Are you a small-business owner looking to take your company to the next level? You need a growth plan that maps out your path and the processes you’ll use to get there. 

If you’re a small-business owner, a growth plan template is the perfect resource to help you move forward. From creating achievable growth goals to implementing the strategy, a template structures your efforts — whether you’re starting from scratch or looking to scale your business.

What Is a Small-Business Growth Plan?

A small-business growth plan is a strategic document that outlines the steps needed to achieve sustainable growth, development and success. It is a comprehensive document that identifies the business’ current position, sets goals and outlines the tactics for achieving those goals.

Your small-business growth plan should provide a clear direction for the business to identify growth opportunities, allocate resources effectively and make informed decisions. The plan can be a guidepost for you, your workforce and other key stakeholders, ensuring everyone is aligned.

This growth plan is a dynamic document that should be regularly reviewed, updated and adjusted as the business evolves and responds to market conditions. Use the plan to stay focused, measure progress and make adjustments.

When Do You Need a Long-Term Plan for Your Small Business?

A small business should ideally develop a strategic growth plan as quickly as possible. Here are a few key milestones where most businesses benefit from this strategic planning.

When You Start Your Business

Ideally, your growth plan accompanies or quickly follows the formation of your business. Doing so helps your business ‌define its vision, mission and long-term goals.

Before Expanding Into New Markets

If the business plans to expand into new markets or target new customer segments, you need a strategic growth plan that incorporates these additions. The plan will identify opportunities, challenges and steps required for successful expansion, such as small-business services in Louisiana.

When Seeking Funding 

If the business intends to seek funding or investors, a well-defined strategic growth plan paired with a killer pitch deck can help investors and lenders understand your long-term plan and strategy for achieving profitability.

During Transitions or Changes

If the business is undergoing significant transitions or changes, such as a shift in business model, changes to existing products or new product developments or restructuring, you’ll want to develop or update your strategic growth plan to guide the business on its new path.

Small-Business Growth Strategy Template

• Executive Summary:
  • Provide a condensed version of the plan, allowing busy stakeholders to quickly grasp the business’s growth objectives, strategies and potential. 
• Company Description:
  • Describe your business and its mission, vision and values to help align the team, guide decision-making and serve as a foundation for setting goals and strategies that are in line with the long-term aspirations of the business.
  • Explain your products or services, target audience, and market and competitive advantage.
• Market Analysis:
  • Conduct a thorough analysis of your target market, including its size; trends; and customer needs, preferences and behaviors.
  • Identify your key competitors and run a competitive analysis to understand their market positioning, differentiate your brand and find opportunities to gain a competitive advantage.
  • Determine your market share, market penetration and growth potential.
• SWOT Analysis:
  • Assess your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, including internal and external factors.
  • Develop effective strategies to capitalize on opportunities, such as attending events and trade shows or leveraging business accelerators, while developing a plan to mitigate weaknesses and threats.
  • Highlight your unique selling points and areas for improvement.
• Growth Objectives:
  • Clearly define your growth objectives, such as increasing revenue, expanding market share or entering new markets.
  • Determine how you’ll focus your efforts, measure progress and provide a benchmark for evaluating the success of your growth plan.
  • Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals.
• Marketing and Sales Strategy:
  • Outline your marketing strategy and sales tactics to reach your audience, including a comprehensive overview of target market segments, marketing channels, promotional activities, pricing strategies and sales activities.
  • Describe how the business plans to attract, engage and convert customers and grow revenue from existing customers, as well as how it’ll measure and evaluate the effectiveness of its sales and marketing efforts.
  • Define your pricing strategy, distribution channels and promotional activities.
  • Identify any partnerships or collaborations that can support your growth.
• Operational Plan:
  • Describe your operational processes, including production, inventory management and quality control.
  • Outline key operational objectives, timelines, staffing needs, technology requirements and any necessary adjustments or improvements to existing systems to ensure smooth operations and scalability as the business expands.
• Financial Projections:
  • Prepare a detailed analysis of current financial status, projected revenue and expenses, cash flow forecasts, funding requirements and financial goals.
  • Develop financial forecasts, including sales projections, cash flow statements, and profit and loss statements.
  • Outline strategies for managing costs, securing funding and tracking financial performance to ensure the business’s financial stability and support its growth objectives.
  • Consider different growth scenarios and their financial implications.
• Implementation Plan:
  • Break down your growth plan into actionable steps, including an outline of specific tasks, responsibilities, timelines and milestones to achieve the growth objectives.
  • Assign responsibilities and set deadlines for each task.
  • Outline recruitment plans, training and development programs, performance management systems and succession planning to ensure the business has the right people in place.
  • Monitor progress regularly and make adjustments as needed.
• Monitoring and Evaluation:
  • Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to track your progress.
  • Regularly review and evaluate your growth plan’s effectiveness.
  • Make data-driven decisions to optimize your strategies.

Turn Your Business Ideas Into Action

Developing a business growth plan is crucial for entrepreneurs looking to take their companies to new heights. By outlining clear objectives, conducting market analysis, and implementing effective marketing and sales strategies, businesses can position themselves for sustainable growth and success. Make it a point to assess different types of business growth strategies and regularly review and adjust your growth plan to adapt to ongoing market developments and ensure continued progress and the ability to grow your business long-term.

Learning to be an entrepreneur is an exciting, challenging and rewarding task, and one of the best ways to learn is from the success of others. Nexus Louisiana is on a mission to accelerate the growth of high-potential technology-enabled companies by providing the coaching, capital and connections they need to thrive.