Business Development Planning Process

An important aspect of successful business development is to follow a process of how you will assess a business idea or concept (project), decide whether to move forward with the project and build a business if it is decided to move forward. The five steps below help outline a simple process you can follow. The steps are not a rigid structure to follow. Rather they identify issues you need to address and when to address them.

If you do not follow a process, you will find yourself going in circles and revisiting the same issues over and over without making progress. In addition to wasting time, the frustration may cause you to make poor decisions that can haunt you later.

Following the steps above does not guarantee business success. However, it can greatly increase your chances of success.

Step 1 – Initial Idea Exploration, Identification and Assessment

The origination of a new business idea can come from a variety of sources. It may come from the board room of an existing business or a group of producers sitting around the kitchen table. Regardless of the setting, you may want to use the following approach to formulate the business concept. Anytime during steps 1 and 2 you may decide that your idea is not viable, in which case you may want to abandon the idea.