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Business Plan Template for Small Businesses
Business planning can feel complicated. it doesn't have to be. start putting pen to paper today with your free business plan template download..
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Our free business plan template includes:
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Fill-in-the-blanks simplicity
You don't need to be an expert. This business plan template makes business planning easy.
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All 100% free. We're here to help you succeed in business, no strings attached.
Why you need a business plan template
Writing a business plan can seem like a big task, especially if you’re starting a business for the first time and don’t have a financial background. After all, business plans have changed over the years, and what lenders and investors expect now is different than it was even just 10 years ago.
But using a business plan template will help you:
- Develop a strategy for success
- Reduce the risk of starting a business
- Explore new business ideas
- Attract investors and get funding
Learn more about how you can get value out of your business plan .
What is included in this free business plan template?
This business plan template includes definitions, guidance, and examples for every business plan component needed to start, fund, and grow your business.
After downloading the full template of a business plan, you’ll receive instructions on how to fill out each of the following sections.
Executive summary
The brief summary of your business plan introduces everyone to your business, the problem you solve, and what you’re asking from your readers. It’s the first chapter of your business plan and the last thing you write once you have the details from your full plan.
Problem & solution
More than a simple description of your products and services – here you define the problem you’re solving and the value you provide. It’s also your chance to showcase any initial traction that shows you’re on the right track.
Market analysis and target market
A detailed assessment of the market you intend to enter, including the size and value of the market, potential customer segments, and their buying patterns.
Competition
Show that you know who your competitors are, what advantages you have, and how you’re positioning your business to be competitive.
Marketing & sales
Describe how you’ll reach and sell to potential customers with a detailed sales plan and chosen marketing channels.
What makes your business run? Outline the day-to-day workflows and what needs to be set up for your business to deliver a product or service.
Milestones & metrics
Set goals for your business that include the dates and people responsible for accomplishing them. This is what you’ll use to manage responsibilities, track growth, and execute your larger strategy.
Company overview and team
Provide a brief rundown of the legal and structural components of your company, including your history, current team, and gaps you need to fill.
Financial plan
Create well-structured and accurate financial statements to help you pitch to investors, land funding, and achieve long-term success. All without the help of a financial advisor or a degree in accounting.
While not required, this last section of your business plan is a great place to drop in additional documents that support and strengthen the rest of your plan.
How do you write a simple business plan?
If you’re exploring a business idea and don’t plan to pursue funding, then you actually don’t need to write a traditional business plan. Instead, opt for a one-page plan , which is far easier to create but just as effective.
To write a simple one-page business plan, follow the same core sections as a traditional plan. But instead of lengthy paragraphs and multiple pages covering each area of your business, stick with single sentences and bulleted lists.
If a one-page plan sounds like a better option, download our free simple one-page business plan template to get started.
Start your business plan today
Whether you're writing a business plan to validate your business idea, secure funding, or grow your existing business – our free business plan template will help you achieve your goals.
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Business plan template FAQ
What file formats are available for this business plan template?
Our free business plan template is available to download in a number of common file formats including Google Docs, Microsoft Word (doc.x), or as a free business plan PDF . You only have to provide your email address once in order to access all file types for this business plan template.
Can you print out this template for a business plan?
This is a printable business plan template—no matter if you download it as a pdf or word document, or access via Google Docs. The template is pre-formatted and structured to fit lender and investor standards, but can be edited and adjusted to suite your needs before printing. Just be aware that any changes may unintentionally break the template, so make sure to review before printing.
Why should I start with a business plan template?
You should start with a good business plan template (like this one) to avoid having to make guesses about what to include in your business plan and how to structure the document. This business plan template helps you organize your thoughts, and provides guidance, instructions, and examples to create an investor-ready and SBA-approved business plan format. It really speeds up the planning process. Oh, and it's 100% free!
Can I write a business plan myself?
You can absolutely write a business plan by yourself. Millions of entrepreneurs have been in your exact situation and have been able to write complete, detailed, and useful business plans. By using a business plan template, you can speed up the writing process, avoid costly mistakes, and write your business plan without having to pay for additional support.
What are the steps to write a business plan?
The steps to write a business plan include:
- Defining the opportunity: Explain the problem your business solves, the solution you offer, your target market, and the competitive landscape.
- Describing how you'll execute: Outline your marketing and sales strategies, operational plan, milestones, and success metrics.
- Adding company details: Provide information about your business structure, ownership, and team.
- Creating a financial plan and forecasts: Include detailed financial statements, forecasts, and funding requirements.
- Adding supplementary info to your appendix: Add any additional information, such as resumes, permits, and other relevant documents.
- Summarizing your plan: While it may be first, do your executive summary last. In it, you'll briefly summarize your business, highlighting key points such as mission, product/service, and basic financial information.
