subject: Business Plans Made Easy: Working With A Consultant [print this page] Author: Eric Powers Author: Eric Powers
Working with a business plan consultant can take a great load off of your shoulders, giving you a knowledgeable partner and advisor in the business plan development process. Consultants can usually take on the entire business plan development, even including helping you seek funding sources and presenting the plan with you to funders. Alternately, you can request a consultant to simply discuss how to get started, review a drafted plan, or answer other specific questions. Assuming you use a consultant to develop the entire business plan, here are some of the benefits you will achieve.
Research
Consultants can make much quicker work of the process of finding the research you need for your business plan. They know where to look and may already have subscriptions to helpful databases. They will also know how to sift through all of the information available to find data which is especially helpful to make the case for your business. Some of the basic market research may have already been done by the consulting company, saving more time.
Strategy Review
Although you may have selected a business strategy already, consultants can ask key questions, just as funders would, to try to strengthen your strategy. They can determine additional directions to research based on questions they raise and help you to spot additional opportunities you may have missed. In general, they will help to check that the strategy for your business, marketing and operations, matches the market research and analysis you have done and the competitive advantage you are trying to create.
Financial Projections
Consultants will have financial models to help them quickly create financial projections for your business plan and to spin these out into pro forma financial statements as required by funders. They will understand how the projections should be tailored to your specific business sector and should be able to work with you to zero in on projections you are comfortable with.About the Author:
Eric Powers is associated with Growthink, a business plan consulting firm. Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for more than 2,000 clients. Call 800-506-5728 today for a free consultation with a Growthink business plan writer. Or, if you're writing your plan yourself, Growthink also offers a business plan template.
welcome to Insurances.net (https://www.insurances.net)
