Make Your Business Plan Sparkle
In recent months, my company
BookMark Online has created business plans for the new Over-the-Rhine clothier
4 U Urban Fashion Boutique located on 12th Street, in addition to other businesses like Sorella which is scheduled to open in West Chester and Matrix Performance, which provides fitness training in Northern Kentucky.
Business plans have long been a catalyst for obtaining startup capital for new and small businesses. And there is no doubt that the Greater Cincinnati area entrepreneurs are capitalizing on well sculpted business plans to secure the appropriate amount of financing in addition to maintaining a healthy business model.
But just as with resumes, business plans need to capture the attention of their reviewers. Often time, the entire plan is never read and there have been occasions when the fate of a business is dependent on the few moments that reviewer's eyes go over your plan.
This being said, you should never skimp on the quality of your small business plan, but there are some areas of the plan which should be tweaked to spark interest and hold the attention of its reviewer.
Don't Mess with the Exec's:
The Executive Summary is the bread and butter of your business plan. Business plans are fashioned with upwards to 10 or 15 sections and your Executive Summary section should succinctly summarize all of those sections. Traditionally, this is the very first thing that a review will set their eyes on. If poorly written, this section and throw a major wrench into your entire operation.
Management Profile:Lenders not only want to see that your plan is solid, but they also want to make sure that those who are managing the business possess the know-how to make the business venture stay operating above water. Not only should the manager's experience and abilities be briefed in the Executive Summary, but they should be further exemplified in the Management section. Throwing in a resume or two could not hurt your cause either.
The Bottom Line:
Another important part of your plan is showing a viable sales projection and that those sales will sustain your business. Some would say that this should go without saying, I could not tell you the number of times that I have fixed resumes where the fact that their monthly sales were less than then monthly expenditures, which had gone unnoticed by the entrepreneur. Keep your business plan interesting while stating the correct facts.