Personal Assessment

• The business planner who wants to create a successful volume product must perform a self-assessment. What kind of expertise, in what field, is an appropriate place to start? Answering this may help direct her energies in contouring the volume business planning product to a standardized business model that also has the potential for a broad customer base.
  
  

Market

• Businesses tend to be as varied and unique as fingerprints, even businesses within the same industry. However, "cookie cutter" opportunities exist -- for example, a franchised operation. It is important that the mass market business planner, in his own business plan, define a clear, concise market niche, customer profile and appeal in addition to a thorough discussion identifying the differentiating features from the plethora of business planning tools and resources available.
  
  

Product

• Choose a template that best suits the targeted market niche. Based on the business planner's knowledge of the customer, the template can be tailored to the specific market business model. There are numerous resources for business planning online as well as in libraries and off-the-shelf products for purchase.