Business Model Template

 View how to create your business model online >>

Value Proposition
What is your company’s value proposition? More importantly, how will you
deliver that value to your customer base? Focus on strategies that distinguish
your product offering in your market. What do your customers want most and
how best can your business deliver that to them?

Customer Segments
Segmenting your customer base is an essential part of identifying your
venture’s critical sales channels. Focus on key demographics, age groups,
ethnicities and genders in order to segregate your customer base. From this
exercise you should be able to distinguish between those customers that your
enterprise deems to be the most important and essential to growing your
market.

Distribution Channels
Once you’ve segmented your customer base, you’ll now have to decide upon
those aforementioned channels to market. This may ultimately force you to
use multiple channels. For instance, you may opt to sell direct to end-users for
some product lines, while using sales agents and distributors for others.

Customer Relationships
What do your customers expect from you in terms of servicing and maintaining
their business? Can your enterprise bundle special services with your product
offering that might help to set it apart from its competition? Move away from
seeing sales as a series of singular transactions where you try and maximize
gross profit on each additional sale. Instead, see your customers as potential
partners and define what it takes to retain their business for the long-term.

Revenue Streams
Define your company’s revenue streams. Will you only derive revenue on sales
of a given product line, or will you charge for essential services such as
delivery and special packaging? Approach this step with the mindset of your
customer segments. What are your customers willing to spend in order to
benefit from your enterprise’s value proposition?

Key Resources
What resources must your company acquire or secure in order to attain its
value proposition? Your venture’s resources can be its business knowledge, its
core competencies, its management, its employees, or even its physical
assets, such as equipment and machinery. What resources does your venture
require in order to achieve your value proposition?

Key Activities
What activities or operations are essential to growing your business? Think of
those business activities that your enterprise must excel at in order to meet its
value proposition. Think of the importance of a well-defined supply chain, one
where vendors are properly aligned and can immediately turn around raw
materials and parts. Think of the importance of having solid partnerships with
creditors and investors.

Key Partnerships
Who are the venture’s main stakeholders, and of those stakeholders, who are
the most valued partners? When looking to define your venture’s stakeholders,
look to isolate those strategic partnerships so vital to your venture’s success
and ones that are essential in mitigating risk. Focus on key investors, suppliers
and creditors. Next, define their relationship to your enterprise and their
appropriate roles and responsibilities.

Cost Structure
In this step you’ll define your company’s cost structure relative to your value
proposition. What costs are essential to manage in order to deliver your value
proposition? How best can you manage these costs in order to derive the
greatest return? Focus on segregating those resources and activities where
you’ll need to have strong cost controls. Lower costs means these activities will
bear fruit earlier in the process.