People often ask “What makes a good business plan?” Or, “How do I make my plan attractive to lenders and investors?”.
The simple answer is that lenders and investors (I’ll call them “readers” from here on out) are looking for “good deals”. A “good deal” is one that offers the reader a reasonable rate of return for the risk assumed. The complete answer is that you should write a plan that a reader will want to read and then get it to reader(s) who are looking for your type of project and levels of risk and return. This article deals with the first part of the equation – how to write a business plan that readers will want to read.
Readers want plans that clearly, accurately and completely allow them to make an initial determination about the project. Here are the steps needed to write that plan:
To borrow from the real estate industry, the three most important things about a business plan are research, research and research. While other things are important (even critical), ultimately your plan will live or die on the quality and completeness of your information. For that matter, you’re about to risk your time and financial future on a project – how much information do you want to have? Step one:
1. Become expert in your project. Learn everything possible about:
a. The customers to whom you will sell (your market).
b. The competition.
c. The actual costs of operating your business (get quotes).
d. The actual results of similar projects.
e. Your industry.
f. The project’s physical location(s) and it’s impact (if any) on the project.
g. The people who will be key to the project.
If you’ve followed the above, you’ve now got a mound of research – sticky notes, web pages, reports, quotes, etc., etc. But, what does it all mean? Step two:
2. Analyze. (Hopefully) when you first got the idea for your project there was a sense of excitement and a feeling that “this is a sure winner”. Now is the time to see if your feelings were well founded. With a critical eye, do a “SWOT” (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis on your project. Determine what you are able to do to capitalize on the S and O and minimize the W and T.
Steps one and two may have changed somewhat your “sure winner” feelings – which is good. (If not, you either have hit upon the next “sliced bread” or you need to redo the preceding steps). Presuming that your research and analysis shows a worthwhile use of your time and money (and that of your readers) move to step three:
3. Forecast. This is where the “rubber meets the road”. Using your research and analysis you will now tell your readers that “this is what will happen to the money”. You’ll do it with accounting forecasts called “pro forma” statements. Provide either three or five years of statements with (generally) the first year done monthly, the second and third done quarterly and (if included) the last two years done annually. In all events, include:
a. Operating statements.
b. Cash flow forecasts.
c. Balance sheets.
Optionally include:
d. Various ratios (loan to value, debt service coverage, etc.)
In addition to the above, you should usually include a “Source and Use of Funds” showing where the source of the initial capital and on what it will be spent.
By this point you’re either sure you have a winner (differing from “a sure winner” in that you recognize the obstacles but are prepared to work through them) or you are going back to the drawing board to rethink your project. If you “have a winner”, step four is:
4. Write the plan. Obviously, you need to be able to use good grammar and spelling. You should be clear, concise and complete. Fill your plan with compelling facts gleaned from your research. Do not avoid the W and T from your SWOT analysis, rather, describe in detail how you will deal with them. Avoid platitudes and your own opinions – everyone knows that you like the idea, readers need facts to determine if they like it. Try to keep your answers as short as possible while still giving complete information. With the exception of the Executive Summary, keep your answers somewhat dry and factual – “short, sweet and to the point”.
The Executive Summary, on the other hand, is where you “sell the sizzle”. It is here that you make the claim that yours is a dynamic project that deserves full consideration. You need to compel your reader to read your plan and tell them why you are excited about the project.
There are likely as many ways to compile a business plan as there are authors of them. A sample outline is at http://www.fundableplans.com/sample_business_plan.pdf . (It requires Adobe Reader to view and includes our logo which is not included in our plans.) You will want to attach to your plan copies of documents referenced in it and historical data on the business (if it is not a startup).
You’ve now done the lions share of the work leaving only step five:
5. Review and revise. The review should be first by the author(s) and then by trusted advisors – the more people that you can get to review your plan the more likely you are to find any problems before they are found by a reader.
Follow the preceding steps and you will have a business plan that will get read and, hopefully, funded.
Dave Miller
http://www.articlesbase.com/strategic-planning-articles/how-to-write-a-business-plan-in-five-steps-113513.html
Could you please check my writing?
Hi:) I have already completed my coursework and i just need someone to correct my grammar mistakes. Could you be so kind and help me? I need to finish it ASAP
Strategies for raising achievement
The team leader use a selection of strategies and approaches for rising achievements. These include:
•encouraging the team members to getting know about them as individuals.
• Being a good role model and having the ability to do most or all of the team jobs if it is required
• helping to achieve targets and keep on schedule
• taking part in agreeing, setting targets and objectives
•making sure that the reward system is adequate to the effort put to achieve objectives
•rotating work within the team to keep members of the team motivated and interested.
