Definitive Business Plan, Second Edition, The

Up close and personal – industry and product demand

As useful as they are, leading indicators have one shortfall. They predict the future using past relationships – and, as Henry VIII with his six wives taught us, relationships can change. As indicated earlier, trends in culture and fashion, fads, advertising, product promotions and so on can cause changes at three levels, in demand for:

• a product class (for example, travel);

• a product category (air travel);

• your product (your specific air travel services).

What do you do? You add a couple of lines to your forecast making additional provision for these changes. You have already examined the external environment (Chapter 5 ) and developed a marketing strategy (Chapter 6 ). Now you have to assess ...