Business Terms & Definitions « Categories « Consulting and Strategic Growth

Financial strategic planning

If your small business is going to grow, you’re going to need money—money to expand your operations, to open a new location, to build a new plant, to fuel further success. Financial strategic planning is about identifying your future financial needs and obtaining the funds to meet them. Among the key questions: Will you need financing? If so, how much? How should the financing be...

Consulting companies

Good consulting companies offer varieties of small business help—ways to help you improve your company’s bottom line. You can learn how to write a business plan; get help with small business marketing strategies; and build a business development strategy and a growth strategy that will help your company identify and exploit opportunities to maximum benefit, now and going...

Consultant financial

The numbers are the lifeblood of business. How many units are being sold? How much do they cost to make? How much money is coming in? How much is being spent? It’s vital for an owner to keep a finger on the pulse of his or her small business. There’s no substitute for knowing the numbers. A financial consultant can help you collect, and understand, the key metrics of your business....

Business success

On one hand, business success isn’t very hard to define: You make a profit. On the other hand, business success is in the eye of the beholder. For some entrepreneurs, that means making a living doing the things they’ve always wanted to do. For others, it’s making the most money they can from their ideas and hard work. Just as there isn’t any single definition of business...

Business strategies

One of the hardest things to do in life, as well as in business, is to think about the long term. You’ve got a hot product that flies off the storeroom shelves, but will it still be as hot once you’re ramped up to make and sell even more? But business success is all about thinking in the long term. Every entrepreneur who is successful in the long run has followed sound business...

Business sales

You’ve got a product or service that you believe in. The next step—and your company’s No. 1 strategic goal—is to get people to buy it! That requires a focus on small business marketing and on strategic thinking, because small businesses need marketing plans. What is your target market? How can you reach it effectively? How can you get consumers not just to buy your product or...

Business plan template

You can find a variety of business plan templates on the Internet. If you’re planning to start a business, or if you’re just learning how to write a business plan, a template can be a useful—but not complete—checklist. If it’s in the template but not in your plan, you should know why. But it’s generally not a good idea to rely on a template. First, your business is, or...

Business plan format

Every sound small business plan must include the basics of who you are, what you can do and how you’re going to do it. The exact format can vary, but there are several elements you should be sure to include: An executive summary, a description of the company, the product or service you’re selling or plan to sell, a description of you and your management team, a market analysis and a...

Business plan consultant

Every successful entrepreneur knows the value of a small business plan, and every small business plan should be seen by at least one set of experienced eyes before it goes to the bankers. Better yet, bring in the outside help during the process, so that someone with a different perspective can point out any possible issues or flaws before they’re written into the plan. That’s the...

Business mentoring

Ask most business entrepreneurs about the story behind their success and you’ll hear about someone who helped them learn the ropes—a mentor. Mentoring is vital in the world of small business because being a successful entrepreneur isn’t something you learn from a book or in a classroom. The best way to learn is to absorb the experience of those who have learned how it’s done by...