What are the benefits of a business model canvas?
Kanban-style business model canvases adapt the best-selling business management book Business Model Generation. The Kanban-style canvases simplify the full business model into a more visual medium that you can use to:
Define customer segments to validate the target audience
Create unique value propositions that align with customer needs
Select the best channels to reach, engage and convert customers
Establish strategies to build, retain and grow customer relationships
Manage all finances and resources, including revenues, costs, activities and partnerships
By defining each stage of the business development strategy, you can delegate responsibilities to corresponding team members. Team members, individually, can begin to calculate:
All the necessary tasks to complete each piece of the business plan
Checklists and subtasks to ensure development continues moving ahead
Internal or external stakeholders they must coordinate with to complete tasks
The time and resources they must invest to fulfill their expectations
A business model canvas helps entrepreneurs build new business models or optimize existing ones to further grow their businesses. Using the business model canvas template, the scope of the plan is structured using Kanban project management techniques and presented in an easy-to-follow visual format.
When to use the business model canvas template?
To proceed with building your business, you first need to map out the scope of your business model so that you know how it will fit into the market. The template helps you complete this process so that it’s easy for all stakeholders to understand:
The value you’ll deliver to your customers and the impact on your business
How you’ll attract, engage and retain customers to support growth
The brand positioning, messaging and channels that increase engagement
Workflows that will implement the strategy and scale the growth of the business
If you’re a new entrepreneur just starting your business, you need to map out the entire plan to show other stakeholders how you’ll convert your idea into a thriving business. The business model canvas template simplifies how you communicate your ideas, converting entire sequences into Kanban-style project boards that are easy to understand.
Let’s say you have an established business, but you’re planning to introduce a new product or service that will open up a new revenue stream. To do so, you first need to determine if there’s a need in the market that your new offer can fill.
Then, you have to calculate who is the right buyer for such a service, the value it will provide, and where and how to connect with those prospects. Finally, you need to build a go-to-market (GTM) plan that calculates the time, budget, and resources necessary to make the implementation a success. All of these efforts will help you plan to develop your product effectively by understanding the impact on the customer experience and the value of the service.
Another added benefit of the business model canvas template is that it comes with a built-in time tracking feature. You can use the Gantt-style time tracker to connect all aspects of the business development plan and create a simplified timeline that aligns all stakeholders. This is an excellent way to showcase how the project will be completed.
How to use the business model canvas template
The business model canvas template provides a visual overview of how to build a new business or implement changes to an existing business. The template is a collaborative, visual board that makes it easy to generate ideas, set clear purposes, and list out all the requirements to build a new aspect of the business.
Step 1: Build sections for every aspect of the business plan
Begin by creating the vertical sections in your template and map out the business plan. Each section should correspond with an aspect of building the business model. Therefore, try to use labels for each section, such as:
Customer segments
Value propositions
Engagement channels
Customer relationships
Revenue streams
Resources
Activities
Partners
Cost structures
By building these sections in your business model canvas template, you can organize the tasks that are necessary to develop the business, product, or service. Using the project board, you can identify dependencies between tasks and keep the project moving in the right direction.
Step 2: Assign tasks to each section of the business plan
Once you have your sections, you’re ready to create tasks. You can create a new task by clicking the + in any board section.
Ensure each task corresponds with the particular part of the business model. For example, if you’re defining the target audience, you should have tasks to create those customer segments, and then have additional tasks to verify your assumptions. You’ll want to budget lots of time and resources to conduct thorough audience research.
Step 3: Create checklists for each task
Under each task, you can create checklists to describe all the requirements necessary to complete each task. The checklists should include all the necessary subtasks and milestones to complete that aspect of the business plan.
Team members can see and fully grasp just how much work is required to complete each task. They can use this information to manage their time and make contributions to grow the business plan.
Step 4: Assign task start and end dates
Once you’ve added a task, assign a due date. You can also schedule the start and end date of your task to identify when it will be worked on and how much time it should take.
Use the built-in Gantt tracker to view the timeline of each stage of the business plan. This feature shows the relationship between each stage of the business plan so that all stakeholders have a realistic idea of when they will monetize all the work. If stakeholders have questions about the timeline and deliverables, the Gantt tracker provides easy answers. This is a great resource to create stakeholder alignment and receive official sign-off on the plan.
Step 5: Monitor performance
Monitor progress to ensure tasks are being completed on time. Business models are frequently prone to change due to unforeseen circumstances. But your business model canvas template will help keep track of all tasks so that any necessary changes can be incorporated into the master plan.
For a more granular look at your team’s performance, including task completion rates, you can use MeisterTask’s Reports feature. Use these insights to refine workflows, improve productivity, and further map out the growth of the business.