For additional information, check out our full step-by-step guide to write a business plan .
How many hours does it take to write a business plan?
It can take as little as 30-minutes to write a fully functioning business plan. However, if you need to create a more detailed business plan it can take multiple hours to actually write the full document. To save yourself time, be sure to pick an appropriate business plan type for your intended use case. Additionally, do any necessary research and collect your notes and other documentation beforehand so that you can focus all your effort on writing your business plan.
How can I write a simple business plan?
To write a simple business plan it's best to use a one-page business plan format. A one-page business plan includes all of the same components as a more detailed business plan but is designed to fit on a single page—making it more useful as an internal planning tool. If you still want to use a traditional business plan template, just focus on using bulleted lists and short sentences while writing to create a simpler business plan.
Is writing a business plan easy?
Writing a business plan can be easy if you use the right tools, understand your business, and come in prepared to write your business plan. Using a business plan template can make writing a business plan easier. Additionally, if you focus on just getting your information down quickly, with the expectation that you'll revisit and revise your plan, you can speed up and simplify the process .
Can someone else write my business plan for me?
Yes, you can hire a professional business plan writer to write your business plan for you. Working with a professional can be especially useful if you're still struggling to write your business plan even when using a template for your business plan. Just be prepared to talk about your business, provide the appropriate details, and review the finished business plan to be sure it actually reflects your business. If you need help vetting professional business plan writers, check out our free resource to help you ask just the right questions of potential plan writers.
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Business Plan Templates
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2 Essential Templates For Starting Your Business. Available as an interactive PDF or a Google Docs template.
With this business plan template, you'll be able to:
- Write a company description that sells your story
- Plan for the future: lay out goals and metrics for success
- Describe your product line in detail and plan for how to stand out from competitors
- Consider any legal formalities that require attention when starting your business
- Put together necessary financial projections to make a strong start
- Create your buyer persona and determine your product/marketing fit
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Build A Business Plan That Works
Available as a one-page interactive PDF and a full template on both Google Docs and Microsoft Word!
Whether you’re starting a business or drafting a formalized document with your current business goals, it’s important to clearly defi ne the scope of all aspects of the venture — from mission, to target customers, to fi nances, and beyond.
When just starting out, it can be tempting to think of a business plan as simply your company’s name and a description of your product or service. But in reality, planning a business involves thinking through a lot more details.
In this business plan template we’ll guide you through the steps of writing company and product descriptions, setting sales and marketing goals and plans, and thinking through legal and fi nancial logistics. We've included a plain text, designed , and completed example version of this template.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do you write a business plan.
A business plan is a formal written document that you can use to identify the purpose of your company, make important decisions about your future and help grow your company. HubSpot's free business plan templates provides guidance to establishing your company mission, customer research, competition, and a business strategy to profitability.
Why do I need to fill out the information requested?
We will always keep your personal information safe..
We ask for your information in exchange for a valuable resource in order to (a) improve your browsing experience by personalizing the HubSpot site to your needs; (b) send information to you that we think may be of interest to you by email or other means; (c) send you marketing communications that we think may be of value to you. You can read more about our privacy policy here .
Where can I get a free business plan template?
HubSpot's Free Business Plan Templates are the best way to create a professional, thorough business plan. The templates include instructions and everything you need to know about starting your company.
Is this really free?
Absolutely.
Just sharing some free knowledge that we hope you’ll find useful. Keep us in mind next time you have marketing questions!
What are the basic format of a business plan?
A business plan is a written document that outlines the company's goals, strategy and implementation. The format of the plan varies depending on the type of organization (e.g., for-profit or nonprofit) and size, but most plans share some common features such as an overview, executive summary, and financial information.
What is the best business plan template?
A great business plan template clearly defines the scope of the venture -- from mission, to target customers, to finances, and beyond. HubSpot's business plan template will guide you through the steps of writing company and product descriptions, setting sales and marketing goals and plans, and thinking through legal and financial logistics.
What is needed to start a business?
If you're thinking about starting a business, you'll need to do some research first. You can't just start a business without doing any market research. Market research will tell you if there's an opportunity to turn your idea into a successful business. After that, write your business plan so that you know how much money and time it will take for the project to succeed. Use HubSpot's free business plan template today!
Set yourself up for success with this business plan template
Download the free business plan template.
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14 Professional Business Plan Samples [Downloadable pdf]
Looking for business plan examples for inspiration? Download or view 14 business plans examples/samples, vetted by our MBA business plan writers. Download in PDF format or read like a book. These real business plan samples would help in writing your own business plan.
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View Real Business Plan Examples/Samples
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As an entrepreneur, effectively pitching your idea to attract investors and secure funding can be a challenge. Moreover, when launching a business, creating a comprehensive business plan is paramount.
