Assisting with the creation of business plans has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career so far.  I feel as if I am materially impacting the course of the companies I am writing about, whether they are a new concept or an existing ongoing concern.  Many get flustered when starting out in their venture to create their company's plan, completely overtaken by the sheer enormity of the task.  What is a business plan after all but the most important roadmap an organisation can have?  In order to assist this process I have compiled a list of 10 points to consider when writing business plans to help entrepreneurs create a document that will engage with all the different types of readers, whether they are management, investors, or employees.

1. Keep it short - Try to write the document as concisely as possible.  Keeping the document short and sweet is no easy task; it takes longer to write a shorter document but it is worth the time and effort spent on wordsmithing as it becomes much more focused on the key messages you are trying to convey. 

2. Always include an executive summary and try to limit it to one page -  As a trained accountant, I do not use the word "always" lightly but it is so very important to attempt to summarise your company's key points onto one page.  The executive summary comes right after the cover page and is the first (and possibly the only) page that will be read.  

3. Describe your product or service offering in the most blunt and basic way - This point may sound simple, but if you are writing about your company, you will need to step out of your shoes in order to be able to explain to your readers what you do in a way that people from different professional backgrounds can comprehend.

4. Know your numbers!!! - One of the most important sections of the plan is the financial forecast that you will be building.  The numbers need to be reasonable and realistic. Try to sensitise the financials to ensure that they are achievable in real life.  The writer/owner of the plan must know and understand these numbers in order to be ready for challenges from readers as financials are the main area of scrutiny in business plans.

5. The management team is really important - The people that form the management team will determine the company's success or failure.  It is therefore important to properly present them, outline their credentials and the role that they play within the organisation.

6. Treat your plan as a sales document - Make sure that your plan isn't boring.  The document should exude the passion and enthusiasm that the owners should have for the company.  The uniqueness of the company's product or service should also be made clear and apparent to the readers.  

7. Remember that your business plan is a living document - Successful business plans are continuously revisited and amended during the course of a company's development.  That is why they are referred to as living, breathing documents.   Include project timelines/gantt charts if at all possible that provide and outline milestones and deadlines to be achieved.

8. Make the document look good - Spend time on branding the plan.  The old saying of a picture being worth a thousand words rings very true in the case of business plan writing - use charts, graphs and tables as much as possible; that way you are able to convey more information in less space and keep the reader engaged.

9.  Choose your advisor wisely - Business plans have to come from the business owners and managers and should not be left to be written by outside consultants.  That being said, a business plan advisor can greatly assist in the business planning process.  They should be able to advise you on the things you should consider before raising equity finance (see our article on raising equity finance). The right advisor should live close by to you so that you can work on the plan in person.  They should be wise in the art of business plan writing, having had prior experience or knowledge in the same or similar sectors.  The advisor should have a strategic outlook on business opportunities and should exude the same amount of enthusiasm for the company as its owners.

10.  Once completed, have a fresh set of eyes read the plan from cover to cover - Have a member of your friends or family read the document from scratch once it is completed to check to see how reader friendly it is, and to pick up on any typos and grammatical errors.  If you have given an honest effort to writing your plan, you will have read it so many times that you will be unable to pick up on schoolgirl errors that may lurk in the text or the numbers.

So those are my 10 things to consider when writing business plans - in a nutshell.  Happy planning!