elaborate how to prepare a business plan for crm

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• Create a CRM strategy in 6 steps (with ...

Create a CRM strategy in 6 steps (with examples)

A CRM strategy is a company-wide plan to increase revenue and improve customer relationships using specific actions and technology. In this piece, we teach you how to build a CRM strategy with the use of CRM software. CRM software helps teams turn strategy into action by consolidating data. It also helps teams improve existing CRM strategies to better meet customer needs.

In business-to-consumer (B2C) companies, the buyer journey is paramount. Happy customers are loyal to brands they love. So whether you’re in charge of sales, marketing, or customer service, your business processes should focus on customer needs.

This cyclical process increases customer retention while keeping potential leads front of mind. Whether you’re starting a new business or you’re an established company wanting to develop a CRM strategy for a new initiative, this piece will teach you how to build a CRM strategy from the ground up so you can set and reach your business goals . 

What is a CRM strategy?

A CRM strategy is a company-wide plan to increase revenue and improve customer relationships using specific actions and technology. CRM software helps your team turn strategy into action by consolidating data and by giving you insight into your customer’s online behavior.

An effective CRM strategy has various touchpoints that each target customers in their own unique way. The touchpoints you create should lead your potential prospects down the sales pipeline . Touchpoints may include:

Online shopping

Email sign-up form

Social media platforms

Customer service chat portal

These predetermined touchpoints lead potential customers through your website and direct them toward a product to purchase. Combined with CRM software and data from your website, you can use this information to analyze customer behavior and create additional touchpoints that better serve buyer needs.

6 steps to build a CRM strategy

When you build a CRM strategy from the ground up, your CRM software won’t have data from past funnels to report. However, you can use market research and some old-fashioned critical thinking to help build your customer base.

1. Define your business goals

When you have clear business goals , you’ll have an easier time building your CRM strategy. Without goals in place, any CRM strategy you create will likely struggle to point your customers in the right direction. 

For example, if one of your business goals is to double sales next quarter, you can use your CRM strategy to answer the following questions:

What will doubling our sales require?

What must we do to increase our customer base?

What must we do to keep current customers coming back?

Can we get current customers to refer their friends?

Tip: You may have sales goals that don’t involve customers. For example, you may be able to double your sales next quarter by improving your product or revamping the backend of your website. But remember that CRM strategy is a customer-centric methodology.

2. Outline the customer journey

The best way to ensure customer satisfaction is to understand who your target market is. This is called a buyer persona, and there is typically more than one of them. Each different type of customer should have their own persona. Then, you can use this information to further customize your sales funnel.

To identify your ideal persona(s), use market research to analyze who has bought your products—and your competitors’ products—in the past. Collect metrics like age, gender, race, location, level of technology use, preferred social media platform, and socioeconomic status to map specific touchpoints for every customer. All of this information, together, makes up the ideal customer(s) you’re selling to.

Once you identify who your ideal buyer is, you can use their demographic information to figure out where they spend their time online. For example, which social media apps do they use most frequently? How do they relate to brands online? Understanding their online habits can help you identify where and how to connect with them.

Tip: With buyer persona charts, you’ll create an in-depth profile of a potential customer. It’s important to get detailed with each customer profile so you can put yourself in their shoes and find ways to guide them through their sales journey. But keep in mind that each persona represents an entire group of people you intend to target. 

3. Map the sales pipeline

Once you know who your target market is, you can create your initial touchpoints—or the first moments of customer engagement. Align your sales pipeline with your CRM strategy so you can visualize where to take action when things go awry. 

Common sales pipeline stages include:

Lead generation

Lead qualification

Initial contact

Making an offer

Negotiation

Closing the deal

For example, if metrics from your CRM software show that you have both a high number of website visitors and a high bounce rate, this means prospects are coming to your website, but they’re leaving before making a purchase. By comparing that to your sales pipeline, you can see that you have a problem somewhere between initial contact and closing the deal. 

Tip: Your CRM strategy is a more refined version of a traditional sales funnel. Both the traditional sales funnel and your CRM strategy aim to attract and convert prospects, but your CRM strategy improves upon the traditional sales funnel by considering your customer’s specific interests and needs. 

4. Organize your internal processes

To execute your CRM strategy, your team members must understand and know how to manage CRM technology. CRM software can help team members in customer service, sales, and marketing reach departmental goals such as:

Increasing lead generation

Reducing bounce rate

Improving customer retention

Revamping marketing plans

CRM software can also streamline data across departments, which provides a comprehensive view of your customer base and promotes cross-functional collaboration.

Tip: Have your team members set SMART goals that align with your CRM strategy. By setting measurable and time-bound goals, you can track the progress of each goal against the metrics in your CRM software. For example, if a sales team member’s goal is to generate 20 leads per month in the next quarter, the CRM tool will show how close they are to achieving this goal. 

5. Define CRM components

Defining and organizing your CRM components means getting specific with who you plan to target and when.  By using a CRM software, you can organize potential customers into categories like contacts, leads, prospects, and opportunities.

Contact: Someone you’ve previously done business with.

Lead: Someone you haven’t worked with but could have business potential.

Prospect: Someone who fits your target market and has the power to initiate a purchase. 

Opportunity: A prospect who has shown interest in your product and is ready to make a purchase.

Once you’ve grown a list of contacts through social media, an email list, or an e-commerce platform, your CRM software will pull those contacts in and identify which category to place them in. 

Tip: Depending on the CRM tool you use, your team may also benefit from more specific contact categories. Nurtured leads are people that fit your target market but haven’t yet shown intent to purchase. Marketing qualified leads (MQL) are people that have shown some level of intent to purchase. Sales qualified leads (SQL) are people that the sales team are actively trying to convert to customers.  

6. Invest in CRM software

CRM software keeps your sales pipeline flowing as current customers cycle through it and new customers flow in. Your CRM tool should integrate across various platforms so you can intake analytics information—from your website or email management tools—and export next steps to create the best customer journey possible. 

In particular, the right CRM software should integrate with your project management software . That way, team members from all silos can use updated customer information in daily project decision-making.

Tip: The customer journey doesn’t stop with the sales team, and your technology shouldn’t, either. That’s why Asana’s work management tool offers robust, cross-platform integrations with the best CRM softwares like Salesforce , Zendesk , and Hubspot . When you combine Asana for work management with your favorite CRM tool, team members across all teams have a clear idea of what they need to do to close deals and keep customers satisfied beyond their purchase. 

CRM strategy examples

CRM software provides you with insights on how to better serve your customers. Depending on your product offerings and target audience, you may notice that the people you want to reach get most of their information from blog posts. Or maybe they spend a lot of their time on social media. 

You can improve your marketing tactics for both new and existing customers by using these insights to your advantage. Consider these examples of different CRM strategies 

Value-added content

People use Google as a first resort to answer questions and search for product offerings. If your site ranks at the top of Google for a specific keyword or question, then users are more likely to visit your website. The best way to rank on Google is to create valuable, SEO optimized content that’s relevant to your product. Consider writing content for people in various stages of their sales journey to move them through the sales pipeline. 

For example, some people may not be ready to buy your product, but they’ll have relevant questions you can answer. Others may want to know more about the differences between products, which means they’re further along in their sales journey and are closer to making a purchase.

Loyalty and rewards programs

Customer loyalty and rewards programs keep first-time buyers coming back. You can customize one of these programs to your product by offering discounts, gifts, or other bonuses as incentives for them to make purchases and refer their friends. 

Consider airline companies with complex loyalty programs that offer miles on credit card purchases, discounted flights, and priority boarding. These perks keep passengers dedicated to one airline even if other airlines will occasionally offer them better rates.

Level up your customer experience with CRM software

When you make customer satisfaction a top priority, you can increase your chances of profit growth and secure a long-term spot in the market. Customer relationships are more important than individual purchases because building trust leads to invaluable name recognition and lead generation.

CRM software levels up your customer experience by helping you keep track of different customers and their needs. It’s difficult to make customer support feel personal, but when you use sales management software, your team members gain perspective and can make every customer feel supported.

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Business tips

How to craft a winning CRM strategy in 8 steps (with examples)

Picture this: you step into your favorite coffee shop, and before you can even mumble your order, the barista, Alice, is already making your large cold brew with half-and-half and extra ice. She slides your drink across the counter—your name etched in perfect cursive (and surprisingly, spelled correctly).

That's the stuff of customer service dreams, right? But let's be real: Alice isn't a mind reader—she's just really good at her job. But there may be a way your business can channel the essence of Alice—your own strategy you can use to remember your customers, their purchase history, and even how to spell their names. 

That's a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. It's your business's magic formula to make every customer feel like your favorite regular. And it's not just great for your customers—it's an absolute game-changer for your business, too.

Table of contents:

How to create a CRM strategy

Crm strategy examples, what is a crm strategy.

Before we dive into this whole thing, let's get some jargon out of the way.

As a general concept, customer relationship management is the secret sauce to charming your customers. It's the process of understanding them, engaging them, and fostering relationships that last.

CRM software is your tech sidekick. It's an arsenal of digital tools designed to organize, automate, and synchronize customer interactions. 

Your CRM strategy , the whole topic of this article, is the master plan that will help you keep customers happy, engaged, and coming back for more. It's about leveraging the power of customer insights to make your business irresistible. (You don't necessarily need to have CRM software in place to deploy your strategy, but it can be a huge help.)

With a solid CRM strategy, you can not only keep your customers feeling as happy as Alice's customers, but you can also take your business to new heights by turning their behavior into insights you can use to keep that relationship strong for years to come. 

Each business is unique, and your CRM strategy should be no different. But there are some steps that can help you create a CRM strategy that works for your business. 

1. Complete an audit

When starting your CRM strategy, you're going to tap into your own figurative Rolodex to do an audit on the data. This step is about taking a comprehensive look at what information you currently have and identifying gaps. 

Here are some data points you should consider:

Contact details: You can't reach out if you don't know how.

Purchase history and frequency: What do they buy and how often?

Value of purchases: Are they high-spending customers?

Personal preferences: What have they expressed liking or disliking?

Demographics: Who are they in a broader sense (age, location, etc.)?

Remember, the aim is to get a clear picture of your current data landscape. After this step, you'll have a better idea of what additional information you need to collect to enrich your CRM strategy.

2. Define your target audience

This step is all about taking a look at that sweet data you just dug up and playing detective to find common threads and preferences.

This isn't just a fancy game of connect the dots—you're going to develop what marketing folks like to call buyer personas . Think of these as profiles of your ideal customers that you'll keep in your CRM strategy toolkit.

So let's say you're running a bookstore. After some data snooping, your target audience might look something like this:

Demographic: People in their 30s

Location: Urban dwellers in the U.S.

Interests: Consuming books like they're going out of style, writing, and being the life of the book club

Values: Big on inclusivity and hand-picked collections

Defining your target audience is all about avoiding the dreaded one-size-fits-all marketing trap. With this intel, you can tailor your messaging and interactions to fit your customers like a glove. Trust us—they'll appreciate the extra effort.

3. Review your customer touchpoints

Next, take a gander at how your customers interact with you. 

This could include your website, customer service line, social media profiles, or physical storefront (if you have one). And yes, even that contact form tucked away in the corner of your site counts.

Some customer touchpoints might include:

Communication records: How and when have you interacted before?

Feedback about your business: What's been their experience so far?

Website and app behavior: How do they interact with your digital platforms?

Social media engagement: How active are they on your social channels?

The goal of this review is to truly grasp how you're connecting with your customers. Are they satisfied? Or is there room for improvement? A good example of this is Dominos' dramatic return from the brink . Did you know it was tied with Chuck E. Cheese as America's worst pizza? It was at the bottom of the pizza game, but it listened to its customers, started making decisions based on actual data, and turned its business around.

Heck, it even made a commercial explaining its strategy. 

Diving deep into what your customers are saying and how they're interacting with your brand will help you shape your CRM strategy, setting the stage for more focused, achievable goals.

You can use Zapier's pre-built simple CRM template to optimize your sales process with an elegant and personalized CRM tool that fits your business needs. The template includes a form to collect leads, a datasheet to store lead information, and a visual tracker to manage the status of each lead and initiate actions when needed.

4. Establish goals

Now it's time to decide what you want to achieve with your CRM strategy. 

Take Amazon's CRM strategy, for example. Its goal is to provide an unmatched shopping experience tailored to each customer's preferences. It knows exactly how to tempt you with tailored offers, irresistible recommendations, and captivating promotions—all based on your past purchases. 

Plus, Amazon has mastered the art of convenience, making it incredibly easy for customers to create an account and enjoy the benefits. It's a win-win for both Amazon and its customers.

Anything is possible, but here's the catch: your goals need to be SMART : that's S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R elevant, and T ime-bound. 

Let's break it down:

Specific: Your goal needs to be clear. Something like "Improving customer service" is as clear as a foggy morning. What aspect of customer service? How much improvement? Bring the details.

Measurable: You need a yardstick. If you want to boost customer retention, what's your target percentage? 

Achievable: Your goal should challenge you but not be out of reach. Are you setting yourself up for success or setting a goal that's as realistic as running a marathon after the office Christmas party? 

Relevant: Make sure your goal actually matters. Does this goal align with your overall business objectives? Or is it a distraction from your primary focus? 

Time-bound: Set a timeline to keep yourself on track. Without a deadline, a goal is just a dream. 

With clear direction and intention for your goals, you'll be well-equipped to steer your CRM strategy in the right direction. 

5. Outline a customer journey map

So you've got some goals, a buyer persona, and a spreadsheet full of customer data; now it's time to grab a Sharpie and map out a customer journey :

Grab their attention: Make your customers' first interaction with your brand enticing, like Burger King's absolutely unhinged Twitter vibe or Nike's iconic eye-catching Instagram posts.

Stoke their curiosity: Now that you've got their attention, it's time to pique their curiosity. Nurture their interest with engaging content, valuable insights, and intriguing storytelling. 

Guide them with purpose: Every step of the journey should have a clear purpose and direction. Ensure your messaging, offers, and interactions align seamlessly, creating a cohesive and meaningful experience.

Engage them at every turn: Surprise and delight are the secret weapons of a remarkable customer journey. Go above and beyond to exceed their expectations, whether it's through personalized recommendations, unexpected perks, or exceptional customer service. 

Seal the deal: Make the buying process a breeze, removing friction or barriers like a convoluted sign-up process or unnecessary clicks. Ensure they feel confident, excited, and fulfilled as they take that final step to become loyal patrons of your business.

Doing this lets you fine-tune your CRM strategy to offer your customers a smooth, enjoyable journey every time they interact with your brand. 

Trust me—they'll appreciate the scenic route.

6. Choose the right tools

Knowing your customers' preferences, like baristas know your complicated coffee order, won't do much good if you can't deliver.

That's why most businesses turn to CRM software to better organize and manage relationships with current and prospective customers.

Before signing up for any software, consider the size of your organization, the number of users who will need to access the tool, and the complexity of your customer interactions. Then decide which features are important to you, like: 

Contact management: Keep all your customer details organized and easily accessible.

Lead tracking: Monitor and track the progress of your leads throughout the sales process.

Sales pipeline management: Efficiently manage and track your deals as they move through the sales pipeline .

Reporting and analytics: Gain valuable insights into your business performance and customer trends through comprehensive reporting and analytics features.

Automation and integration capabilities: Look for built-in automations, and ensure seamless integration with your existing apps and systems for smooth data flow and collaboration.

Mobile accessibility: Access and manage your CRM system on the go, keeping you connected and productive from anywhere.

You should also consider bringing in Zapier to automate and connect your CRM to all the apps you're already using—it's like having a personal assistant working tirelessly behind the scenes. Learn more about how to automate your CRM .

Check out the best CRM software tools on the market.

7. Train your team

Training your squad is essential for your CRM strategy's success. Here's how to level up their CRM strategy training:

Assemble the right team members: Don't just loop in sales and customer service, but consider other departments like marketing who will be integral in deploying your CRM strategy.

Provide ongoing support and resources: Simple training sessions won't cut it. Proactively communicate and promote the benefits of the strategy, and if you're deploying software, you'll need documentation and a thorough onboarding process.

Embrace continuous learning: Foster a culture of learning and knowledge sharing to avoid siloes.

With a well-trained team of CRM superheroes, you'll be ready to conquer any customer challenge that comes your way. Together, you'll deliver exceptional experiences and save the day for your customers—not to mention supercharge your business.

