Basic Principles of the Business Plan

• The business plan must be firmly based in reality.
• If business plan is not realistic, then no one will believe it and it is unlikely to succeed.
• If not realistic, the organization may need to ’go back to basics’ or ’start with a clean sheet’ but hard as it is this has to be done.
• Knowledge and understanding are powerful tools when trying to create belief or faith or to win support.
• If the people drawing up and presenting the plan understand and can project their understanding at other people it is more likely to be accepted.
• The business plan helps to compare ’what is’ with ’what might be’, us with them.
• From comparing 'what is' to 'what might be,' pathways to improving performance can usually be found.