From the start, a new business owner gets to know that having a business plan is important when dealing with banking personnel or potential investors. A business plan is also used by business owners and employees to make business decisions and to measure your company’s success. This document, at the least, should outline your company’s goals, and projected expenses, as well as marketing plans and exit strategy. Perhaps with these objectives in mind, many business owners want to know the easier way how to write business plan.
Here are some techniques.
a. Use a business plan template which has blank areas in which you can fill in the relevant information regarding your own business. Although a “fill in the blanks” approach is not a really a serious way to write a plan and will not help in securing financing or ensure the business’ success, think of templates as a good point to start writing your plan for business.
b. Business plan outlines are also a good place to start. Generic business outlines can be found in books or on the Internet, but the outline or the business plan’s basic structure should be changed to suit the type of your business.
c. Some beginning business owners use software like Business Plan Pro. It has sample of templates which can be used to help in writing your own business plan.
Here are some guidelines on how to write business plan. It should have:
1. An executive summary that outlines the company’s goals and objectives – Lending institutions always look for a business plan’s executive summary, which should always come at the beginning. It is important to emphasize the viability of your proposed business to persuade institutions to give you a loan. The executive summary can also be used as a way to communicate your ideas to employees and potential customers to get their support.
2. A short account of the company’s beginnings – Give a clear explanation on how the company was created and how the idea to start the business came about.
3. The proposed product or service you will offer – It is important that you discuss how the service or product is different from those already available in the market. Emphasize the market potential of your offering to convince employees and potential investors. Knowing the market potential usually requires research to know market demand but you can usually get basic information on this in the Internet.
4. A clear marketing strategy – If the business owner already has a good reputation, he or she could rely on word-of-mouth but most beginners should think of a plan to market or advertise on television, in print, or on the Internet. You need to include in this section your projected marketing expenses.
5. An exit strategy – List the benchmarks that will make you decide when to stop the company’s operations. These benchmarks could be based on revenue growth or the consensus among top management officers.
Knowing how to write business plan should not add to the pressures of starting a business. Good thing there are many resources beginning business owners can use for this.