For many of us, a SatNav is an essential part of everyday life. Whether we are setting out on a new journey or retracing one we have done many times before, we reach for the comfort of the SatNav as soon as we get in the car.
We need the reassurance of having something which shows us exactly where we are going, how long it is going to take, whether there is anything enroute that could slow us down and whether there is an alternative route if there is.
In these times of economic uncertainly, wouldn’t it be good and wouldn’t life be so much easier if you had the reassurance of knowing that your franchise owners had a SatNav for their own business journey? Something that could tell them, and you, where they are now and which could be “set” to reflect your collective business goals; something against which progress could be monitored and something that would highlight potential problems ahead so corrective action can be taken, ensuring you both arrive safely at your chosen destination.
Well the good news is that a well-crafted Business Plan and a robust set of financial projections can do just that.
The Business Plan sets out the vision for what the business will look like in the future and details what needs to be done, by when and by whom for that vision to become a reality; together with the resources that will be required along the way.
The Financial Projections show you whether the Business Plan is financial viable and, to be of true value, they should be made up of three elements:
- A projected Profit and Loss account, which shows, in monetary terms, what the business hopes to do in the future and whether, in terms of the effort and risk, it is worth doing
- A projected Balance Sheet, which will provide a snap shot of the business at a future point in time in terms of what it will own, and what it will owe to both its owner and other people
- A cashflow forecast, which shows how much money will be required to support the activity being planned and, more importantly, whether the business can afford to do it
It is never too late for you to be encouraging your network owners to start planning for the future. Those owners who start to adopt good business practices now will have a much better chance of surviving, and indeed flourishing, when we come out of the end of the current economic downturn, which ultimately we will.