To aid you in these crucial tasks, we offer a collection of real-world and sample business plan examples across diverse industries. A well-structured business plan is indispensable in the fast-paced entrepreneurial landscape, as it delineates your goals, strategies, and financial projections, providing a clear roadmap for your venture.
Our aim is to facilitate the creation of an effective business plan by integrating real-life examples to elucidate the key elements involved. Below, you’ll find a range of 14 detailed business plan examples available for download and use.
Important Sections to Include in Business Plan
To create a robust business plan, ensure inclusion of the following key sections:
- Executive Summary: A brief snapshot of your business and the key highlights of your business plan. Read more
- Product and Services: An elaborate description of the offerings you will provide to your customers. Read more
- Marketing and Sales Plan: A strategic roadmap outlining how you intend to promote and market your business before, during, and after its launch. Read more
- Operating Planning: An explanation of the systems, processes, and tools necessary to efficiently run your business behind the scenes. Read more
- Organization and Management: Organization and management in a business plan outline the structure and leadership of the company. Read more
- Financial Plan: A comprehensive plan mapping out your short-term and long-term financial goals and the associated costs of running your business. If you require funding, this section is where you can outline your request and financial needs. Read more
- Key External Drivers: External drivers encompass factors like outsourcing, economic changes, industry competition, and business legislation complexity. Read more
- Startup Summary: The startup summary offers a comprehensive financial overview of , detailing expenses, asset value, and total requirements, crucial for transparency with entrepreneurs and investors. Read more
- Projected Industry Growth : Projected industry growth forecasts the sector’s expansion, offering a 10-year perspective and average annual growth rate, providing clarity to investors. Read more
- Break-even analysis: The break-even analysis visually presents key metrics and a 12-month revenue forecast to help stakeholders grasp the point where the business covers costs and starts generating profit . Read more
- Management Summary: The management summary provides a concise overview of organizational structure, key personnel, their roles, and financial commitments, ensuring stakeholders understand the business’s operational strength and leadership capability. Read more
- Financial Indicators: The financial indicators section evaluates organizational fiscal health, focusing on year-over-year profitability metrics, leverage ratios, liquidity ratios, and additional metrics, providing a comprehensive understanding of the business’s financial performance and efficiency in revenue generation from equity investments. Read more
Practical Business Plan Examples Illustrating Strategies for Startup Success
![printable example of a business plan E-commerce Plan Sample or Example](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/e-commerce-plan-sample-or-example.png)
1. E-commerce Plan Sample or Example
Something Borrowed Something New is a burgeoning e-commerce enterprise specializing in wedding accessories and personalized gifts. Operating on a drop-shipping model, this business has the capability to make a significant impact in the market.
Moreover, leveraging social networking and blogging can be instrumental in generating awareness and capturing interest, thereby creating a robust online marketing strategy for Something Old and Something New.
To enhance their business operations, they are contemplating the integration of a WhatsApp CRM system. This initiative aims to optimize communication with potential customers, ensuring prompt responses to inquiries and fostering a seamless interaction process.
![printable example of a business plan Online Marketplace Business Plan Example or Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/online-marketplace-business-plan-example-or-sample.png)
2. Online Marketplace Business Plan Example or Sample
EPlace Solutions will be an innovative online marketplace business portal offering a variety of products to consumers throughout the globe. Founded by Mr. John Jones, a seasoned business visionary with an eye toward profit and achievement, the organization is set to enter the market in 2023.
Online shopping is at an all-time high with new consumer mindsets calling for them to shop for the types of deals and bargains that will be so much a part of the online marketplace business model.
![printable example of a business plan Snack Bar Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/snack-bar-business-plan-sample.png)
3. Snack Bar Business Plan Sample / Business Plan Example
There is an increasing demand for snack-type fast food to be consumed while window shopping and walking around inside a shopping mall.
Do you plan to start a snack bar business? Then here’s a complete snack bar startup business plan template and feasibility report you can use FREE of charge. It sounds easy to open a snack bar, but in reality, you need well-planned strategies to ensure that your business stands the test of time.
Our snack bar business plan sample includes a detailed description of the products and services offered, as well as a market a nalysis and competitive analysis.
It also includes a financial plan that outlines the startup costs, revenue projections, and break-even analysis. We like this sample plan because it demonstrates how to build a profitable snack bar business by creating a unique menu and offering healthy, high-quality snac ks that meet custome r demand.
Your snack shop business plan can look as polished and professional as the sample plan. It’s fun and easy, with Wise Business Plan. Let’s review the snack shop business plan sample and adjust them according to your audience for the best results.
![printable example of a business plan Coffee Shop Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/coffee-shop-business-plan-sample.png)
4. Coffee Shop Business Plan Sample/Business Plan Example PDF
A coffee shop business plan is a document that outlines what your business idea is and how it will be implemented. Its purpose is to answer questions such as what it costs to start a coffee shop, how these costs will be financed, and how much money you can expect to earn from your cafe.
