FREE online courses on Business Plan Basics - The Essential Elements of a
Good Business Plan - Part 6 - Service or Product Line
What are you selling? In this section, you describe your
service or product emphasizing the benefits to potential and current customers.
For example, don't tell your readers which 89 foods you carry in your "Gourmet
to Go" shop. Tell them why busy, two-career couples will prefer shopping in a
service-oriented store that records clients' food preferences, and caters even
the smallest parties on short notice.
Focus on the areas where you have a distinct advantage.
Identify the problem in your target market for which your service or product
provides a solution.
Give the reader hard evidence that people are, or will be,
willing to pay for your solution versus others. List your company's services and
products and attach any marketing/promotional materials. Provide details
regarding suppliers, availability of products/services, and service or product
costs. Also, include information addressing new services or products which will
soon be added to the company's line.
Overall, this section should include:
- a
detailed description of your product or service (from your customers'
perspective). Here, you would need to include information about the
specific benefits of your product or service. You would also want to talk about
your product/service's ability to meet consumer needs, any advantages your
product has over that of the competition, and the present development stage
your product is in (ie., idea, prototype, etc.).
-
information related to your product's life cycle. Be sure to include
information about where your product or service is in its life cycle as well as
any factors that may influence it's life cycle in the future.
- any
copyright, patent, and trade secret information that may be relevant.
Here, you need to include information related to existing, pending, or
anticipated copyright and patent filings along with any key characteristics of
your products/services that you cannot obtain a copyright or patent for. This
is where you should also incorporate key aspects of your products/services that
may be classified as trade secrets. Last, but not least, be sure to add any
information pertaining to existing legal agreements in this section such as
nondisclosure or non compete agreements.
-
research and development activities you are involved in or are planning to be
involved in. R&D activities would include any in-process or future
activities related to the development of new products/services. This section
would also include information about what you expect the results of future R&D
activities to be. Be sure to analyze the R&D efforts of not only your own
business, but also that of others in your industry.
