• Financial objectives – For example, ”to achieve turnover of x and profits of y% by the year end”.
• Strategic objectives – For example, “to become the largest supplier of widgets in the county by the end of the third year”.
• Operational objectives – For example, ”to increase productivity by 20% by the end of the second year”.
• Marketing objectives – For example, “to increase foreign sales by x% by 1 June next year”.

The various objectives should complement each other, but some prioritising may be necessary.

Strategy
The old military maxim applies here: “Maintain your objective, but be flexible about how you get there”. So strategy can be flexible as long as you are clear about where you want it to take you. If you know where you want to go, and you know where you are now, strategy is simply a matter of working out the shortest, simplest or cheapest route from one to the other.
It is vital that you do market research on potential customers and competitors; economic and market conditions; the way trade is usually done in your sector; who the suppliers are; staff and technology required. You also need to indicate that you have done this research in your business plan.
Analyse carefully what you have researched. Simply think through what your findings tell you and write down your thoughts in a systematic way. A good way to do this is with a SWOT analysis, where you simply list your internal strengths and weaknesses, and then the opportunities and threats in the outside world.
All your research and analysis comes down to being able to answer three questions:
* Who will buy from me?; Why should they buy from me?; How will I provide what they buy?
Above all, you must ask: “What makes me different?” Why should people give you money that they do not give to anyone else? Is your product new or unique? Is it cheaper than competitors’? Is the quality better in some way? Is your business located conveniently or the only one in the area?
The answer to all this will help you formulate your unique selling proposition (USP). This is the key to your strategy and will underpin everything you do.