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FAQ's
What
are the differences between an internal and an external business
plan?
How
long does an internal business plan have to be?
What
does an internal business plan consultant do and how can they
help me?
I
run a department. Would an internal business plan be appropriate
for me?
I
have bought a book on external business plans. Will it be any
use in writing an internal business plan?
What
are
the
differences between an internal and an external business plan?
These are
some of the differences between the two sorts of business plans:
-
internal
business plans can be shorter.
As your audience is yourself, fellow managers or your employees,
you don't need to put in so much detail as you would for outsiders
who don't know your business
-
internal
business plans can be more dispassionate.
You don't need to disguise unhelpful facts that may put off
investors. You need to see reality as it is so you can deal
with any problems the business is facing
-
internal
business plans are more practical and detailed.
You will look at some of your day-to-day operational issues
that can have a serious impact on the bottom line. Often these
wouldn't be relevant for an external business plan
-
internal
business plans focus more on problem-solving.
An internal business plan should investigate what problems
are facing the business and then develop solutions to them
-
internal
business plans are more action-orientated.
Often external business plans get left in a drawer or a filing
cabinet once the finance has been raised. The whole point
of an internal business plan is to identify what action needs
to be taken.
A
good internal business plan will identify who needs to do
what by when and what resources they require. It should also
be written in a format that makes it easy to implement strategies
-
internal
business plans cost
less.
Because they are shorter, an internal business plan will take
up less of your time and, if you are involving a consultant,
you will use less of their time
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How
long does an internal business plan have to be?
The length
of an internal business plan firstly depends on how much time
you have.
I
would say that any plan is better than no plan because it will
start you on the planning process. So if you only have an hour
to jot down your key issues and what needs to be done about them,
that is better than nothing.
However
I believe that you will see more benefits if you can spend more
time on your plan and, just as importantly, return to it regularly
to update it and assess progress.
The length
will also be determined by who it is for. If it is just for yourself
or you want a simple summary to show to your staff, then a one
page plan might be fine. If it's going to be prepared or seen
by managers, then a longer one might be more appropriate.
Of course
the length of the plan will also depend on the size and the complexity
of your business and how much information you have to put in the
plan.
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What
does an internal business plan consultant do and how can they
help me?
An
internal
business plan consultant will help you to systematically look
at all the aspects of your business by providing a framework to
analyse and investigate what is going on.
This
will
be done through face-to-face and telephone conversations with
you and your staff and getting key personnel to write replies
to questions about important aspects of the business.
Among
other things an internal business plan consultant will help you
to:
-
become
clear about what is getting in the way of your business's
progress so that you can work out how to eliminate or surmount
those blocks
- understand
how all the different areas of a business's activities are contributing
(or not) to its ultimate goals
- help
you to assess the strategies you are using and whether or not
they are effective
- develop
an implementation plan so that you can get going on all the
things necessary to make your business more successful
-
develop
a clear idea of the strategic direction of the business that
can be easily explained to staff, suppliers and investors
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I
run a department. Would an internal business plan be appropriate
for me?
Yes,
developing an internal business plan can be just as valuable for
a department or a team as for a whole business. Obviously however
there will be differences and it is important to be flexible to
get the best results.
For
example, the customers of a department may not be external to
the company but instead be other departments. Similarly a key
part of your marketing plan may be on how to communicate the value
the department is providing so that your budget is increased in
the next budgeting round.
For
more information, click
here.
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I
have bought a book on external business plans. Will it be any
use in writing an internal business plan?
The
answer is both yes and no! All business plans have much in common,
whether they are for external or internal use and so you should
be able to learn a great deal from your book.
However
there are significant differences between the two sorts of plan
as I have outlined above and your book may not focus on them.
There
is a great shortage of resources on internal business plans at
the moment but it is something Miller Consulting hopes to remedy.
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