Sample of Business Development plan

We are currently in a highly lucrative market in a rapidly growing economy. The current trend towards an increase in the number of entrepreneurs and competition amongst existing companies presents an opportunity for an increased demand for market information and services that will enable companies to stay ahead of the pack.

Our services will be positioned very carefully: they will be of extremely high quality, relevant, timely and accurate, tailored to the clients' needs so as to enable them to make the right decisions, in turn leading towards growth of their companies, benefiting the overall economy.

Palms and Bonds offers the expertise that a proactive-oriented and market-opportunity seeking company needs to develop and enter new product distribution and new market segments in new markets. We intend to provide a number of necessary services to the business community and to the public. These can be summed up in two main divisions - Business and Training Services. Our business services can be taken as marketing research, market research reports, project-based consulting, business and marketing plans, plan consulting and writing, high-level retainer consulting and company registration. Our training services include workshops and seminars on such topics as sales and marketing, as well as in-house training of receptionists, secretaries, and sales and marketing personnel.

Our marketing strategy will be based mainly on ensuring that customers know what needs the services are able to fulfill, and making the right information available to the right target customer. We intend to implement a market penetration strategy that will ensure that we are well known and respected in our respective industry. We will ensure that our services' prices take into consideration people's budgets, and that these people appreciate the services, know that it exists, and where to find it. The marketing will convey the sense of quality in every picture, every promotion, and every publication. Our promotional strategy will involve integrating advertising, events, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing and Internet marketing, details of which are provided in the marketing section of this plan.

Our target markets will range from persons in the corporate towers, small or medium businesses, to home institutions needing information on their particular area of concern. The common bond will be the appreciation of the importance of quality information that will enable correct decisions to be made, holding all things equal. Palms and Bonds prides itself on its analytical ability, its value-added service, competitive fees, its high standards of quality and its adaptability to changes in the market and in the method of its practice.

Palms and Bonds intends to provide the client with more than just information and planning tools. We intend to provide quality information that is customized to the client's needs, in the process assisting them on how best to use the available information. By employing our services, our clients are assured of consultants dedicated to finding the right answers for their business and enabling them to benefit long after we have finished our work. We are in this line of work because we like efficiency and because we understand and believe in problem solving and market/marketing research.

As we grow we want to grow right. For example we recognize that we have to be in constant touch with our stakeholders to ensure market knowledge at all times. This is the nature of the channels we deal with. Also, we intend to build our management team correctly. We need the right people in the right place at the right time if we are to ensure optimum growth. We intend to develop our team so that our people can grow as the company grows - a mutually beneficial relationship.

In a nutshell, we don't just intend to market and sell our service, but to market and sell customized information, solutions and a total-quality environment. This will ensure we establish a reputable corporate image.

Note: All displayed currency values represent Botswanan Pula (P).

1.1 Objectives

Our business strategy will revolve around the need to provide quality information to our various target clients/customers, in the process fully satisfying their needs. This shall be undertaken through recruitment of a professional marketing research and business consultancy team and the production of good quality reports designed to cater to the client's needs. These reports/proposals shall be professionally done so as to be reflective of our intended image and reputation. We shall position ourselves as a quality service provider that strives to provide accuracy, relevancy and specific information. We intend to establish a good rapport with all the relevant government agencies and private institutions that may in turn refer us to aspiring entrepreneurs.

With time our presence on the World Wide Web will increase the knowledge of our services to the various market segments we shall be targeting. This is particularly so with foreign firms looking at establishing themselves in Botswana, hence providing them easy access to local information. In such a case Web presence is a natural objective in reaching the appropriate potential customers. We also intend to have brochures that will enable clients to have an understanding of the types of services we offer and advantages of doing so. In addition to well-done brochures, company profiles and business cards often have a triggering effect on clients contemplating investing in Botswana. These will undoubtedly generate increased sales of our products.

1.2 Keys to Success

The keys to Palms and Bonds success will undoubtedly be effective market segmentation through identification of several niche markets and implementation strategies. Along these lines the company intends to implement personal selling and direct marketing strategies to the target markets. Our personal selling marketing strategies will rotate around keeping in touch with investment and finance bodies for major clients and word-of-mouth for more individual investors. our key success factors will include the following:

1. Excellence in fulfilling the promise: completely confidential, reliable, trustworthy expertise and information. This dictates that we have the latest technology and software.
2. Uncompromising commitment to the quality of the work: that is, quality data, information and solutions.
3. Developing visibility to generate new business leads.
4. Leveraging from a single pool of expertise into multiple revenue generation opportunities: retainer consulting, project consulting, market research, and market research published reports.
5. Successful niche marketing: we intend to find and target the quality-conscious customer in the right channels, making sure that the customer will find us through aggressive marketing.
6. Timeous response to clients orders: we cannot afford to delay the client's order for whatever reason as this will have a negative bearing on our image and reputation, including future business. We need to be continually communicating with the client.
7. Marketing know-how: in an increasingly competitive market there is need to aggressively market our business and the services we provide so as to be continuously at the top of our prospective and current clients minds.
8. Entrepreneurial Flair: market volatility and increasing duplication of business ideas advocates that we continuously keep abreast of new trends and our competitors.