Are you looking for the right business plan for your cafe? Let’s review the Coffee shop business plan sample to find out how cloud-based software can make your day-to-day work more efficient.
Our coffee shop business plan sample includes a detailed description of the products and services offered, as well as a market analysis and competitive analysis.
It also includes a financial plan that outlines the startup costs, revenue projections, and break-even analysis. We like this sample plan because it demonstrates how to build a profitable coffee shop business by creating a unique brand and offering high-quality products a nd customer service.
![printable example of a business plan Food Hall Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/food-hall-business-plan-sample.png)
5. Food Hall Business Plan Sample/Business Plan Example PDF
In the food industry, there is fierce competition. To ensure success, you need to hit the ground running with the right pitch. Our food house business plan is the ideal solution with an attractive design highlighting key information and conveying the right message.
This food business plan example features food images intended to tantalize the taste buds. It captures the theme perfectly and will convey the ultimate message to investors, clients and customers.
It is important to remember that the business plan template can be customized to meet your company’s specific needs and requirements. It will help showcase your business as a leader in the modern industry.
This food business plan template provides key slides to showcase everything from finances to marketing and key competitors. If you prefer, you can alter the content displayed to meet your specific needs, but this is a good starting point.
Ultimately, this food house business plan will be suitable for any business operating in the food industry and keen to get interested from key individuals. It will ensure that you can build up the rep of your company.
We provide a one-of-a-kind sales pitch deck designed to appeal to your prospective audience, as well as a custom presentation tailored to their information requirements.
![printable example of a business plan Printing Shop Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/printing-shop-business-plan-sample.png)
6. Printing Shop Business Plan Sample/Business Plan Example Plan
When establishing a think tank, you will need to develop a business plan and document it properly. As a mass think tank, you need a special strategy to legalize the think tank as a non-profit organization and to raise funds for your project successfully.
Copy and print businesses offer a variety of services to both businesses and consumers. A copy and print shop can handle everything from single-page printing to large-volume jobs using several types of media.
Our printing shop business plan sample includes a detailed description of the products and services offered, as well as a market analysis and competitive analysis. It also includes a financial plan that outlines the startup costs, revenue projections, and break-even analysis. We like this sample plan because it demonstrates how to build a profitable printing shop business by offering high-quality, customized printing services with a focus on customer s ervice and efficient operations.
Let’s take a look at Printing and Photocopy Business Plan Sample that you can use to inspire your own and easily create one.
![printable example of a business plan Acquisition Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/acquisition-business-plan-sample.png)
7. Acquisition Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
The acquisition business plan sample is intended for businesses seeking to acquire another company or merge with a competitor. This plan includes an analysis of the target company, a valuation, and a strategy for integrating the acquired business into the existing operations. We like this sample plan because it provides a clear roadmap for the acquisition process and demonstrates the potential benefits of the deal.
![printable example of a business plan L-1 Visa Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/l-1-visa-business-plan-sample.png)
8. L-1 Visa Business Plan Example with Sample PDF
At Wisebusinessplans, we understand that obtaining an L1 visa for an executive or manager requires a thorough and compelling business plan.
Our L1 business plan sample includes all the necessary components to satisfy USCIS requirements and demonstrate your qualifications and your company’s viability in the US market.
The L1 business plan sample is a comprehensive plan for a new business seeking L1 visa approval for an executive or manager. This plan focuses on demonstrating the applicant’s qualifications and the company’s viability in the US market.
We like this sample plan because it is specific to the L1 visa process and includes all the necessary components to satisfy USCIS requirements.
![printable example of a business plan E-2 Visa Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/e-2-visa-business-plan-sample.png)
9. E-2 Visa Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
If you’re an entrepreneur seeking E-2 visa approval, Wise Business Plans can help you create a persuasive business plan.
Our E-2 business plan sample outlines your investment, business operations, and financial projections, providing a clear and compelling case for your ability to successfully run a business and make a significant economic impact.
The E-2 business plan sample is designed for entrepreneurs seeking E-2 visa approval, which allows individuals to invest in and manage a business in the United States. This plan outlines the applicant’s investment, business operations, and financial projections. We like this sample plan because it provides a clear and compelling case for the applicant’s ability to successfully run a business and make a significant economic impact.
![printable example of a business plan EB-5 Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/eb-5-business-plan-sample.png)
10. EB-5 Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
If you’re looking to obtain an EB-5 visa by investing in a new commercial enterprise in the United States, Wise Business Plans can help you create a compelling business plan.
Our EB-5 business plan sample includes a description of your business, a market analysis, and financial projections, providing a detailed and persuasive case for the potential success of your venture.
