How to Write an Internal Business Plan

Running a business is a lot of things starting from devising an overall strategy, keeping everyone on the same page, tracking employee performances, tracking who does what…

All this can quickly become overwhelming if you don’t have an organized guide. This is where an internal business plan comes into play. It acts as your operations’ backbone and a strategic blueprint that aligns teams, allocates resources, and drives growth.

But how do you create an internal business plan? How’s it different from a traditional business plan? In this guide, we’ll answer these questions and show a step-by-step process of crafting successful internal business plans.

With that said, let’s also go over the difference between internal and external business plans for better understanding.

Internal vs. Traditional Business Plan

Internal business plans are designed for your internal use, guiding a company's operations and strategy. Conversely, traditional business plans are crafted to secure external funding or business partners.

Both external and internal business plans are essential as they serve different purposes. Internal plans drive operations, while traditional business plans secure external support.

The Purpose of Writing Internal Business Plans

Here are some reasons why an internal business plan is essential for your business planning:

Strategic alignment

Strategic alignment is about making sure everyone in your company is pulling in the same direction. It helps avoid wasted effort, improves decision-making, and boosts overall efficiency.

“In our company, the internal business plan is essential for guiding our strategic initiatives and growth. It ensures that our team is unified in its efforts and provides a clear framework for decision-making.

For instance, our plan identified the need to expand our product line, leading us to introduce new CBD wellness products that accounted for a 25% increase in sales last quarter.” says Alexander Brandrup, Neurogan Health

Just like it did for Alexander, an internal business plan will lay out the blueprint for your strategic alignment. It lays out your goals, strategies, and how different departments fit into the big picture. This ensures everyone understands their role in achieving the company's objectives.

Performance measurement

Performance measurement is all about tracking how well your company is doing. It helps you figure out what's working and what's not. Internal business plans help you set clear targets (called KPIs) for different areas of your business.

By tracking these numbers over time, you can see if you're on the right track, celebrate successes, and identify areas that need improvement.

Resource allocation

Your internal business plan is like a roadmap for this process. It outlines your company's objectives, so you can see which projects align with your resources and if you need more of the same.

Risk mitigation

An internal business plan helps you spot potential problems before they become big issues. By identifying risks upfront, you can create backup (contingency) plans to keep your business steady even when things get tough.

For example, having an internal business plan helped navigate Design Rush’s (a B2B agency) time during the pandemic. “An internal business plan helped identify potential risks and prepare contingency plans, fortifying our resilience during the pandemic.” — Gianluca Ferruggia, Design Rush

Easy Steps to Write Your Internal Business Plan

Here’s how you can create a simple internal business plan today:

1. Define the purpose

A good internal business plan starts with an identified purpose of your plan. Why do you intend to create this plan? What value would it provide and to whom?

For example, is it to guide the team through a new initiative, to improve resource allocation, or to streamline operations?

When you know the purpose it’s easier to decide what goes into the internal plan.

2. Start with an executive summary

Even though it’s the first section of your business plan, write the executive summary last, after finalizing the rest of the internal plan. So instead of filling it in, just leave out some space for it.

This section should briefly summarize the key aspects of your company’s strategy, internal operations, and goals. Sort of like a snapshot of your overall plan that helps all internal stakeholders quickly realize the journey they’re on as a company.

3. Value proposition

Next, you want to include a value proposition, a one-sentence summary of your business. This reveals what value your business aims to provide and to whom.

This works as a reminder to your team about the main purpose of your company.

4. Define the problem and your genius solution

Once you’ve revealed your value proposition, you must discuss it in detail with your internal stakeholders. They need to clearly understand what your products and services are and what issues your business intends to resolve with them.

This way, everyone on your team is clear about how every activity they do is in the end to solve this specific problem.

5. Conduct market analysis

Next, in internal business planning, you need to conduct a market analysis to obtain vital information like:

• Industry overview: Here you’ll describe the current state of your industry, including market trends and potential challenges.
• Target market: Clearly define your target audience, including demographics, preferences, and buying behaviors.
• Competitive landscape: Analyze your main competitors, focusing on their strengths and weaknesses and how you compare.

Including such data helps ensure that marketing campaigns are focused and that your team knows who you’re trying to reach and your competitive advantages.

6. Develop marketing and sales activities

Now that you’ve determined the problem, and its solution, and done a thorough market analysis, it’s time you use the data to develop marketing and sales strategies.

You can start by creating a marketing plan. Identifying marketing strategies that align with your target market and audience, including online and offline tactics.

Then move on to your sales strategy by defining how you’ll sell your goods or services and through what medium. You also want to include other crucial details in your internal plan like pricing strategy and customer acquisition tactics.

Lastly, focus on customer relationship management. Outline how you’ll manage and nurture customer relationships to boost retention.

7. Outline the operational activities

With the marketing and sales activities and overall business purpose all clear and defined, start outlining how the internal operations or day-to-day activities will look like for your company. This will include key processes, roles, and responsibilities.

Don’t forget to mention the specific tools, technology, and systems that support your day-to-day operations.

9. Create a financial plan

You’d think financial plans are only for the fundraising process, but that’s not true.

You have to share the set expense budget, profit and loss statement, balance sheet, and cash flow forecast to guide your finance and accounting team.

You have to share the sales forecast with your sales team and the marketing budgeting with the marketing department.

Moreover, you want to include the break-even analysis so that your team learns at which point the business will become profitable (essential for morale).

Clearly, financial predictions and budgets are crucial for internal operations as well.

10. Detail the management and organization

Internal operations can’t succeed unless you make it clear who does what and who reports to whom. So a good internal business plan includes an organizational chart that outlines roles and reporting lines.

11. Plan for regular reviews

The business world is dynamic. So you need regular reviews to align the marketing strategy with current market conditions, customer needs, and internal capabilities.

As a business owner, you can set up a monthly plan review meeting to keep a constant check and help employees stay on track. Don’t worry, you can host reviews quarterly, semi-annually, or annually depending on your company’s requirements.

Outline the steps involved in reviewing, including data collection, analysis, and discussion. Don’t forget to develop a communication plan as well to share review results and updates with relevant stakeholders.

That’s about it. All that’s left to do is distribute the plan and implement it.

Conclusion

Well-crafted internal business plans are a roadmap for success. They align teams, set clear business goals, and provide a strategic framework for growth. By clearly defining objectives, analyzing the market, and outlining financial information, businesses can make informed decisions and achieve their desired outcomes as a team.

If you want to simplify the business plan writing process, try Bizplanr. It will help you design internal business plans in minutes for free. Simply answer a few simple questions and your business plan will be ready!