DIY Plans Part One: Business Development Plans

You have been asked to develop a business development or marketing plan. The first place you go is to Google. You download several templates, but when you start reading them you realize that they are for B2C or product-based.

I struggled with the same thing a few years back when trying to create one for my firm. The architecture/engineering/construction industry is different. We market our firms differently and we do business development slightly different than most B2B companies. For that reason, I decided to put together a series of DIY resources.

Part one of this series covers a basic outline for a market or office specific business development plan. This BD plan is specific to what sales you are going to pursue and how you will accomplish the goals. Part two outlines the overall/corporate marketing plan, more specifically how you will market your firm to support the market/office BD plans.

Market or Office Specific Business Development Plan

This can be used if you are working in a single office with its’ own sales goal or working with a specific market across several geographies. It is written to focus on a single piece of your business — market or geography. It might be too complicated to try to combine several into one. Ideally, you would do one plan for each of your markets. However, it is important to align the plan development with however you track your financials (i.e. sales goals and marketing budgets). The simple outline is below.

1. Executive Summary
2. Market/Office Overview and Future Trends
   1. Market/Office Overview
   2. SWOT Analysis
   3. Current Clients
   4. Future/Targeted Clients
   5. Strategic Partners
   6. Competitors
3. Sales Overview
   1. Sales Performance and Trends
   2. Short-Term Goals
   3. Long-Term Goals
   4. Budget
4. Marketing Activities/Mix
5. Implementation Plan
6. Evaluation

Template

Have you had to develop a business development plan from nothing before? What tips/advice would you give to a new marketer? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Go here to read how to develop a corporate marketing plan.

Need Additional Help to Write Your Firm’s Business Development Plan?

Check out the mini-workshop, How to Create A Business Development Plan for your firm. Just click the image below for more information.