The EB-5 business plan sample is designed for individuals seeking to obtain an EB-5 visa by investing in a new commercial enterprise in the United States. This plan includes a description of the business, a market analysis, and financial projections. We like this sample plan because it provides a detailed and persuasive case for the potential success of the business, which is crucial for obtaining EB-5 visa approval.
![printable example of a business plan Investor Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/investor-business-plan-sample.png)
11. Investor Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
If you’re seeking investment from angel investors, venture capitalists, or other private equity firms, Wise Business Plans can help you create a compelling pitch.
Our investor business plan sample includes a pitch deck, financial projections, and a detailed analysis of the market the potential return on investment and the scalability of your business.
The investor business plan sample is intended for businesses seeking to attract investment from angel investors, venture capitalists, or other private equity firms. This plan includes a pitch deck, financial projections, and a detailed analysis of the market opportunity. We like this sample plan because it emphasizes the potential return on investment and the scalability of the business.
![printable example of a business plan Nonprofit Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/nonprofit-business-plan-sample.png)
12. Nonprofit Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
At Wisebusinessplans, we’re committed to helping non-profit organizations achieve their social impact goals.
Our non-profit business plan sample includes a mission statement, programs and services, marketing and outreach strategies, and a financial analysis, providing a clear roadmap for establishing or expanding your organization.
The non-profit business plan sample is designed for organizations seeking to establish or expand a non-profit entity. This plan includes a mission statement, programs and services, marketing and outreach strategies, and a financial analysis. We like this sample plan because it demonstrates a strong commitment to social impact and outlines a clear strategy for achieving the organization’s goals.
![printable example of a business plan Bank Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/bank-business-plan-sample.png)
13. Bank Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
Whether you’re seeking financing from a bank or other financial institution, Wise Business Plans can help you create a detailed and persuasive business plan.
Our bank business plan sample includes a thorough financial analysis, market research, and a strategy for achieving profitability, highlighting the key factors that banks consider when evaluating loan applications.
The bank business plan sample is tailored for businesses seeking financing from a bank or other financial institution. This plan includes a detailed financial analysis, market research, and a strategy for achieving profitability. We like this sample plan because it highlights the key factors that banks consider when evaluating loan applications, and provides a strong case for the borrower’s ability to repay the loan.
![printable example of a business plan Cannabis Business Plan Sample](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cannabis-business-plan-sample.png)
14. Cannabis Business Plan Sample/ Example PDF
The cannabis industry is rapidly growing, and Wise Business Plans can help you enter it with confidence.
Our cannabis business plan sample includes a market analysis, operational strategy, and regulatory compliance a comprehensive overview of the unique challenges and opportunities in the industry and offering a clear roadmap for success.
The cannabis business plan sample is tailored for entrepreneurs seeking to enter the rapidly growing cannabis industry. This plan includes a market analysis, operational strategy, and regulatory compliance plan. We like this sample plan because it provides a comprehensive overview of the unique challenges and opportunities in the cannabis industry, and offers a clear roadmap for success.
Detailed Overview of Key Components of a Business Plan
1. executive summary.
The executive summary is a concise overview of your business plan, highlighting the key points of each section. It should capture the essence of your business, its mission, and the purpose of the business plan. This section should be written last, but it’s placed at the beginning of the business plan. Here is an example executive summary from our professional business plan written for Eplace Solution , an innovative e-commerce portal.
![printable example of a business plan executive summary](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/executive-summary.webp)
Tips for Writing Executive Summary
- Keep it brief and focused on key points.
- Clearly define the problem and your solution.
- Highlight market opportunities and growth potential.
- Showcase your team’s qualifications.
- Include financial projections.
- End with a clear call to action.
- Tailor it to your audience.
- Review and update regularly.
![printable example of a business plan the executive summary of a real estate business example](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/the-executive-summary-of-a-real-estate-business-example.webp)
2. Company Overview or Description
In this section, provide a detailed description of your company, including its history, legal structure, location, and vision. Explain your mission statement and core values that guide your business decisions. Use real-life examples of successful companies and how their strong company descriptions have contributed to their growth. In addition, you can reuse your company description on your About page, Instagram page, or other properties that ask for a boilerplate description of your business.
This section also allows you to describe how you register your business . Here you must choose whether your business is a corporation, sole proprietorship, LLC , or another type of business .
![printable example of a business plan Business Overview Example Screenshot](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/business-overview.png)
Tips for Writing Company Description
- Describe your company’s mission and vision.
- Explain what your business does and the problems it solves.
- Mention your target market and customer base.
- Highlight your unique selling points.
- Provide a brief history and background.
3. Market Analysis
A market analysis analyzes how you are positioned in the market, who your target customers are, what your product or service will offer them, and industry trends. It might be useful to do a SWOT analysis to discover your strengths and weaknesses to identify market gaps that you may be able to exploit to build your business.
