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Business Plan

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How Do You Get To Where You Want To Be?

Business Plan

Based on Growing Your Own Business:
A Workbook by Ron Immink and Brian O'Kane, published by Oak Tree Press, ISBN 1 86076 238 7.

Available from good bookshops, from www.oaktreepress.com, or from Oak Tree Press at the address below.

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SPOTcheck® ...

... was developed by Oak Tree Press, to assist in assessing the growth potential of a business. The name comes from Success POTential Check, which explains exactly what the model does. It is not an assessment of the current state of the business but an assessment of the impact on the growth potential of a business of a number of factors, all clearly identified in international research studies as being critical to growth.

SPOTcheck®:

  • Provides entrepreneurs with feedback on the potential for development (start-up or growth) of their business
  • Provides a firm basis for identifying and specifying the training/support required to create/sustain growth
  • Allows benchmarking of scores over time and between businesses.

The SPOTcheck® model is usually completed by an entrepreneur on their own business. It also can be completed by a consultant with a reasonable knowledge of the business on behalf of an enterprise support agency or a client.

The model, which is available online at www.spotcheckonline.com consists of 16 factors, which have been identified by international research as being critical to the development potential of a business.

The factors are:

  • Section 1: External factors (outside business' control): Environment; Market; Customers; Direct Competition; Suppliers.
  • Section 2: Promoters/Management team
  • Section 3: Internal factors (within business' control): Strategy; Marketing; Sales/Promotion/Channels; Products/Services; Process; Product development/Innovation; Human Resources; Use of Financial Resources; Financial Performance; Systems & Administration.

Each factor consists of a number of Items, which are rated on a numerical score, between 1 and 5 (the higher the number, the better the score) for their impact on the growth potential of the business.

The output from SPOTcheck® is:

  • A graph showing overall scores for the business for Promoters/ Management Team, Internal and External Factors in aggregate, again benchmarked against similar businesses or an earlier assessment in the database
  • A graph showing the scores for the business for each Factor, benchmarked against other similar businesses or an earlier assessment in the database
  • A report (full or summary) that identifies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for the business.

SPOTcheck® is available online at www.spotcheckonline.com.

Click on the logo above to access the SPOTcheck online business growth potential assessment tool.

The world's best-selling business plan software! Click the image for more details.

Growing Your Own Business: A Workbook by Ron Immink and Brian O'Kane, published by Oak Tree Press, ISBN 1 86076 238 7,
was developed with the support of InterTradeIreland and Equity Network