If there is one thing that sets apart businesses that succeed from those that fail, it’s a business plan, which is why it’s surprising to find that even some medium sized businesses don’t seem to have one.

Even Donald Trump has a plan even if at times it seems that he doesn’t and it is often when we look back on progress that we see how important those plans were in achieving things.

Without going into the old fail to plan, plan to fail mantra a business plan should include goals that everyone within an organisation is will work towards. It will also include steps on how to achieve those goals based on a realistic assessment of what can be achieved with available resources.

Running a company as any business owner will tell you takes a significant amount of time and effort and planning ahead is often seen as a luxury that is sacrificed to short term needs such as production and chasing payments.

A business can soon get stuck in a rut without planning to the point where it stops growing and things simply chug along. This can be a dangerous time. All businesses need a steady flow of new customers to be healthy.

Acquiring those customers can be difficult of course but a plan will allow you to make an accurate assessment of the resources you need to get them. It might also bring you to the question of finance or how existing assets can be used to finance expansion.