and should – contain sections on finances, on the markets, on visions, missions, values, goals and objectives. These are all necessary sections, but don’t skimp on the section about your product or service
Product Or Service In The Business Plan
What should the section contain? You should give a simple description of what your product or service is or does, but you should certainly avoid technical jargon which might baffle the ordinary reader. You should say why your offering is unique. Here is your chance to begin to convince potential investors or backers that you have a product that will be worth buying. You might also touch on the competition in this section, although you should cover your competitors more fully in the marketing section of the business plan.You should also write how your products will be developed. Are you going to manufacture locally? Are you going to use cheaper manufacturers in the Far East? If so, how will you transport them to their point of sale (also to be covered in the Operational section). What plans do you have to further develop your products? Will your products come in a range of options, e.g. sizes, colours, quality? Is your initial product range the be-all-and-end-all? If not, what plans do you have to expand the range, or replace the range with a newly developed range?
These questions apply just as well to a service as they do to a product; but with a service you are providing something rather than making something.
Patents
Another important question, especially if you think you have come up with something new, is whether you have been granted or have applied for any patents. These can apply to a product, a critical part of a product, or part of the production process. In any example, a granted patent will give your product a degree of protection from competition and make it more attractive to potential investors. You might need to look at UK patents or the European Patent Convention. To be considered as an invention for patent purposes a product must:- Be new
- Involve an inventive step
- Be capable of industrial application
- Not be excluded (some categories are excluded by law, e.g. a discovery).
