Help with business plan.

Highway patrolman

Hi, I've an appointment next week, with the bank to apply for a business loan for a start up, I'll be mainly small plant and servicing the same,
My question is how to I forecast turnover?
How can I predict I'm going to sell x numbers of this and y numbers of that?
Thanks

mrawkward

With respect if you are intending to go into a business, you should have some idea of the demand and your ability to win your share. If you dont know, probably wise to hold off until you do know those most basic metrics.

Highway patrolman

I'm employed in a similar business at the moment and I know what we sell etc, and I know from talking to others with similar businesses in other counties around Ireland how much they're selling and what they're trade is like, so I know there's a demand.

I've no doubt this will work, but for the sake of estimating turn over and projected sales for a business plan is it just a case of saying similar businesses sell x amount of these so I'll sell y amount?

mrawkward

If you can say that your numbers are based on what other similar sized operators are doing in your field, that is fine. That you have done research by talking to them helps your case to validate the estimates and adds credibility to your proposal.

dbran

Why are they going to switch to you from your competitor? How much of market do you think is reasonable to corner in a given time and why? What is your "plan" for that. Price, extra service offered, location etc.

Saying lots of people buy this product/service every year is not enough.

dbran

Highway patrolman

I've that pretty much covered dbran, I think. I wasn't sure that being able to prove similar businesses in similar areas would be good enough for estimating turnover.