Having developed business plans for over twenty years, I have cataloged a lot of reasons why certain plans fail. Experience and business mentors have taught me what makes a business plan effective and successful. The ability to develop a good business plan comes from a lot of trial and error and from experience. In this article, I will share the top 100 mistakes business owners make when devloping a business plan and why they fail at it. I want you to avoid these business planning mistakes so you can really get the most effective utility out of your business plan and become successful!

1)  Plans developed around a faulty process.

2)  Plans built around badly formed strategies.

3)  Plans lacking implementation strategies wherever tasks, milestones, schedules, responsibilities and accountability are clearly developed and integrated into the Company.

4)  Plans where Goals are not declared in Quantifiable & Measurable Terms.

5)   The entire involvement and dedication of the business is severely lacking

6)  The Plan failed to be integrated into the fabric of a Company.

7)  Poorly developed Marketing Plan.

8)  Lack of a Detailed Competitor Analysis and Competitive Comparison.

9)  No data on Key Employees.

10)  Badly organized and packaged.

11)  The Managment Team’s weakness gaps are not clearly and honestly identified.

12)  Very high advertizement Budgets.

13)  High Salaries.

14)  Unrealistic Sales Forecasts and Financial Projections.

15)  Too glossy and loaded with visualise graphics- lacking substance.

16)  No Table of Contents or the Table of Contents is organized poorly.

17)  Poorly organized sub sections and major sections of the business plan.

18)  Business Plan sections that don’t show a clear realtionship, that don’t relate to the other and strong a strong foundation business planning devlopment process.

19)  No Strategic Implementation Plan. 

20)  No clear Strategic Edge.

21)  Way to technical when not necessary.

22)  Too wordy, not to the point.

23)  Quite unfocused. Scattered thoughts.

24)  Failing to identify a Unique Opportunity.

25)  Failure to clearly show a Competitive Edge.

26)  ill-defined Management Plans and Strategic Management Plans.

27)  Deal Terms and Financial Terms Unclear.

28)  Legal and Accounting Structures are lacking.

29)  Topic Presentation follows a perplexing and illogical order.

30)  Failing to certify an in-depth and well-rounded knowledge of the major industry players and their potential influences.

31)  Lack of Commitment and Strategic management?.

32)  Poor innovative analysis and knowledge of the industry and market trends.

33)  Failure to identify, quantify and develop new, unique and better capabilities, features and benefits.

34)  Failing to show adequate product or service security measures from liability and competitors.

35)  Too much red tape and uncertainty surrounding the deal or project from regulatory agencies.

36)  Very weak strategic planning and development toward future company expansion and improvement. Not staying connected to what the market trends and needs are telling the business. Not staying in front of the competition by lacking strategic vision.

37)  Failure to consider reliability, maintenance and updating variables to keep downtime to a minimum.

38)  Failing to obtain a third party evaluation of your product or service.

39)  Failure to identify headstone problems or flaws in your Research and Development Process.

40)  Inadequate testing and test procedures.

41)  Lack of credibleness for product and service testing due to insufficient data and standards.

42)  Inadequate safety procedures.

43)  Overdesigning.  Failure to keep it simple.

44)  Inadequate comparisons to competitive products and services since the current technology you are developing will be outdated and uncompetitive when it actually comes to market. 

45)  Forward looking Strategic Planning & Development Process is not tied effectively to the Product and Service’s Development 

46)  Failing to sufficiently prove the portion of your market’s demand represents the major portion of your demand (i.e. 80/20 Rule:  20% of the customer base represents 80% of the demand).

47)  Unrealistic, Unbelievable, Unsubstantiated Market Share Projections.

48)  Inaccurate estimate of your products and services unit profitability.

49)  Basing Sales Projections on higher output than demonstrated adequately in your Business Plan.

50)  Pricing does not match Market tolerance and needs.

51)  lacking(p) significant market changes caused by economic, social, demographic, technological and other trends. 

52)  Not effectively segmenting your market.

53)  Presenting your evidence to make your market appear subservient to your Company’s needs, rather of the opposite.

54)  Underestimating Competitive, Potential Strength and Edge.

55)  Boldly declaring and assuming you have no competition.

56)  Unaware of Competitor’s market plans.

57)  Not differentiating effectively between Sales and Marketing.  Sales = dealing directly with customers.  Marketing = enticing the customer to consider your product or service.

58)  Justifying your Pricing Strategy solely by the cost to produce, market and sell your product or service without considering market and customer price tolerance.

59)  Assuming your Distributors will give your Product or Service equal sales time without having an Agreement of such.

60)  Not effectively targeting your markets by attempting to fulfill many lucrative yet unrelated market gaps.

