How to Write a Business Plan of Success

If you want to know how to write a business plan of success — which guarantees the anticipated positive results — you have to pay equally attention to content and formatting.

This article is not a miracle recipe for developing the best possible business plan imaginable. This depends on your own ability to present all aspects of your business realistically, to stress your strong points and to anticipate solutions to specific problems which might arise.

Here we suggest the conditions to be fulfilled in a business plan in order to make it more profitable, approachable, convincing and easier to implement. Then we will briefly survey some aspects of a business plan we would not recommend.

Here is what you have to keep in mind whenever you are trying to find answers to the well-known “beginning questions” as “How to write a business plan, actually?”

Dos

• Keep it simple. A business plan should be easy to grasp. It should communicate its content in a throughly practical manner.
• Be specific. Draw up concrete objectives. Specify each activity with a completion date. Assign responsibilities.
• Keep it realistic. When you set out sales goals, milestones, capital requirements and profits, err on the conservative side.
• Make it complete. A good business plan includes all the elements needed.
• Emphasise the uniqueness of the products and services you are offering. Use the “Unique Selling Proposition” (USP).
• Specify the market you wish to target. Show that you are aware of the competition.
• Use straightforward language, not too technical. Vary the format to prevent your reading falling asleep.
• Complete the financial data as you proceed through the plan. In this way keep the figures strictly linked to the business plan. Stay within realistic limits.
• Specify each implementation technique for each part of the strategy thoroughly. To optimize implementation, designate a section for review and corrections.
• Submit your plan to experts for evaluation before sending it further on.
• Use software templates to make your job easier.

Don'ts

• Avoid over-optimistic sales and costs estimates.
• Do not ignore the weaker aspects of your plan and the possible risks to your business.
• Include a monthly cashflow analysis for each year.
• Avoid overloading yourself with too many tasks. Hire specialists to help you improve the overall quality of the text.
• Do not focus excessively on the future. Always ground your estimations on solid analysis.
• Always relate the projected investment to concrete plans for business growth.
• Spelling matters. So does formatting. If you cannot spell properly, you undermine the selling potential an believability of your plan. Poor formatting will lead to boredom.
• Do not overload your business plan with too many details and technicalities. Keep it short. Total length should be no more than 50 pages.