Business Plan Overview
There is so much more to a business plan than the right template or format. A template is nothing more than an outline put together by those who understand what is needed in a business plan and they provide the headings and few sentences on each section. It is actually the content itself that is most important along with understanding what the bank, grant provider, or investor is looking for in a business plan. Many entrepreneurs are able to articulate the overall premise of their business to you when asked, but many have a problem when asked to put pen to paper and provide the detail that is needed in a business plan, especially the information required to obtain financing.
What A Business Owner Needs to Understand
A business is so much more than just an idea or selling a product or service and many times all of the pieces of the business have not been thought through completely. This sometimes is uncovered if a business plan is done correctly. In many cases, this has to do with the business owner being great or having knowledge of certain aspects of their business, but not always having the expertise or insight into others that could be just as important. An entrepreneur that is a sales/marketing expert may know how to market and sell a product but may not understand the operational side of the business and what is required to retain an existing customer, as their focus is new customers. An entrepreneur who is an engineer has expertise in the product he/she developed but may not have a clear understanding of what it will take to market and sell the product. The saying "build it and they will come" is not true. The ultimate key to success is building the right team with the expertise required across the board, as one individual cannot be an expert at all aspects of their business.
Expectations of the Lender or Investor
The same is true when putting together a business plan, especially for financing. Your banker or investor is looking at the overall picture of your business and whether you have the right pieces in place to warrant loaning your business money or making an investment. What many businesses do not understand is that a poorly written or not well articulated business plan can itself cause you to be turned down. Most businesses do not understand the importance of requirements of a business plan until this happens. This is not to say that if you do not have a viable business overall and have a well-written plan, you will get money. Everything has to make sense. For example: If you say you have 2 sales reps and the sales cycle is 6 months with an average sale being forty thousand and you say you are going to make revenues of a half of million in your first year – it is easy for anyone ready to see this is not possible.
We have found that is sometimes a lack of understanding of what the bank or an investor is looking for in your business plan that causes the greatest confusion. In general, they want to see that you have a grasp and a handle on all of the component areas of your business and that your financials make sense.
They need to feel comfortable that you have the background and experience in your business area, and this is particularly the case in start-ups.
They want to see that you have staffed or plan to staff appropriately for areas where you lack expertise.
They usually want to see that you have invested in your own business and some grants and loans from the government require matching of funds.
They need to know that your business and/or you personally have good credit.
They want to see a plan that provides a complete assessment of your business in the following areas: Financial, Human Resources/Management, Sales, Marketing, and Operations. If you are a technology or manufacturing company, you will probably need to break out Engineering & Manufacturing separately.
Usually, when a business is told they need a business plan, they begin their search online for the “free” template. The question that you need to ask yourself is whether the one you found is relevant to your particular business and whether that template covers all the relevant information needed for your business as most are very general. Are you able to fill in all of the sections thoroughly about your business?
The marketing section will cover market size, target market, SWOT analysis, Marketing Plan, Branding and the list goes on. Making up a mission and vision statement for a plan on the fly is not the way to go just to fill in the blank.
Do you understand and are you able to articulate all of those areas about your business to show the growth you are predicting in your financials? The financial side will want details on your forecasts, gross margins, assets, costing and such over the next 3-5 years.
If you are a start-up business and do not have existing financials with a run-rate, are you able to give a fair financial assessment of this? The financials you provide need to make sense and be able to show when you will return a profit for your particular business, not the imaginary company in the template.
If you are asking a lender or investor to give you five hundred thousand dollars, are you going to decide to write your first business plan utilizing a free template without understanding whether it is complete or suitable for your business? Once you are turned down, you are now back to the drawing board. You can go to another lender or investor, but now your credit rating is going to suffer and the question to ask yourself is how cost-effective was scrimping on your business plan.
What Is a Proper Business Plan?
A business plan is the “cookbook” for your business to follow in order to achieve success and if you look at it this way versus a quick document to get financing – you will have a great chance of success. If you spend the time creating a plan for your business to follow for the next 3-5 years and modify as your business changes or you try different tactics and determine new paths, you have a guide to follow. Though a living breathing document, it truly is not much work involved and probably only needs to be looked at a couple of times a year. A business plan is the implementation plan of your business strategy. If you do not have a defined business strategy, it will be hard to write a business plan.
If you are not sure what information you need or what you might not know about your business today to provide someone who is going assess your business, then consider spending a few dollars to do it right the first time and increase your chances of success. This is not only true with an investor or lender, but also long term in running and growing your business. If you uncover a couple of holes now and fix them now before applying for future financing, think how much more cost-effective that would be. The key is not to wait to do a business plan when you are under the gun and are doing it just for financing.
Summary
Before you pay someone to have your business plan professionally developed, ask yourself whether you are sure you have all of the information they will required about your business. If you already have a current business plan, you might want to get a business plan assessment especially if your business has changed since it was first written or you are considering applying for financing and want to make sure everything is covered.
If you are thinking about writing the plan yourself, we have developed a 150-page e-book which provides detail on how to write the plan, what information is required and what questions you will have to answer in each section. It includes templates for your to include in your plan for charts and tables along with an example business. There is a detailed glossary which includes detailed definitions and calculations with examples. To find out more, visit https://www.rkfischer.com/business-plan-ebook. We also write business plans for financing.