This deliberately provocative headline brings together three concepts that are enough to make many entrepreneurs bristle. And I can already hear the reactions: why would I need a business plan, what exactly is an USP, and in the end, I know perfectly well what I am doing, so why should I need a strategy?

I will start with that last point. I just keep doing what I have always done … fine — but one can cite a long list of companies, and not minor ones, that, guided by that approach, ended up bankrupt. Because yes, that is a strategy, and even if it worked for a while, that period does not last forever. Yesterday’s strategy may still be valid today, but it will not necessarily remain so tomorrow. It is therefore essential to reflect regularly so that a company’s activity truly results from a decision that has been confirmed and reconfirmed. Strategy is precisely the art of adapting management as conditions change. No one would dare claim today that our world is not changing. In that case, it would seem equally difficult to argue that strategy can be dispensed with. At its core, the word strategy comes from military language and therefore also implies adversarial elements. It is the art of coordinating action to achieve an objective, with full awareness of both favourable and unfavourable circumstances. The absence of strategy therefore means the absence of purpose, action or coordination. A strategy expresses an objective and the means chosen to reach it, taking the context into account. It must be a consciously made decision and, moreover, one that is communicated.

So much for strategy. Now it still has to be consistent with my USP… apologies for this English-language term, whose abbreviation is often used in French as well – USP – Unique Selling Proposition. It refers to a unique selling proposition, in other words a key sales argument, a clear competitive advantage. The USP is the main promise used in advertising. It is what should make your business unique, or at least set it apart from the competition. It is therefore vital to have thought this through. It is rare for a company not to face competitors. However, its offering can be differentiated through a unique selling proposition — a key argument, a strong competitive advantage — that the competition cannot simply copy and must be based on a genuinely distinctive feature. Do you really know your USP? It is what gives your company a reason to exist in the market. Why do customers buy your products or services? What benefits do they find with you that set you apart from your competitors? Are these elements aligned with the qualities you yourself attribute to your products or services? When preparing your business plan, check that the convergence between these elements truly matches your USP. If not, a rethink is needed.

All of this still has to be set out in a business plan. More pointless paperwork … you may say. Before being a document, a business plan is a comprehensive process. It is a holistic reflection on the company: its products or services, its market, its production and management infrastructure, its staff and management, all of which is ultimately also translated into forward-looking financial terms. By combining the company’s supply-side prospects with those of demand, one can establish sound forecasts for business volumes. By taking contingencies into account, one can estimate costs and sketch out financial projections for the years ahead. The business plan is the medium through which all of this thinking is formalised, moving from USP and strategy to key indicators, figures and actions. It requires a systematic approach to ensure that the main questions have been addressed in a structured manner. Formalising this process in a business plan gives the company an essential benchmark for tracking its development. The question of why a business plan is needed therefore no longer arises!

Some companies do not really know where they are heading, nor what truly makes them strong and distinguishes their offering from competitors. They merely know they have customers and believe those customers are satisfied. But they have never really matched their strengths, their USP, against the markets that assign them the greatest value. And perhaps they are making fragmented, inconsistent efforts to sell, among many competitors, to customers who are not very interested, strengths that do not resonate with them. Yet elsewhere there may be customers who are potentially hungry and thirsty for the company’s products or expertise, but who do not even know it exists. So start by clarifying your USP, thinking through your objectives and the actions needed to achieve them, and recording all of this in a business plan. You will then achieve consistency in your actions.