Overview

This chapter describes an approach to writing your draft business plan. It also outlines the elements of a comprehensive business plan that can be used as a template for starting your business plan.

Figure 7 – Initial Business Plan Draft (Illustration by Lee A. Swanson)

Effective Business Plans

Effective business plans

• Provide statements that are backed by evidence or data
• Include context and references with every table, figure, or illustration
• Include relevant, clear, concise tables and financial information, and exclude unnecessary material
• Present timelines for distinct purposes
• Use clear sections customized to the particular business or its environment rather than generic sections

Evidence-based claims strengthen your business plan.Providing context for tables and figures is critical.

Writing the Draft Business Plan

Although there are various ways to approach the task of writing a draft business plan, one effective approach is to do the following:

• Use the following sections of this chapter to prepare an outline for your business plan. You should use the headings feature in Word so that you can later automatically generate a table of contents
  • This will provide you with a template for the information needed for your plan.
• Insert the relevant parts of the written work produced during essential initial research into your new business plan template. You can do this in one of two ways:
  • You can copy and paste the results of your essential initial research into the sections of your business plan template where you believe that they can be used to support or justify the strategies and other decisions you will later describe in those sections. Of course, you can later move those parts of your environmental scan as needed as you develop your plan. In general, this strategy results in a stronger business plan.
  • Or you can insert the results from your societal-level and industry-level analyses in an Operating Environment section as listed in the outline below. As described below, the market-level analysis will probably always fit best within the Marketing Plan and the firm-level analysis might fit across all of the plans within the business plan.
    • Completing this step will give you the satisfaction of seeing some of your work so far taking shape in the form of a business plan.
    • Also, inserting the results from your environmental scan into the relevant sections of your plan should later provide you with the stimulus and support you will need to develop solid, realistic, evidence-based strategies and decisions for those sections.
• Incorporate your business model into your new business plan template. As there is no section in a business plan in which you specifically describe your business model, you will need to incorporate your business model elements into appropriate sections of your plan.
• Fill in as much relevant information as you can under as many of the headings on your business plan template as possible.
  • You will normally include both information that you got from particular sources and information based on an assumption you made (and that you might intend to replace later with more accurate information from valid sources).

Follow these practices as you develop your plan:

• Every time that you insert something into your business plan template that you got from a supplier’s catalogue, clearly indicate from where you got that information. For example, if you list the office equipment and furniture that you need along with their exact costs as taken from suppliers’ catalogue, clearly indicate from which catalogue(s) you got the information. Similarly, if you spoke to an industry expert who recommended that you manufacture your product in a particular way, clearly indicate who you spoke to and what their credentials are, if you got the person’s permission to do so.
  • When you do this, you help establish your credibility as a business plan writer, and your business plan’s credibility. It also might save you time later when you discover that you need to add a similar item along with its cost to your list.
  • Note: Do not reinvent the wheel by “inventing” your own method to reference your sources and do not use multiple methods. Use one (and only one) proper and well-established referencing method, like APA. This will improve the degree of professionalism of your plan.
• Every time that you insert something into your plan that did not come from a source, a best practice is to highlight that part of your plan, possibly by using a distinct font color. The objective will be to ultimately replace all of those assumptions with source-backed information. When you do so, change the font to its regular color so you can quickly and easily see what still needs to be sourced.
  • Note: if you are an expert source on something—maybe you are a construction expert that business plan readers will trust to do estimates on building costs—you should establish your credentials and clearly indicate when some of the information in your plan is based on your own expert knowledge.
  • When you flag your assumptions in this way, you can quickly and easily see what information needs to be replaced with sourced information before you finalize your business plan.
• Use the appropriate schedule in the spreadsheet templates to record estimated sales revenue for each month. You must base these sales projections on well-reasoned criteria and set them up in your spreadsheets using formulas so that if you need to change a criterion later, you can change a number in one cell or a limited number of cells rather than having to change all of them.
  • Projecting realistic sales can be difficult, but setting up a method for doing so early gives business plan writers a significant start toward completing their business plan. A well-developed sales model that takes advantage of the powers of electronic spreadsheets gives business plan writers the opportunity to relatively quickly and easily make necessary changes to their assumptions and overall estimates when needed.
• Use the spreadsheet templates by filling in all of the numbers you have in the various schedules. As you are doing in the written part of your plan, use a distinct font to flag numbers that are based on assumptions. When you have actual numbers, be certain that it is clear to a reader what sources you used to get those numbers.
  • When you use the schedules provided on the spreadsheet templates, and any others that you add, you will be well on your way to developing the financial component of your business plan.