8. Track performance to improve

Look, Rome wasn't built in a day, and your CRM strategy won't be pitch-perfect straight out of the gate, either. Here's how to track your performance metrics and continuously fine-tune your approach:

Monitor key performance indicators (KPIs) like customer acquisition rates , customer satisfaction scores, or conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of your CRM strategy.

Analyze customer feedback and reviews to identify areas for improvement and to spot any red flags indicating dissatisfaction or pain points.

Regularly review and compare your performance against your SMART goals to measure progress and identify optimization opportunities.

Leverage built-in analytics and reporting features in your CRM tool to gain insights into customer behavior, engagement patterns, and sales performance.

Conduct A/B testing or experiments to test different strategies or approaches and determine which ones yield better results.

Seek feedback from your team and stakeholders to gain diverse perspectives and insights on your CRM strategy's impact and areas for improvement.

Over time, you'll find yourself making smarter, data-driven decisions, adjusting your strategy on the fly, and watching your CRM performance soar. So go ahead, channel your inner Sherlock, and let your CRM strategy evolve into a masterpiece.

Now that we've walked through the "how" of a CRM strategy, let's go over some straight-from-the-trenches examples. 

Rewards programs

Rewards or loyalty programs are the perfect win-win for companies and customers. Your customers get points, discounts, special offers, or other perks, and you get their continued engagement and loyalty.

Take Barnes & Noble, for instance. Their tiered rewards program has bookworms hooked. For every $10 spent, you get a stamp. Collect 10 stamps? That's a $5 reward in your pocket. They even offer a premium membership for $39.99 a year, with added bonuses like 10% off purchases and free shipping.

Plus, if you run a program like this through your CRM tool, you can gather valuable data on your customers' likes, dislikes, and other behaviors, all of which can be used to personalize how you market and cater the customer experience to them.

Personalization

Starbucks knows my order by heart—a venti iced peach green tea lemonade with one pump of classic syrup. And they use it against me every chance they get by sending me irresistible push notifications and personalized deals. Sneaky? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.

You can channel your inner Starbucks with your CRM strategy. Use customer data like purchase history, browsing behavior, demographics, and previous interactions to create a tailor-made customer journey. This kind of personalization aligns with your target audience's interests and needs, turning casual visitors into lifelong fans.

Valuable content

Want to know the secret to engaging and nurturing customers throughout their journey? High-quality, relevant, and informative content. This could be blog posts, videos, podcasts, eBooks, case studies, or, if you're Starbucks, an online sweepstakes game that's as addictive as their Frappuccinos.

HubSpot's free online marketing and sales courses are a prime example. They're so valuable that they're often a prerequisite for many workplaces. This strategy cements HubSpot's authority and delivers lasting benefits to its audience.

Remember, the key to creating valuable content is understanding your customers' needs, interests, and pain points. And all that juicy information is right there in your CRM.

Level up your business with a stellar CRM strategy

Implementing a CRM strategy can help you channel your inner Alice and ensure your customers get their large cold brew with half-and-half and extra ice quickly, and with the care and attention they deserve. With a strategy and CRM tool that works for your organization, the sky's the limit for automating and integrating customer data. 

Related articles:

Beyond the sales pipeline: Using a CRM for customer success

CRM automation to boost your team's productivity

Best free CRM software

The best lead management software and tools

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Michael Kern

Michael's a content marketer and copywriter residing in the bustling mega-metropolis of Mexico City. With a knack for making the complex seem simple, he crafts fresh, accessible content that stands out. When the screens are off and the keyboards are quiet, you might find him trawling through old-school print ads for inspiration or enjoying downtime with his daughter.

• Small business
• CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

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Creating A CRM Strategy That Will Help Your Business Thrive

Updated: Dec 28, 2022, 12:25am

The relationship with your customers doesn’t end after a purchase is made. In order to encourage upsells, cross-sells, repeat business and social proof, your business should be actively nurturing customer relationships through a tailored CRM strategy.

The good news is there are many proven strategies to choose from and try out. We’ll go over some of the best examples of CRM strategies as well as what you need to do to hit the ground running.

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Why You Need a CRM Strategy

The biggest benefits of having a CRM strategy for your business include:

• Making your organization more collaborative as a whole
• Keeping better track of your sales leads
• Creating more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns
• Being able to easily identify promising opportunities for your business to grow or bring in more revenue
• Providing better service to both prospective and current customers
• Drawing insights and data to make more accurate forecasts on future performance

CRM Strategy Definition

CRM stands for “customer relationship management.” A CRM strategy is your game plan for how to improve the relationship between your customers and your sales, marketing and customer service teams.

CRM strategies often go hand in hand with CRM software systems. You don’t necessarily need to have a CRM system in place to create a strategy, however.

What Is a CRM System?

A CRM system, or CRM software , is a tool that can aid your customer relationship management. CRM systems are, at their core, databases that house and organize customer data so that your team has a pulse on what’s going on at all times. CRMs also come with features to help your business automate sales and marketing outreach, field inbound customer care requests and generate reports on overall performance.

5 Steps To Create a Successful CRM Strategy

Before you dive into creating a CRM strategy, there are a number of steps you should take to ensure your intentions and goals are aligned.

1. Audit your business.

The first step to creating a CRM strategy is to closely examine your current workflows and any existing strategies. The purpose of the audit is to identify your company’s current weaknesses and strengths as well as the biggest opportunities and threats. This is what’s known as a SWOT analysis.

2. Define your goals.

At a high level, figure out what exactly you are looking to achieve when it comes to customer relationship management. Are you looking to increase your NPS scores? Reduce churn? Shorten your sales cycle? Make sure you have a clear purpose as to why you’re implementing a strategy.

Once you’ve defined your goals, take the time to determine whether or not you can realistically meet those goals with the resources you currently have. Do you have enough team members to make your strategy and goals a reality? Do you need stronger tools, like a CRM system, in order to help you? Set yourself up for success by ensuring you have what you need.

3. Identify your target customer(s).

This may sound a bit basic, but it’s important to have an understanding of who your customers and prospects are so you can create buyer personas. Having a clear picture of who you need to be talking to is only going to help you come up with the right tactics and messaging to reach them.

If you don’t have a clear buyer or customer in mind, consult your sales and customer service teams. You can also send customer surveys or interview customers directly to find the answers you’re looking for.

4. Pinpoint your customer journey.

Similarly, you should know the ins and outs of your entire customer journey from beginning to end. Familiarize yourself with all of the possible first touchpoints and the rest of your funnel. Relate this cycle back to your buyer personas. The most important question here is: Does your sales and marketing funnel align with who your buyer is?

5. Understand your competitors and your positioning.

While having an understanding of your customers and internal processes is great, it’s important to know how you stand in relation to your competition. What kinds of materials or resources are your competitors putting out? How can you stand out?

Examples of Effective CRM Strategies

Once you’ve finished all of the work that comes before implementing a CRM strategy, you’re ready to create one for your business. Below are some examples of popular and effective strategies that you can use as a starting point. You can always customize or tweak a strategy to better fit your business.

1. Using automation to your advantage.

If you find that your teams are doing the same tedious and repetitive tasks, it’s likely that there’s a way you can automate them. A CRM system can likely take over some of the administrative work that comes with managing a sales pipeline and customers. Freeing up time for your sales, marketing and customer service teams will enable them to focus on other more important duties.

2. Auditing your customer database regularly.

Cleansing and auditing your customer list can be the difference between sending an unintentionally insensitive email versus not. To avoid a potential PR disaster, aim to scrub your list on a regular basis of customers with low engagement, as well as those who have recently canceled or gone dormant. Doing so will keep both your database and communications more accurate—a win-win.

3. Publishing content that adds value and drives conversion.

Very few companies have the luxury of being a household name. How do you get customers to come to you? Meet them where they’re at by creating relevant content.

Popular examples include blog articles that pose your product or service as the answer to a common question, downloadable trend reports or e-books or insightful social media posts. Content can help strengthen the relationship between you and your customers by positioning yourself as an approachable, go-to expert in your industry.

4. Creating more personalized communications.

The difference between reaching out with “Hi there” instead of “Hi [First name]” is monumental— 72% of consumers reported only engaging with personalized communications. Delivering tailored messaging to each customer is a great way to make your relationship stronger. Use the data and resources you’ve collected on each customer to inform which kinds of communications need to go out to which audiences.

5. Building a custom analytics and reporting dashboard.

Data is most powerful when it’s easy to generate, digest and present. Instead of spending hours compiling reports, a CRM dashboard will do all the heavy lifting for you. Using your CRM system (if you have one) to create a custom reporting dashboard will not only make it faster and easier to generate data, it will also make data more accessible and transparent to all relevant parties. The less time your team has to spend compiling data, the more time they can spend on other aspects of their roles.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do i know if my business needs a crm strategy.

If you feel that your sales and customer operations could be better improved or streamlined, you may benefit from creating a CRM strategy.

What is the best CRM strategy?

There is no single strategy that works best across all businesses. Every business is different, so your CRM strategy should be tailored to your specific organization’s goals.

Is CRM software only for large businesses?

Not anymore. While the software originated to meet the needs of enterprise-level businesses, over the years it has evolved to meet the needs of small to midsized businesses (SMBs). There are even some free CRM platforms available.

What are the different types of CRM?

While there are many companies offering CRM software, three common types are analytical, operational and collaborative (sometimes referred to as strategic). Each is tuned to achieve different goals and objectives. Analytical CRM enables businesses to collect and analyze data. Operational CRM enables businesses to automate processes. Collaborative CRMs provide all stakeholders with access to customer data.

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Emily is a retail, eCommerce and small business expert and writer. Her work helps small business owners find the tools and resources they need to start and manage their brick-and-mortar and online businesses.

Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of directors of two non-profit organizations seeking to revitalize her former railroad town. Prior to joining the team at Forbes Advisor, Cassie was a content operations manager and copywriting manager.

A guide to creating the perfect CRM strategy for your business

In this article, we’re going to take a look at how to create the perfect CRM strategy for your business. Before we continue let’s look at what The Harvard Business Review concluded.

They came up with three key reasons why CRM projects fail:

• Your CRM tool exists to increase revenue:  the article is emphatic that sales personnel should use the CRM to make more money. This point should be broadcast to relevant stakeholders, and form the basis of the CRM strategy.
• Integrate sales and marketing:  the CRM strategy must focus on how to integrate sales and marketing functions. These two teams are notorious for blaming each other so a CRM strategy that holds both teams accountable and supports activities is essential.
• Managers should be coaches:  too often a CRM is used as a stick to beat sales teams with – it’s no wonder that sales reps often find a way to manipulate figures. A successful CRM strategy will involve managers working closely to coach employees on best practice. 

What are CRM strategies?

A CRM strategy is critical for a business looking to deploy a CRM; it’s common for a business to jump straight into implementation without first considering the strategy.

Check out our complete guide to CRM requirements to determine your CRM goals for your strategy

A CRM strategy encompasses a company’s plan to deploy a CRM. It normally covers overall strategic goals and specific actions. A good CRM strategy will link back to overall commercial goals and articulate how the CRM will support those goals.

Typically, a CRM strategy relates to sales or marketing activity, but modern CRM’s can encompass a range of other disciplines like finance or customer service.

A CRM strategy will normally cover:

• How the project will support business goals.
• Implementation timeframe. 
• Key stakeholders.
• CRM selection. 
• CRM feature requirements. 
• CRM implementation success metrics.
• Budgetary considerations. 
• Training and onboarding for staff.

Richard West of Red Flag Alert developed a five-point strategy for building and implementing a CRM system. 

• Objectives:  quantify what company goals the CRM is deployed to achieve, whether this is client retention, sales conversion or growth, be specific on how the CRM strategy will support the outcome.
• Requirements:  once you have defined the commercial value proposition and the necessary process, consider what functionality the CRM needs to deliver your outcomes. 
• Measurement:  this part is difficult; you need to evaluate how your CRM usage impacts your business goals. For example, your CRM may facilitate outreach to clients at the optimal time which increases sales conversions. 
• Data:  many problems that arise from CRM projects are due to poor data. Aligning the right data and then continually updating it can become so burdensome that a CRM project is scrapped. You need to plug your CRM into the richest most up-to-date intelligence and automate the cleaning process. 
• Training:  your team needs more than simply the technical how-to manual, they need to understand why the CRM is necessary and how their input impacts the business as a whole. Of course, ensuring the team understand the best way to use the CRM is also important.

CRM strategy framework

The most effective CRM projects use a framework to ensure success. A framework codifies how the CRM will interact with the business goals and add value; it is often a graphical representation but can be a written document.

A good framework acknowledges the key tenets of a successful CRM and guides CRM project managers to make sure they address these points. CRM strategy frameworks are continually evolving and many are kept private.

A good framework will outline the key areas for success (data, training, customer journey, etc) and how these facets interact – for example, the importance of data in delivering an effective customer journey.

The final element is the interaction with business goals; all of this activity should make a measurable impact on outcomes.

How you can improve your CRM strategy

The million-dollar question – how do you build a great CRM strategy? Here are five critical elements for successful implementation of a CRM project. 

#1 Set a goal

This may be starting to sound a little repetitive, but not doing this will lead to a range of problems - the primary problem being that you have no idea whether your project has been a success. 

You don’t need to be too granular here, priorities will inevitably change over time but you should have a high-level view of what you are trying to achieve with your CRM project. 

For example:

• Within 24 months of deploying CRM our revenue per sales rep will increase by 35%.

This will be measured using a CRM dashboard that tracks:

• Sales rep key actions per week.
• Time spent interacting with key prospects.
• Conversion rate from lead to close.

#2 Setup for success

Most businesses use CRM for some type of resource allocation, whether this is where to focus time or what customers to prioritize. 

Whatever the priority for your business, ensure the CRM is set up to support you. For example, a key goal for your CRM project may be generating more revenue from the top 15% of engaged clients – work out how you will achieve this and what part the CRM will play.

To generate 10% more revenue from our most engaged 15% of clients we need to:

• Meet them more often.
• Discover more tactics for how we can sell products to clients.
• Get to know more people in those businesses.

This may convert into a set of CRM-specific targets:

• Add four people from target organizations into the CRM every year.
• Add three new sales opportunities into the CRM every quarter.
• Provide ten new quotes for that customer every year.

Check out our top 10 CRM features that bring the highest ROI for more on specific targets and benefits

Once you’ve defined the key metrics the CRM can be set up to ensure they are simple to track.

# 3 Keep it simple 

Taking on a new set of working practices is difficult for teams; the day-to-day reality of the job combined with learning a new system can cause immense stress. Once teams become disillusioned it can be very hard to roll out a CRM project.

There are a few simple tactics that can help you integrate a CRM into your working practices:

• Run a beta test:  it’s difficult to predict how users will react to a new system, so if possible roll it out to a small subset of users first. Closely monitor the pain points and think about how these can be avoided when you roll out to the wider team.
• Stagger the rollout:  where possible introduce features to your team in manageable chunks. Make sure everyone is capable with the basics before demonstrating some of the more advanced features – a gradual roll-out helps users feel in control.
• Provide support:  it’s best to presume that at least some team members will struggle so put provisions in place for training and support.  Make sure everyone has a contact they can rely on to help them with any questions on the new CRM.

#4 Constantly evolve

The work is never done.

When you roll out a CRM project you will immediately think of improvements. This is common, but don’t expect to get it right the first time. See the first rollout as the first phase and expect the changes to be ongoing.

Changes in the business and new technology will mean that your CRM doesn’t stay static for very long. You can address this with periodic reviews that ask whether the CRM is achieving its purpose and whether there are any improvements that can be made.

Alongside the longer-term strategic reviews there will be bugs, data issues, integrations, feature requirements and training to manage. It is important to make sure someone in the organization is responsible for the successful deployment of the CRM. 

A sensible schedule may look like:

Every year:  staff training on new features and refresher on best practice. 

Every six months:  review CRM success metrics and review long term CRM roadmap.

Every three months:  review operational effectiveness with operational management teams.

Every two weeks:  update on new system improvement projects. 

Ongoing:  a helpdesk to support problems and technical queries.

#5 Get your data right 

Part of your strategy must focus on data .