As part of your market research, you’ll also need to perform a competitive analysis. It will give you an idea of who your competition is and how to differentiate your brand. Here’s an example of a competitive analysis we did for a food business.
![printable example of a business plan Market Analysis](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/market-analysis-1024x682.webp)
Tips for Writing Market Analysis
- Research and understand your industry thoroughly.
- Identify market trends and growth opportunities.
- Analyze your competitors and their strengths and weaknesses.
- Define your target audience and their needs.
- Include data and statistics to support your analysis.
![printable example of a business plan market analysis summary](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/market-analysis-summary-1593x2048.jpg)
4. Product and Services
Adding products and services to a business plan involves more than listing your company’s offerings. If you intend to gain funding or partner with another business, your products, and services section needs to demonstrate your company’s quality, value, and benefits.
Here’s an example of a product and service section in the business plan we wrote for an e-commerce business that offers wedding accessories.
![printable example of a business plan An example of Product and service section of business plan](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/product-and-service-section.webp)
Tips for Writing Product and Services
- Clearly describe your offerings and their features.
- Explain how your products/services address customer needs.
- Highlight any unique qualities or advantages.
- Discuss your pricing strategy.
- Mention any future product/service development plans.
Here is example of services section of a bank.
![printable example of a business plan Example of Services Section](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/example-of-services-section.jpg)
5. Marketing and Sales Plan
It is always a good idea to have a marketing plan before launching your business. A potential investor will want to know how you will advertise your business. Therefore, you should create a marketing plan that explains your planned promotion and customer acquisition strategies.
Discuss how you will make a sale. How will you attract customers and maximize their lifetime value? Ensure your marketing and sales forecasts align with your financial forecasts Marketing plans are usually based on the four Ps : product, price, place, and promotion. Breaking it down by marketing channels makes it easier. Discuss how you intend to market your business via blogs, email, social media, and word-of-mouth. Here is an example of marketing strategies we develop for a restaurant business.
![printable example of a business plan Marketing plan of business plan screenshot](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/marketing-strategies-1024x682.webp)
Tips for Writing Marketing and Sales Plan
- Define your marketing goals and objectives.
- Outline your marketing strategies, including channels and tactics.
- Explain your sales strategy and target sales goals.
- Include a budget for marketing and sales activities.
- Discuss your sales team and their roles.
- Detail your customer acquisition and retention strategies.
- Mention any partnerships or collaborations for marketing and sales.
Example of marketing and sales plan section of a bank
![printable example of a business plan Example of Marketing and Sales Plan Section](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/marketing-campaign.webp)
6. Operation Planning
The operation plan should include all the steps needed to run the business in the long run. The plan should include details about logistics, duties for each department of the company, and responsibilities for the team.
The main aspect of running a business is its costs. Whether it’s machinery or services, each requires capital.
how to write an operation plan in a business plan
Tips for Writing Operational Planning
- Describe your day-to-day business operations.
- Explain your supply chain and production processes.
- Outline your facility and equipment requirements.
- Discuss your quality control and efficiency measures.
- Mention any legal and regulatory compliance considerations.
- Detail your staffing and management structure.
- Include contingency plans for potential disruptions.
7. Organization and Management
In this section, you can describe your current team and the people you need to hire. You will need to highlight your team’s relevant experience if you intend to seek funding. Basically, this is where you demonstrate that this team can be successful in starting and growing the business.
![printable example of a business plan Management summary of a business plan screenshot](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/management-summary.png)
Tips for Writing Organization and Management Summary
- Introduce your leadership team and their roles.
- Highlight their relevant experience and qualifications.
- Explain your organizational structure and hierarchy.
- Discuss key personnel responsibilities and functions.
- Mention any plans for team growth or development.
- Address any advisory boards or external support.
Management summary of coffee shoppe business.
![printable example of a business plan Here is Example of Management Summary](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/here-is-example-of-management-summary.png)
8. Financial Plan
A financial plan should include sales and revenue forecasts, profit and loss statements , cash flow statements , and balance sheets .
Now, if you plan to pitch investors or submit a loan application, you’ll also need a “use of funds” report. Here you outline how you plan to leverage any funding you might acquire for your business.
With our business templates , you can create your own income statement, cash flow statement, and balance sheet.
![printable example of a business plan Financial highlights of a business plan](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/financial-plan.png)
Tips for Writing Financial Plan
- Include detailed financial projections (income statement, cash flow, balance sheet).
- Explain your funding requirements and sources.
- Discuss your pricing and revenue model.
- Describe your expense management and cost controls.
- Mention any financial risks and mitigation strategies.
- Highlight key financial milestones and goals.
Financial highlights of foodShack business.