Providing references strengthens the credibility of claims and makes the business plan stronger.

General Business Plan Format

Letter of Transmittal

A letter of transmittal is similar to the cover letter of a resume. The letter of transmittal should be tailored to the reader, clearly identifying the customized ask of the potential investor or lender. It should be short and succinct, delineating the ask (i.e. funding, specialized recruiting, purchasing a product or service, obtaining advice, etc.) within a few paragraphs. It should not summarize the business plan, as that is the job of the executive summary.

Title Page

• Includes nice, catchy, professional, appropriate graphics to make it appealing for targeted readers

Executive Summary

• Can be longer than normal executive summaries—up to three pages
• Written after remainder of plan is complete
• Includes information relevant to targeted readers as this is the place where they are most likely to form their first impressions of the business idea and decide whether they wish to read the rest of the plan

Table of Contents

List of Tables

• References every table, figure, and appendix within the text of the plan so the relevance of each of these elements is clear.

List of Figures

Introduction

• Indicates the purpose for the plan
• Appeals to targeted readers

Business Idea

• May include description of history behind the idea and the evolution of the business concept if relevant

Value Proposition

• Explains how your business idea solves a problem for your expected customers or otherwise should make them want to purchase your product or service instead of a competitor’s

Vision

• Outlines what you intend for the venture to be
• Inspires all members of the organization
• Helps stakeholders aspire to achieve greater things through the venture because of the general direction provided through the vision statement

After articulating a good vision, the business plan writer should consider what achieving the vision looks like. Many business plan writers write their vision and leave it at that. The problem with this approach is that they often then do not take the necessary steps to illustrate how the strategies they outline in their plan will move them toward achieving their vision. If they make this mistake, their strategies might indicate that they are fulfilling their current mission, but are not taking steps to move beyond that.

Vision statements should be clear with context throughout the business plan.  For example, if the goal is to be the premier business operating in that industry in Saskatchewan, does that mean you have one location and are considered the best at what you do it even though you only have a small corner of the market, or does it mean that you have many locations across the province and enjoy a large market share?

Vision statements should be clear with context throughout the business plan.

Mission

• Should be very brief—a few sentences or a short paragraph
• Indicates what your organization does and why it exists—may describe the business strategy and philosophy

Values

• Consists of five to ten short statements indicating the important values that will guide everything the business will do
• Outlines the personal commitments members of the organization must make, and what they should consider to be important
• Defines how people behave and interact with each other
• Should be reflected in all of the decisions outlined in the business plan, from hiring to promotions to location choices
• Helps the reader understand the type of culture and operating environment this business intends to develop

Major Goals

• Describes the major organizational goals
• Ensures each goal is
  • Specific, Measurable, Action oriented, Realistic, and Timely [SMART]
  • Realistic, Understandable, Measureable, Believable, and Achievable [RUMBA]
• Aligns with everything in plan
• Written, or re-written as the second last thing you do before finalizing your business plan by proofreading, polishing, and printing it (writing the Executive Summary is the final thing you should write)

SMART and RUMBA goals strengthen the business plan.

Operating Environment

Trend Analysis

• Usually includes an analysis of how the current and expected trends in the political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal (PESTEL) factors will impact the development of this business
  • However, consider whether this is the right place for this analysis: it may be better positioned, for example, in the Financial Plan section to provide context to the analysis of the critical success factors, or in the Marketing Plan to help the reader understand the basis for the sales projections.

Industry Analysis

• Includes an analysis of the industry in which this business will operate
• Typically applies the Five Forces Model (Porter, 1985)
  • As above, consider whether this is the right place for this analysis: it may be better placed, for example, in the Marketing Plan to enhance the competitor analysis, or in the Financial plan to provide context to the industry standard ratios in the Investment Analysis section.

