01 / Audience
Describe a situation,
not just a category.
Start with a person or organization facing a specific decision. Identify what has changed, what they are trying to accomplish and which alternatives they already consider. A narrower description makes your assumptions easier to examine.
Questions to work through
- What need or event creates a reason to act?
- What is the current alternative, including doing nothing?
- Who uses the offer, who evaluates it and who decides?
- Which parts of this description come from direct evidence?
“Independent retailers choosing a way to organize repeat orders” gives a discussion more direction than “all business owners.” It still needs evidence about the actual need, decision process and available alternatives.
Further reading: the U.S. Small Business Administration’s planning resources discuss market research and competitive analysis. A reference is not an endorsement of this site.
02 / Message
Make one useful
promise understandable.
Draft a plain sentence that explains who an offer is for, what it does and the relevant limit of its scope. Then check each meaningful claim against evidence. Specificity is useful only when it is accurate.
A simple message test
- Can a reader identify the offer without interpreting jargon?
- Is the stated benefit connected to a real feature or capability?
- Are important conditions or limits close to the claim?
- Is the requested next action clear and proportionate?
“For [a defined situation], [the offer] helps with [a specific task] through [a verified capability].” Use this to inspect an idea, not to fill in claims that have not been established.
03 / Pipeline
Define what
progress means.
A pipeline should make a conversation easier to understand. A label such as “qualified” has little value if each person uses it differently. Write a short entry condition, the action expected in the stage and a clear exit condition.
Keep the record useful
For a hypothetical inquiry stage, the entry might be a relevant question received, the action might be clarifying the request, and the exit might be an agreed next conversation or a documented decision not to continue. The actual definitions should fit the operation.
- Who owns the next action?
- What remains uncertain?
- What would justify moving forward?
- When should the situation be reviewed again?
04 / Review
Separate evidence
from a good story.
Keep a brief note of where a claim came from and when it was checked. Customer observations, internal records and market reports answer different questions. A result from one situation may not apply in another.
When evidence is incomplete, make the uncertainty visible. Write down the smallest useful question to investigate next and decide what observation would change your view. Avoid treating activity alone as proof that the plan is working.
05 / Apply the guide
One page.
Six useful prompts.
The worksheet lets you mark each planning question you have considered and write a short note for the three main topics. Its progress count tracks your selections, not the strength of the plan.
Keep your own copy if you want to revisit the notes. The site does not save a worksheet between visits.