Top 10 Tips for Writing a Business Plan

Your ads will be inserted here by

Easy AdSense.

Please go to the plugin admin page to paste your ad code.

Here at Business Plan PPT we’ve been giving some thinking as to what would be the most effective advice we could give for all of you starting writing your business proposal. So here are our top ten tips:

business man drawing  bar graph

Business Plan PPT - Free image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. Be Concise. When you have tons to convey and you want everyone who reads your business plan to understand how awesome your ideas are, you have to be aware of who is reading this business plan. Although you are passionate about the ideas you might have, the truth is that the individual being required to browse the business plan may very well be busy as well as not share your passion, at the least not when they start to read.

2. Keeping it focused. Your business plan really should be centered on the needs of the various readers. Think to yourself, who is going to read this business plan, is it your boss, an investor, potential partners, banks etc. Each will have different needs. Although you want everyone to know in great detail why your business plan’s the most beneficial you’ll want to give the reader the details they need to make the decision that you are asking them to make.

3. Take a look at market and understand your competitors. Investors don’t simply want to hear how great your idea on it’s own. They wish to hear how great your idea is, how big your market is and exactly how strong the competition is.

4. Write a killer executive summary. In other words that first page will make or break your business case for almost all of the readers. The executive summary must contain your key points and convey how great your idea is. It must excite your reader to ensure that they just want to see the remaining portion of the business case.

Your ads will be inserted here by

Easy AdSense.

Please go to the plugin admin page to paste your ad code.

5. Do your maths. Any potential investor would like to see unshakable figures. Steer clear of the temptation to have unrealistic figures. Any investor will wish to pick through your figures so be confident in what you placed in your business case. Include your basics which include scale of costs, the return, break even points and cash flow analysis.

6. Get a second opinion. Your business plan is a critical document, it has the potential to unlock investment and to bring your ideas to reality. But if you are enthusiastic about your thoughts and you are producing the document yourself you can easily become unaware of any errors or bias. Having a colleague / friend to examine the document and to give constructive feedback is invaluable.

7. Identify risks. Any new business venture has its risks, to not include these looks naive. Include identified risks and note how you will mitigate them.

8. Declare your assumptions. This has two benefits, it shows that you realize where you have made assumptions which everybody has to do, likewise this will assist prevent investors picking on assumptions and challenging you as part of your presentation.

9. Ensure that it’s up to date. If you are going to include research / figures verify that you are using current information. Don’t rely on old research people’s buying habits are continually changing and costs will always shift.

10. Take action. You’ve written your business plan, it’s worked and from now on it’s time for you to do something. Implement your plan, you’ve already worked tirelessly on the way you will likely realise this chance so follow your own advice.

This entry was posted in Business Plan and tagged . Bookmark the permalink. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.