61)  A Marketing and Sales Strategy that is too broad or unachievable. 

62)  Underestimating the signification of Brand Name and cognizance and Product Packaging.

63)  Failure to assess your Manufacturing Process, Operations and Alternatives in terms of costs, capabilities, serviceability, delivery and such.

64)  Inefficient Plant, Factory and Workplace Layout.

65)  Failure to manage costs. 

66)  Poor Inventory Control Planning:  No balance between meeting demand and minimizing costs via ordering, production, handling and storage, capital allocations, parts and product shortages, etc.  Inadequate Inventory Control System.

67)  Failing to clearly isolate and identify all product or service costs (i.e. fixed, variable, direct, and indirect).

68)  Poor personnel office Management Plan:  Poor hiring practices.  Lack of quality Management practices.

69)  Failing to plan for Long-Range needs and changes in locations, facilities, equipment and machinery.

70)  Having a Management Team with vastly unrelated experience to the industry you are in.

71)  Missing Non-Compete and Employment Contracts which protect the proprietary nature of your business. 

72)  Giving up too much ownership to attract and attain good people and management or compensating such people too much without basing your incentives on achieving Strategic Milestones, by creating a paradigm in which an just payback occurs for the outlays to key people.

73)  Absence of a esteemed, experienced, unpaid, active and objective Board of Directors (“unpaid” not referring to equity ownership).

74)  Lack of a Succession Plan and Crisis Management Plan in the event of losing key people.

75)  Not having enough ownership to offer in the event second round funding becomes necessary.  Lack of strong equity to leverage funding goals and terms.

76)  Failure to solicit advice and support services from mentors, competitors, business advisers, legal counsel, comptrollers and financial advisors.

77)  Inadequate accounting system and poor record keeping.

78)  Failure to devise a Management Strategic Plan which addresses how to encourage the best imaginable performance of your people.

79)  No clear lines or authority and accountability.  Poor Management control systems.

80)  Nonexistent staff growth plans.

81)  Poor Training Procedures.

82)  Too much emphasis on Top Heavy Management (i.e. too many chiefs, not enough workers).

83)  Lack of Team Building and goals.  piddling coordination and communication between Departments.

84)  Lack of a solid Strategic Planning Process and Direction.

85)  Unrealistic, unattainable Strategic Milestones given available capabilities, resources and time frames for completion.

86)  Lack of Alternative Plans in your Strategic Planning Process.

87)  Failure to look ahead and plan for ways to improve Sales and Operations.

88)  Having an established Strategic Process which doesn’t adequately manage changes in the market, production or service interruptions, not meeting scheduled tasks and deadlines and other unanticipated challenges.

89)  Absence of an Objective, Honest Assessment of the downside.

90)  Failure to mention and plan for pending or potential litigation or other legal liability issues.

91)  Unreasonable or non-quantifiable Assumptions made in your forward looking outlooks and projections.

92)  Underestimating operating expenses, taxes and concealed costs.  Lack of Financial Contingency Planning.

93)  Terms of your Financial Deal Structure unclear as to minimum investment, return on investment, payback strategy, exit strategy, financial terms, payback period and so forth (basic proposed structure from which fruitful negotiations can commence).

94)  Risk is too high for the offered Potential Return.

95)  Lack of Founders’ Cash Investment into the company (10-20%).

96)  Amount of Stock offered is insufficient for the proposed Risk and Level of Investment.

97)  Failing to be flexible in negotiating the Financial Structure of your project, deal or venture.

98)  Lack of an Exit Strategy for Investors or alternative Investor Exit Strategies.  Absence of a Liquidity Strategy.

99)  Failing to identify the Tax Benefits of a given Investment or Finance Strategy.

100)  Failure to project the downside (have best case, worst case, expected case scenarios), as well as, have a Plan in Place to retort its negative effects.

101)  Not having an Accountant critique your Financials.

102)   Lack of a proactive system to track, update, revise, redefine, refine and change your Business Plan as situations and events occur.

103)  Failure to amply implement your Business Plan into Company Operations.

About the Author

Frank Goley is a business consultant, business planner, and business turnaround consultant for ABC Business Consulting, and he has been helping companies to succeed for many years. He is an expert in developing business plans, marketing plans, funding plans, strategic plans, turnaround plans, web marketing strategies, and project specific business plans. Frank is also a business coach and a web development, web marketing and web seo consultant. Frank is author of the business plan book, The Comprehensive Business Plan Workbook – A Step by Step Guide to Effective Business Planning, and he has over 50 published articles on business success strategies. He also writes the Business Success Strategies Blog.

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