The realization of a business plan can be a complex step for a maker or a buyer of a company. This document does not follow any specific rules, but adherence to certain standards ensures its success. Here are 5 tips to help you create a good business plan.
Prepare your business plan well
A successful business plan is a well-prepared business plan. Before you start preparing this document, you need to collect all the elements that will serve as raw materials.
To prepare the financial aspect as well as possible:
- Correctly estimate your expected turnover,
- List all your expenses as completely as possible,
- Take stock of your finances to determine your own contribution.
The preparation of the editorial part is just as important:
- Clarify your ideas and define your project clearly,
- Be consistent about your goals and the strategy employed to achieve them,
- Don’t overestimate your skills and stay as objective as possible.
Respect certain financial balances
You need certain financial indicators of the financial part of your business plan. Balances exist in this area and you should make sure to respect them.
First of all, make sure that your investments are financed in a coherent way: the goods necessary for the operation of your activity must be financed with long-term resources (capital or loan). Conversely, inventories must be financed with short-term solutions (current account contributions).
Then contribute sufficiently (at least 20% of your financing requirement), especially if you apply for a bank loan.
Finally, check whether your company can repay its loans in less than 5 years with your self-financing capacity.
Be relevant and get to the point
The purpose of a business plan is to convince the recipient of it. And to convince you have to be effective and short. Make sure to enter only the elements that are essential to understanding your project. Avoid bulky and unnecessary attachments.
Too long or too technical, you will lose the attention of your reader, who will probably only read the file at the end.
You must therefore show a spirit of synthesis and establish a direct link between your professional experience and the project you are undertaking.
Note the shape of the document
A business plan should be consulted carefully. To do this, make sure you want to read it. Proofread it and have it proofread to correct any spelling mistakes.
Ventilate the text sufficiently and alternate your writing with images or graphs. Finally, don’t forget to include a summary on the first pages of the file.
Practice presenting your business plan
You will have to adapt the presentation of the file to your interlocutor. After all, a business plan does not present itself in the same way to a banker or an investor. The information to be included is not the same because they do not have the same importance in the eyes of your reader.
Mark the right indicators in the right places and, above all, practice verbally presenting your business plan. Ask people around you for interviews in “real” circumstances and don’t hesitate to get help from a professional. “Preparing a presentation pitch, or how to seduce in minutes or even seconds, becomes an essential exercise in the life of the entrepreneur” (source: Succeed in Your Presentation Pitch).
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