Without the right data your CRM will fail; here are a few key points to consider in your data:

• Setup:  consider how you will import data into your CRM, it’s likely there will be challenges around formatting the data to fit your new system. This process will probably include a bespoke element so be prepared for a time and financial cost.
• Data hygiene: CRM data decays fast, estimates vary but 22.5% per year cited by Hubspot feels like a realistic rate of decay. You need a process to ensure data is updated by staff at every opportunity and where possible automate your data updates by plugging it into a business intelligence dataset that updates in real-time. 

Getting your CRM strategy right is a challenge, recent research shows that 70% of CRM implementation projects fail to achieve the expected outcomes - if you can get our strategy right the prospect of failure is considerably lower.

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11 Successful CRM Strategies to Grow Your Business

A CRM strategy sounds intimidating to many small businesses. Is it about technology or sales? How high-level should it be?

We’ll walk you through the basics to help you start your successful CRM strategy from scratch.

What is a CRM strategy?

A Customer Relationship Management strategy is a plan to grow sales and improve customer service via marketing campaigns, customer support, and sales teams.

What was once the traditional buyer-seller model has shifted to customer-centric . Customer relationships today require more maintenance, which is why businesses now have entire CRM strategies dedicated to managing them.

Consumers have higher expectations when it comes to customer service. If you can’t give them what they need, they’ll look somewhere else.

When we hear the words ‘CRM strategy’, we’re inclined to think about CRM software or CRM technology. But software is only one piece of a much larger puzzle.

The best strategic customer relationship management incorporates both people and software. It needs:

• CRM database (with contact information)
• Management tools
• Marketing efforts

What are the benefits of a CRM strategy for my business?

There are a number of reasons why your business needs a CRM marketing strategy.

A successful CRM strategy will help you:

• Provide an enjoyable customer experience at all touchpoints of the customer journey, leading to customer loyalty
• Strengthen collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer service teams
• Clearly and quickly identify the most worthwhile leads and opportunities, and move them down the sales pipeline with the help of marketing automation
• Keep track of your leads and customers as they move through the sales funnel
• Segment contacts into effective target audiences
• Run targeted marketing campaigns 
• Provide data insights for sales forecasting and inform your future business strategies

Read more: 8 Key CRM Benefits for Small Businesses

11  successful CRM strategies  

Our top CRM strategies to follow to drive sales and improve performance.

1. Define your CRM strategy vision and goals

The first thing to do before creating a CRM strategy is to revisit your overall business strategy and high-level business goals.  

Create a vision of what you want to achieve from the CRM strategy. That way it has a clear purpose from the very beginning. 

Think about how you want to contribute to the success of your business.

Increased customer satisfaction, higher productivity and efficiency, and decreasing customer churn rates are all examples of common CRM strategy goals.

Remember, your CRM strategy is not an end in itself. It exists to drive business goals. So you need to integrate it into the overall strategy of the business.

2. Define your target customer with buyer personas

Create a buyer persona that represents your ideal customer based on market research and the marketing team’s collective insights. Make it as detailed as possible. Include customer information such as demographic and behavioral characteristics, as well as interests, challenges, and aspirations.

Here are some research methods you can use:

• Interview your sales and customer service teams 
• Study different customer profiles and even interview customers directly
• Send customer surveys
• Hold a focus group with customers/clients
• Use Google Analytics to gather demographic data about website visitors

To maintain strong customer relationships and attract quality leads, you need to understand exactly who is purchasing from you and why .

Having a clearly defined buyer profile is essential to becoming a customer-centric business. It’s key to ensuring your teams are focused on the true needs and expectations of your customers.

That’s not the only benefit. Knowing exactly who to target will also ensure your sales and marketing don’t waste time on unsuitable leads.

3. Study the market and decide your positioning

It’s always a good idea to look to the competitive landscape for inspiration when developing CRM strategies.

Ask yourself:

• Where does your company fit into the market?
• What is your unique selling proposition (i.e. what makes you different from others in your space?)
• How do your competitors differentiate themselves?
• What opportunities exist?
• Can you learn anything about how your competitors handle customer relationships?
• What are the trends in your industry right now?

4. Define your customer journey

Customer journey example from GCH Hotel Group ( source )

To master customer relationship management, you need to know each and every step of the customer journey. Then you need to ensure a top-notch customer experience at each of those touchpoints.

Start at the beginning.

Map every single customer interaction from the moment they first discover you. It might be through social media posts, email marketing , direct contact with team members, or other processes.

This is where you’ll highlight areas for improvement and establish who is responsible for what.

When mapping each stage of the buyer journey, ask yourself:

• Which team/process is interacting with the customer at that moment?
• How can these interactions be improved?
• Look at the buyer personas developed in Step 2. Based on what you know about your customer, is this his or her preferred means of communication? Could there be a more effective way to get your message across?
• What’s the customer trying to achieve?
• What challenges does the customer face? How can you offer better support?
• What content is the customer coming into contact with?

5. Plan how to provide a 360° customer experience

Your CRM strategy planning so far should have highlighted the areas that need improvement.

Now you’re going to look at the structure of your internal processes. Do you have the resources in place to provide a 360-degree customer experience?

Do an audit of roles and responsibilities to check all the necessary bases are being covered.

Here are examples of areas to optimize processes:

• Presales: How are you doing when it comes to analyzing customer needs, gathering information, and putting together business cases?
• Sales processes: What sales tasks can be automated to increase efficiency?
• Customer relationship management: Are your offers tailored to your customers’ needs? Are your communications personalized and relevant?
• After-sales: Have you got the necessary support systems in place to resolve customer problems quickly? What feedback do you receive on the quality of your customer service? Do you need to be able to follow up with customers regularly?

In short, ask yourself ‘How can I do it better?’ and then make the necessary changes within your organization.

Further reading: 11 Customer Experience Trends for 2024

6. Automate the customer journey

When you have a general idea of your touchpoints, streamline that customer experience with automation workflows. Use automation to stay in touch with leads and send them information, tips, offers, retargeted ads and more.

For example:

• Set up a welcome email and onboarding series to get leads familiar with your brand or service. 
• Funnel contacts into workflows for special offers and discounts.
• Use cross-selling workflows to recommend new products.
• Launch retargeting Facebook ads to recapture prospects that didn’t bite.
• Send push notifications when a contact’s favorite item is on sale.

With marketing automation , you can target specific steps in the customer journey to bring leads through your sales pipeline.

7. Know your product or service

Take the time to revise and develop your product/service narrative and elaborate your value proposition.

What are the messages you want to transmit? What benefits do you want to highlight? Why should a customer choose you over your competitors?

Communicate this narrative internally and implement employee training where necessary. Everyone needs to be on the same page, relaying the same message.

This is also a good opportunity to define your brand tone of voice and put in place best practice guidelines for communicating with customers.

8. Implement CRM software

A CRM system streamlines collaboration between teams, stores, gathers, and refines customer data, and tracks all interactions between you and your customers.

CRM solutions simplify contact management and are essential for understanding and catering to your customers.

It’s impossible to drive your CRM strategy forward without CRM software for your business.

A CRM solution streamlines contact management

To choose a CRM platform, evaluate your existing business processes and get input from your various teams. The main factors to be considered are price, capabilities, and ease of use . It’s important to choose a CRM tool that integrates with the other marketing tools you use.

The Brevo CRM Suite, for example, has a Sales Platform fully integrated with the other marketing channels offered. Manage deals in the pipeline and assign tasks to your salesforce for an effective workflow.

If you already use Brevo for marketing, communication history will appear in each contact profile along with engagement metrics. You can set task reminders and send emails directly from the contact profile page.

With the Meetings feature, you can also create custom booking landing pages and schedule demos, consultation sessions, and other meetings directly with potential customers.

Define best practices to support your CRM strategy using the tools in your software. When and how will your teams use this software? How will you use it to create an engaging experience for your customer base?

Then, set up what counts as a lead, a prospect, or opportunity according to your CRM strategy. Remember to clean your contact list before importing it to start off with an organized and up-to-date database.

9. Set Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

All strategic actions need to be backed up by figures and data – and your CRM strategy is no exception. You need to be able to measure its progress.

You outlined your CRM strategy goals. Now, you’re going to give your sales team some concrete targets to work towards. 

Remember to set smart goals for your marketing and sales teams. S.M.A.R.T stands for S pecific, M easurable, A chievable, R ealistic, and T ime-bound.

Examples of performance metrics you may wish to include are:

• Customer satisfaction
• Customer retention
• Customer churn (when a customer leaves the company)
• Profits (overall total, totals per customer/account)
• Sales cycle length

Some goals might be increasing your SMS contact list by 30% this year or improving customer satisfaction rates for better long-term retention.

Real company, real success: Fashion retail company Videdressing needed to improve email engagement with customers. Videdressing signed up with Brevo and increased click rates by 15% using data from the CRM to personalize its email campaigns. Read the whole story here

The success of your CRM strategy depends on the levels of engagement and collaboration of your teams and the capabilities of your strategic CRM.

Get your employees on board from the beginning. Keep them informed, educated, and up to date on all aspects of your CRM strategy.

10. Segment and personalize with CRM data

With CRM software in place, you have the tools to build rich customer insights right on your computer. Your CRM can segment customers into groups who share common characteristics. 

Group contacts based on how often they buy, what stage in the customer journey they are, or even based on their purchase history.

Then, create targeted and personalized content for these contact groups. 

• Send activity-based messages like 1-year anniversaries like Spotify’s Wrapped (year in review) campaign. 
• Personalize campaigns for frequent shoppers or loyal customers. 
• Send back to school discounts for young adults.
• Promote city party essentials for contacts in urban locations.

You can personalize content for any audience group you like and reap the benefits. 

Further reading: The Best Customer Segmentation Examples for Digital Marketing

11. Keep improving with reports and analytics

The journey doesn’t end with making a sale. Track your performance and continue improving your sales cycle and marketing efforts. 

Whether it’s tracking revenue, sales cycle length, or finding where you lost customers, CRM reports simplify analysis. 

Knowing how your campaigns perform with concerete analytics will help you see what’s working and what needs to be worked on. 

In Brevo, for example, you can get reports for your sales and marketing campaigns. For sales, see revenue, win rate, reasons for losses or wins, and other key metrics. Marketing campaigns give you insight into conversions, open, bounce, unsubscribe rates, and more. 

Brevo conversion rate sales report

Brevo win/loss sales report

Reports take the guesswork out of improving CRM strategies. The result is efficient problem-solving and more time for your team to spend where it counts most.

Launch your CRM strategy today

A well-thought-out CRM strategy will do wonders for your customer retention and sales.

Follow the 11 CRM strategies above and you’ll be well on your way to customer relationship management success! The best CRM is the one that fits your business needs and budget.

Brevo offers all the sales tools you need to drive revenue and deliver seamless customer experiences. Track deals, book meetings, make phone calls, and collect payments — manage the entire sales cycle and all your contact data in one place with Brevo.

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Creating a CRM Strategy: A Comprehensive Guide

In today’s competitive business landscape, customer relationship management (CRM) strategies have become increasingly important for driving long-term business growth and sustainable customer success. A comprehensive and carefully planned CRM strategy can streamline processes, improve customer experience and relationships, and boost revenue.

But, with so many components to consider, where should you start? That’s where our comprehensive guide comes in. Following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll gain valuable insights and learn practical tips for creating and optimising a CRM strategy that aligns with your business objectives.

Throughout this guide, we’ll explore the core attributes of a CRM strategy, dive into the key elements that make it effective, and provide a step-by-step guide to help you develop your own.

Key Takeaways

• CRM strategy is a comprehensive plan to leverage tech and data to improve customer relationships, increase revenue, and optimise business processes. 
• Key elements of an effective CRM Strategy include goal-setting with KPIs, customer segmentation for personalised experiences, data analysis for informed decision-making & technology integration to drive success. 
• Challenges in implementing a successful CRM strategy involve clear communication/training and regular reviews to ensure alignment with key business objectives.

What is a CRM Strategy?

At its core, a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy is a comprehensive plan focusing on enhancing customer relationships, boosting revenue, and optimising business processes by utilising CRM technology and data-driven insights. Putting customers at the heart of your business can offer a competitive advantage while streamlining operations, particularly within customer service teams. A successful CRM strategy requires diligent tracking and managing customer data, enabling businesses to gain insight into customer’s behaviour and preferences and offer personalised customer experiences.

Leveraging a leading CRM solution such as Salesforce can assist organisations in:

• Anticipating and responding to their client's needs 
• Respond to them more promptly than would otherwise be achievable 
• Couple responsiveness with data-driven insights and personalised responses 
• Empower companies to build stronger, more trusted customer relationships 
• Increase revenue through improved customer lifetime value 
• Streamline business processes through AI and automation.

Creating a CRM strategy is about leveraging technology and data to better understand and serve your customers, which will ultimately help brands drive business growth.

Key Elements of an Effective CRM Strategy

To create a successful CRM strategy, it’s essential to focus on several key elements:

• Goal-setting 
• Customer segmentation 
• Data analysis 
• Technology integration

Each of these components plays a crucial role in enhancing customer experiences, supporting your service team members, and ultimately driving long-term business growth.

The following sections of this guide will provide an in-depth look at these elements, offering practical advice for incorporating them into your CRM strategy and vision.

Goal-Setting

Establishing clear, measurable, and achievable goals for your CRM strategy is crucial. By setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) that align with your overall business objectives, you can monitor the progress of each goal against the metrics in your CRM tools. For example, you might set goals to increase customer retention by 10%, reduce response time to customer inquiries by 20%, or increase sales by 15%.

The sales process can be effectively leveraged to inform appropriate key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals in a CRM strategy. By aligning your CRM goals with your overall business objectives, you ensure that your efforts are focused on the areas that have the most impact on your overall business strategy and its profitability.

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation involves:

• Identifying and categorising target audiences based on their needs, preferences, and behaviours. 
• Providing personalised customer experiences 
• Leveraging CRM data and to gain valuable insights into customer behaviours and needs 
• Streamlining internal processes to improve customer experiences and efficiency. 
• Segmenting customers into contacts, leads, prospects, and opportunities 
• Provide tools for your sales, service and marketing teams to tailor and optimise their engagement strategies.

In addition to CRM data, it’s important to understand the sales process and define the ideal customer journey to recognise the various pipeline stages of your prospects. This can help your sales team prioritise their efforts, resulting in more targeted marketing campaigns and improved customer service. By segmenting your audience and understanding their needs, you can create a CRM strategy that truly resonates with your audience and drives customer engagement.

CRM Data Analysis

Leveraging CRM data to gain insights into customer behaviour, preferences, and engagement trends is vital to an effective CRM strategy. By analysing this data, you can better understand your customers’ needs and pain points and optimise your communications strategy accordingly. For example, you can analyse how customers perceive your products or services, the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, and the effectiveness of your marketing channels.

Maintaining well-organised and structured data is essential for the success of your CRM strategy. By keeping your data clean and up-to-date, you ensure that marketing messages are sent to the correct recipient and prevent the unnecessary expenditure of resources on inactive or irrelevant contacts. Regularly reviewing and updating your CRM data improves the accuracy of your insights and helps you stay aligned with your customers' ever-changing needs and preferences.

Technology Integration

Integrating CRM software and other technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation, can help streamline processes, facilitate communication, and optimise customer experiences. By incorporating these technologies into your customer relationship management strategy, you can enhance customer service efforts and the efficiency of salespeople, enabling them to dedicate more time to prospects and customise client communications.

When selecting a CRM software solution, choosing one that meets your business needs, integrates with existing systems, and supports your overall CRM strategy is important. A leading CRM solution such as Salesforce offers a range of features and capabilities to help you manage and improve customer interactions no matter where they are.

By leveraging technology, you can unlock the full potential of your CRM strategy and drive long-term business growth.

Developing Your CRM Strategy: A Step-by-Step Guide

Now that we’ve explored the key elements of an effective CRM strategy, it’s time to dive into a step-by-step guide to help you develop your own. The following sections will walk you through the process:

• Assessing your current situation 
• Defining your target audience 
• Mapping the customer journey 
• Aligning sales, service and marketing teams 
• Implementing a CRM software solution 
• Monitoring and optimising CRM performance.

By following these steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating a CRM strategy that drives growth and success for your business, ultimately developing a winning CRM strategy.

Assess Your Current Situation

The first step in developing your CRM strategy is to conduct a thorough audit of your business processes, market, and competition to identify areas for improvement and opportunities for growth. This includes:

• Evaluating your sales processes 
• Evaluating your marketing processes 
• Evaluating your customer service processes 
• Evaluating your data management processes

This will help you comprehensively understand your current strengths and weaknesses.

