Building materials
From Startup
The Thousand Rand Challenge Business Plan Template
This document provides a template of headings for presenting any business idea. The objective is to produce a step-by-step tool that illustrates every step of the business creation process. It should be possible, by following the information, to produce a viable business.
All text in italics should be deleted (including these introductory paragraphs) for use as a template on newly created business idea pages. Please ensure that the new page you're creating really is a new idea. Check the front page for a current list of businesses, or perform a search.
This heading area should contain a brief outline of the nature of the business - change the heading at the top to list the type of business - e.g. Fish and Chips Frying
[edit] Description of the business
Within each sub-heading are a series of questions that require detailed answers. Simply fill in your commentary beneath the headings. Note that these headings and the methodology are here, partly to be pedantic, but mostly to ensure a consistent approach across a number of unrelated businesses. It makes searching for information far easier if you know where to start.
What exactly is it that is going to be sold or done?
- Ceiling boards and paralysers
What skills are needed to do this? Where is this taught and how much will it cost?
- Marketing skills and the ability to talk to people
- She has the experience
What tools or equipment are needed? Where can they be bought, and how much will they cost?
- Paralysers or shelfs to put ceiling boards on, the client already has them
How much space is needed to work from?
A small space to put her material
Where will the space be found, and how much will it cost to rent?
- She will work from home, she will not be paying rent.
What sort of people will buy the product? Who are they and where do they live?
- People who are building houses, shacks and those who want to improve their homes.
- These people are in her communisty of Dunoon and the surrounding areas.
How much and how often will they buy? Will they come to the shop or will it be necessary to deliver?
- Up to five times per week.
- They will come to the collect because to the demand on ceiling boards.
[edit] Upstream Businesses
A list of businesses and ideas that provide the services and products that this business needs.
[edit] Downstream Businesses
A list of businesses and ideas that this business could provide products for.
[edit] Competitors
What major competitors will attract clients' spending away from the business' products?
- Nokuzola, khayakazi and Xolelwa all sell, ceiling boards in Dunoon
What prices and products do these companies have?
- They sell ceiling boards
- They sell ceiling boards at R18.00 each
What makes them popular / unpopular?
- They are popular because their prices are affordable.
- They are unpopular because they have bad customer service, they don't always have stock.
- The client will capitalise on this.
What do they do to attract customers? Specials? Interesting marketing / advertising?
- They sometimes sell their products on special.
- They have boards to market themselves
Which of the competitors stand out as being particularly good at what they do?
- Xololwa, she has a better customer care and people love that.
What can be done to stand out against them? What can be done that is more exciting / more interesting?
- She'll treat her customers with respect and take good care of them. She will make sure she always has to stock and will give discounts whenever she can afford to, to attract customers.
[edit] Marketing the business to clients
What sort of people will buy the products and how important is product consistency to them (e.g. must every loaf of bread be identical)?
- Peopel who live in shacks, brick houses and the builders will buy the ceiling boards.
- People who have salons and businesses will buy paralysers.
- Product consistency is important to them.
How seasonal or fashion-dependent are their buying habits (do they buy only in summer, only over Christmas, etc.)?
- It is a all year long busines, but it is particularly good in winter, since the people want to make their houses warmer with the ceiling boards
Do the clients want the products to be the cheapest or the best (low price / low quality or high price / high quality)?
- High quality
How do the clients decide where to buy the products? What sorts of advertising / promotions attract their interest?
- Word of mouth and the need they have for the products.
- They are attracted by what they see from other people
Do the clients want the same things sold in the same way, or do they want things to change all the time?
What can be done to attract the first clients (the most important and most difficult to get)? How much will it cost?
- Advertise, she will have a boardl with her products and prices put up, and she will get stock, that will show she means business.
[edit] The business inputs and outputs
List all of the inputs (products that are required to produce the products):
- They only input to get the products is money,since the client is not manufacturing the products herself.
