Business Plan Example

With the pressures of the modern business increasing and with banks not lending as freely as they once were the demands of having a professional business plan have only increased. Having such a plan will not only greatly improve your chances of success with your bank but also with your own business over the longer term.

This business plan example are extracts from our range of products so if you like what you see why not browse through the range of ready-made plans that are available to download online.

The Contents Required in Any Plan

The structure laid out below is what you should have as a minimum in your plan. Just be careful not to go overboard with what you write. Anyone that is handed your plan probably doesn't have any idea about you or your business idea so you need to be concise and get to the point very quickly.

For most new businesses around 20 pages is more than enough to tell the journey of how you are going to get started and reach the profit objectives you have. If you require a bank loan then you'll also need to include how you are going to pay this back and over what time period. This is often missed out of a plan where there is a big hole in the cash flow forecast which bank managers often reject plans for.

The Basic Structure

These are the main headings that are required. For the narrative probably just one page of A4 for each section is sufficient and if you have additional information you want to add then place these in an appendix at the back of the document.

• The executive summary - a summary of the plan
• External analysis - economic, competitor and the market with the latest market research and trends
• Internal analysis - information about your business, products, costs and profit margins
• SWOT analysis - the summary of the preceding two sections
• Sales and marketing - the exact plans you have for your sale team and marketing activities you will undertake
• Staff and management team - most businesses are about the people and you'll need to add in biographies of the key players
• Financial statements - detailed for the first 12 months then yearly for years 1 and 2

You should write the executive summary at the end once all other elements are in place. The most detail you should add is for your first 12 months as these are the most important. If you can't succeed in the first year then it's unlikely that years 2 and 3 really matter so put most attention into the first year.

The Important Elements

For most banks they will read the executive summary first and then look in detail at your numbers. They will probably have most questions about your finances so make sure they stand up to scrutiny. If you need someone to help you then let them prepare them but also take them along to any meetings you may have.