![printable example of a business plan Here is Example of Financial Highlights](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/here-is-example-of-financial-highlights.png)
9. Key External Drivers
External drivers refer to the external factors or influences that significantly impact the activity and growth of an industry. These drivers include outsourcing of non-core activities, changes in economic activity, competition from other industries, and the complexity of business legislation.
Additionally, external drivers encompass the effects of changes in new business formation, especially among small businesses, which directly affect the demand for services within the industry.
![printable example of a business plan key External Driver](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/key-external-driver.png)
Tips for writing key external drivers
- Identify and analyze current and emerging market trends in your industry.
- Assess potential positive or negative impacts these trends may have on your business.
- Evaluate broader economic conditions, including inflation rates, interest rates, and GDP growth.
- Elucidate how changes in economic conditions could influence consumer behavior, product demand, and overall cost structure.
- Outline key industry regulations and compliance requirements, discussing potential impacts on operations, costs, and market access.
- Highlight relevant technological advancements and explain their potential effects on your product or service offerings, operations, and competitiveness.
- Analyze current and potential future competitors, emphasizing the evolving competitive landscape’s impact on market share, pricing strategy, and overall business strategy.
- Consider social and cultural factors influencing consumer preferences and behaviors, exploring how societal changes can affect product demand.
- Evaluate environmental trends and regulations, discussing potential impacts on operations, supply chain, and customer perceptions.
- Assess political stability, government policies, and geopolitical factors, exploring potential risks and opportunities from political changes.
- Discuss global market conditions, analyzing how global economic trends, trade policies, and currency fluctuations may affect operations and expansion plans.
- Identify and discuss potential risks in the supply chain, such as disruptions, shortages, or geopolitical issues.
- Consider demographic shifts affecting your target market and discuss how changes may impact your customer base and marketing strategies.
- Highlight key legal and regulatory factors affecting the business, discussing potential legal challenges, compliance costs, and regulatory changes.
- Outline comprehensive risk management strategies, including contingency plans and risk mitigation strategies.
- Explain how you will monitor external drivers and emphasize the importance of staying agile and responsive to changes in the external environment.
![printable example of a business plan Tips Key External](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tips-key-external.png)
10. Startup Summary
The startup summary serves as a comprehensive overview of essential financial aspects, encompassing total startup expenses, the overall value of startup assets, and the total requirements, which is the cumulative sum of all expenses and startup investments.
It provides a clear financial snapshot, outlining the costs involved in launching the business, the value of assets acquired, and the overall financial needs for the startup.
This section is crucial for entrepreneurs and potential investors, offering a transparent understanding of the financial foundation required to initiate and sustain the business successfully.
This roadmap ensures a realistic evaluation of the business idea, identifying potential challenges and offering solutions.To write an effective plan, focus on what sets your venture apart from competitors, maintain conciseness, and embrace flexibility as a living document.
Answer fundamental questions about your business, create actionable checklists, execute the plan, and continually revise and update based on experiences and feedback.This iterative process fosters continuous improvement, helping entrepreneurs stay adaptable and enhance their business strategies over time.
![printable example of a business plan Overview Example of Ecommerce Company](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/startup-summary.webp)
Tips for writing Startup Summary
- Clearly state the startup’s name and provide a concise description of its activities.
- Include a succinct mission statement capturing the startup’s purpose and goals, reflecting its core values.
- Specify the founding date and offer brief bios of key founders, highlighting relevant experience.
- Summarize the startup’s concept, explaining offered products or services and key distinguishing features.
- Clearly articulate the problem or need in the market that the startup addresses, defining the target audience.
- State what makes the startup unique, whether it’s a special feature, market gap, or competitive advantage.
- Provide a brief description of the market opportunity, covering target market size, trends, and growth prospects.
- Outline how the startup plans to generate revenue, detailing streams, pricing strategy, and potential partnerships.
- Offer a snapshot of the startup’s current status, highlighting key achievements such as product development or partnerships.
- If seeking funding, clearly state the amount sought and its allocation, covering areas like product development and marketing.
- Include a high-level financial summary with key projections for revenue, expenses, and profitability.
- Briefly outline future aspirations and plans, encompassing areas like expansion, product development, or strategic partnerships.
11. Projected Industry Growth
The projected industry growth is a pivotal aspect that forecasts the expansion of a specific sector over a defined timeframe.
For instance, it could provide an estimate of where that particular business will be standing in the next 10 years, and what will be the average annual growth rate of that industry.
This information provides prospective investors and stakeholders with a clear understanding of the industry’s potential and positions the startup within a dynamic and flourishing market.
![printable example of a business plan Projected Industry Growth](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/projected-industry-growth.png)
Tips for writing Projected Industry Growth
- Emphasize the importance of industry trends and growth to your business.
