First Person: Writing a Killer Business Plan

Some business plans are boring, lengthy and very uninspiring. Yet some business plans can be captivating, interesting and leave people wanting more. So how do you go about creating a killer business plan? Here are just a few top tips and pointers I have learned over the years.

Remember it is quality not quantity.

Banks and potential investors would rather read a 2 or 3 page business plan that is factual, well put together and informative than a 10 page business plan that waffles on.

Make your executive summary sell you and your business.

A lot of people give up when writing a summary but this is your chance to tell the world what you are going to do, why and how.

Consider hiring someone to write the business plan for you.

For example, I know business people who have known what they want to put in their business plan, but they did not know where to start.

Conduct your own research and include this in your business plan.

Conduct primary research to catch and keep your readers attention.

Spell-check, edit and reword your business plan so it gets the right reaction every time.

Get others to read it for you and tweak it until you have a successfully and professionally written killer business plan that is bound to get your results.

Make sure your plan covers where you are now, where you want to be and how you will get there.

I have seen many plans fail simply because the writer/business owner did not provide enough information.

And always provide information to back-up and support any claims you might be making within your plan.

Now we have covered how to make your business plan stand out, lets quickly go over what your killer business plan should include and cover:

The executive summary -- Should briefly sum up what your business plan is about, what it covers and what information it holds.

Your Marketing Plan -- Cover what marketing, advertising and promotion you will undertake, what it will cost and when it will all happen.

Your Business Profile -- This should provide background information on what your company offers, when it was formed.

The Opportunity -- Cover what your company does, what is has to offer, and where any opportunities may lie in your target market.

The Competition -- Who they are, what they are offering and where there weaknesses lie.

A financial summary/cash flow forecast/budget -- This should include all of your predicted profit and loss forecasts. Overheads and budgets.

More from this contributor:
How to create a marketing strategy
Top tips for creating a killer presentation
How to start a business