Of course, your trend analysis will also include a market-level analysis (using a set of questions, like those listed in Chapter 2) and a firm-level analysis (using tools like a SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix, various forms of financial analyses, a founder fit analysis, and so on), but those analyses are usually best placed in other sections of your plan to support the strategies and decisions you present there. The market-level analysis will inevitably fit in the Marketing Plan section, but the firm-level analysis might be spread across some or all of the Operating Plan, Human Resources Plan, Marketing Plan, and Financial Plan sections.

Operations Plan

• Answers the following key questions :
  • What constraints are you operating under that will restrict your capacity to produce and sell your product?
    • Given these constraints, what is your operating capacity (in terms of production, sales, etc.)?
  • What is the work flow plan for your operation?
  • What work will your company do and what work will you outsource?

Operations Timeline

• Answers the following questions:
  • When will you make the preparations, such as registering the business name and purchasing equipment, to start the venture?
  • When will you begin operations and make your first sales?
  • When will other milestone events occur such as moving operations to a larger facility, offering a new product line, hiring new key employees, and beginning to sell products internationally?
  • Sometimes it is useful to include a graphical timeline showing when these milestone events have occurred and are expected to occur.

Completing the operation plans further adds to the overall business plan.

Business Structure and other Set-up Elements

• Indicates the legal structure your venture will take:
  • Sole Proprietorship
  • Partnership
  • Limited Partnership
  • Corporation
  • Cooperative

Note: Your financial statements, risk management strategy, and other elements of your plan are affected by the type of legal structure you choose for your business. For example, all partnerships should have a clear agreement outlining the duties, expectations, and compensation of all partners as well as the process of dissolution.  Spreadsheet templates are formatted for corporations and will need to be formatted for other forms of businesses.

• Describes your decisions related to the following:
  • Naming
  • Zoning, equipment prices, suppliers, etc.
  • Location
  • Leasing terms, leasehold improvements, signage, pay deposits, etc.
  • Getting business license, permits, etc.
  • Setting up banking arrangements
  • Setting up legal and accounting systems (or professionals)
  • Ordering equipment, locks and keys, furniture, etc.
  • Recruiting employees, setting up the payroll system and benefit programs, etc.
  • Training employees
  • Testing the products/services that will be offered
  • Testing the systems for supply, sales, delivery, and other functions
  • Creating graphics, logos, promotional methods, etc.
  • Ordering business cards, letter head, etc.
  • Setting up supplier agreements and outlining why those sellers are preferred
  • Buying inventory, insurance, etc.
  • Revising business plan
  • And many more things, including, when possible, attracting purchased orders in advance of start-up through personal selling (by the owner, a paid sales force, independent representatives, or by selling through brokers wholesalers, catalogue houses, retailers), a promotional campaign, or other means

Note: As part of your business set-up, you need to determine what kinds of control systems you should have in place, establish necessary relationships with suppliers prior to your start-up, and generally deal with a list of issues like those mentioned above.

 Start-up

• Answers the following questions:
  • What is required to start-up your business including the purchases and activities that must occur before you make your first sale?
  • When identifying capital requirements for start-up, a distinction should be made between fixed capital requirements and working capital requirements.

Fixed Capital Requirements

• Answers the following question:
  • What fixed assets, including equipment and machinery, must be purchased so your venture can conduct its business?
• May include a start-up budget showing the machinery, equipment, furnishings, renovations, and other capital expenditures required prior to operations commencing
  • May also show the financing required, often in the form of longer-term loans

Working Capital Requirements

• Answers the following question:
  • What money is needed to operate the business (separately from the money needed to purchase fixed assets) including the money needed to purchase inventory and pay initial expenses?
• May include a start-up budget showing the cash required to purchase starting inventories, recruit employees, conduct market research, acquire licenses, hire lawyers, and other operating expenditures required prior to starting operations
  • May also show the financing required. Working capital is usually financed with operating loans, trade credit, credit card debt, or other forms of shorter-term loans