After completing the audit, it’s essential to formulate action items and a plan to address the areas that need enhancement. This may involve implementing new processes, technologies, or training programs to improve customer service interactions, streamline operations, and drive business growth.

For sustainable success, it’s necessary to regularly evaluate and adapt your CRM strategy to keep pace with the dynamic business environment.

Defining Your Target Audience

After clearly understanding your organisation's strengths and weaknesses, defining your target audience and creating detailed buyer personas using market research and customer insights is your next step. This will help you better understand and prioritise your customers, allowing you to tailor your marketing and sales efforts to meet their needs and preferences.

Buyer personas are essential for establishing and sustaining strong customer relationships and attracting new leads. Market research methods, such as surveys, interviews, and focus groups, can provide valuable insights into your target audience’s motivations, needs, and behaviours. By analysing this data, you can create buyer personas that accurately reflect your ideal customers, helping you optimise your CRM strategy and deliver more personalised experiences that resonate with your audience.

Map the Customer Journey

Mapping the customer journey forms an integral part of developing your CRM strategy. This involves identifying and analysing every touchpoint within the customer journey, from awareness to customer loyalty. By understanding the various stages of the customer journey, you can optimise each interaction and enhance the customer experience at every touchpoint.

To effectively map the customer journey, consider the following steps:

• Conduct customer surveys to gain insights into pain points, customer behaviour, their motivations, experiences and preferences. 
• Analyse your existing CRM process and data to identify areas for improvement. 
• Assign and manage organisational responsibilities to highlight these issues. 
• Continuously optimise your CRM strategy to meet the evolving needs of your customers.

By following these steps, you can ensure that your CRM strategy considers your existing customer journeys and any observed pain points.

Align Sales, Service and Marketing Teams

The success of a CRM strategy hinges on the seamless collaboration between your sales, service and marketing teams. To achieve this alignment, it’s important to encourage open dialogue, establish shared objectives and metrics, and implement a CRM system that supports the needs of each team.

Additionally, to effectively manage the sales pipeline of leads and convert them into customers, it’s essential to:

• Formulate a lead management process that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of both sales and marketing teams. 
• Ensure that leads are effectively nurtured through the sales funnel. 
• Provide appropriate training and education for your teams to equip them with the necessary skills and knowledge to leverage your CRM system to its fullest potential.

By aligning your sales and marketing teams, you can streamline processes, improve communication, improve customer satisfaction and drive customer engagement.

Implementing CRM Software

Selecting and deploying a CRM software solution is essential in developing your CRM strategy. A leading CRM platform such as Salesforce will provide various features and capabilities to help you manage and improve customer interactions. When selecting a CRM solution, choosing one that meets your business needs, integrates with existing systems, and supports your long-term strategic goals is essential.

Once you’ve chosen a CRM software solution, onboarding employees, providing the proper training, and establishing internal communications to ensure seamless integration with your existing processes is essential. By implementing a CRM system that aligns with your business objectives and supports your CRM strategy, you can streamline operations, improve customer interactions, and drive long-term success with existing customers and prospects.

Monitor and Optimise CRM Performance

The continued success of your CRM strategy depends on consistent monitoring and analysis of CRM performance metrics. By monitoring these metrics, you can evaluate your strategy's effectiveness, identify improvement areas, and optimise your approach for continued growth.

To ensure that the metrics you track align with your CRM strategy objectives, it’s crucial to establish a tracking and reporting system that provides real-time data. By analysing performance metrics and comparing them to your CRM strategy objectives, you can identify areas that require improvement and make informed decisions to optimise your approach.

Regularly reviewing and updating your CRM strategy ensures that you stay aligned with your customer's ever-changing needs and preferences, ultimately driving long-term success and customer loyalty.

Challenges and Best Practices for CRM Strategy Implementation

Implementing a CRM strategy can be challenging, but following best practices can overcome common obstacles and ensure long-term success. Key challenges include:

• Onboarding employees 
• Providing proper training 
• Establishing a consistent brand voice 
• Setting clear KPIs 
• Conducting regular reviews to ensure alignment with overall business objectives.

Overcoming these challenges necessitates:

• Clear communication of the CRM strategy benefits to your employees 
• Comprehensive training to equip them with the needed skills 
• Maintaining a consistent brand voice in all customer interactions

By setting clear KPIs and regularly reviewing your CRM strategy, you can ensure that it remains aligned with your other business goals and objectives and continues to drive growth and success.

A considered CRM strategy is essential for driving business growth and success in today’s competitive market. By focusing on the key elements of goal-setting, customer journey mapping, segmentation, data analysis, and technology integration, you can create a CRM strategy that enhances customer experiences and drives business growth. Following the step-by-step guide provided in this post, you can assess your current situation, define your target audience, map the customer journey, align sales and marketing teams, implement CRM software, and monitor and optimise performance to ensure long-term success.

Remember, the key to a successful CRM strategy lies in understanding and prioritising your customers, leveraging technology and data to serve them better, and continuously adapting your approach to meet their ever-changing needs and preferences.

Frequently Asked Questions

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How to create a successful CRM strategy for your business

A solid customer relationship management (CRM) strategy is crucial for any business planning to use a CRM platform.

The two go hand in hand — using the software without the strategy is like steering a ship without a rudder. In effect, a CRM strategy determines how a business uses the CRM software, as well as its people and processes.

In this article, we’ll highlight the benefits of using a CRM strategy and show you how to create a successful one for your business that works in tandem with a robust CRM system.

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What defines a successful CRM strategy?

A CRM strategy is a company-wide plan for your business to enhance customer relationships, grow revenue, and ultimately increase profit using specific actions and technology.

Many people often use the term CRM (customer relationship management) to describe the software used to manage customer relationships. However, CRM also covers the strategy, processes, and people a business uses to engage and convert potential customers while retaining current ones.

The CRM cycle involves several key stages for managing and improving customer relationships across sales, marketing, and customer service activities. These stages typically include:

• Reach: The first step involves generating brand awareness through various marketing channels like social media and paid adverts.
• Acquisition: The next stage involves reaching out to potential customers and acquiring them as leads or prospects.
• Conversion: Once leads are acquired, the focus shifts to converting them into paying customers through targeted sales and marketing efforts.
• Retention: After acquiring customers, the goal is to retain them by providing excellent customer service and maintaining ongoing communication.
• Loyalty: Building customer loyalty is the final stage of the CRM cycle, where you create long-term, loyal customer relationships.

( Image Source )

By understanding and effectively managing these stages, businesses can improve their sales, marketing, and customer service efforts to increase customer satisfaction and company revenue.

Why a CRM system is essential for your business

A CRM system enables you to manage your customers throughout their entire lifecycle so that every team can access the same information.

While implementing a CRM system before creating a CRM strategy is unnecessary, they are interconnected. For example, with a CRM system, you get access to features like:

• Contact management : Get a 360-degree view of your customers with up-to-date contact and account information records. Log activities, send emails, and access all past interactions, deals, and projects associated with an account or contact in one visual format.

• Lead management : Collect and qualify leads from various sources in one central location and use email templates for fast automated email follow-ups.

• Deal management: Check where deals stand with a customized visual pipeline and track all contact interactions in one place.

• Sales forecasting : Keep track of your sales projections and report on forecast vs. actual sales. Drill down forecast by month, sales rep, or any other criteria.

• Performance tracking: Manage your team’s quotas over time and make data-driven decisions with real-time tracking and reports. Gain insights with fully customizable pre-built dashboards.

• Account management : Track the onboarding progress of your clients and manage renewals.

You get all of these features, and more, in monday sales CRM .

What are the benefits of creating a CRM strategy?

A successful CRM strategy will help your business:

• Strengthen collaboration between sales, marketing, and customer service teams.
• Deliver a satisfying customer experience every time.
• Keep track of your leads, prospects, and customers throughout the pipeline.
• Identify the best opportunities for sales teams to target and bring in more revenue.
• Create more targeted and personalized marketing campaigns.
• Gain valuable insights to improve future performance.

What you need before building your CRM strategy

Before building your CRM strategy, there are several steps and considerations to keep in mind. Here are the essential elements you need to address:

• Audit your business: Conduct a SWOT analysis to identify your company’s current strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
• Refine your vision: Develop a clear vision that your teams can collaborate on and execute, such as increasing revenue, improving customer relationships, and enhancing the overall customer experience.
• Audit your customer data: Understand your target customers and their typical journey — such as demographics, touchpoints, and product feedback — and identify areas for improvement in your interactions with them.
• Integrate your systems and data: Ensure all teams can work seamlessly with the same customer information in one centralized system.

How to create your CRM strategy in 10 steps

Now that you know what defines a successful CRM strategy and how it can benefit your business, let’s walk you through how to create one for your organization.

Step 1: Define your CRM strategy goals

First, you need to determine what you want to achieve with your customer relationship management plan. For example, perhaps you want to shorten your sales cycle, increase your customer satisfaction survey scores, or reduce churn. Ensure your CRM strategy goals align with your overall business goals and objectives, and make them SMART:

Once you’ve defined your goals, evaluate whether or not you can realistically achieve those goals with your current resources. For example, do you have enough team members and the right tools, like a CRM system, to accomplish your goals?

Setting your CRM strategy goals keeps you focused on your business and its bottom line.

Step 2: Define your target customer (with buyer personas)

It’s essential to understand who your customers and prospects are so that you can create buyer personas. Understanding exactly who is purchasing from you and why, will help you attract quality leads with the right tactics and messaging and maintain strong customer relationships.

You can combine your existing data with new research to build your ideal customer profile. For example, you could:

• Use website analytics to gather demographic data about visitors.
• Discover their preferred social media networks.
• Interview your sales and customer service teams.
• Interview customers directly or send customer surveys.
• Hold a focus group with customers/clients.

Use our buyer persona template to help you better understand your customers and target market based on demographics, geography, needs, interests, and behavior.

Step 3: Outline your customer journey

Once you’ve defined your target customer, you need to map out their entire journey from the first touchpoints to the closing sale. Analyze their demographic data to find out where they spend their time online. Understanding their online habits can help you identify where and how to connect with them.

 Here are some key questions to ask when mapping the customer journey :

• Which team is interacting with the customer at each stage?
• How can these interactions be improved?
• Is this your target customer’s preferred style of communication?
• Which content does your customer interact with the most or the least?
• What is the customer trying to achieve?
• What challenges does the customer face?

From these answers, double-check that the customer journey relates to your buyer personas.

Step 4: Plan your 360-degree customer experience

The next step in your strategy is ensuring you have the resources and processes to provide a 360-degree customer experience . Check each team’s roles and responsibilities. For example:

• Can your marketing team analyze customer needs and gather information effectively?
• Can your sales team automate any sales processes to increase speed and efficiency?
• Can your customer service team onboard and support customers effectively?

Remember to make your communications relevant and engaging to your customers throughout their lifecycle.

Step 5: Define your KPIs

Having defined your CRM strategy goals in Step 1, you need to give your teams some concrete targets to work towards. Some metrics you may wish to measure include:

• Sales cycle length
• Sales close rate
• Customer satisfaction
• Customer retention
• Customer churn
• Profitability per customer/account

For example, using a SMART goal , you might ask your customer service team to increase customer satisfaction rates by 3% in Q2 . Or, if a CRM strategy goal for the after-sales team is to increase customer retention, an important KPI might be to increase the number of renewal opportunities in the pipeline year-to-date (YTD) compared with the same period last year.

Step 6: Leverage data to improve productivity

A CRM platform lets you consolidate customer data from different departments, such as marketing, sales, and customer service, in a single dashboard. Teams can leverage this data quickly and efficiently to improve their productivity. For example, a single source of truth can prevent sales teams from wasting time asking customers the same questions or handling data twice.

Outline processes in your CRM strategy that facilitate this, including employee education, keeping data error-free, and integrating disparate data.

Step 7: Refine your tone and messaging

Because your CRM strategy applies to the entire customer lifecycle, you must ensure all staff use the same tone and messaging in all your customer-facing content. For example:

• Does your company use a serious, humorous, sarcastic, or optimistic tone of voice?
• Do you use light-hearted abbreviations like “lol” or follow strict grammar rules?

Consider creating brand and style guidelines, so everyone consistently uses the same tone and messaging.

Step 8: Deliver personalized customer experiences

A solid CRM strategy ensures that all your business processes, from marketing and sales to IT, work together systematically. This helps you better understand who your potential customer is and what they need.

There’s a whole raft of statistics to show that customers prefer a personalized experience. For example:

• 80% of consumers are more likely to buy from a company that provides a tailored experience.
• 63% of consumers won’t buy from brands that have poor personalization.
• 42% of customers are frustrated by impersonalized content.

Personalization improves the customer experience and, ultimately, drives revenue and customer loyalty.

Step 9: Reduce costs with automation

With a CRM system, you can save time and money by automating repetitive administrative tasks, such as feeding lead data into your sales pipeline. For example, instead of manually typing in data, you can set up your lead capture forms to automatically sync with your pipeline.

Another benefit of automation is that you can set up email templates correctly formatted with your tone of voice and personalized with the correct contact name to save time and boost sales. Automating your sales processes will free up additional time for your sales reps. They can invest this time nurturing leads and closing more deals, shortening the sales cycle and reducing your costs.

Step 10: Track your CRM performance

Finally, you want to ensure you track your team’s performance to ensure they’re achieving their individual targets and meeting your CRM strategy goals. You can easily track performance with the help of CRM reporting and analytics features that come built-in with most CRM platforms.

Use CRM dashboards to analyze what went well and what didn’t, identify opportunities for improvement, and experiment with new techniques. This will help you learn from mistakes, optimize processes, improve customer experiences, and refine your CRM strategy.

Bonus Step: Make use of AI

AI is now standard in most CRM platforms, so you should consider how to incorporate its features in your CRM strategy. For example, you could use AI in sales to:

• Turn ideas or meeting outcomes into actionable tasks to move deals forward automatically.
• Create different types of emails that hit just the right note every time.
• Craft polished content for every step of the customer lifecycle.
• Summarize call transcripts and meeting notes.
• Build formulas for the most complex pipeline reporting needs using your own words.

This can really take your strategy, and in turn your business, to the next level.

Read also: Generate emails with monday AI email generator

Manage your CRM strategy with monday.com

Although you might be feeling overwhelmed with all these steps, keep in mind that developing a CRM strategy will benefit your business enormously. Whether you’re planning to implement a CRM in your small business or large enterprise, creating a CRM strategy to understand why you’re using it and how it aligns with your overall business strategy, sales goals, and company culture is critical.

And, if you’re looking for a visual, intuitive, and fully customizable CRM platform to manage your leads, prospects, and customers, then monday sales CRM can help you manage your pipeline, automate your sales processes, streamline communication, and gain valuable insights into your entire CRM cycle.

Try monday sales CRM yourself with a 14-day free trial.

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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)

Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.

If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.

Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.

You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.

Let’s get started.

What Do You Need A Business Plan For?

Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.

1. Secure Funds

One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.

For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.

A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.

Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.

2. Monitor Business Growth

A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:

• The business goals
• Methods to achieve the goals
• Time-frame for attaining those goals

A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.

You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.

3. Measure Business Success

A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.

Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.

You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.

4. Document Your Marketing Strategies

You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.

Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.

In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:

• How do you want to reach your target audience?
• How do you plan to retain your customers?
• What is/are your pricing plans?
• What is your budget for marketing?

How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step

1. create your executive summary.

The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.

Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.

A good executive summary should do the following:

• A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
• Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
• Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
• The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
• Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
• Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
• Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
• Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
• Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.

The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.

Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.

View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:

• Who is your target audience?
• What sector or industry are you in?
• What are your products and services?
• What is the future of your industry?
• Is your company scaleable?
• Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
• What is the motivation for starting your company?
• What are the next steps?

Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.

The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.

If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.

2. Add Your Company Overview

The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.

Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.

Your company overview should contain the following:

• What products and services you will provide
• Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
• What you need to run your business
• Who your target audience or customers are
• Who will service your customers
• Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
• Information about your company’s founders
• Who the founders are
• Notable achievements of your company so far

When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.

If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.

• Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
• What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
• How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
• Where is the location of your business?
• What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
• How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
• How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?

After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.

The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.

• Mission Statement

The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.

Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”

When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:

• Founding Date
• Major Milestones
• Location(s)
• Flagship Products or Services
• Number of Employees
• Executive Leadership Roles

When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.

Business Objectives

Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.

3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity

The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.

Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.

This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.

Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?

You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.

Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?

Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?

Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.

Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.

Market Analysis

Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.

The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.

A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.

• Market Research

To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.

• Your target market’s needs or pain points
• The existing solutions for their pain points
• Geographic Location
• Demographics

The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.

Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.

You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.

How to Quantify Your Target Market

One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:

• Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
• Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
• Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
• Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.

What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?

Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.

You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:

• Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
• Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
• Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
• Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
• Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
• Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
• Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
• Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.

The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.

Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.

• Is your product or service of superior quality?
• What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
• Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?

Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.

Competitive Analysis

In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.

Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.

Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.

The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.

Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.

When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.

Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.

• What are your successful competitors doing?
• Why is what they are doing working?
• Can your business do it better?
• What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
• What are they not doing well?
• Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
• How good is your competitors’ customer service?
• Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
• What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
• What marketing strategies are they using?
• What kind of press coverage do they get?
• What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?

If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.

If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.

Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.

The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.

Direct vs Indirect Competition

You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.

There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.

If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.

In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.

For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.

There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.

Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition

There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.

1. Cost Leadership

A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.

A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.

2. Product Differentiation

Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.

Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.

3. Market Segmentation

As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.

If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.

4. Define Your Business and Management Structure

The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.

Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.

If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.

Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.

The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.

Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.

Management Team

The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.

Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.

A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.

Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.

Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.

If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.

Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team

• Who are the key leaders?
• What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
• Do your key leaders have industry experience?
• What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
• What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
• What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?

Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section

1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team

There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.

Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.

2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles

Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.

While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.

Organizational Chart

Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.

If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.

An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.

You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.

5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering

In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.

Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.

The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.

If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”

Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:

• A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
• The pricing model for your product or service.
• Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
• The ideal customers that want your product or service.
• The benefits of your products and services.
• Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
• Plans for filling the orders you receive
• If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.

What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services

In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.

When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Unique features
• Translating the unique features into benefits
• The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
• Intellectual property rights or any patents

When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.

• Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
• Time between purchases
• Plans for research and development.

When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:

• The creation of new or existing products and services.
• The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
• Assembling the products
• Maintaining quality control
• Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
• The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.

Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan

1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords

The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.

A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.

2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors

When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.

If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.

For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.

3. Long or Short Products or Services Section

Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?

There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.

If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.

Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.

The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.

If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.

A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.

4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers

Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.

Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.

5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers

The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.

When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.

While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.

Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section

Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.

• Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
• What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
• What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
• Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
• Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
• How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
• What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
• What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
• What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
• Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
• Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
• How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?

You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.

6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan

Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.

The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.

There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.

In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.

Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).

Target Market and Target Audience

Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.

Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.

Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan

Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.

Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.

Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.

Your Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.

Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?

Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market

• What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
• What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
• Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
• How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?

After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.

All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.

Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.

For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].

For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.

“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”

You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.

After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.

Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.

You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.

Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering

Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.

• Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
• Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
• Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.

Pricing Strategy

Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.

• Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
• Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
• Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.

After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.

As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.

There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.

Advertising

Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.

Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.

Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.

A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.

Public Relations

A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.

Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,

Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.

Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.

If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.

Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.

When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.

• Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
• What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
• How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?

Social Media

Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.

You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.

Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.

Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.

You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.

Strategic Alliances

If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.

Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.

The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.

Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.

Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan

1. Focus on Your Target Market

Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.

2. Evaluate Your Competition

One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.

You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.

These questions can help you know your competition.

• What makes your competition successful?
• What are their weaknesses?
• What are customers saying about your competition?

3. Consider Your Brand

Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.

4. Focus on Benefits

The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.

Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.

5. Focus on Differentiation

Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.

Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan

• What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
• What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
• What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
• Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
• What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
• Where will you sell your products?

You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.

The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.

7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request

If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’

A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.

Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.

In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.

Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.

If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.

Funding Request: Debt or Equity?

When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.

Case for Equity

If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.

Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.

Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.

Case for Debt

You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.

When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.

Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.

Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.

You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.

Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan

The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.

If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.

You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.

If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .

Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.

8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections

If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.

The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.

If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.

If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.

When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.

Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.

Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.

Use Graphs and Charts

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.

Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.

Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections

Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.

You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.

What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan

The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.

A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.

Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.

1. Sales Forecast

Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.

One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.

For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.

Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.

Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.

For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.

2. Personnel Plan

The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.

However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.

The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.

3. Income Statement

The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.

Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.

The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.

• Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
• Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
• Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
• Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
• Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
• Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
• Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
• Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.

4. Cash Flow Statement

The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.

5. Balance Sheet

The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.

You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.

6. Exit Strategy

The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.

You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.

Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.

Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.

Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection

Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.

You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.

Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.

• What is your sales forecast for the next year?
• When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
• What are the core expenses you need to operate?
• How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
• How will you use the loans or investments?

9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan

Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.

The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.

When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.

Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.

You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.

If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.

A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.

The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.

People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.

Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan

The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:

• Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
• Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
• Additional financial documents or projections
• Articles of incorporation and status
• Backup for market research or competitive analysis
• Bank statements
• Business registries
• Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
• Copies of insurances
• Credit histories (personal or/and business)
• Deeds and permits
• Equipment leases
• Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
• Industry associations and memberships
• Images of product
• Intellectual property
• Key customer contracts
• Legal documents and other contracts
• Letters of reference
• Links to references
• Market research data
• Organizational charts
• Photographs of potential facilities
• Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
• Purchase orders
• Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
• State and federal identification numbers or codes
• Trademarks or patents’ registrations

Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.

Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan

To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.

1. Know Your Audience

When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.

The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.

Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.

• A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
• A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
• A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.

2. Get Inspiration from People

Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.

To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.

When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.

3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic

Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.

The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.

In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.

The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.

To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.

4. Keep it Simple and Short

When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.

One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.

Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.

You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.

To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.

5. Make an Outline and Follow Through

A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.

For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.

To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.

This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:

• Table of contents
• Introduction
• Product or service description
• Target audience
• Market size
• Competition analysis
• Financial projections

Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.

6. Ask a Professional to Proofread

When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.

You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.

In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.

Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.

Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time

1. hubspot's one-page business plan.

The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.

Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:

• Business opportunity
• Company description
• Industry analysis
• Target market
• Implementation timeline
• Marketing plan
• Financial summary
• Funding required

2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template

Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.

The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.

3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template

HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.

The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.

There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.

4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute

My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.

The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.

• The Business Profile
• The Vision and the People
• Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
• Organization
• Licenses and Permits
• Business Insurance
• Communication Tools
• Acquisitions
• Location and Leasing
• Accounting and Cash Flow
• Opening and Marketing
• Managing Employees
• Expanding and Handling Problems

There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.

5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups

Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.

The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.

There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.

The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.

6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage

The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .

There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.

7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template

The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.

There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.

• Executive Summary
• Company Description
• Service Line
• Marketing and Sales

8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan

The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.

There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.

9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template

The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.

There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Products and services
• Operations plan
• Management organization
• Financial plan
• Conclusion / Call to action
• Confidentiality statement

You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)

PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.

10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT

InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.

Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.

Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan

A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.

Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.

Business Model Canvas (BMC)

The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.

The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.

Segments of the Business Model Canvas

The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.

• Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
• Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
• The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
• Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
• Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
• Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
• Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
• Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
• Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?

Lean Canvas

The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.

Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:

• Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
• Solution: The solutions to each problem.
• Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
• Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.

Startup Pitch Deck

While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.

Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.

Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.

Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.

Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.

• Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
• Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
• Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
• Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
• Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
• Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
• Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
• Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
• Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
• Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
• Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
• Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.

It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.

Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.

Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan

• Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
• Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
• Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
• Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.

Business Plan FAQ

Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time.  They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.

Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans.  A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.

A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs.  Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.

The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.

A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.

Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.

Exlore Further

• 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
• 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
• 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
• How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)

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This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

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Business plans might seem like an old-school stiff-collared practice, but they deserve a place in the startup realm, too. It’s probably not going to be the frame-worthy document you hang in the office—yet, it may one day be deserving of the privilege.

Whether you’re looking to win the heart of an angel investor or convince a bank to lend you money, you’ll need a business plan. And not just any ol’ notes and scribble on the back of a pizza box or napkin—you’ll need a professional, standardized report.

Bah. Sounds like homework, right?

Yes. Yes, it does.

However, just like bookkeeping, loan applications, and 404 redirects, business plans are an essential step in cementing your business foundation.

Don’t worry. We’ll show you how to write a business plan without boring you to tears. We’ve jam-packed this article with all the business plan examples, templates, and tips you need to take your non-existent proposal from concept to completion.

Table of Contents

What Is a Business Plan?

Tips to Make Your Small Business Plan Ironclad

How to Write a Business Plan in 6 Steps

Startup Business Plan Template

Business Plan Examples

Work on Making Your Business Plan

How to Write a Business Plan FAQs

What is a business plan why do you desperately need one.

A business plan is a roadmap that outlines:

• Who your business is, what it does, and who it serves
• Where your business is now
• Where you want it to go
• How you’re going to make it happen
• What might stop you from taking your business from Point A to Point B
• How you’ll overcome the predicted obstacles

While it’s not required when starting a business, having a business plan is helpful for a few reasons:

• Secure a Bank Loan: Before approving you for a business loan, banks will want to see that your business is legitimate and can repay the loan. They want to know how you’re going to use the loan and how you’ll make monthly payments on your debt. Lenders want to see a sound business strategy that doesn’t end in loan default.
• Win Over Investors: Like lenders, investors want to know they’re going to make a return on their investment. They need to see your business plan to have the confidence to hand you money.
• Stay Focused: It’s easy to get lost chasing the next big thing. Your business plan keeps you on track and focused on the big picture. Your business plan can prevent you from wasting time and resources on something that isn’t aligned with your business goals.

Beyond the reasoning, let’s look at what the data says:

• Simply writing a business plan can boost your average annual growth by 30%
• Entrepreneurs who create a formal business plan are 16% more likely to succeed than those who don’t
• A study looking at 65 fast-growth companies found that 71% had small business plans
• The process and output of creating a business plan have shown to improve business performance

Convinced yet? If those numbers and reasons don’t have you scrambling for pen and paper, who knows what will.

Don’t Skip: Business Startup Costs Checklist

Before we get into the nitty-gritty steps of how to write a business plan, let’s look at some high-level tips to get you started in the right direction:

Be Professional and Legit

You might be tempted to get cutesy or revolutionary with your business plan—resist the urge. While you should let your brand and creativity shine with everything you produce, business plans fall more into the realm of professional documents.

Think of your business plan the same way as your terms and conditions, employee contracts, or financial statements. You want your plan to be as uniform as possible so investors, lenders, partners, and prospective employees can find the information they need to make important decisions.

If you want to create a fun summary business plan for internal consumption, then, by all means, go right ahead. However, for the purpose of writing this external-facing document, keep it legit.

Know Your Audience

Your official business plan document is for lenders, investors, partners, and big-time prospective employees. Keep these names and faces in your mind as you draft your plan.

Think about what they might be interested in seeing, what questions they’ll ask, and what might convince (or scare) them. Cut the jargon and tailor your language so these individuals can understand.

Remember, these are busy people. They’re likely looking at hundreds of applicants and startup investments every month. Keep your business plan succinct and to the point. Include the most pertinent information and omit the sections that won’t impact their decision-making.

Invest Time Researching

You might not have answers to all the sections you should include in your business plan. Don’t skip over these!

Your audience will want:

• Detailed information about your customers
• Numbers and solid math to back up your financial claims and estimates
• Deep insights about your competitors and potential threats
• Data to support market opportunities and strategy

Your answers can’t be hypothetical or opinionated. You need research to back up your claims. If you don’t have that data yet, then invest time and money in collecting it. That information isn’t just critical for your business plan—it’s essential for owning, operating, and growing your company.

Stay Realistic

Your business may be ambitious, but reign in the enthusiasm just a teeny-tiny bit. The last thing you want to do is have an angel investor call BS and say “I’m out” before even giving you a chance.

The folks looking at your business and evaluating your plan have been around the block—they know a thing or two about fact and fiction. Your plan should be a blueprint for success. It should be the step-by-step roadmap for how you’re going from Point A to Point B.

How to Write a Business Plan—6 Essential Elements

Not every business plan looks the same, but most share a few common elements. Here’s what they typically include:

• Executive Summary
• Business Overview
• Products and Services
• Market Analysis
• Competitive Analysis
• Financial Strategy

Below, we’ll break down each of these sections in more detail.

1. Executive Summary

While your executive summary is the first page of your business plan, it’s the section you’ll write last. That’s because it summarizes your entire business plan into a succinct one-pager.

Begin with an executive summary that introduces the reader to your business and gives them an overview of what’s inside the business plan.

Your executive summary highlights key points of your plan. Consider this your elevator pitch. You want to put all your juiciest strengths and opportunities strategically in this section.

2. Business Overview

In this section, you can dive deeper into the elements of your business, including answering:

• What’s your business structure? Sole proprietorship, LLC, corporation, etc.
• Where is it located?
• Who owns the business? Does it have employees?
• What problem does it solve, and how?
• What’s your mission statement? Your mission statement briefly describes why you are in business. To write a proper mission statement, brainstorm your business’s core values and who you serve.

Don’t overlook your mission statement. This powerful sentence or paragraph could be the inspiration that drives an investor to take an interest in your business. Here are a few examples of powerful mission statements that just might give you the goosebumps:

• Patagonia: Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
• Tesla: To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.
• InvisionApp : Question Assumptions. Think Deeply. Iterate as a Lifestyle. Details, Details. Design is Everywhere. Integrity.
• TED : Spread ideas.
• Warby Parker : To offer designer eyewear at a revolutionary price while leading the way for socially conscious businesses.

3. Products and Services

As the owner, you know your business and the industry inside and out. However, whoever’s reading your document might not. You’re going to need to break down your products and services in minute detail.

For example, if you own a SaaS business, you’re going to need to explain how this business model works and what you’re selling.

You’ll need to include:

• What services you sell: Describe the services you provide and how these will help your target audience.
• What products you sell: Describe your products (and types if applicable) and how they will solve a need for your target and provide value.
• How much you charge: If you’re selling services, will you charge hourly, per project, retainer, or a mixture of all of these? If you’re selling products, what are the price ranges?

4. Market Analysis

Your market analysis essentially explains how your products and services address customer concerns and pain points. This section will include research and data on the state and direction of your industry and target market.

This research should reveal lucrative opportunities and how your business is uniquely positioned to seize the advantage. You’ll also want to touch on your marketing strategy and how it will (or does) work for your audience.

Include a detailed analysis of your target customers. This describes the people you serve and sell your product to. Be careful not to go too broad here—you don’t want to fall into the common entrepreneurial trap of trying to sell to everyone and thereby not differentiating yourself enough to survive the competition.

The market analysis section will include your unique value proposition. Your unique value proposition (UVP) is the thing that makes you stand out from your competitors. This is your key to success.

If you don’t have a UVP, you don’t have a way to take on competitors who are already in this space. Here’s an example of an ecommerce internet business plan outlining their competitive edge:

FireStarters’ competitive advantage is offering product lines that make a statement but won’t leave you broke. The major brands are expensive and not distinctive enough to satisfy the changing taste of our target customers. FireStarters offers products that are just ahead of the curve and so affordable that our customers will return to the website often to check out what’s new.

5. Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis examines the strengths and weaknesses of competing businesses in your market or industry. This will include direct and indirect competitors. It can also include threats and opportunities, like economic concerns or legal restraints.

The best way to sum up this section is with a classic SWOT analysis. This will explain your company’s position in relation to your competitors.

6. Financial Strategy

Your financial strategy will sum up your revenue, expenses, profit (or loss), and financial plan for the future. It’ll explain how you make money, where your cash flow goes, and how you’ll become profitable or stay profitable.

This is one of the most important sections for lenders and investors. Have you ever watched Shark Tank? They always ask about the company’s financial situation. How has it performed in the past? What’s the ongoing outlook moving forward? How does the business plan to make it happen?

Answer all of these questions in your financial strategy so that your audience doesn’t have to ask. Go ahead and include forecasts and graphs in your plan, too:

• Balance sheet: This includes your assets, liabilities, and equity.
• Profit & Loss (P&L) statement: This details your income and expenses over a given period.
• Cash flow statement: Similar to the P&L, this one will show all cash flowing into and out of the business each month.

It takes cash to change the world—lenders and investors get it. If you’re short on funding, explain how much money you’ll need and how you’ll use the capital. Where are you looking for financing? Are you looking to take out a business loan, or would you rather trade equity for capital instead?

