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Action Plan Templates

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Action Plan Template 02

Here is our collection of Free Action Plan Templates to help you prepare your own Action Plan. You can also check out our Project Plan Templates as an alternative choice.

It is important that you know where you are going and where you want to see yourself after a while. It is always not enough just to have some goals or objectives. You also need to define a strategy or plan to achieve those goals. An action plan is the sum of all the steps that you need to take in order to achieve your goals and it is the plan that keeps you on track because, at each point, you know where you are going and what will be the next step waiting for you.

On one hand, an action plan makes sure that you always stay on the right path and never lose track whereas on the other hand, it also makes you foresee the incoming hurdles and problems that might be waiting for you on the way to the next step and by understanding the possible issues in the future, you have enough time to gather a solution for them or to enhance your performance in order to avoid the hurdles.

Here are the steps to write an Action Plan:

  1. Define a clear Objective or Goal:

Before creating an action plan, you need to have an objective that will define the whole action plan process. It can be anything from acquiring more customers for your company to achieving the highest level of sales in the past quarters. Once you have defined the goals and you have a clear vision about what you want to see behind the finish line, it is easy to create the action plan.

  1. Enlist the benefits you will get by Achieving the Goals:

Now it is time to enlist the benefits or advantages that you will get from each goal or objective. This way you can prioritize your goals and make an action plan that includes the more important goals first and then the rest of the objectives. This helps a lot when you have more than one objective and you need to accomplish all of them.

  1. Define where you are now and what you want to do:

This is also very important that before you make any action plan, you understand your position and where you stand right now or in other words, where you will start executing the action plan. This way you can analyze if the plan is going to work or not. For example, if you want to acquire 20 new customers, you need to know how many customers you have right now so that you can make sure that either it is possible or not.

  1. Enlist the steps that you will take:

Now that you have defined everything, it is time to enlist the steps that you will take in order to implement the action plan. For example, to acquire more customers, you need to prepare a list of potential customers, get to know their present supplier, make a list of elements that distinguish you, and then meet with each of them and present your idea.

  1. Define the end point of each step:

This is also a very important step when there are multiple steps in an action plan, it is important to define an endpoint for each step so that when it ends, you know that you have entered a new step.

Free Action Plan Templates

Here is the preview of these Free Action Plan Templates created using MS Word and MS Excel,

Action Plan Template 01
Action Plan Template 01
Action Plan Template 02
Action Plan Template 02
Action Plan Template 03
Action Plan Template 03
Action Plan Template 04
Action Plan Template 04
Action Plan Template 05
Action Plan Template 05
Action Plan Template 06
Action Plan Template 06

Plan Writing Tips

A plan is a written description of steps you are going to take in the future in order to achieve specific goals. It is a necessary part of our lives because without proper planning you cannot successfully accomplish your goals. It is a better way to cut down on your expenses and complete your project with limited resources. It is necessary to write a plan before starting a business or project because without this you cannot successfully start a business. A plan will help you to understand market trends and the scope of your business in the market. The plan will be very helpful to determine what kind of workforce you require, the location of your business, the fundamental requirements of the business, the finances of the business, etc. Although you can get the services of a professional person to write a business plan it is necessary for you to understand how to write a successful plan.

Today I will share some common steps that will help you to write your own plan for your business or project.

Do Some Research

Before writing a plan it is good to conduct some research in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your rivals. It will help you to design your strategies for a successful business and determine the number of finances you are required.

Executive Summary

It is the first and most important part of the plan because it is the summary of the whole plan and the first thing that is preferred by all readers to read. It places before the table of contents, but it should be written at last after designing a whole plan. It contains a mission statement that should be only three to four sentences long. These sentences are only to capture the interest of the reader. The rest of the executive summary should contain necessary details such as the short history of the business, the profile of the founder and business commencement date, current snapshot, important locations, number of employees, products and services, and a summary of future plans and goals. You can use bullets to highlight important points for easy scanning. Avoid too many details in the executive summary because one or two pages are sufficient.

Market Analysis

The next part of the business plan will be market analysis. This analysis will show your strengths and weaknesses over your competitors. This part of the plan will include the size of the market, growth rate, and chances of success of your business.

Description of Company

This section will describe the nature of your business and the needs of the market. In this section, you will determine the ways through which you can satisfy the needs of your target customers. Your will mention those factors that will set you apart from your competitors. In short, a company description should describe your whole business and portray a beautiful and attractive picture of the business.

Hierarchical Structure

After a description of the business, you are required to describe the setup of staff. Provide complete management hierarchy, division of labor, the profile of the business owner, management personnel, board of directors, and employee incentives. This section is necessary to create loyalty in potential employees.

Marketing and Sales Management

This section will describe:

  • Marketing Methods
  • Distribute Methods
  • Types of sales force
  • Sales incentive
  • Growth Strategies

Products and Services

It is one of the important sections of the plan and focuses on the products and services offered by the business. You have to include specifications and important features of products as well as services and benefits of these products and services. Prominent points of your products over your competitor, copyright, trade secrets, and patent information all should be part of this section.

Funding Requirements and Sources

After describing your whole business, you are required to provide details about your funding requirements. This section contains information about banks or investors in order to understand the funding needs. You can include all possible sources of finances to persuade other investors as well.

Appendices

It is the final section of the business plan. It contains information that does not fit in all the above sections. You can provide information about letters of reference, licenses, patents of the organization, copies of contracts, leases, and other legal documents.

Here are some useful plan templates that can help you get started,

  • Weekly Planner Template
  • Daily Planner Template

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