Risk Management Strategies

• Includes descriptions of the organization’s risk exposure
  • Enterprise – liability exposure for things like when someone accuses your employees or products you sell of injuring them
  • Financial – securing loans when needed and otherwise having the right amount of money when you need it
  • Operational – securing needed inventories, recruiting needed employees in tight labour markets, operating when customers you counted on not purchasing product as you had anticipated, managing theft, arson, and natural disasters like fires and floods, etc.
• Always includes descriptions of the planned strategies for managing each of the risks identified. Identifies potential risk exposures, their consequences, risk potential, and mitigation strategies (Figure 8).
  • Avoid – choose to avoid doing something, outsource, etc.
  • Reduce – through training, assuming specific operational strategies, etc.
  • Transfer – insure against, outsource, etc.
  • Assume – self-insure, accept, etc.

Figure 8 – Risk Management Strategies (Illustration by Lee A. Swanson)

Completing a risk management plan further adds to the overall business plan.

Operating Processes

• Answers the following key questions:
  • What operating processes will you apply?
  • Depending upon the type of business, describes things like
    • Retail and wholesale operations
      • How will you ensure your cash is managed effectively?
      • How will you schedule your employees?
      • How will you manage your inventories?
      • If you will have a workforce, how will you manage them?
      • etc.
    • Service operation
      • How will you bill out your employee time?
      • How will you schedule work on your contracts?
      • etc.
    • Manufacturing operation
      • How you will manufacture your product (process flow, job shop, etc.?)
      • How will you maintain quality?
      • How will you institute and manage effective financial monitoring and control systems that provide needed information in a timely manner?
      • How will you manage expansion?
      • etc.

Facilities

• May include planned layouts for facilities
• Answers the following questions:
  • What are your facility plans?
  • Where will your facility be located?
    • Expressed as a set physical location
    • Expressed as a set of requirements and characteristics
  • How large will your facility be and why must it be this size?
  • How much will it cost to buy or lease your facility?
  • What utility, parking, and other costs must you pay for this facility?
  • What expansion plans must be factored into the facility requirements?
  • What transportation and storage issues must be addressed by facility decisions?
  • What zoning and other legal issues must you deal with?
  • What will be the layout for your facility and how will this best accommodate customer and employee requirements?

Organizational Structure

• May include information on Advisory Boards or Board of Directors from which the company will seek advice or guidance or direction
• May include an organizational chart
• Can be a nice lead-in to the Human Resources Plan

Human Resources Plan

• Key questions answered by human resources plans:
  • How do you describe your desired corporate culture?
  • What are the key positions within your organization?
  • How many employees will you have?
  • What characteristics define your desired employees?
  • What is your recruitment strategy? What processes will you apply to hire the employees you require?
  • What is your leadership strategy and why have you chosen this approach?
  • What performance appraisal and employee development methods will you use?
  • What is your organizational structure and why is this the best way for your company to be organized?
  • How will you pay each employee (wage, salary, commission, etc.)? How much will you pay each employee?
  • What are your payroll costs, including benefits?
  • What work will be outsourced and what work will be completed in-house?
  • Have you shown and described an organizational chart?

Recruitment and Retention Strategies

• Includes how many employees are required at what times
• Estimates time required to recruit needed employees
• Estimates all recruitment costs including:
  • Employment advertisements
  • Contracts with employment agency or search firms
  • Travel and accommodations for potential employees to come for interviews
  • Travel and accommodations for interviewers
  • Facility, food, lost time, and other interviewing costs
  • Relocation allowances for those hired including flights, moving companies, housing allowances, spousal employment assistance, etc.
• May include a schedule showing the costs of initial recruitment that then flows into your start-up expense schedules

Leadership and Management Strategies

• Outlines your leadership philosophy
• Explains why it is the most appropriate leadership approach for this venture

Training

• Answers the following key questions:
  • What training is required because of existing rules and regulations?
  • How will you ensure your employees are as capable as required?
  • In which of the following areas will you provide training for your employees?
    • Health and safety (legislation, WHMIS, first aid, defibulators, etc.)
    • Initial workplace orientation
    • Management
    • Financial systems
    • Sales
    • Contracts
    • Product features
    • Other

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