2015 Business Plan Template – Free Download

Many of our recent articles have been related to the topic of Business Planning. It’s because it’s important and especially at the start of a New Year or new financial year. Without an updated business plan factoring in refreshed ideas based on current working conditions, your business is at risk of floating and not achieving the potential it has.

Updating your business plan, or, starting from scratch

The first thing to note is that a Business Plan doesn’t have to be lengthy and detailed. It does need to capture enough information that when looking back in future months the objectives and thought-process at the time is clear and can be compared to actual business activity ongoing.

Assessing the past year

If you prepared any form of business plan at the start of last year, this is the place to start.

1. Review the targets you set yourself a year before
2. Which have you achieved and why?
3. Which have not been achieved and why?
4. Were there unforeseen circumstances, either internal or external, that meant your actual overall business performance was either better or worse than expected?
5. What changes would you make to the decisions made in the last 12 months?
6. Were the targets you set last year realistic, in hindsight

Without a business plan for last year you can still cast your mind back over the last 12 months and note more generally if the business has gone broadly according to plan or if it has steered off course.

Detailing your future objectives and how to get there

Once some consideration has been given to the past 12 months and the lessons learned, the next step is to detail future objectives, both for you personally and for the business – the two go hand in hand. Objectives need to be SMART: S  –  Specific M  –  Measurable A  –  Achievable R  –  Realistic T  –  Time Bound For each objective, also detail a few thoughts on how you envisage meeting that objective.

Example of setting a SMART objective with a strategy

Objective: Increase hygiene income by 20% in 12 months Strategy 1: Give training to the front desk staff on “cross selling” a hygiene appointment to patients when they call or visit Strategy 2: Invest in new software to keep track of hygiene appointments more efficiently Strategy 3: Add hygiene KPI’s to the monthly reporting and communicate with the full team in our monthly meetings Note that the objective example was following the SMART rule, indicating specifically 20% within a 12-month period, so it’s also measurable and time bound.

Organise the information for easy reference

Your thoughts now need to be organised so they can be referred back to through the course of the next 12 months. They don’t have to be set in stone; ideally you would revisit the business plan periodically through the year adding in new objectives and strategies as you complete others. This is a successful method for continually driving your business forward. By creating a Business Plan you are providing your business with a map to guide it through the next year.  o You will need to add your own style and design and make it bespoke for your business.

Combine it with other templates we have provided – DOWNLOAD here:

o SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) o Financial Forecast Template o Marketing Budget Template Figurit help hundreds of doctors and dentists each year with business compliance and financial planning. We can help with a detailed business plan and other financial tools to enable your business to be more effecitve and more profitable. T: 020 7376 9333 E: info@figurit.com

Related Articles

– Have you started your 2015 business plan? – How do you plan to attract new patients this year? – Forecast your financial position for 2015