•identifying the development which is required for the team members
•Finding out factors which are holding back achievements and making sure that they can be fixed
Planning
Managers play very important role in the team in completing team objectives. Teams are on the front line troops that enable managers to achieve business objectives. Each plan shows the various steps and activities that are required to achieve objectives. At top level within business there will be a plan set in time period of three to five years. Good plan helps team members to know how their effort contribute to the achievement and where they are going.
Scheduling of work
A schedule is an action plan setting out how tasks and all duties are located in time. Supervisors play an important role in monitoring this because if the business sticks to the schedule everything would be run smoothly and would be done on time. Form time to time the supervisors may need to innervate, when something goes wrong. For example the team responsible for displaying goods in supermarkets may have special schedule for setting out how to displays products and in what localizations.
Strategies for raising achievement (underline)
The team leader must use a selection of strategies and approaches for helping to raise achievements. These include:
• Encouraging the team members and getting to know them as individuals.
• Being a good role model and having the ability to do most or all of the team jobs if it is required.
• Helping to achieve targets and keep on schedule.
• Taking part in agreeing, setting targets and objectives.
• Making sure that the reward system is adequate to the effort put in to achieve objectives.
• Rotating work within the team, to keep members of the team motivated and interested.
• Identifying the development which is required for the team members.
• Finding out factors which are holding back achievements, and making sure that they can be fixed
Planning (underline)
Managers play very important roles in completing team objectives. Teams are on the frontline troops that enable managers to achieve business objectives. Each plan shows the various steps and activities that are required to achieve objectives. At top level within business there will be a plan set in time period of three to five years. Good plan helps team members to know how their effort contribute to the achievement and where they are going.
Scheduling of work (Underline)
A schedule is an action plan setting out how tasks and all duties are located in time. Supervisors play an important role in monitoring this because if the business sticks to the schedule, everything would be run smoothly and done on time. From time to time, the supervisors may need to intervene when something goes wrong. For example, the team responsible for displaying goods in supermarkets may have special schedule for setting out how to displays products and in what localizations.
References :
I did the first part
try reading your text out loud and you will notice the parts that are too complicated of that don’t make sense.
It is better to say something simple and correct than fancy and wrong.
Strategies for improving success rate
The team leaders use a selection of strategies and approaches to encourage higher achievements
These include:
•encouraging the team members to get to know them as individuals.
References :
Strategies for raising achievement
The team leader will use a selection of strategies and approaches for raising achievements. These include:
•encouraging the team members to know one another as individuals.
• being a good role model and having the ability to do most or all of the team jobs as required
• helping to achieve targets and keep on schedule
• taking part in consensus, setting targets and objectives
•making sure that the reward system is adequate to the effort put to achieve objectives
•rotating work within the team to keep members of the team motivated and interested.
•identifying the development required for the team members
•Finding factors which are delaying achievements and repairing them
Planning
Managers play a very important role in the team by facilitating the completion of team objectives. Teams are on the front line;they are the troops that enable managers to achieve business objectives. Each plan shows the various steps and activities required to achieve objectives. At the top level within business there is a plan set in a time period of three to five years. Good planning helps team members know how their effort contributes to the achievement of goals and map out the objectives.
Scheduling of work
A schedule is an action plan determining where tasks and duties are located in time. Supervisors play an important role in monitoring this as when a business sticks to the schedule everything will run more smoothly and objectives would be met on time. From time to time the supervisors may need to innovate, when something goes wrong. For example the team responsible for displaying goods in supermarkets may have a special schedule for locating and setting out displays.
References :
Grammar god
here are corrections
line 2 should be: The team leader uses
•encouraging the team members to get to know about them as individuals.
•making sure that the reward system is adequate to the effort put to achieving objectives
•identifying the development which is required of (or from)
the team members
Managers play a very important role
or Managers play very important roles
Teams are on the front line troops that enable managers to achieve business objectives.-??
At top level, within business, there will be a plan set in a time period of three to five years.
A good plan helps team members
sticks to the schedule,
From time to time the supervisors may need to innervate when something goes wrong.
For example,
may have a special schedule
References :
"team leader use(S)"
Make bullet points all start with caps or all start with lower case but don’t mix & match
"managers play (A) very important role in the team (AND) in completing team objectives"
"teams are (delete ‘on’) the front line troops"
"At the top level of business management, a long term plan establishes goals three to five years in advance."
Sorry, I’m out of time and have to run now… Generally, you are sort of spitting out factoids here but that’s okay as long as you complete the assignment. In all work of this nature, open your spell checker settings screen and turn every detect function ON including all style and grammar, then rewrite every sentence until all the error highlights go away. You still have to check the sentence yourself and verify coherence but your spell checker offers helpful guidance.
References :