List all the suppliers for the inputs and their addresses, telephone numbers, and sales terms (cash, 30 days, etc.):
- The big buliding material retailers
List all of your outputs (products created by your business):
The ceiling boards and the paralysers.
What sort of prices can be charged and how much profit will can be made on each item (a rough estimate)?
- The products will be bought with R9.00 and sold at R18.00 each.
- The profit will be R9.00 fare each.
Do the outputs have a shelf-life? Must they be sold within a specified time limit before they go off / can't be sold? Which ones?
- No, they just have to be in a dry place
[edit] Setting up the business
List everything that needs to be done to prepare the business to be ready (list everything needed to have as well, both equipment and stock):
How long will it take to get all of these things and how much will they cost to get?
List all the fixed costs to be paid every month even if nothing is sold (things like rent, electricity, telephone, staff wages):
Total amount for fixed costs: R_______________
How many staff will be needed and how much will each of them be paid (wages must be included in the fixed costs above)?
What training will they need, how long will it take and how much will it cost?
[edit] The manufacturing or production process
List every step, from start to finish, to produce the product
- Place a marketing board
- Speak to people about the business
- Buy stock and start selling
Allocate each of the manufacturing steps to a process and a process to a staff member (e.g. all manufacturing steps A to process 1):
- The client will do everything herself.
What possible problems may happen during each step of the manufacturing process?
- A problem might be that if transport, she will need to ensure she has reliable transport before the trip and to have a reliable person who provides it.
What solutions can be identified for these problems? How much will they cost and how long will they take to fix?
The solution will be to make arrangements for the transport before the trip to have a reliable person who provides it.
What is the maintenance program for all the equipment?
- No equipment will be used
What safety requirements are important for production?
- The safety requirment, will be that of storage.
- She will keep her product in a dry place that will be easily accessible in case there is a fire.
How will quality control and client feedback be handled?
- She will do her work herself to ensure that she always delivers quality stock to her customers, and she will consider the customers suggestions and critisizm
[edit] Costing and bookkeeping
How many of each of the stock items can reasonably be sold each day (and month)?
- Each stock item item can be sold daily.
Will sales volumes be a similar number of each item each month, or is there seasonal variation (cold months, hot, or festivals)?
- It is possible to sell a similar number of each item each month, when winter comes, sales will increase.
What sort of pricing strategy will be chosen (cheapest or best)?
- The best
What profit margin will be chosen for the products
Write down the cost prices plus the margin for each stock item you will sell, and the selling price
Is this competitive? Will customers pay this much? Do the margins need to be adjusted? By how much?
Now, set a target. How many items for each product need to be sold on a daily (and monthly) basis to be profitable?
Set out the products, costs, margins and selling prices:
|
Item |
Daily Target |
Monthly Target |
Cost Price |
Margin |
Selling Price |
Total per Month |
|
Item A |
X |
X x number of working days in a month |
R y.yy |
R z.zz |
R y.yy + R z.zz |
= monthly target x selling price |
What trends are included in the projections?
[edit] Running the business
What is the process for running the business on a typical day? Who will be responsible for each step? Link this back to the production process.
Who will act as backup should the person responsible not be there? What do they need to act as backup?
What weekly processes need to be performed? Who is responsible, who is backup and what tools are required?
What monthly processes need to be performed? Who is responsible, who is backup and what tools are required?
What is the schedule for training and motivating staff?
What processes are required for maintenance and new product creation? Who is responsible and what tools do they need?
[edit] Before beginning
List some of the support services available (legal, business and other) that might be needed
What major laws concern the business, and which government departments should be called to keep up to date (list phone numbers)?
[edit] Related articles
Insert links to articles on Wikipedia or other Wikis that may be useful (such as recipes, legal discussions, accounting articles, and so on)
[edit] External links
List links to outside websites that may be useful for anyone starting this business
[edit] Business Trials
List your name if you started a business based on this plan, where you started the business, and how you did Links to case histories - you are welcome to develop these and insert them in your personal page (create this by developing a personal profile) Retrieved from "http://startup.wikicities.com/wiki/TRC_templates"
