The Current State of the Economy
It is important to let your financial institution know that you are well apprised of the financial situation of the general economy when you are applying for a business loan. This is especially true in today’s environment where lending has become more difficult and will remain more difficult in the foreseeable future. Specifically, you should gear this section of the business plan analysis towards the industry that you are operating within. For example:
The current economy has remained difficult over the past few years. However, Pawn Shops typically operate with a strong state of economy stability as these lenders are often used as a last resort among borrowers that are in need of quick loans or do not have the ability to sell the merchandise that they can use as collateral. As such, the business should be able to remain profitable and cash flow positive in any economic environment. They have the knowledge and experience within the loan industry to find you the best deal for your payday loans and once they have a match, it is up to you to decide if you would like to accept the offer or not.
The Pawn Shop Industry
In addition to providing your business loan officer with an understanding of the general economy, it is important that you showcase that you have an equal understanding of the industry in which you are operating within. As such, you will need to provide you business loan institution of a brief overview of your industry and any potential changes that may affect the way that your company does business. An example of how an industry overview is as follows:
The Pawn Shop industry, despite the current economy climate, has remained strong despite the fact the general economy has suffered. Within the United States, there are 20,000 businesses that operate in a pawn brokering capacity. On a yearly basis, these businesses generate revenues of billion and provide jobs to more than 100,000 people. The total payrolls paid by the pawn shop industry has exceeded .4 billion on an annualized basis over the past five years.
At this time, there is currently no pending legislation or changes to the economy that are expected to change the nature of how the Pawn Shop Industry conducts business.
Target Market
In this section of the business loan application and business plan analysis, you should focus on the demographics of your localized market (or national market if applicable). This section should discuss how many people live in your area, the anticipated number of people that would require the use of pawn shops, the median household income of people living in the area, poverty line statistics, and any applicable laws that would apply to your operation of a pawn shop.
Competition
Many people that are developing new businesses or expanding existing businesses often feel that their business does not have any competition or limited competition at best. However, this is almost never the case. Unless you have re-invented the wheel – you will have competition. When applying for a business loan, you should clearly showcase your competition in your business plan. This is especially important to your banker as they will be able to gauge your ability to be successful in your targeted market. Many business loan underwriters will aggressively confirm that competitive nature of your local market and your local industry.
When drafting this section of the plan you should heavily discuss the competitive advantages that you intend to have over your competition.
Marketing Plan
In addition to all of the above information that we have covered, your business loan officer is also going to want to know how you intend to market your business to the general public. Most people do not quite understand how to effectively market their business outside of prominent signage or flyer distribution. When applying for a business loan (again in this difficult lending climate), your banker is going to want to see that you have a clear methodology of how you intend to market your services or products to the general public. In this section of the business plan – we will overview how to showcase your services/products to the general public.
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