You can write a compelling software business plan in less time than you think you can. Planning is critical to successfully starting and building your software company. Without a business plan you are shooting in the dark. Whether you are looking for financial capital or to better target your market segment and drive sales, this article will help you write and implement your software business plan.
Is a Software Business Plan Really Necessary?
Yes, absolutely! Planning is critical to successfully starting a software company or building a business. Without a business plan you are shooting in the dark.
Strategic planning is critically important for both big businesses and small companies alike. Strategic planning is matching the strengths of your business to available market opportunities.
To do this effectively, you need to collect, screen, and analyze information about the business environment. You also need to have a clear understanding of your software business ? its strengths and weaknesses ? and develop a clear mission, goals, and objectives. Acquiring this understanding can take work, but in many ways it is the process of strategic planning that you go through in creating your software business plan that is the most valuable step of all.
Strategic planning has become more important as increased rate of change of technology and competition have made the business environment less stable and less predictable. There are also many changes underway in the software industry with the move to Software as a Service or SaaS.
If your software company is to survive and prosper, it is important to take the time to identify the niches where your software provides the highest value with the least competition. Your software business plan will encourage financial investment, promote growth, and provide a map to follow to drive sales.
Outline of the Software Business Plan
This is an outline of the essential elements of a good business plan:
? Executive Summary
? Market Analysis
? Company Description
? Organization & Management
? Marketing & Sales Management
? Service or Product Line
? Funding Request
? Financials
? Appendix
Analyze Your Target Market
The market analysis section should illustrate your knowledge about the particular segment of the software industry your business is in. This section should include: an industry description and outlook, target market information, market test results, lead times, and an evaluation of your competition.
Your target market is simply the market (or group of customers) that you want to target (or focus on and sell to). Remember that it is important to narrow it to a manageable size: identify the niche where you have a compelling value proposition with your software.
Define Your Marketing and Sales Strategy
Your marketing strategy should describe how to plan to reach customers and grow your business. You should also include your channel or distribution strategy. Choices could include: original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), an internal sales force, distributors, or retailers.
Finally, it should include a communication strategy. How are you going to reach your customers?
Describing Your Product or Service
What are you selling? Don?t just describe the features of your software, but emphasize the benefits to potential and current customers. For example, don?t tell your readers which 89 detailed features you have in your CRM software interface. Tell them why busy marketing managers will prefer this solution over others: how does it save time, increase lead conversion, etc.
Focus on the areas where you have a distinct advantage. Identify the problem in your target market for which your service or product provides a solution, and then give the reader hard evidence that people are, or will be, willing to pay for your solution.
Include a Strong Financial Plan
Develop the financials after you?ve analyzed the market and set clear objectives for your software company. You should include both historical financial data (typically the last three to five years) as well as prospective financial information for the next one to five years. ?
http://www.software-marketing-advisor.com
Joanna Lees Castro is owner of Software Marketing Advisor.com, a resource for software vendors wanting to grow their business strategy, marketing and sales capability in a services-oriented world.
For additional tips and resources for developing your software business plan, including our time-saving Software Business Planning Package, go to http://www.software-marketing-advisor.com/software-business-plan.html
Author: Joanna Lees Castro
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Source: http://www.techwithus.com/2012/09/how-to-write-a-software-business-plan/
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