Read More: 16 Financial Concepts Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know

Startup Business Plan Template (Copy/Paste Outline)

Ready to write your own business plan? Copy/paste the startup business plan template below and fill in the blanks.

Executive Summary Remember, do this last. Summarize who you are and your business plan in one page.

Business Overview Describe your business. What’s it do? Who owns it? How’s it structured? What’s the mission statement?

Products and Services Detail the products and services you offer. How do they work? What do you charge?

Market Analysis Write about the state of the market and opportunities. Use date. Describe your customers. Include your UVP.

Competitive Analysis Outline the competitors in your market and industry. Include threats and opportunities. Add a SWOT analysis of your business.

Financial Strategy Sum up your revenue, expenses, profit (or loss), and financial plan for the future. If you’re applying for a loan, include how you’ll use the funding to progress the business.

5 Frame-Worthy Business Plan Examples

Want to explore other templates and examples? We got you covered. Check out these 5 business plan examples you can use as inspiration when writing your plan:

• SBA Wooden Grain Toy Company
• SBA We Can Do It Consulting
• OrcaSmart Business Plan Sample
• Plum Business Plan Template
• PandaDoc Free Business Plan Templates

Get to Work on Making Your Business Plan

If you find you’re getting stuck on perfecting your document, opt for a simple one-page business plan —and then get to work. You can always polish up your official plan later as you learn more about your business and the industry.

Remember, business plans are not a requirement for starting a business—they’re only truly essential if a bank or investor is asking for it.

Ask others to review your business plan. Get feedback from other startups and successful business owners. They’ll likely be able to see holes in your planning or undetected opportunities—just make sure these individuals aren’t your competitors (or potential competitors).

Your business plan isn’t a one-and-done report—it’s a living, breathing document. You’ll make changes to it as you grow and evolve. When the market or your customers change, your plan will need to change to adapt.

That means when you’re finished with this exercise, it’s not time to print your plan out and stuff it in a file cabinet somewhere. No, it should sit on your desk as a day-to-day reference. Use it (and update it) as you make decisions about your product, customers, and financial plan.

Review your business plan frequently, update it routinely, and follow the path you’ve developed to the future you’re building.

Keep Learning: New Product Development Process in 8 Easy Steps

What financial information should be included in a business plan?

Be as detailed as you can without assuming too much. For example, include your expected revenue, expenses, profit, and growth for the future.

What are some common mistakes to avoid when writing a business plan?

The most common mistake is turning your business plan into a textbook. A business plan is an internal guide and an external pitching tool. Cut the fat and only include the most relevant information to start and run your business.

Who should review my business plan before I submit it?

Co-founders, investors, or a board of advisors. Otherwise, reach out to a trusted mentor, your local chamber of commerce, or someone you know that runs a business.

Ready to Write Your Business Plan?

Don’t let creating a business plan hold you back from starting your business. Writing documents might not be your thing—that doesn’t mean your business is a bad idea.

Let us help you get started.

Join our free training to learn how to start an online side hustle in 30 days or less. We’ll provide you with a proven roadmap for how to find, validate, and pursue a profitable business idea (even if you have zero entrepreneurial experience).

Stuck on the ideas part? No problem. When you attend the masterclass, we’ll send you a free ebook with 100 of the hottest side hustle trends right now. It’s chock full of brilliant business ideas to get you up and running in the right direction.

About Jesse Sumrak

Jesse Sumrak is a writing zealot focused on creating killer content. He’s spent almost a decade writing about startup, marketing, and entrepreneurship topics, having built and sold his own post-apocalyptic fitness bootstrapped business. A writer by day and a peak bagger by night (and early early morning), you can usually find Jesse preparing for the apocalypse on a precipitous peak somewhere in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

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How to build an effective CRM strategy for your business

A fundamental change is happening all around us. Power is shifting from companies to customers. Forrester  calls it the Age of the Customer :

“In this era, digitally-savvy customers would change the rules of business, creating an extraordinary opportunity for companies that could adapt, and creating an existential threat to those that could not.”

This has profound implications for businesses like yours. A well-thought-of customer relationship management (CRM) strategy, therefore, is more important than ever in this new era.

But what is CRM strategy and how do you build your own? Let’s throw some light on it below.

What is a CRM strategy and why is it important?

The concept of CRM strategy refers to practices that are focused on converting each prospect into a customer and retaining your customers by engaging them with personalized communication. Since its inception, the concept of CRM has helped businesses enhance their communication with customers and achieve their goals.

To get fruitful results through your CRM strategy, it is important that you have all the verticals of your business on the same page. For example, it is important that your sales, marketing, support, and finance work together to execute your CRM strategy.

An ideal CRM strategy focuses on decreasing the cost of customer acquisition and increasing the customer lifetime value. Having an ideal customer relationship strategy provides amazing benefits that help your business increase profitability.

With an effective CRM strategy, you get:

• Better efficiency in marketing
• Effective communication with customers
• Data-driven decision making
• Profitable sales cycle
• Improved accuracy in forecasting
• increased customer loyalty

On the other hand, the risks involved in the absence of an efficient CRM strategy are;

• Inability to access or improve customer satisfaction
• Missed opportunities to sell, upsell, or cross-sell to existing customers.
• Inability to attract and retain new customers
• Losing a competitive edge to businesses having a robust CRM strategy

This clearly suggests why businesses always look forward to developing and leveraging an effective CRM strategy.

However, joint research by  Forrester   and CustomerThink cites that 33 percent of businesses still struggle with building an effective CRM strategy. Let’s shed some light on a few tips that will help your business formulate a CRM strategy that can yield fascinating results.

Tips to build an effective CRM strategy

Define a vision.

Having a clear vision is an essential aspect of building a CRM strategy. Ask yourself what should be the end goal of your CRM strategy. Depending on your goals, you can track the progress of your team. For example, if your goal is to increase conversions, you can check metrics for website traffic, lead generation and conversion, etc.

Ensure that the final objective of your CRM strategy incorporates what should be the future environment of your business keeping in mind customer experience and profitability.

Align your CRM strategy with your corporate strategy

Businesses have corporate strategies that focus on doubling revenue growth or offering a unique customer experience. All these goals can be achieved by implementing an effective roadmap.

However, “CRM strategy” is a complicated term. It’s not an implementational framework but rather helps in achieving strategic goals such as increasing customer loyalty, reducing customer churn, etc.

It is essential that your corporate strategy and CRM strategy complement each other. Your CRM software should also have the functionality to address your corporate goals. If your CRM software struggles to address these unique priorities, your business also struggles to get increased user adoption and hardly becomes sustainable.

Leverage and examine your existing data wisely

The existing data that you have already gathered plays an important role in developing your CRM strategy. It is essential that you map your customers’ journey by analyzing their buyer personas . Go deeper into the problems you faced while communicating with customers in the past.

Segmenting customer journeys into various groups can help you identify unique customer differences and expectations. Your team can then prioritize these groups to initiate communication accordingly. For example, a separate set of email will be sent to repeat customers and customers who make large purchases.

Related Blog:  How to Create a Customer Journey Map: 5 Best Practices

Plan your content strategy

Having an effective content plan plays an important role in building a robust CRM strategy. It’s essential that your content delivers a relevant message to your target audience and especially those who are central to making purchases. Write blogs that educate your audience and increase their likelihood to convert.

Similarly, you also need to decide which channel should be used to deliver your message. Decide whether you will use social media or communicate with your customers through email. Going through a few experimentations may help figure out the right content channel for you.

Kickstart communication channels

One of the main objectives of having a CRM strategy is to increase the effectiveness of your support channels. Doing so makes it easy for your customers to reach out to support if they encounter a problem.

The best plan is to implement a live chat  option on your website to let customers get solutions for their queries quickly. Live chat not only enhances the customer support experience but also helps boost conversions. Similarly, you can also consider using social media channels to solve customers’ problems.

Find and leverage the best CRM software for your business

Businesses often make mistakes while choosing the right CRM software .  It’s important that you do good research about what CRM software would integrate properly with your business operations. You can also consider learning what CRM software your competitors are using.

If you have shortlisted a few CRM solutions, it would be a good idea to visit their official forums and reviews and check the past experiences of other customers. You may also get some helpful answers for yourself while exploring these community forums.

Businesses use CRM software to incorporate their CRM strategy into their overall business plan and yield better results. A good CRM solution helps businesses manage all interactions with their customers digitally and seamlessly. Using CRM software that comes in the cloud helps different verticals of your business retrieve information from the stored data as per their usage. This reduces the need to maintain information silos.

Remember, there are various CRM software solutions available in the market. But choosing the right one according to your requirements is the key. Opting for CRM software that comes with all-in-one functionality such as sales , marketing , and support  helps streamline your business operations. It also helps avoid information silos and provides you with a 360-degree view of the customer.

In most of the cases, businesses look forward to leveraging CRM software without having a productive CRM strategy. Although this could be done, your business may face various obstacles like increased implementation time and cost, reduced user confidence, etc. That is why it is critical to have a CRM strategy before selecting your CRM software.

Related Blog:  Do startups need CRM software?

Customer relationship management is an important aspect for every business regardless of its industry. Having a robust CRM strategy helps businesses interact with customers in the right way and deliver a relevant message.

Building an effective CRM strategy is the key to success for your business. However, shifting landscapes in the industry and rapid technological advancement have transformed CRM. It’s important for businesses to adapt to these changes in order to save themselves from becoming obsolete.

The future will see various changes in CRM  that need to be implemented to build a robust CRM strategy that helps your business grow. Follow the points above to develop your own CRM strategy to produce more conversions and increase revenue.

Related Posts

• Best CRM Software for Small Business
• What is CRM & Best CRM Software Suitable for your Business
• How the 10 Worst Ecommerce CRM Fails of All Time Could Have Been Prevented

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How to Plan and Prepare for a New CRM

Whether it’s your company’s first time implementing a customer relationship management (CRM) platform or you’re switching from your current solution to one that better suits your needs, preparing before the launch is essential. Implementing new software requires a lot of moving parts, and the more you can plan before it goes live, the more successful your team will be.

Launching a solution as comprehensive as a CRM may seem daunting at first, especially if your business is new to using CRM software. Fortunately, this guide outlines the essential steps to take as you begin revolutionizing your sales process with a CRM. 

Table of Contents

Why is it important to prepare for a new crm.

• Assess your business’s needs
• Establish measurable objectives for your CRM
• Identify key stakeholders

Going through the planning and preparation phase before you launch a new CRM is crucial because it lets you establish expectations and define criteria for a successful implementation before the solution goes live. What your team decides during planning will determine which solution you choose, what you prioritize during the first few weeks of use, and who oversees the project. 

Preparation also allows you to create processes to ensure the rollout goes smoothly. Taking the time to plan the logistics can clear up any confusion or miscommunication and make implementing your software smooth sailing. 

In a nutshell, planning for a new CRM saves you time in choosing a CRM platform, ensures everyone understands their role in the launch, helps you maximize your software once it goes live, and sets your team—and your customers—up for success. 

How to plan for a new CRM

Follow these steps to prepare your organization for a new CRM:

1. Assess your business’s needs

What made your business start considering implementing a CRM in the first place? Do your sales representatives need help managing customer data and nurturing leads into customers? Do you have inefficient sales processes that could benefit from automation?

A deep understanding of the challenges your business faces will guide your decision of which platform to invest in, making analyzing your company’s unique needs an important first step. Before comparing your CRM options and selecting a platform, develop a clear idea of what your business needs from the solution. 

How to determine your business needs

You can use many strategies to evaluate your business’s greatest needs. One step is getting feedback from key members of your sales, marketing, and customer service teams about the challenges each department faces. A CRM should help you run your business more efficiently, so find out where it needs to improve from those who know best. 

Another way to assess your business needs is to evaluate how well your company is meeting its sales goals. Does the sales team struggle to advance leads through the pipeline? One of your business needs might be providing them with more guidance during the sales process.

Uncovering where your business struggles the most will help you identify its greatest needs. Here are a few common business needs that the right CRM can meet: 

• Managing lead and customer data  
• Developing a sales pipeline
• Automating sales tasks like email campaigns
• Generating reports
• Creating tailored marketing campaigns
• Integrating CRM data with other tools

2. Establish measurable objectives for your CRM

Before you can choose the right CRM for your company , you need a vision of what the solution should help you accomplish. Outlining the specific objectives you want to achieve will inform your decision about which platform to select and help you measure its return on investment .

Keep in mind that a CRM is a means to an end, a tool for hitting a larger target. A CRM’s purpose is to help you accomplish your business’s most important sales, marketing, and customer service goals. Those goals should take center stage—then, you can look for features and capabilities that will help you achieve them. 

How to create objectives for your CRM

Your CRM objectives should relate to high-level business goals. What objectives do you have for your company or specific departments that your CRM should help you meet? They may include:

• Increasing lead volume 
• Boosting email campaign interactions 
• Recording communications between your team and leads 
• Tracking sales rep productivity 

It’s important to make these objectives measurable and attainable. Vague, unrealistic goals won’t help you truly assess what your CRM is capable of. Get as specific and relevant as you can, and give your goals a deadline to help with measurement. 

You can then set up key performance indicators (KPIs) to use with your new CRM platform once you’ve implemented it. Once you’ve gathered several months of data about your CRM’s performance, you can generate and analyze reports to track its success. 

3. Identify key stakeholders

The final step in planning and preparing for a new CRM is identifying the key team members who will be a part of the implementation. You might call this your CRM team. Think of it as a group of champions for the new platform—a unit of people who will play critical roles in your selection of a CRM and its launch.

A CRM team is important, especially if your business is large or multiple decision-makers are involved in selecting a CRM. These people will provide the insight you need to decide whether a platform fits your needs and help the rollout process go smoothly.

How to select key stakeholders 

It should be relatively simple to identify who on your team should be involved in the CRM implementation process. 

Here are a few stakeholders you might want to include on your CRM team: 

• Company executives 
• Department leaders 
• IT team members 
• Salespeople
• Data analysts  

Once you identify these key stakeholders, you can assign them roles and responsibilities for the CRM’s implementation. Depending on the size of your organization and the scale of your CRM project, a single person could fill multiple roles. You’ll need individuals in charge of tasks like: 

• Managing the entire CRM implementation project
• Researching CRM options and presenting the findings to other stakeholders
• Training and onboarding users for the CRM
• Cleaning and migrating data into the system
• Deploying the CRM and running performance tests
• Setting up automated workflows in your CRM
• Evaluating the new system’s efficiency over time

Partner with a CRM that makes implementation easy 

Implementing a CRM can help your sales team strengthen relationships with leads, empower your marketing team to drive engagement with customers, and so much more. And planning for your new CRM by identifying your business needs, creating measurable objectives for the CRM, and selecting a CRM team will help you make the most of those benefits. 

Once you’ve planned for your new CRM, it’s time to find the one that best suits your company and will help you achieve your goals. Introducing Nutshell, the all-in-one CRM that helps sales teams close more deals. Nutshell helps thousands of businesses across industries achieve their sales and marketing goals through a suite of powerful features like sales automation and email marketing .   

To see Nutshell in action, sign up for a free trial ! Still have questions? Contact our support team to get the answers! 

Ready to try Nutshell for Free?

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How to Build a Detailed Business Plan That Stands Out [Free Template]

Updated: March 29, 2022

Published: March 11, 2022

While starting a company may seem easier now than ever before, entrepreneurs have an uphill battle from the moment they start a business. And without a clear, actionable business plan for selling, marketing, finances, and operations, you're almost destined to face significant challenges.

This is why crafting a business plan is an essential step in the entrepreneurial process.

In this post, we'll walk you through the process of filling out your business plan template, like this free, editable version :

Download a free, editable one-page business plan template.

We know that when looking at a blank page on a laptop screen, the idea of writing your business plan can seem impossible. However, it's a mandatory step to take if you want to turn your business dreams into a reality.

That's why we've crafted a business plan template for you to download and use to build your new company. You can download it here for free . It contains prompts for all of the essential parts of a business plan, all of which are elaborated on, below.

This way, you'll be able to show them how organized and well-thought-out your business idea is, and provide them with answers to whatever questions they may have.

Free Business Plan Template

The essential document for starting a business -- custom built for your needs.

• Outline your idea.
• Pitch to investors.
• Secure funding.
• Get to work!

