Category: Finance.
A business plan is your most important tool when going after financing- - private and government- - says James Byrne, Director of the Small Business Consumer Centre. The process is as important as the plan itself.
Byrne offers these tips to make your business plan stand out from the crowd. Do it yourself, and you ll come away from the experience with a more in- depth, more organized and more crystal- clear vision of your business. When you re done, you might consider a review by a consultant, who can give you a critique based on the investor s point of view. If the investor sees that you ve invested the time, energy and unified effort to develop your own business plan, you re already past the first hurdle. Hook them in the first two minutes. Make it look good, with a clean attractive design. The person reading your plan is busy, confronted with dozens of plans each month.
Organize it so readers can find what they re looking for immediately. Always answer" Why" . And spend a lot of time on your Executive Summary, so it hooks the reader into the story of your business and why you ll be a success. Every time you make an assertion, explain the underlying reasons. No matter how much you expect sales to grow, it doesn t mean a thing if you re not profitable. For example, if you state that your local market will see a surge in the next few years, explain that it s because booming residential development is driving new young families to the area.
Use accepted accounting principles, and don t forget to explain in detail how you will control costs. Never use the" c" word when describing your sales projections. No matter how optimistic you may be about your company s future, don t kid yourself into believing that your estimates are" conservative" . Lenders will only shake their heads. James Byrne is an owner of http: //www. grants- loans. org/ ; Visit the site( http: //www. grants- loans. org) for more information about Canadian Government Grant Loans For Small Businesses.
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