What the plan should include
Your business plan is a statement of intent. It should provide details of how you are going to develop your business, when you are going to do it, who’s going to play a part and how you will manage the money.
Clarity on these issues is particularly important if you’re looking for finance or investment. The process of building your plan will also focus your mind on how your new business will need to operate to give it the best chance of success.
Your plan should include:
- An executive summary – this is an overview of the business you want to start. It’s vital. Many lenders and investors make judgments about your business based on this section of the plan alone. See the page in this guide on the executive summary.
- A short description of the business opportunity – who you are, what you plan to sell or offer, why and to whom. See the page in this guide on your business, its products and services.
- Your marketing and sales strategy – why you think people will buy what you want to sell and how you plan to sell to them. See the pages in this guide on your markets and competitors and marketing and sales.
- Your management team and personnel – your credentials and the people you plan to recruit to work with you. See the page in this guide on your team’s skills.
- Your operations – your premises, production facilities, your management information systems and IT. See the page in this guide on your operations.
- Financial forecasts – this section translates everything you have said in the previous sections into numbers. See the page in this guide on financial forecasts.
The executive summary
The executive summary is often the most important part of your business plan. Positioned at the front of the document, it is the first part to be read. However, as a summary it makes sense to write it last.
It may be the only part that will be read. Faced with a large pile of funding requests, venture capitalists and banks have been known to separate business plans into “worth considering” and “discard” piles based on this section alone.
What is it?
The executive summary is a synopsis of the key points of your entire plan. It should include highlights from each section of the rest of the document – from the key features of the business opportunity through to the elements of the financial forecasts.
Its purpose is to explain the basics of your business in a way that both informs and interests the reader. If, after reading the executive summary, an investor or manager understands what the business is about and is keen to know more, it has done its job.
It should be concise – no longer than two pages at most – and interesting. It’s advisable to write this section of your plan after you’ve completed the rest.
What is it not?
A brief description of the business and its products. It’s a synopsis of the entire plan.
An extended table of contents. This makes for very dull reading. You should ensure it shows the highlights of the plan, rather than restating the details the plan contains.
Hype. While the executive summary should excite the reader enough to read the entire plan, an experienced investor or businessperson will recognise hype and this will undermine the plan’s credibility.
Related articles
This is a five-part series, so make sure you read the rest to get the best out of this:
- {{post id=”business-plans-part-1-what-are-they” text=”Part One – Business Plans – What Are They?”}}
- {{post id=”business-plans-part-2-what-they-should-include” text=”Part Two – Business Plans – What Should They Include?”}}
- {{post id=”business-plans-part-3-knowing-your-market” text=”Part Three – Business Plans – Knowing Your Target”}}
- {{post id=”business-plans-part-4-marketing-and-sales” text=”Part Four – Business Plans – Marketing and Sales?”}}
- {{post id=”business-plans-part-5-financial-forecasts” text=”Part Five – Business Plans – Financial Forecasts?”}}
Further information
You can read sample business plans at the Bplans website or see a library of business plan templates on the Microsoft Office website (www.microsoft.com).
Provided by Business Link