For even the most organised and motivated entrepreneur, writing a business plan can be a daunting task. After all, your business plan, or business proposal is your first opportunity to make critical evaluations of your idea, and to view it from the perspective of different stakeholders.
You can find a host of business plan how-to articles and even great templates online, so in this article, we’ll discuss some of the universal best practices that apply to any business plan. To ensure that we’re promoting the most up-to-date best practices for writing a business plan, we asked a few successful business strategists and financiers what guidance they have for those new to formal business planning.
Bertie Stevens, Co-Founder and CEO of Flubit.com
- Keep it simple
Creating a coherent plan doesn’t mean having to write a 100 page tome. It could just be a few pages long, but getting your idea down on paper will help you formulate your thinking and at least ensure you have thought through how you are going to get your business off the ground, what resources you need, and ensure you have clear objectives in place. If you are looking for investment or are looking to build a team a clear, credible plan will be necessary to get those individuals on your side and wanting to be part of your business. It’s easy to get carried away, but you should aim to keep your plan as succinct as possible, avoid waffle and get to the point.
- Create a simple forecast
Show how your business will grow in the short, medium and long term and clearly demonstrate what the end goal is. If nothing else, it will show how feasible your business is and how far it could go. But be realistic and conservative – it’s better to underestimate your cash position at any one time than vice versa.
- Tell a story
You want people to be excited by your business, so clearly show how you are solving a problem, doing something groundbreaking or innovative or creating something that has global potential.
- Understand your customer
Clearly show you’ve done your research and understand where the market is for your product or service, how big the potential is, who is going to buy it and why they need it.
- Tell the truth
Make sure you know your numbers back to front and only include information and data that you can back up with hard facts and stats. It’s tempting to exaggerate claims, but be prepared to challenged.
Shweta Jhajharia, Principle Coach and Director at The London Coaching Group
- Start with a review of the past and present
Before you start planning for the future, you need to have a firm grasp of what you have done in the past and where you currently stand. Ask yourself questions like:
- Has my team been working effectively and productively? Why/why not?
- What goals/milestones have I achieved in the last year?
- What impact and difference has this made to the business?
- What were my profits over the last quarter?
- What have I not achieved that I intended to? What impact has that had?
- What do I need to carry over and what do I need to drop from that list of things to achieve?
This sets you up for determining the best course of action going forward and will mean your plan is more focused, relevant and useful.
- Set personal as well as business goals
In my experience as a business coach in London, we find that the drive to achieve business success is stoked by the knowledge that your success in business enables you to achieve your personal goals. Set personal goals and see how they synchronise with your business goals so that you are more motivated to achieve both together.
Some quick tips for writing goals:
- We find the best way to actually achieve goals is to define long-term goals (5-10+ years), then break those down into 3-year goals and then into 1-year goals.
- Write emotively and write in present tense. For example, “I feel elated and humbled to have completed the Kokoda track on Anzac Day 2016.” This creates a deeper connection to your goal and comes from an angle of envisioning success already having happened rather than “working” towards it.
- Don’t just write goals; craft a plan
- Categorise – Group your 1-year goals into categories categories (Travel, Family, Social Life, Community etc.). You can also extract your business goals from this and further categorise, if required (e.g. Marketing, Recruitment, Finance etc.)
- Prioritise – Categorising allows you to then prioritise more easily. Choose just one goal in each category and highlight that as your most important to achieve.
- Actions Required – This is the important part. Next to each goal, write down what you actually need to do to achieve it. Get specific, be realistic.
- Divide – Now you have a list of actions to achieve over the year. Split those out over the four quarters. If you can, split them out over the 13 weeks of each quarter too.
When you create a solid plan it becomes a lot clearer what is and isn’t achievable over the next year. You can also see what actions you will need to take on a regular basis and create a Default Diary where you can block out time every week to get those regular tasks done.
- Always assign accountability
You have all of these actions now for your business, but you also need to clarify who is going to achieve them. You should draw up an ‘accountability chart’ in your plan which clearly shows all the important functions of your business and exactly who is in charge of what function. These functions may include things such as Head of Company, Marketing, R&D, Finances, Sales, Recruitment etc.
