Business Planning Software Vs Business Plan Writers - When failing is not a option

Now when it comes to starting your own business, there is nothing more important than your business plan, there is a famous saying amongst business advisers:

"Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail"

Now what does this mean in the real world well what it means is this: 30% of businesses without a business plan fail in the first year and that 95% of those still trading in 5 years had a business plan at the start.

Now this is a very significant figure but why?

Well the fact is this your business plan is not a document you write to just sit on your shelf and gather dust it is a working document, which reflects your business model and ethos. It gives your business direction and allows it to be flexible and change with the market. In all your business plan is the single most important document for your business.

So it is worth taking the time to get it right.

Now you can write your own small business business plan for free and this takes time and research and commitment. Some people feel that they have the time and expertise to develop their own business plan from scratch. There are plenty of places online you can get free business plan templates(find one here), the problem with these is that they are very generic and aimed at a narrow range of businesses and may not be able to fit your niche. However you can adapt a template to suit your needs and develop a plan which is great. The advantages of writing a plan are that you are the person that understands your business idea the best and hence your enthusiasm and understanding will come across in your plan.

Now there are other options which can make your business plan a lot quicker and very often better and that is using either a professional business plan writing service or business plan software. Next we will disscess the two so you can decide which fits your needs.

 So what is right for you?

Well we will take each aspect in and discuss:

PROFFESSIONALISM - Now your business plan needs to be of the highest quality, especially if you are going to be looking for any source of funding, including business overdrafts and credit. But also it shows how professional you are. So the business plan software can create professional looking business plans which will look very good, however the layouts, styles and what can be included is limited so this can be difficult to help personalise your business plan. Business plan writers will taylor your plan to your requirements and will stay in contact to ensure that your business plan reflects your business models and ethos, it will always be professional as they have written many before and know what works. So for professionalism I wll have to say business plan writers.

Price - Now price is certainly a consideration for many new business especially those starting ona  boot-strap budget. Now business plan software ranges in price and you get what you pay for, the most limmited software is available for about $40, however for a decent piece of software you are looking in the region of $90-$120, this will be good enough to draft your own business plan. With regards to business plan writers this is the more expensive option. A good business plan writer starts at around $600, however this will often include research and other time so remember to factor in your time into the equation. For this you get the expertise of many years of business plan writting and business advice to boot. However on Price the software option wins.

DELIVERY TIME (SPEED) - Now the delivery time may or may not be important for you. However if it is here is the low down. Using business plan software does not do the work for you. You still have to do the research, trawling the Internet, investigating competition, contacting potential customers, market research, financial assumptions, , etc etc. This takes time in fact this takes a lot of time. However a Business plan writer will be able to do this for you they know where to look and are experienced in researching very quickly and accurately. They also often have more than 1 person working on the research again greatly reducing the time frame. However as with everything this is reflected in the price and often the best way to reduce the cost is to supply the writers with your initial research which they will expand on this WILL help keep the quote down. But many business plan writers can have a very rapid turn around time. So for speed I would say business plan writers.

FINANCIAL FORECASTING - Now this is quite possibly the most complex part of the plan especially if you are trying to achieve funding. Now business plan software and business plan writers will need a lot of input from you for this section because they don't know what your exact needs are. However where the writers are better is that they understand market analysis and customer analysis and will do this for you and then take your specifics to develop a plan which is suitable for your business. With business plan software, the financial planning is severely limited, you are able to create plans, forecasts and graphs but only with limited scope and design. So for financial forecasting I would have to go with the writers.

From our analysis it appears that hiring a business plan writing service is the best option, and if you have the available money then I truely do believe this is the best option. However the important thing is that you DO have a business plan and whether you write it yourself or get a professional to write it. It will help ensure your business is here in years to come. I hope that I have inspired you to write a business plan for your new business today. To my right are some links to business plan writers and software companies to show you what is available take a look it will help you make a more informed decision.

The choice is yours but I will finish where we started:

"Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail"

Don't let this be you.