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Building a Successful Business Plan

In the next section, we'll cover the components of a business plan , such as an executive summary and company description. But before we get to that, let's talk about key elements that should serve as building blocks for your plan.

For some entrepreneurs, the thought of writing a business plan sounds like a chore — a necessary means to an end. But that's a bad take.

A solid business plan is a blueprint for success . It's key to securing financing, presenting your business, outlining your financial projections, and turning that nugget of a business idea into a reality.

At the core, your business plan should answer two questions: why your business and why now?

Investors want to know why your business is entering the market, i.e. what problem it's solving and how it's different from what's currently out there. They also want to know why now is the right time for your type of product or service.

At a minimum, your plan should:

• Be more realistic than idealistic: Too often, business plans focus too much on how things could be instead of how they are. While having a vision is important, your plan needs to be rooted in research and data.
• Legitimize your business idea : If an idea fails on paper, it's a signal to go back to the drawing board. In doing so, you avoid losing precious time or money chasing an unrealistic idea.
• Position your business for funding: To get your business off the ground, chances are you'll need financial backing. Even with a solid business idea, investors, lenders, and banks still need convincing. An effective business plan will outline how much money you need, where it's going, what targets you will hit, and how you plan to repay any debts.
• Lay the foundation: Investors focus on risk – if anything looks shaky, it could be a dealbreaker. Ideally, your business plan will lay down the foundation for how you'll operate your business — from operational needs to financial projections and goals.
• Communicate your needs: It's nearly impossible to communicate your needs if you don't know what they are first. Of course, a business’ needs are always changing — but your plan should give you a well-rounded view of how your business will work in the short and long term.

So back to the question of why and why now – consider three things:

• Your industry – How does your product or service fit within your industry? Are you targeting a specific niche? Where do you see the industry going in the next five to 10 years?
• Your target audience – Who are you targeting? What challenges are they facing? How will your product or service help them in their daily lives?
• Your unique selling proposition (USP) – What sets you apart from your competitors? Is it your product/service features? Your company values? Price?

Once you know the answers to these questions, you'll be equipped to answer the question: why your business and why now.

How to Build a Business Plan

• Executive Summary
• Company and Business Description
• Product and Services Line
• Market Analysis
• Marketing Plan
• Legal Notes
• Financial Considerations

Featured Resource: Free Business Plan Template

1. cover page.

Your business plan should be prefaced with an eye-catching cover page. This means including a high-resolution image of your company logo, followed by your company's name, address, and phone number.

Since this business plan will likely change hands and be seen by multiple investors, you should also provide your own name, role in the business, and email address on the cover page.

At the bottom of this page, you can also add a confidentiality statement to protect against the disclosure of your business details.

The statement can read as follows: " This document contains confidential and proprietary information created by [your company name]. When receiving this document, you agree to keep its content confidential and may only reproduce and/or share it with express written permission of [your company name] ."

Remember to keep your cover page simple and concise — and save the important details for other sections.

Why it matters: First impressions are everything, and a clean cover page is the first step in the right direction.

Example of a Cover Page

2. Executive Summary

The executive summary of your business plan provides a one- to two-page overview of your business and highlights the most crucial pieces of your plan, such as your short-term and long-term goals.

The executive summary is essentially a boiled-down version of your entire business plan, so remember to keep this section to the point and filled only with essential information.

Typically, this brief section includes:

• A mission statement.
• The company's history and leadership model.
• An overview of competitive advantage(s).
• Financial projections.
• Company goals.
• An ask from potential investors.

Why it matters: The executive summary is known as the make-or-break section of a business plan. It influences whether investors turn the page or not — so effectively summarizing your business and the problem it hopes to solve is a must.

Think of the Summary as a written elevator pitch (with more detail). While your business plan provides the nitty-gritty details, your Summary describes — in a compelling but matter-of-fact language — the highlights of your plan. If it's too vague, complicated, or fuzzy, you may need to scrap it and start again.

Example of an Executive Summary Introduction

"The future looks bright for North Side Chicago, particularly the Rock Hill Neighborhood. A number of high-end commercial and residential developments are well on their way, along with two new condo developments in nearby neighborhoods.

While the completion of these developments will increase the population within the neighborhood and stimulate the economy, the area lacks an upscale restaurant where residents and visitors can enjoy fine food and drink. Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will provide such a place."

3. Company & Business Description

In this section, provide a more thorough description of what your company is and why it exists.

The bulk of the writing in this section should be about your company's purpose – covering what the business will be selling, identifying the target market, and laying out a path to success.

In this portion of your business plan, you can also elaborate on your company's:

• Mission statement
• Core values
• Team and organizational structure

Why it matters: Investors look for great structures and teams in addition to great ideas. This section gives an overview of your businesses' ethos. It's the perfect opportunity to set your business apart from the competition — such as your team's expertise, your unique work culture, and your competitive advantage.

Example of a Values/Mission Statement

"Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will be the go-to place for people to get a drink or bite in an elegant, upscale atmosphere. The mission is to be North Side's leading restaurant, with the best tasting food and the highest quality service."

3. Product & Services Line

Here's where you'll cover the makeup of your business's product and/or services line. You should provide each product or service's name, its purpose, and a description of how it works (if appropriate). If you own any patents, copyrights, or trademarks, it's essential to include this info too.

Next, add some color to your sales strategy by outlining your pricing model and mark-up amounts.

If you're selling tangible products, you should also explain production and costs, and how you expect these factors to change as you scale.

Why it matters: This section contains the real meat of your business plan. It sets the stage for the problem you hope to solve, your solution, and how your said solution fits in the market.

There's no one-size-fits-all formula for this section. For instance, one plan may delve into its ability to market in a more cost-effective way than the competition, whereas another plan focuses on its key products and their unique features and benefits.

Regardless of your angle, it's critical to convey how your offerings will differ from the competition.

Example of a Product/Service Offering

"The menu at Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will focus on Moroccan cuisine. The stars of the menu (our specialties) are the Moroccan dishes, such as eggplant zaalouk, seafood bastilla, tagine, and chickpea stew. For those who enjoy American dishes, there will also be a variety of options, from burger sliders and flatbread pizza to grilled steak and salads.

The food at Jay Street will have premium pricing to match its upscale atmosphere. During the summer months, the restaurant will have extra seating on the patio where clients can enjoy a special summer menu. We will be open on all days of the week."

4. Market Analysis

It helps to reference your market research documentation in this section, like a Porter's Five Forces Analysis or a SWOT Analysis ( templates for those are available here ). You can also include them in your appendix.

If your company already has buyer personas, you should include them here as well. If not, you can create them right now using the Make My Persona Tool .

Why it matters: Having an awesome product is, well, awesome — but it isn't enough. Just as important, there must be a market for it.

This section allows you to dig deeper into your market, which segments you want to target, and why. The "why" here is important, since targeting the right segment is critical for the success and growth of your business.

It's easy to get lost (or overwhelmed) in a sea of endless data. For your business plan, narrow your focus by answering the following questions:

• What is my market? In other words, who are my customers?
• What segments of the market do I want to target?
• What's the size of my target market?
• Is my market likely to grow?
• How can I increase my market share over time?

Example of a Market Analysis

"Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant will target locals who live and work within the Rock Hill Neighborhood and the greater North Side Chicago area. We will also target the tourists who flock to the many tourist attractions and colleges on the North Side.

We will specifically focus on young to middle-aged adults with an income of $40,000 to $80,000 who are looking for an upscale experience. The general demographics of our target market are women between 20 to 50 years old.

A unique and varied Moroccan-American menu, along with our unique upscale atmosphere, differentiates us from competitors in the area. Jay Street will also set itself apart through its commitment to high-quality food, service, design, and atmosphere."

5. Marketing Plan

Unlike the market analysis section, your marketing plan section should be an explanation of the tactical approach to reaching your aforementioned target audience. List your advertising channels, organic marketing methods, messaging, budget, and any relevant promotional tactics.

If your company has a fully fleshed-out marketing plan, you can attach it in the appendix of your business plan. If not, download this free marketing plan template to outline your strategy.

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
• Completely Customizable
• Example Prompts
• Professionally Designed

Why it matters: Marketing is what puts your product in front of your customers. It's not just advertising — it's an investment in your business.

Throwing money into random marketing channels is a haphazard approach, which is why it's essential to do the legwork to create a solid marketing plan.

Here's some good news — by this point, you should have a solid understanding of your target market. Now, it's time to determine how you'll reach them.

Example of a Marketing Plan Overview

"Our marketing strategy will focus on three main initiatives:

• Social media marketing. We will grow and expand our Facebook and Instagram following through targeted social media ads.
• Website initiatives. Our website will attract potential visitors by offering updated menus and a calendar of events.
• Promotional events. Jay Street will have one special theme night per week to attract new clients."

6. Sales Plan

It doesn't matter if your sales department is an office full of business development representatives (BDR) or a dozen stores with your products on their shelves.

The point is: All sales plans are different, so you should clearly outline yours here. Common talking points include your:

• Sales team structure, and why this structure was chosen.
• Sales channels.
• Sales tools, software, and resources.
• Prospecting strategy.
• Sales goals and budget.

Like with your marketing plan, it might make sense to attach your completed sales plan to the appendix of your business plan. You can download a template for building your sales plan here .

Why it matters: Among other things, investors are interested in the scalability of your business — which is why growth strategies are a critical part of your business plan.

Your sales plan should describe your plan to attract customers, retain them (if applicable), and, ultimately, grow your business. Be sure to outline what you plan to do given your existing resources and what results you expect from your work.

Example of a Sales Plan Overview

"The most important goal is to ensure financial success for Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant. We believe we can achieve this by offering excellent food, entertainment, and service to our clients.

We are not a low-cost dining option in the area. Instead, the food will have premium pricing to match its upscale feel. The strategy is to give Jay Street a perception of elegance through its food, entertainment, and excellent service."

7. Legal Notes

Your investors may want to know the legal structure of your business, as that could directly impact the risk of their investments. For example, if you're looking for business partners to engage in a non-corporation or LLC partnership, this means they could be on the line for more than their actual investment.

Because this clarification is often needed, explain if you are and/or plan to become a sole proprietor, partnership, corporation, LLC, or other.

You should also outline the steps you have taken (or will need to take) to operate legally. This includes licenses, permits, registrations, and insurance.

The last thing your investor wants to hear after they've sent you a big chunk of change is that you're operating without proper approval from the local, state, or federal government.

Why it matters: The last thing your investor wants to hear after they've sent you a big chunk of change is that you're operating without proper approval from the local, state, or federal government.

Example of Legal Notes

"Jay Street Lounge and Restaurant is up-to-date on all restaurant licenses and health permits. Our business name and logo are registered trademarks, presenting the possibility of expanding locally."

8. Financial Considerations

Ultimately, investors want to know two things:

• When they will earn their money back.
• When they will start seeing returns on their initial investment.

That said, be clear, calculated, and convincing in this section. It should cover:

• Startup costs.
• Sales forecasts for the next several months/quarters.
• Break-even analysis for time and dollars.
• Projected profit and loss (P&L) statement.

Facts and figures are key here, so be as specific as possible with each line item and projection. In addition, explain the "why" behind each of these sections.

However, keep in mind that information overload is a risk, especially when it comes to data. So, if you have pages upon pages of charts and spreadsheets for this section, distill them into a page or two and include the rest of the sheets in the appendix. This section should only focus on key data points.

Why it matters: One of the most important aspects of becoming "investor ready" is knowing your numbers. More importantly, you need to understand how those numbers will enhance your business.

While it's easy to write a number down on paper, it's more important to understand (and communicate) why you need capital, where it's going, and that your evaluation makes sense.

Example of Financial Projections

"Based on our knowledge and experience in the restaurant industry, we have come up with projections for the business.

Starting with an expenditure of $400,000 in year 1, we forecast sales of $1,500,000 and $2,800,000 for years two and three. We expect to achieve a net profit of 15% by year three."

9. Appendix

A detailed and well-developed business plan can range anywhere from 20 to 50 pages, with some even reaching upward of 80.

In many cases, the appendix is the longest section. Why? Because it includes the supportive materials mentioned in previous sections. To avoid disrupting the flow of the business plan with visuals, charts, and spreadsheets, business owners usually add them in the last section, i.e. the appendix.

Aside from what we've already mentioned – marketing plan, sales plan, department budgets, financial documents – you may also want to attach the following in the appendix:

• Marketing materials
• Market research data
• Licensing documentation
• Branding assets
• Floor plans for your location
• Mockups of your product
• Renderings of your office space or location design

Adding these pieces to the appendix enriches the reader's understanding of your business and proves you've put the work into your business plan without distracting from the main points throughout the plan.

Why it matters: An appendix helps the reader do their due diligence. It contains everything they need to support your business plan.

Keep in mind, however, that an appendix is typically necessary only if you're seeking financing or looking to attract business partners.

Use a Business Plan Template to Get Started

Writing a business plan shouldn't be an insurmountable roadblock to starting a business. Unfortunately, for all too many, it is.

That's why we recommend using our free business plan template. Pre-filled with detailed section prompts for all of the topics in this blog post, we're confident this template will get your business plan started in the right direction.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in June 2017 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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A Guide to Implementing a CRM Strategy

Implementing a CRM strategy may be intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.

In this article, we’ll talk about everything you need to know about setting one up.

What is a CRM strategy?

A CRM strategy, or customer relationship management strategy, is a plan that outlines how a business or organization will manage its interactions with customers to build and maintain positive relationships. 

At its core, the strategy is all about putting the customer first, and ensuring that they feel valued, heard, and understood . 

Any strategy usually goes hand in hand with CRM software, as this can make it easier for the implementation. 

Is a CRM strategy and CRM software different? 

Yes, a CRM strategy is not the same as a CRM software. While CRM software is an important tool for implementing a CRM strategy, the strategy itself encompasses much more than just the software.

The strategy is a plan or framework that outlines how a business will manage and improve its customer relationships.

This involves defining goals, identifying customer needs, creating a customer-centric culture, and measuring performance to ensure that the strategy is working effectively.

The strategy may also include other aspects such as marketing, customer service, and sales processes.

On the other hand, CRM software is a technology tool that is used to support the strategy .

The software is designed to help businesses manage their customer interactions, store customer data, and automate various processes.

It typically includes features like contact management , lead tracking, sales forecasting, and analytics. 

The software enables businesses to efficiently manage their customer interactions, access customer information, and streamline their workflows.

How to implement a CRM strategy

There are a few key elements that go into developing an effective strategy. 

Understanding your customers

To build strong relationships with your customers, you need to understand who they are, what they want, and what their pain points and challenges are .

This requires gathering data and insights through market research, customer surveys, social media monitoring, and other tools.

Defining your objective

Once you have a clear understanding of your customers, you need to define your objectives for your strategy .

This might include increasing customer loyalty, improving customer satisfaction ratings, boosting sales and revenue, or customer retention .

Selecting the right technology

A CRM strategy relies on technology to manage customer interactions and data.

You need to select the right technology solutions that align with your business needs and objectives  and provide the features and functionality you need to manage your customer relationships effectively.

Developing a customer-centric culture

 A successful strategy requires a company-wide commitment to putting the customer first.

This means developing a customer-centric culture that empowers employees to prioritize customer needs and deliver exceptional experiences .

Measuring and optimizing performance

To ensure that your strategy is delivering the results you want, you need to measure and analyze your performance over time.

This requires tracking key performance indicators ( KPIs ), analyzing customer feedback, and making data-driven decisions to optimize your strategy .

Benefits of implementing a CRM strategy

There are several benefits to developing and implementing a CRM strategy. 

Improved customer loyalty 

By building positive relationships with your customers and meeting their needs effectively , you can improve customer loyalty and reduce churn.

This can lead to higher lifetime customer value and increased revenue over time.

Increased sales

It can help you identify cross-selling and upselling opportunities, and provide personalized offers and promotions to customers based on their interests and preferences.

This can help increase sales and revenue.

More efficient operations

By automating customer interactions and streamlining customer data management, it can help you operate more efficiently and reduce costs .

Better customer experiences

A CRM strategy can help you deliver more personalized, responsive, and engaging customer experiences , which can improve satisfaction ratings and boost your reputation.

Get started with your CRM strategy

Overall, a CRM strategy is a critical component of any modern business that wants to build strong relationships with its customers and stay competitive in a crowded marketplace.