These required functions should be clear from when you categorised the goals for your business. Even if you are a one-man-band this is an important exercise. You may be doing everything yourself, but you still need to wear different “hats” to ensure that all the different aspects of your business are being dealt with. Organising yourself this way will make it much easier to bring on team members when you eventually get to that stage, as processes will already be in place.
A popular model that makes mapping accountability simple and intuitive is the RACI model.
Below is an example of a RACI matrix for a building maintenance crew.
- Constantly review your plan
A business plan is not a static document. You do not create a business plan and then let it sit. You are not even creating a little reference manual for your business. This is a dynamic document that you should be pulling out at the beginning of each week to review what you did achieve and highlight what you did not.
This reminds you of how much you actually are achieving, and also lets you take stock of what you are not doing. You should then ask yourself – is this goal still important to me? Do I need to make adjustments to prioritise this? Then you can remove those goals and actions or carry them forward.
Undoubtedly, constant review of your plan and direction will allow you to achieve a more consistent rate of growth rather than resting at a plateau, or seeing jerky and unpredictable moves upwards.
Anna Morrish, Marketing Executive at DMC
- Write for your audience
The most common business plans are written for investors, lenders and current employees. Know which one you’re targeting and write the plan with them in mind. For example, if you’re writing a plan for a potential investor it needs to get to the point swiftly, as they don’t want to spend their time reading a long business plan with lots of irrelevant information in. Provide them with informative ideas which will get them interested in your business, don’t try to pack every piece of information into the plan, but just enough to make them want to meet with you to discuss your ideas in much more detail.
- Know your competition
Don’t become blind sighted by your excellence. You may believe you’re the best in the business with no threat of competition, and maybe that is the case, but if you’re creating a plan for investors they want to see there is a market for your business and if there is no competition, where is the market? Make it clear in your business plan how you’re going to compete to trade as the best you can be, the use of charts, graphs and images will provide factual and visual evidence which can help to back up your potential ideas.
- Look to the future
Show your audience where you see the business progressing to in the future. Set out clear realistic goals for individuals, clear plans to reach those goals and what the result of reaching those goals will be. If you’re directing your plan at an investor, make sure to include how they will financially influence and benefit the company and tell them exactly what they are able to get out of the business to benefit themselves.
- Make sure you communicate
Communication is key to a successful business plan. The simple but effective act of writing down ideas will help everyone understand and support your clear, well thought through goals, ensuring you’re all on the same page so that the plan can be followed and work effectively.
- Keep it going
To have a successful plan, you need to stick to it. Have regular meetings and talks with the people your plan involves and make sure everyone is on course and knows what they’re doing, ensure they are meeting targets and deadlines. Make sure you are steering and managing your business constantly enabling you to keep track of the business’ progress and reach goals in the desired time.
Chris Brown, Director at Central Finance
- Know your audience
When writing a business a plan, firstly think about its intended use and audience. Is it to seek investment? Is it to keep your business focused? Is it for your shareholders? Different audiences require different information. If you’re not sure on who wants what – ask. Investors will want to see in-depth financial statements and forecasts.
- Ensure your numbers add up
Be realistic and ‘open book’ about your finances. When demonstrating ‘financials’ in a business plan, be realistic and don’t inflate the figures. The financials of any business plan are under significant scrutiny – one mistake can throw your entire forecasted P&Ls out and put off any investor. Check and re-check your financials and be clear about the forecasted results.
- Strong presentation
Be creative, use bold figures and statements, yet steer clear of filling every page with text. White space can be a good thing. Use images and graphs to showcase your information, it will break up the monotony of words and figures and visually reinforce what you’re saying. Don’t be afraid to use a template for guidance but be creative and adapt it for your own needs.
- Get professional guidance
If you’re new to business, but have a great idea and not sure how best to ‘sell it’ – seek professional advice. Look up business events in your area run by reputable organisations such as The Chambers of Commerce and Local Enterprise Partnerships who can point you in the right direction.
- Be concise
Finally, re-read your plan, does it get straight to the point? Investors have little time, and lots of business plans to review and need to see the benefits of investing quickly. Remove any overly-descriptive language and keep to the facts and figures. If your business plan needs to be lengthy, use an executive summary and appendices to focus the information in the right way.
