Writing Tutorials

How to write a business plan

By Gerry Richmond

This site has been reproduced with the kind permission of Gerry Richmond. His original site can be found at www.business-plan-help.com

Business plan writing tips

Here are my tips and examples of how to write your business plan so that it communicates your ideas clearly and simply.

Keep each section short

Keep the business plan short. Whatever the length, your main aim is to write ‘tightly’ keeping to the relevant facts. Keep more detailed and non-essential information out of your plan or relegate it to an attachment.

Use Quantifiable Information

In each section, back up your assertions with solid facts. Even if you are a new venture and cannot give specific figures on the performance of your business, quote figures for the industry or your competitors. These real figures carry more weight than your assumed projections and give more reality to your plan.

Keep to the essential specific information

Your readers want the key, specific information to understand your business plan. Imagine your reader going over your plan with a highlight pen. Typically, the reader would only highlight the essential information. Write keeping to the key information you expect the reader to highlight and you will avoid straying into general or irrelevant information.

For example, if you are raising finance to fund a $8 million marketing campaign where 90% will go on magazine advertising, you must give specific details. As this is central to any investment decision, readers will want to know for each publication:

• Cost of advertising and audited circulation.
• Timetable for placing advertisements.
• Expected sales generated from each publication.
• Alternative strategy if sales do not happen.

non-specific

The sports shoe market has grown significantly over the past few years and so offers opportunities to companies that are prepared to advertise heavily in the industry trade press and life-style magazines. By utilizing these opportunities of direct advertising, there’s a unique marketing potential to expand our company’s current market position.

 

 

 

specific

By spending $1.1 million in single-page advertisements in the monthly trade publications in Shoe Supplier and Footwear Trader over the next two years will build up our retailer base by 10% and lead to an extra $2.2 million in revenue.

We plan to spend another $3.1 million over three years advertising our direct Internet sales service in three lifestyle magazines:

- Fitness Today (circulation 800,000) and
- Health and Fitness (circulation 920,000) and
- Workout Now (circulation 450,000).

Based on two months’ trial advertisements in March and April this year, we can expect to increase our yearly $8.1 million Internet sales to $10.9 million in the first year and to $12.3 million in the second year. With another $500,000 advertising budget in following years paid out of increased revenue, we expect keep revenue growing at 6% a year.

 

 

 

 

 

Use a Clear Writing Style and Good Presentation

No one will bother with your plan if it’s hard work to read or work through because it’s poorly written or badly presented.

Writing Your Business Plan in Plain English

Write in plain English. Make sure you avoid technical jargon, abbreviations and acronyms. Explain any industry-specific terms. Use short sentences, active verbs and a conversational style. Keep your adjectives under control. Avoid generalizations and write up specific and quantifiable facts. Use bullets and lists. Cut wordy phrases and hopeful wishes and platitudes. Use your spell-checker and watch out for grammatical and punctuation slips.

Presenting Your Business Plan

Decide what information you are going to use. Place data in tables and use charts to show the key information you want to stress. Make sure everything you present, words, tables, charts, photographs and so on is easy to understand at a glance. Use plenty of white space, with generous margins. Bind the business plan with a strong and attractive cover.

Use Professional Editing Software

In my long time as a business consultant I saw so many great business ideas hidden away and concealed behind terrible jargonistic and excess word use. Businesses would come to me to improve their business plans for prospective investors, but all they needed was someone to trim their documents of excess words, simplify their writing style, and turn it into clear and concise English. In these cases I always recommended that they use a great piece of writers editing software produced by Editor Software called StyleWriter

Considering it is used by organizations such as PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the Halifax Bank of Scotland it is ideal for editing your business plan before you show it to prospective investors or banks.

Besides clarifying your business plan, it will also teach you to write in the style of top authors and journalists by checking every document for thousands of style and English usage faults.

We all know good writing transfers ideas and information from the writer to the reader clearly and concisely. StyleWriter encourages the clearest style so your reader concentrates and acts on your message rather than struggling to understand what you want to say. With something as crucial as a business plan, you can't afford to go wrong.

Also, there is no waiting, you can download a copy of StyleWriter today and start using it immediately. Click here to find out how StyleWriter can help you write a successful business plan

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