By prioritizing customer needs, developing a customer-centric culture, and leveraging technology to manage customer interactions, a business can drive growth, increase customer loyalty, and deliver exceptional experiences to its customers .

Breadstack offers a CRM software so you can continue to improve efficiency and allow yourself to scale. Contact us today to get started!

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Building a CRM Strategy: All You Need to Know

Customer relationship management experts

The BIGContacts Editorial Team is a diverse group of professionals passionate about customer relationship management. We update you on the latest trends, dive into technical topics, and offer insights to elevate your business.

Whether you are a well-recognized enterprise or an upcoming startup, a CRM strategy can play a pivotal role in your growth.

In the absence of such a strategy, things can quickly go haywire, leading to your CRM implementation going obsolete. To avoid this, you must invest your time and resources into building an effective and scalable strategy.

While most businesses fail to pay attention to it, a dedicated and well-defined strategy can work wonders for your business. It empowers your team to utilize the CRM tool efficiently and drive more conversions.

In this blog, we answer the question- “ what is CRM strategy ” and list the most effective strategies that can be used. We also break down the process of building a custom strategy for your enterprise. Let’s get right into it!

What is CRM Strategy, and Do You Need One?

With the global market valued at $120 billion , CRM is now an indispensable aspect of businesses that strive to delight their customers. 

CRM or customer relationship management primarily focuses on building long-lasting relationships with prospects and customers. It involves the software as well as techniques implemented for its effective usage. 

Before getting into the detailed process of creating CRM strategies , let’s look at what these strategies mean and why they matter.

A CRM strategy refers to an organization’s plan of forming stronger customer relationships by implementing and utilizing a CRM system. It aims at delivering exceptional customer experiences that, in turn, enhance revenue.  

Such a well-defined CRM approach enables you to execute a CRM system to grow your sales.

CRM strategy streamlines your customer relationship management efforts, enabling you to be more productive with your time and resources. It works as a plan of action to use the CRM software efficiently.

Setting up a CRM strategy is essential because:

• It helps you optimize and monitor the performance of your CRM system.
• It enables you to understand customer needs and deliver upon their expectations effectively.
• It provides you the opportunity to discover opportunities for growing your business.
• It helps you retain more customers and build brand loyalty .
• It boosts collaboration between your sales, marketing, and customer service departments.
• It helps identify the most profitable leads and prioritize them. 
• It empowers you to make data-backed business decisions.

What Makes a Good CRM Strategy?

Before getting started with a CRM strategy, you need a thorough understanding of your business plan. By knowing what your business aims to accomplish, you can define a strategy that complements your existing operations well.

To create an effective customer relationship management strategy for your business, you must:

• Know your customer journeys – This knowledge can help you create a strategy that complies with the needs and wants of your customers. Map out the entire process that turns a lead into a customer.
• Consider the size of your business – This allows you to model your strategy around scalability. It saves you from frequently modifying your processes as you expand your operations.
• Be aware of your buyer’s persona – Know what makes an ideal customer for your company and what value you can offer to them.
• Gather relevant customer data – Collect relevant data from your prospects and customers to build your database. This is a fundamental step that affects your CRM performance.
• Invest in the right tool – Take your time to analyze different solutions available on the market. Find the tool that ticks all the boxes for your organization.
• Have clear business goals and objectives – Lastly, work with the end goal in mind. The best CRM strategy can only be created when you set clear objectives and expectations from its implementation.

Formulating a CRM Strategy: Step-by-Step Process

Your strategy must involve the best customer relationship management tactics to nurture and maintain customer relationships. 

However, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all strategy that can be used by all businesses. This is a result of the varying requirements and objectives of every enterprise. You must tailor a customer relationship management strategy that meets the unique needs of your business. 

Here is a step-by-step process for creating this strategy:

1. Understand Your Goals

The first and foremost step in creating relationship management strategies is to know your goals. With an understanding of what you aim to achieve from the CRM system , you can easily create a well-optimized strategy that matches your requirements.

For example, a business that is just starting out will have customer acquisition and marketing as its top priority. On the other hand, seasoned players in the industry strive to incorporate next-generation technology and deliver more delightful experiences to retain customers. Consequently, both these organizations will have different ideal CRM strategies. 

2. Identify Challenges

Analyze your existing strengths and core competencies, as well as shortcomings. 

Just as important it is to understand your future goals is taking the time to identify current challenges. For instance, a small business might be working towards keeping its customer data organized, while a large enterprise may be struggling to streamline operations across multiple business divisions. 

Identify what unique challenges are faced by your team and incorporate their solutions in your CRM plan. 

3. Visualize Buyer’s Journey

Think from the buyer’s perspective. 

With a clear idea of who your customers are and what steps they go through when making a purchase, you can create a remarkable strategy. Such a strategy will take into account every gap or roadblock that a customer may possibly encounter.

Map out customer journeys and use the data collected in the past to identify stages that lead to the most lost opportunities. Use this information to craft a strategy that strives to overcome these challenges.

4. Identify Value Proposition

What is the unique value that your business can offer to the customers?

Clearly defining your value proposition can significantly improve your CRM strategy. For this, you must understand your business and its offerings in great detail. Know what products and services your company offer and how they impact clients.

Use this information to create a consistent brand message and tone. Your CRM strategy should align with your business objectives. Another crucial step is to be aware of your competitors and market trends. Understand your positioning in the marketplace and modify your strategy accordingly. 

5. Select the Right CRM

Coming to one of the most critical steps of creating customer relationship management strategies – finding the right tool.

Before investing in any CRM application, you must consider how well it aligns with your business objectives. 

Here are some ways to select the right CRM application for your business:

• Analyze business requirements. 
• Set clear expectations. 
• Compare top-rated tools. 
• Look for reviews and ratings. 
• Opt for a free trial.

6. Have an Implementation Plan

Your CRM strategy should constitute an effective implementation plan. 

To obtain more benefit out of the CRM system, you must ensure that it is implemented effectively. This includes adequate training, data migration, and a well-defined usage strategy. 

Implementing a project plan can help customize the CRM system according to your business objectives. You can maximize the efficiency of your implementation by taking feedback from your team members and including them in the strategizing process. 

7. Track Performance

Regular reviews allow you to maintain and optimize business processes. The customer relationship management plan should be no exception to this. Once your strategy is ready and working, you must conduct routine reviews to monitor its effectiveness. 

Set and track relevant KPIs to ensure that the strategy aligns with your business goals. These reviews should be a routine process that allows you to improve the productivity of your CRM system. 

10 Best CRM Strategies for 2024

CRM strategy focuses on building and strengthening customer relationships. It helps businesses acquire and retain more customers in order to maximize profits. Such a strategy can lay the foundation for business expansion and success by leveraging a CRM system for stronger relationships. 

Here are some customer relationship management strategies that can be adopted for improving your CRM system’s effectiveness. 

1. Customer Tracking & Personalization

This one goes without saying. For the reliable performance of your CRM system, you must know your customer well. 

CRM allows you to be aware of the needs and expectations of the customers you are catering to. This can help you adapt your processes in a way that benefits the customers the most.

Personalization occupies a central position in an effective CRM strategy. 

By sharing information that is customized to meet the needs of the recipients, you not only help them make an informed decision but also build trust and credibility. 

 Visualize how a prospect moves through your sales process with your CRM system. Use this data to identify what actions drive conversions and incorporate them into your business strategy. 

Use behavior and preference tracking to make your interactions much more targeted and relevant. Tracking customer activity can provide you with appropriate feedback and insights into improving the performance of your CRM system.

2. Devise an Effective Content Strategy 

“Content is king.”- Bill Gates

While you may have heard this phrase one too many times, the importance of content marketing cannot be overstated enough. 

Content marketing can generate more leads than traditional marketing methods despite being 62% less expensive. 

Your CRM efforts can only produce the expected results when you include relevant content that supports customer journeys. Make sure that this content matches your buyer personas and journey stages. This can help you deliver the right message to the contacts at the right time. 

Maintaining a channel of informative and engaging content for your contacts can significantly increase your conversion rate. You can include various content types, including white papers, guides, videos, blog posts, etc. 

3. Focus on Re-Engagement

The probability of reselling to an existing customer is 60-70% .

Customer engagement should therefore be an important component of your CRM plan. 

Include loyalty and reward programs to show your appreciation for customers. This can foster loyalty and provide you with upselling opportunities. Incentivizing your customers will keep them coming back to your business. 

For instance, BIGContacts displays the upcoming birthdays, previous interactions, and other personal details, helping you deliver personalized messages and offers to your customers. Additionally, you can use the CRM system to track your customers’ purchasing behavior. This data can help you offer relevant offers and reward schemes to increase customer retention . 

4. Keep CRM Data Clean

While you may collect huge volumes of customer data, it can all go obsolete if it is not managed and updated correctly. Therefore, data deduplication should be a part of your CRM strategy. This can maintain the integrity of your CRM database, helping you deliver top-notch services to your customers. 

Perform regular cleanups to maintain the effectiveness of your CRM system. This can help you avoid any mistakes or inconsistencies. Get rid of leads that have gone cold and are of no utility to your business. Additionally, ensure that the data stored in your CRM system is up-to-date. This ensures that you do not offer irrelevant information to your customers and risk any loss of credibility. 

Regular audits make for an effective strategy to keep the CRM tool working optimally. Define clear objectives for these audits and create a proper maintenance schedule. Adoption of these practices can keep your database free of errors and suitable for use at all times. 

5. Maintain Business Health with Reporting & Analytics 

Reporting and business analytics play an integral role in CRM effectiveness. 

A strategy that utilizes reports provides deeper visibility into business data. This can be leveraged to make more accurate business decisions and propel the organization’s growth. These reports can provide a better understanding of your business processes and team performance. 

To understand this better, let’s take a look at the reporting module of BIGContacts. 

As you can see, the tab allows you to customize the report to include the fields that carry the most significance. This enables you to take a closer look at your business data.

The analytics capabilities of your CRM tool can help you discover trends and identify opportunities for growth. Make more accurate business forecasts and decisions by utilizing the available data efficiently. 

6. Track Customer Queries

Customer service plays an integral role in establishing a brand’s repute and enhancing customer satisfaction. The speed of issue resolution and the quality of support offered greatly impact your customer retention levels. 

Build a customer service relationship management strategy to retain more of your existing customers. This requires you to include automated alerts, canned responses,  and quick resolution in the plan. Make sure that customers receive prompt and reliable responses to their queries. By handling customer requests and complaints diligently, you can acquire a strong foothold in the marketplace and grow your business consistently. 

For instance, a CRM tool like BIGContacts unifies customer tickets with their contact information. This allows your support team to deliver customized solutions tailored to fit the specific needs of the customer. You can also track and manage support tickets without switching between various applications. Additionally, such unification helps different business divisions work together seamlessly, contributing to more cohesive customer journeys. 

7. Keep the Conversation Going

To create strong customer relationships, you must focus on staying engaged with prospects and customers. For this, you require a CRM strategy that focuses on data synchronization between multiple platforms. This makes it important to invest in a CRM application offering multichannel engagement. Also, make sure that you choose a CRM system that offers mobile access to manage communications from any remote location.  

Keeping the conversation going across multiple channels, including emails, calls, live chat, social media platforms, etc., contributes to improved customer experiences. It also enables you to connect with customers using the channel that they prefer to use. 

Therefore, multichannel engagement is a powerful strategy that streamlines all communications and helps you drive more meaningful conversations with prospects and customers.

8. Employee Training & Onboarding

Any CRM system is ineffective if its users are not competent in leveraging it. 

Employee training is a critical CRM strategy that is highly consequential. It is essential for producing the desired business outcomes, and its lack thereof can be extremely damaging for your profitability. If the users are not trained properly, they cannot utilize the tool to its full potential. Therefore, include adequate training in your strategy to get the maximum benefit out of it. 

Furthermore, retraining should also be a part of your CRM plan. This can keep your team members current with the recent trends and developments in the industry. 

Create a knowledge base for documentation that can be accessed by team members at any time. Choose a CRM vendor that offers onboarding assistance and training resources. These practices can help ensure that your CRM system is being put to good use. 

9. Get on Social Media

There is no denying the power of social media in driving engagement and building a trusting customer base. 

Therefore, a strategy centered around social media engagement makes complete sense. The inclusion of social media engagement in your CRM strategy can significantly boost your bottom line. It can help you stay closely connected with your prospect and customers to control the narrative.

Social media is an extremely powerful channel for boosting engagement and enhancing personalization. You can use this integration to control the conversation about your business on various social media platforms. It allows you to discover insights into customer behavior and use it to personalize your offerings. 

For instance, BIGContacts automatically enriches your contact profiles with their social media accounts, helping you manage all interactions from a single platform. It also allows you to analyze your company’s position and understand customer sentiment. 

10. Automate Processes 

An effective way to get the most out of the system is to focus on automation. Such a strategy is much more effective and time-efficient. It frees up time for other critical activities such as communicating with customers.  

Automation also makes for more delightful experiences by helping you reach out to customers at the right time. You can set up automated actions to be performed based on the actions taken by prospects and customers. This ensures that things keep moving forward at all times and there are no gaps in customer journeys. 

It helps you minimize errors and deliver more consistent services. By automating time-consuming tasks that have to be performed routinely, you can save considerable time and cut down costs. Make sure the CRM tool you invest in allows you to automate administrative tasks. This can improve organizational productivity and help you foster stronger relationships with your customers. 

Using BIGContacts to Create a Remarkable CRM Strategy

A critical aspect of creating your CRM strategy is to invest in the right software. 

CRM software and strategy are mutually interdependent. This means that any compromise with either affects the other. Therefore, even the most well-thought-out strategy can be unsuccessful if you invest in the wrong CRM software . 

While there is no dearth of CRM service providers, not all of them can work well for your business.

Every enterprise has unique needs and requires a tool that can be tailored to meet those needs. BIGContacts tops the list of such flexible tools that offer extensive customization and reliable performance. It is a highly effective solution for growing businesses to form strong relationships and bolster credibility in the marketplace. 

BIGContacts keeps all your contact data stored in and accessible from one place. This can help you optimize your strategy by being well aware of customer needs and expectations. BIGContacts has an intuitive interface that further improves user adoption. The tool has an affordable pricing structure, and its scalability helps it grow with the business’s expansion. 

Here are the most important features of this tool that make it a reliable partner for your business. 

Automation:

BIGContacts offers powerful automation capabilities, allowing you to cut down the costs, time, and efforts spent on repetitive tasks. Furthermore, the tool can be used to automate task reminders to improve productivity.

Email Marketing:

 BIGContacts offers marketing automation features to help you boost customer engagement and lead nurturing . Use the tool to set up drip campaigns and deliver the most relevant content to your contacts based on their preferences and current position in the sales funnel .

Mobile Access:

BIGContacts offers a mobile version of the CRM. This can help you manage your customer relationships on the go. Mobile access allows you to keep your data well-updated and never miss out on important deadlines. 

Smart Reports:

BIGContacts offers intelligent reports and powerful analytics. This can help you track your business performance effortlessly and gather insights to make improvements. You can choose from standard templates or build custom reports to track the most important metrics. 

Team Collaboration:

BIGContacts offers various features that can foster team collaboration and improve organizational efficiency. Team members can share important information and collaborate on tasks easily. The tool can boost transparency and accountability in your organization. 

CRM Strategy – The Key to Enhanced Profitability 

Crafting a CRM strategy might be a bit time-intensive, but it is highly rewarding. 

Outlining your goals, defining a clear strategy, and routinely tracking its performance can have a positive impact on your bottom line. 

The step-by-step process of building this strategy mentioned above can help your business build long-lasting relationships. You can adopt any of the strategies listed in this article to enhance the productivity of your CRM system.

The overall profitability of your CRM is a cumulative result of the software you choose and the techniques you employ. Therefore, take time to identify the tool that would suit your organization’s needs and devise a clear strategy for its usage. Invest in a powerful tool such as BIGContacts that offers a broad range of features to enhance your customer relationships. This can contribute to an improvement in your business performance and profitability. 

About the author

Bigcontacts editorial team.

The BIGContacts Editorial Team is a passionate group of CRM experts dedicated to improving your customer relationships with top-notch content. We stay ahead of the curve on trends, tackle technical hurdles, and provide practical tips to boost your business. With our commitment to quality and integrity, you can be confident you're getting the most reliable resources to enhance your contact management and business process automation initiatives.

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