{"id":7123,"date":"2021-01-25T10:00:44","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T10:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/?p=7123"},"modified":"2026-01-07T13:56:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T13:56:18","slug":"business-plan-checklist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/business-plan-checklist\/","title":{"rendered":"Business plan checklist: 4 things you need to review and refine"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBusiness plan checklist: 4 things you need to review and refine\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\"Keir\t\t\t\tKeir Thomas-Bryant<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Does your business plan need an update?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While a solid plan is important early on, you may find that as you start to actually do business, your plans feel too stifling \u2013 or not robust enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The good news is that it\u2019s your business, so you can set the pace, make changes on the fly and change up your plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To get started, consider these four points \u2013 they’ll help your bid to refresh and refine your plans and your approach to your small business<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Download your free small business toolkit: a guide, business plan template and cash flow forecast template so you can boss your business<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1. Re-evaluate your approach<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In the early days of your business, you had a broad idea of who your target market was. Over time, you\u2019ve gathered experience on who exactly buys your products and services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You should update your business plan to show the shifting demographics of your customers and how their buying behaviours have changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, you\u2019ll want to determine whether your products and services still fit that target market. If not, some changes are in order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Review your payables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that your business has been in place for a while, it\u2019s a good time to take a look at your operating costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if you\u2019re tracking them carefully, some unnecessary expenses can slip through the cracks. Pay special attention to some of your earliest purchases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, you may have invested in products or services that you thought were ‘must haves’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get rid of those nice-to-haves and put that money back into the business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, consider shifting monthly payments to annual billing, especially if those vendors provide discounts for doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even a few percentage points of savings on multiple bills add up over time. By taking control of your finances with a new business plan, you avoid the dreaded mistake of long-term overpayment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Evaluate your prices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While your business plan<\/a> likely projects steady growth through winning over new clients, consider growing revenue through a new pricing strategy as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why? Organisational inertia can work in your favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you raise rates strategically or if you change to a subscription pricing model<\/a>, you can probably keep most (if not all) of your clients while still increasing revenue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, take note of the pricing from your competitors. Are you losing out on revenue by charging too little, or are you being severely undercut?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The key is to find that sweet spot for your pricing that is fair to your margins as well as your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Refresh your marketing plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The business plan you created when you launched your business almost certainly includes a marketing plan \u2013 and hopefully, that plan includes a social media strategy (if it didn’t, now is a great time add one).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, Facebook and Twitter let your customers speak with you directly. The problem is that what\u2019s popular online is a moving target. Today\u2019s Instagram may become tomorrow\u2019s MySpace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S0 where should you focus your time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It depends on where your customers are hanging out. If they are active Pinterest users,<\/u> for example, you\u2019ll want to refresh your marketing plan to leverage this platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your business plan is a guide, not a legal document. You\u2019ve got to refine it from time to time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make it a point to do a quarterly or semi-annual review and refine your plans for better results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Small business toolkit<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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Get your free guide, business plan template and cash flow forecast template to help you manage your business and achieve your goals.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDownload your free toolkit<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Join 1.5 million subscribers and get the best business admin strategies and tactics, as well as actionable advice to help your company thrive, in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSubscribe now<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s time to refine your business plan for future challenges and opportunities. This business plan checklist covers key things to consider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":6792,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[260,130],"business_type":[5],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[232],"imagine_tag":[316,230],"coauthors":[393],"class_list":["post-7123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-strategy-legal-operations","tag-business-planning","tag-grow-business","business_type-small-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-ie","author_name":"Keir Thomas-Bryant","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/13\/2020\/07\/TsueChong_BusinessBuilder_5D4B0975.31725.jpg","imagine_tags":{"316":"Business performance","230":"Small business"}},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice Ireland","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/6792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=7123"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-ie\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}