Competitive Advantages and Disadvantages
The Products and Services Section of a Business Plan is the “meat” of the plan. Before developing this section, you should have completed the development of your Company, Operations and Management Section of your business plan. In this section, you will describe your company’s different products and services. You will include info on your competitor’s services and products, identifying where your product and service offering is unique. Here you establish your competitive advantage, as well as, your competitive disadvantages or where your products and services are weak compared to your closest competitors.
Perform a Resource Audit of Your Company
A Resource Audit is an honest self-evaluation of your company. In this analysis you identify your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT), which will be considered in your Marketing Plan and addressed in your Strategic Plan. In this section you develop your product and service price levels, features and value to be fully exploited in the Marketing Plan. Customer identification, analysis and segmentation starts in this Section to be afterwards developed in the Marketing Plan.
This Section is a Building Block for the Marketing Plan Section
The success of the Marketing Plan section of a business plan is contingent on the work performed in the analysis of a company’s products and services. This section will provide the fundamentals in developing a good Strategic Marketing Plan. Areas to concentrate on include analysis of competitive advantages and disadvantages, initial SWOT analysis, and price point analysis. All of this will be expanded and fully explored in the next section of the business plan, the Marketing Plan.
Template for the Products and Services Section
1) Products and Services Description
2) Awards, Honors & Achievements
3) Case Studies
4) Product and Service Mix and Price Points
5) Product and Service Analysis
6) Life Cycle
7) Production Strategy
8) Research and Development Strategy
9) Space Utilization
10) Departments Descriptions
11) Future Products and Services
12) Effects of Technology
13) Computerization Requirements
14) Company Sales Literature and Brochures
15) Internet Strategies
16) Electronic Ordering and Fulfillment
17) Inventory Method and Management
18) Regulatory Compliance
19) Product and Service Liabilities
About The Guest Article Author ~ Frank Goley, Business Consultant with ABC Business Consulting
Frank Goley has the expertise and experience to work with small and medium size businesses as a business consultant, business turnaround consultant, business plan writer, business plan expert, small business consultant, business coach, business plan consultant, marketing consultant, business planner and online marketing consultant, and seo consultant. Frank works for ABC Business Consulting, and he has been helping companies to succeed for many years. Frank wrote his first business plan over twenty years ago. He is an expert in developing business plans, marketing plans, funding plans, strategic plans, turnaround plans, web marketing strategies, and project specific business plans. Frank is the author of a business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 50 published articles and 30 E-books on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies Blog and publishes the Business Success Newsletter.
