How to Write the Perfect Business Plan in 2022
July 4, 2022
Table of Contents
A solid business plan is essential for any business. It can help gain investment, set concrete goals and establish guidelines to steer and keep a business on track.
If you are considering starting your own business or already have one, you should definitely consider writing a plan.
This article will explain
- what a business plan is
- why you need one
- what you should put in it
You can also find top tips on how to write an effective business plan.
What is a business plan?
It is a written document that explains in great detail how a company — most often startups, but also small businesses — determines its objectives and what strategy it will use to reach its goals.
It establishes guidelines for the company from different standpoints. Usually, plans include information about sales and marketing and financial forecasts. It is one of the most important business processes.
It is a vital document used to hopefully gain investment before the company has actually established a proper track record of success. It is also a great help for companies when it comes to monitoring their progress and performance.
They are very useful for newly-founded companies. However, it is important for every business, regardless of when it was founded or how big it is, to have one.
The plan should regularly be reassessed and updated in order to evaluate whether specific targets have been met or need to be modified. It is not uncommon for long-established businesses to develop a new business plan when they choose to change directions and aim for something new.
Why do entrepreneurs need one?
There are many reasons why it is worth creating a business plan.
A business plan will help you explain what your business is to others
- You will need a business plan if you are looking to find investments from either private parties or banks.
- A strong, well-built plan can help draw new senior management or commercial partners to your business.
- Your plan should be written with your target audience in mind. For example, you might write it with the aim of ‘selling’ your business to investors or bank managers.
- For the above reason, you should conduct marketing research.
- You should always ask the intended audience. You can ask whether there are any points of the plan which you might need to develop. Or whether there is a particular template you should follow.
A business plan can help you put into focus your current business activities
- Your business plan will help you set out a clear path and goals for your business over the next few years.
- A crucial part of writing a plan is setting clearly defined goals and how you will achieve these.
- Developing your business plan will help you visualise and elaborate your business ideas more clearly.
- You will be able to identify what matters and what doesn’t. This will save precious time.
- Having your business plan written down makes it a lot easier to identify any gaps. It will also show where you might need to put in more effort.
- Once your business plan is written down, you will be able to compare your company’s performance to it.
- It is important to have your team involved in the whole business plan writing process. In this way, you will develop and boost their commitment to the company.
Top tips for writing a business plan
Here is a list of tips that you will need to know in order to write a convincing business plan.
Know your customer base and market
In order to convince banks and potential investors that your business plan is viable, you should be able to prove that there is a market for the products or services you are offering.
You will also need to demonstrate that you have thought through how you stand out from the competition and how you will attract a customer base.
Ways to find this information could include
- conducting surveys
- researching industry reports
- asking potential customers what their thoughts are
Be specific: clear examples and strong evidence
You will have a lot more impact if you are able to give hard facts to back up your claims. This might mean providing:
- statistics
- a quote from a customer
- or examples of other similar businesses
You don’t necessarily have to provide loads of details. Yet, examples and evidence will make your potential investors feel a lot more confident that your business is a viable investment.
Keep in mind your business’s core objective
Your business plan will set out clear goals and a strategy to achieve these. This means your business objectives should be at the very core of your plan.
Keep in mind the risks and the solutions
There are always risks attached to doing business. So don’t be scared of highlighting what the risks are for your business within your business plan.
The key is to show that you are conscious of these and that you have a clear strategy to minimise or overcome these risks. This will put any potential investors more at ease.
Be concise and to the point
A bank or potential investor will not be interested in knowing every single detail of how your company operates.
What they are interested in is having sufficient information to build a clear picture of your business and have confidence that there is a clear plan set up.
Using graphs, tables, bullet points and subheadings will help you present your content in a clear and concise way.
Focus on your presentation
First impressions matter a lot. Your business plan should be clearly laid out and structured. There is no need to be a professional designer to produce a professional-looking business plan.
The most important thing is to make sure there are no grammatical or spelling mistakes. Have another person read over your business plan once you have finished, as they might spot the mistakes you missed.
Important elements for business plans
Business plans will generally vary in length and will differ greatly from one company to another.
However, there are some general rules and elements which appear in most business plans. For instance, the information provided should not be more than 15-20 pages long.
