Business Plans

All business loan and venture capital deals begin with the clear communication of the facts, which influence a Funding Source to consider the transaction. This communication comes in the form of a business plan.

Great insight into the Client's company comes from the business plan. Therefore, a plan needs clear and concise data stating the Client's product, or service, who they are, their track record, the funding request, financial statements, and other informative information. Clients must use the plan to effectively communicate their strategies, and their commitment to the success of the project.

An effective plan will always start with a one page Executive Summary. This one page will be written with facts, no fluff, so that the reader has a clear understanding about the company and what they do. Statements made in the Summary are supported by the documentation within the body of the plan. It is the summary that encourages the reader to spend valuable time digesting the rest of the business plan.

It is advisable for the Client to have a good understanding of all the elements necessary to make a successful plan. There are always Clients who spend too much time trying to market projects to funding sources, when the project has no chance of being funded due to the poor quality of the business plan. The business cannot be funded if no one is willing to read their plan and accept the information as being of sound business and financial reasoning.

When approaching a Funding Source, Clients should take into consideration: if a person is job hunting, does a quality resume, or a sloppy one have the greatest possibility of landing the job? The answer, of course is a quality business plan.When seeking capital for projects, the same is true concerning business plans.

Currently, there are a tremendous number of deals already in the marketplace, and there are many more people looking to expand their business. Many of these deals submitted for financing are turned down due to the fact a plan does not provide adequate information and will never be successfully accepted by a Funder.

Clients need to understand the chances of successfully funding a project, diminishes greatly when they are unable to present a quality business plan. Submitting an inadequate plan, or completing a plan with partial effort, will not get successful results.

When a Client submits an ineffective business plan to a Consultant who will then in turn submit the plan to multiple funding sources, the Consultant has choices. One, trash the deal and move onto the next deal. Two, the Consultant can waste time and money calling other Consultants and Funding Sources in a fruitless attempt to find Funding. Three, determine whether the project is at least viable then discuss with the Client the facts of submitting a quality package.

Want to learn more about business loans or getting a pharmacy financed? We encourage pharmacy owners to provide questions or feedback to the articles and comments posted at www.articles-sellingpharmacies.blogspot.com.

Until next time,
Brad MacLiver
www.pharmacyvaluations.com

Medicare Reimbursements

The confusion with the new Medicare changes has been well documented by the media. Pharmacy owners are spending a tremendous amount of time with customers assisting them pick a plan - and as you know, there are many plans. Assisting with picking plans is good customer service, but it is time consuming and doesn’t pay the bills. Owners and their staff have also had to spend time on the phone with the different insurance companies trying to get paid. Some states have had to step in and help fund the system to keep it moving. When the pharmacy owner does get paid the reimbursements are coming in slower, and as we all knew would happen, the reimbursements are less in 2006 than they were in years past.

Many expect to see razor-thin profit margins and some profit margins may even turn negative because pharmacies are getting even less than before from health insurers. Larger drug chains are better off because they can count on high volume and higher margins from the front end sales. Lower margins will hurt the non-chain drugstores, and reimbursements could end up low enough to make some independents fold.

The number of Medicare plans will expand in 2007 providing more choices for the consumer, but adding to the confusion the pharmacy owner must deal with. Next year, 48 states will offer more than 50 drug plans, with 23 states offering at least 55 choices.

Pharmacy owners can expect the continuation of increasing expenses while experiencing a downward slide in reimbursements.

Want to learn more about declining reimbursements? We encourage pharmacy owners to provide questions or feedback to the articles and comments posted at www.articles-sellingpharmacies.blogspot.com.

Brad MacLiver
http://www.pharmacyvaluations.com/