What should a business plan look like?

Question

and is it needed for buying an existing business or franchise (im thinking if you are going to borrow money from the bank they might want to see one but im not so sure about buying an existing one)

Answer 1

According to the book “The ABC's of Writing Winning Business Plans: How to Prepare a Business Plan That Others Will Want to Read -- and Invest In” http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0... by Garrett Sutton, below are some tips to make a winning business plan that can get funding:

- Money follows management. Investors look first at the people involved in the company. If you are just starting out and don’t have relevant experience, investors expect to see that you have an experienced team of advisors and employees helping you in the business.

- Make sure you “sell” the one reason your business will become profitable.

- State clearly the strategies you will employ to get the word out about your business. Your business plan must show how you will leverage the Internet, public relations, viral marketing, and other strategies to attract customers.

- Present realistic estimates of the time, energy and costs of building a successful business. Do not underestimate or overestimate revenues. While investors know your numbers are simply guesses, they want to see that your numbers are within the “range of reality.” Be careful of your financial statements: this is one area where you can easily lose credibility if presented poorly.

- Benchmark similar companies to show that you’ve done your homework and researched the market.

- Your Executive Summary is your calling card. If it is not a winner, investors may not even read your entire plan. Emphasize your own as well as your team’s track record in the Executive Summary.

- Before sending your business plan to lenders and investors, send it out first to a few in order to get feedback. You’d want to correct your plan if someone tells you that you’re way off mark, rather than have a potential investor tell it to you and lose the chance to get the funding you need.

Here are some resources that can help you write your business plan:

- SBA Business Plan Basics http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/pla...

- PowerHomeBiz.com Creating a Business Plan section http://www.powerhomebiz.com/startup/busi...

- Entrepreneur.com Writing a Business Plan section http://www.entrepreneur.com/bizplan/0,72...

You may also want to review some sample business plans to see how it actually looks like:

- Bplans.com http://www.bplans.com/sp/businessplans.c...

- MOOT Corp Business Plan competition winners

http://www.businessplans.org/businesspla...

- VFinance - View hundreds of real business plans in pdf format. http://www.vfinance.com/home.asp?bps=1&T...

- Business Owners Toolkit Sample business plans and information on how to create a plan. http://www.toolkit.cch.com/tools/buspln_...

- PlanWare Planning software and information. http://www.planware.org/

- Virtual Business Plan Walk through the design of a business plan. http://www.bizplanit.com/vplan.html

- SBA Business Planning Guide http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/pla...

- Small Business Advancement Center http://www.sbaer.uca.edu/business_plan/b...

- Sample Business Plan General planning guide created by the Canadian Business Service Center. http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentServe...

- Business Plans Index - A subject guide to sample business plans and profiles for specific business types from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh.