Everyone needs a plan.  Just because you’re making money doesn’t mean you aren’t headed for trouble.  Profitably’s approach to forecasting your business is a bottom-up approach that will allow you to plan for the customers you want.

Revenue Streams

Revenue streams refer to the individual methods by which money comes into your company. A diverse business plan often includes multiple revenue streams with many different types of projects per stream. Even if the majority of your income comes from a single stream, you can include any supplemental income like Advertising (for example). Add any streams that could be viable in the future, since you’ll have the option of defining if and when they’ll turn on.

Customer Segmentation

Customer segmentation is the practice of dividing a customer base into groups of individuals that are similar in specific ways relevant to marketing, such as age, gender, interests, spending habits, and so on. Using segmentation allows companies to target groups effectively, and allocate marketing resources to best effect.

Channels

Channels define all the ways you might engage with and ultimately convert customers. In addition to direct sales, many companies now employ a variety of intermediaries to achieve wider distribution. Your goal is to structure your channels so that it’s easy for your customers to move through the path they have chosen. In other words, you want to make it easy for them to become customers.