Let’s distill all that great advice into actionable points that you can use to construct a professional business plan that holds all the information you need to attract investors and new team members.
Explain your value proposition
- Explain your value proposition: What unique value will a buyer get from your product or service?
- Explain your position in the market: What about the market in which you want to trade has created a gap that your product or service can fill?
- Define your competition: Which products or services will you be competing with and why do you think you have an advantage?
- Make accurate financial and timeframe predictions: If done astutely, this information shows investors and stakeholders that you have critically considered the challenges and milestones that your business idea needs to reach, in order to become profitable.
Write in a professional tone
Tone has a massive impact on the reader and strongly influences how he or she might interpret and react to your writing. For this reason, it’s vitally important that you understand the tone that a business plan should be written in.
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Be succinct
Even in sections that warrant a more detailed approach, be absolutely sure that you are not rambling or using more words to make a point than necessary. Failing to get straight to the point can cause a reader to disconnect, before you’ve even made your proposition. After writing a first draft, read through your work several times and cut any copy that isn’t absolutely necessary. If someone wants more information, they will ask.
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Avoid “fluffy” adjectives and superlatives
Words like “awesome”, “incredible”, “unbelievable”, “most” and “best” have no place in business plan writing. Words like these will make your document feel unprofessional, unrealistic and inflated. Remember, your business plan is not a piece of marketing and should certainly not be written as one.
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Ensure consistency
Business plans often have numerous contributors, as different stakeholders draft their own sections. So be sure to have a single writer read through the entire plan, to ensure that language, spelling and grammar is consistent throughout the document.
Use a simple and intuitive format
While it’s important to note that, in the case of a business proposal, substance certainly trumps form, it’s still important that your business plan is presented intuitively, in a way that is easy to read and reference.
There are a host of excellent template resources online, to make formatting your business plan a simple task. Our top picks include free services like:
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Consistency
This is made much easier when following a business proposal template, but always ensure that the way you present information is consistent throughout the business plan. Perhaps you make a claim in a heading’s subtext, then present evidence to support your claim, then explain the relevance of your claim to your business. Regardless, do your best to use the same formula consistently throughout the document. This will greatly improve its readability and provide easy reference points for the reader to find specific information in a hurry.
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Focus on information, not design
Your business plan is not the place to showcase design or typographical skills. Use a single font throughout and use italics and bold only to emphasise or to show different sections. When data is best presented graphically, ensure that graphs or diagrams are as simple as possible. If a graph requires an explanation to be understood, redesign it or opt to write out the data instead.
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Scrap the gimmicks
Gimmicks will not make your business seem more dynamic or strategic – quite the contrary in fact. Instead, ensure that your business plan looks good printed and in digital formats, is small enough to be emailed with ease and looks clean and professional.
Consider the reader
It is common practice for a startup to have several versions of the same business plan. Of course the figures and financial predictions will be consistent across all versions, but the emphasis on certain sections may be different depending on the reader it is intended for.
A plan designed for banks or potential financiers will naturally emphasise the financial and timeline aspects of the business plan whereas a version for a potential partner might focus more on the philosophy of the business, or the impact that the product or service could have on the lives of consumers.
Say nothing you cannot prove
This warrants its own section as it’s such a common mistake. Most likely because it’s such an easy mistake to make, and because the temptation to make unsubstantiated claims is so strong when writing your business plan.
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If you can’t prove it, don’t say it
If you do not have independent evidence to support a claim or observation, your business plan is better off without that information. Any investor or bank will expect you to justify your claims, so there really is no point including unsubstantiated information.
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Make conservative financial predictions
Always make predictions that are a little below what you are able to justify with evidence. Making unrealistic predictions immediately makes your business plan appear amateurish and you’re better off being asked to push numbers up, than to reduce them.
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The same applies to timeframes
Use real-world examples and evidence to estimate and justify your timeframes. Just like your financial predictions, it’s better to predict that jobs will take longer to complete, than making unrealistic claims that cannot be justified. Furthermore, when you encounter the inevitable delays and hold ups that are a part of life as a startup, you won’t be in a position where you have to explain why progress is behind schedule to investors and stakeholders. A realistic business proposal is far more appealing than an overly optimistic one.
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