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Talisman - the most complete end to end solution for all things recruitment

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To find out more call or email Tony Doherty - 01582 478 888, info@recruitment-software.net or visit our web site www.recruitment-software.net 

Article: Writing a business plan by Helen Reynolds

Where is your business going? This is a question that everyone running a recruitment consultancy should know the answer to - and it’s what a business plan is used to evaluate. Having a plan is vital in order to document your company’s aims and goals and decide on the strategy required to reach them. Once complete, it can act as a benchmark for the performance of the firm.

Obviously every company’s situation is different, so you need to think about what the plan is meant to achieve. One of the main reasons to have an action plan covering, usually, a three to five year period, is to give the company a direction and targets. Alternatively, it may be that you are preparing it for your bank or a potential business partner, in which case you will need to think about effectively marketing the company and its potential, as well as showing that you have identified the actions required to achieve your goals. 

Depending on your consultancy’s size, this should not be a task that’s undertaken alone and involving employees will help you build a committed team who feel part of the bigger picture.

Some basic tips: Be realistic - there’s no point in your placement, billing, turnover and profit forecasts being nothing more than a wish list - they have to be based on solid facts. Make sure it looks professional - have a contents page and an executive summary giving the key points. Try to keep the overall plan concise and avoid long detailed documents - they may look impressive but are of little use on an ongoing basis if they become unwieldy. 

In terms of the overall content, you should cover the following points:

• The business: Give a brief company history including recent performance and current structure and an explanation of what makes your consultancy different. Outline any Unique Selling Points and specialist areas.

• Your market: Define your market’s size and your share of it. Who are your clients and do they fit the profile of your chosen market? Outline any market trends and what’s driving them as well as any opportunities to increase market share. List your competitors and how much of the market they have.

• Marketing and sales: Where do you sit in the recruitment sector? Also, outline your pricing and how you promote your company i.e. marketing, PR, advertising. 

• Management team and staffing: Detail its structure, skills and efficiency and consider the future – what you would do if faced with a loss of a key member? What is your succession plan?

• Operations: Consider your premises, production facilities and information systems – are they all fit for purpose and what about going forward? Reliability and development of IT systems to help your business are key issues when considering expansion and growth.

• Finance: Detail previous years’ figures - up to five years if available and include up to date balance sheet and profit and loss account. Include financial forecasts for the next three to five years and remember again to be realistic explaining your assumptions behind your forecasts - make sure they allow for problems, delays or market volatility. 

• SWOT analysis: Analyse your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and outline what you are doing about them.

• Driving forward: What will be your key ingredients to future success? Where do you realistically want to be in three years’ time? Set objectives which will make a difference to your business and targets for these so you know what to achieve by when.

Once you’ve written your business plan, remember that it is always a work in progress and should evolve as your business evolves. Revisit it at regular intervals to ensure that you are on track - and make adjustments where necessary. Your plan should become a constant benchmark for the company’s performance and should help you focus, identify priorities and ultimately achieve, or even supersede, your business objectives. 

Helen Reynolds is Managing Director of HB RIDA, a joint initiative between James Caan’s Hamilton Bradshaw Private Equity and The Recruitment Industry Development Agency. A business coach and entrepreneur she provides support aimed at allowing both fledgling and already established recruitment consultancies to grow and improve through a unique set of development programmes.

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