Here we go with Module Three. This is the first module where the rubber is really going to hit the road. And why do I say that because this is going to be the first module where you really start building the content of your your your business plan. So this section is going to be used as an introduction to both industry and to your organization. It's going to provide the necessary context to any reader of your business plan. And you're going to think especially about readers who might not be familiar with your organization, or with your industry or with either so this is why you need to avoid using any kind of overly complex technical language, any jargon, to really think about presenting the section in layman's in layman's terms so that any reader of the business plan is going to kind of understand what your business is about and what the industry is about.

So, let's get started by describing the industry in which your company is going to operate So how would you describe the industry? Let's think for example, if you were a property leasing company or property leasing agent, how would you describe the overall property market. So, you'd want to think about things like the key themes within the market. And you might break these down into describe these's things like commercial property, retail property and private property. What you also need to do is think about and describe your reasoning for entering this market. So you want to do this by giving a high level description of the opportunity for your organization, ie how you gonna make money.

But at the same time, you don't want to go into too much detail because you're going to cover all of this detail off in subsequent sections of the of the business plan. So this leads on to a very important point, which is the business model. So really, what is the business model? It's essentially about how you make money from your business. And this is a good place to introduce it and describe How your business model will operate. So providing some insight into the business model is very important, because the reader of your business plan will know exactly how you're going to be making your money.

So let's think about the following example. Think about a company, such as Google, we all use Google or other top search engines on a daily basis. But let's stick with Google for this example. Google might describe its businesses providing search results to users of the internet. But this doesn't really tell us how Google is going to be making money from this. And let's be honest, there's no point in being in business if we're not going to make money.

So we need to describe the business model. And describing the business model for Google might include details such as earning revenue from paid advertising, or affiliate income or paid search and all those sorts of things. So really, that seeks to differentiate and describe the difference between what a business does and how a business makes its money. It's also important to consider the why. And as in, why are you in business. And this is going to be the detail around what the benefit is to your customers.

So the above example, is quite interesting as in the Google example, because it begs the question as to who the customers actually are. So are the customers, the users of the search technology looking for information? Or are they actually the advertisers who are paying to place their content or adverts on the website, or on the Google homepage? So I would say simplistically, the customers are the ones who are paying for the products and services. So in this case, the advertisers. So the next question is, what's in it for them?

What's in it for the advertisers? What's in it for the customers? Well, in this case, the search engine gets eyes on the screen, and the advertisers can reach large audience or a large audience at at affordable prices. It's extremely important that you and the readers of your business plan understand exactly who your customers are. Why they would want to buy from you. So let's talk about products and services.

Knowing what your business model is now allows you to give some more thoughts as to the products and the services that you're going to be providing. So you want to use this section to firstly categorize your products and services, and then go into some more detail around the specific products themselves. So what you need to do now is describe each of your products or services that you provide to customers. And this is going to entail you providing a certain amount of detail and this detail should Firstly, include a full description of that product or service. Its price point, so how are you enter process service? So is that a per unit cost?

Is it an hourly basis? Is it a fixed fee, you're going to be charging clients. Exactly how will you be pricing this product or service? And what is that exact price of the product or service? What are the key product features. So, you know, what is the product look like?

What are the what is the service look like describe all of these product features out. But more importantly than the product features, it's very, very important to distinguish between a feature and a benefit. So what are the benefits to the customer? You know, so if you're thinking about buying a car, one of the features of the car is, you know, it goes zero to 60 miles an hour in six seconds. But the benefit is it can get you to where you want to go quicker. So that's a very simplistic example.

But again, hopes to describe the difference between a feature and a benefit. So a feature is something your product has a certain attributes. And the benefit is exactly what it's going to do for the client. How is it going to make the client's life better? So, in talking about this, don't obsess about the product set of features. It's really important that you be able to articulate them, but more importantly focus on that The benefits to the client?

What sort of problem is this going to solve? So think about this example. Think about a company such as Regis that rents out temporary office space and temporary meeting space. You've probably seen Regis across the country with with sort of office and meeting rental spaces. So one of their products might be office space that can be rented on a temporary basis. And it might contain the following facial features.

It will have been paid by the hour, kind of rental agreement. It'll have Wi Fi with internet access. And as a customer, you'd be able to use the printers and copiers. So those are the features. What are the benefits to the customer? Why would the customer choose this product over other products?

So either a competitor working in a coffee shop working from home, so let's put it this way? Let's think about some of the benefits well Firstly the office space provides a prestigious business address without the customer having to pay a fixed monthly rental expense and sign a fixed term lease. This saves the customer money and reduces the risk. So again you know working from Starbucks coffee shop is not going to give the same prestige as a as a business address smart. Secondly, the customer won't have to pay a fixed monthly amount for internet connectivity when they're only using it for a limited time. Again, the saves the customer money, this is the benefit it saves the customer money.

Thirdly, customers don't need to find any upfront cost of assets like printers and other office equipment. This reduces the investment that is required from from the customer and it improves the customer cash flow. So again, the feature is printing and office equipment. The benefit to the customer is it reduces the customers need to invest in assets and improves the customers cash flow. So hopefully it's clearly illustrated in the slide the the difference between the benefits and the feature. Because honestly, sometimes it's very easy to obsess over products, features, and to forget about the benefits.

So at the end of the day, remember, it's all about the benefits that seller products and make customers value that product that you're going to be selling them. And once you articulate this, this kind of value, it's easier to talk about price because price now becomes value. So depending on the type of business, you might not be able to always list the individual process. For example, if you were starting a management consultancy business, it wouldn't be easy to list your processes. Sorry, it would be easy to list them as day rates. But it wouldn't really be possible to list out all the line item classes if you're launching a clothing store for instance.

So What would be important is though to discuss your pricing points or where you would pitch your price level. So are you selling low priced non branded clothing items, for example? Or are you selling branded items or you selling these designs? How would you price How would these price points compare either to each other or to competitors. And in saying that I don't get too hung up on pricing just yet because we're going to talk about pricing and profitability in a later section.