You might have some documents that are vital to your plan but that are very lengthy. In this case, these documents should be included in an appendix, and only referenced in the main plan.
Here is a list of elements that you will find in most business plans.
Executive summary
The executive summary gives an overview of the business and presents the mission statement. It will also include information about the business’:
- leadership
- employees
- location
- operations
It gives a presentation of your business and its mid and long-term goals.
Products and services
In the products and services section, there will be a description of the products and services offered by the business. There should also be additional information such as product lifespan, benefits to the customer, and pricing.
This section can also feature details about manufacturing processes, specific patents owned by the business, or proprietary technology.
R&D information will also be included in this section of the business plan if there is any.
Market analysis
A business should always have a good understanding of the industry in which it is, as well as the market it wishes to target.
The market analysis section will put forward who the different competitors are and how this influences the industry. it should also highlight the weaknesses and strengths of the business.
The market analysis outlines what kind of consumer demand there is for the goods and services offered by the business. And how challenging they think it will be to build a market share in that industry.
Marketing strategy
The marketing strategy section explains how the business plans to attract and maintain its client base. It shows how it plans on approaching and getting through to the customers as well.
Clear distribution channels will be put forward. Advertising campaigns and marketing plans will be laid out. The marketing strategy section will also include information on how these campaigns will be put into place.
Financial planning
To appeal to the people reading the business plan, the company will need to add a section about the business’s financial projections and plan for the future.
Financial information such as balance sheets and financial statements might also be present in this section for companies that have been around for a while.
Startups and younger businesses will include estimates and targets for the upcoming years instead. Start-up loans application often include a cash flow forecast in this part.
Budget
Another crucial section is the budget, which any good company should have set up.
This will present business costs such as
- manufacturing
- staffing
- production
- development
- and anything else relating to company expenses
When should you start writing yours?
An important issue with business plans is that businesspeople often get encumbered and stuck wiring them. The process can often drag on and be viewed and reviewed unnecessarily.
When the process drags on for a year or even more, this can have hugely negative consequences for a business.
This time could cost them crucial opportunities to enter a market or gain funding from investors. Founders also fall into the trap of attempting to cram their business plan into a pitch deck, which might not actually get them the result they were looking for.
Here are a few statistics put forward by the Harvard Business Review:
- The most successful entrepreneurs were those that wrote their plan between 6-12 months after deciding to start a business. Stating that this increased the probability of venture viability success by 8%.
- Chances of success rose by 12% for those that spent no longer than 3 months on their plan. With any longer proving futile.
- Startups’ chances of venture viability rose by 27% if the plan was created in the sweet spot when founders were talking to customers and preparing marketing.
What business plan format should you pick?
Each business plan will be different and there is no one right way to write one. The most important thing when writing a business plan is that it should meet your needs.
There are two general categories in which business plans will most often fall: the traditional or the lean startup.
It is a lot more common to see traditional business plans. These use a standard structure and generally contain more detailed information in each section. They generally take more work at the beginning and are generally longer.
A traditional plan format will be better suited for you if you:
- are very detail-oriented
- want a comprehensive plan
- or plan to request financing from traditional sources
It is less common to come across lead startup business plans. They still follow a standard structure but contain much shorter and concisely summarised information. They present only the most important facts and elements of the plan.
They generally take a lot less time to make and can fit onto a single page.
A lean startup format might be better suited to your needs if:
- you are looking to present or start your business quickly
- your business is relatively simple
- or you plan to regularly change and refine your business plan
Business plan templates
When writing your business plan, it can be very helpful to get an idea of how other people have written theirs as well as look at a few templates.
Bplans is an online platform that offers a huge range of free business plan templates and sample business plans.
They also provide useful guides and tools to help entrepreneurs manage their businesses more effectively.
They offer:
- interactive tools and calculators
- concrete advice on planning
- regular advice about how to grow your business
If you are interested, you can find a whole range of samples on their website for free. You will find lots of business plan categories; from “Accounting, Insurance & Compliance” to “Food & Beverage”.
How we can help startups, SMEs and entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, creating a business plan is one of your concerns. Depending on your industry, there could be other issues.
For instance, if you want to deepen business plans, you can find an article about business continuity planning.
Other articles you might be interested in are:
You can find many other articles on diverse topics.
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