- Provide a concise overview, including market size, major players, and recent trends.
- Briefly explain how you gathered data on industry growth projections (e.g., market research reports, expert interviews).
- Identify and discuss prevailing trends, such as technological advancements, changes in consumer behavior, and regulatory shifts.
- Summarize the industry’s historical growth, highlighting growth rates, market expansion, and notable milestones.
- Highlight key factors expected to drive industry growth, such as emerging markets, technological innovations, and demographic shifts.
- Discuss specific opportunities within the industry, including gaps in the market, underserved segments, or areas of competitive advantage.
- Acknowledge potential challenges or risks that could impact industry growth, demonstrating a realistic understanding.
- Present projections for future growth rates based on historical data, expert opinions, and your analysis. Include short-term and long-term projections.
- Discuss how key competitors are positioned to leverage industry growth, emphasizing your business’s differentiation strategies.
- Consider the regulatory landscape impacting growth, discussing anticipated changes and their potential effects on the industry.
- Explore international trends and their implications for industry growth, including factors like global economic conditions and geopolitical influences.
Here is example of market analysis section of a bank.
![printable example of a business plan Tips for Writing Projected Industry Growth](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tips-for-writing-projected-industry-growth.png)
12. Break-even Analysis
The break-even analysis serves as a vital financial tool, offering a detailed estimation of key metrics such as Sales Revenue, Cost of Sales, Gross Profit, Fixed Expenses, and Income Before Tax.
These critical components are visually presented through a bar graph, providing a clear and concise overview of the financial dynamics.
Additionally, the break-even analysis delves into a 12-month forecast, outlining the projected amount of revenue generated and the corresponding fixed costs.
This section is instrumental in helping stakeholders understand the financial threshold at which the business covers its costs and begins to generate profit.
![printable example of a business plan Break Even Analysics](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/break-even-analysics.png)
Tips for writing Break-even Analysis
- Define break-even analysis as a financial calculation where total revenue equals total costs.
- Identify constant costs regardless of production or sales levels.
- Enumerate and explain costs changing with production or sales.
- Present the break-even analysis formula, indicating the units needed to cover costs.
- Perform a practical break-even calculation using business-specific fixed costs, selling price, and variable cost per unit.
- Include a break-even chart or graph for a visual understanding of cost-revenue dynamics.
- Conduct a proactive sensitivity analysis to explore how changes in variables impact the break-even point.
- Specify the anticipated timeframe to reach the break-even point in terms of months or units sold.
- Clearly outline assumptions made in the analysis and provide justifications for transparency and credibility.
- Acknowledge potential risks or challenges that may affect the accuracy of the break-even analysis.
- Briefly mention contingency plans for difficulties in reaching the break-even point within the projected timeframe.
13. Management Summary
The management summary within the business plan provides a concise overview of the organizational structure and key personnel.
This includes a count of individuals, specifying the number of founders and operational team members integral to the organization.
The summary delves into the roles and responsibilities of each key figure, offering insights into the leadership dynamics driving the business.
Furthermore, the management summary sheds light on the financial aspect by presenting details about personal wages and payroll allocations for both founders and operational staff.
This comprehensive section ensures a clear understanding of the human resource framework and the financial commitments associated with the management team, crucial for stakeholders evaluating the business’s operational strength and leadership capability.
![printable example of a business plan Mangement Summary](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/mangement-summary.png)
Tips for Writing Management Summary
- Highlighting the critical role the management team plays in the business’s success, the introduction emphasizes their significance.
- Listing each key member with names, positions, and brief role summaries introduces the core of the management team.
- Providing brief biographies for each team member underscores their relevant experience, skills, achievements, and industry-specific expertise.
- Clearly outlining roles and responsibilities emphasizes how each team member’s skills contribute to the overall success of the business.
- Sharing the team’s vision and strategy involves discussing key strategic goals and outlining the plans to achieve them.
- Highlighting notable achievements or milestones showcases the team members’ successful ventures, industry recognition, or career accomplishments.
- Discussing team dynamics emphasizes collaboration and the complementary nature of their skills in driving the business forward.
- Introducing advisory board members, if applicable, underscores the additional guidance and expertise they bring to the business.
- Discussing how the team plans to contribute to future growth and development includes strategies for talent acquisition, leadership development, and succession planning.
- Touching on the team’s culture and values emphasizes their role in shaping the overall ethos of the business.
- If seeking investment, briefly mentioning how the management team plans to use funding for business growth and development provides insight into their financial strategy.
Here is example of marketing and sales plan section of a bank.
![printable example of a business plan Tips for Writing Management Summary](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tips-for-writing-management-summary.png)
14. Financial Indicators
The financial indicators section within the business plan helps in evaluating the fiscal health and performance of the organization.
Year-after-year profitability estimates take center stage, encompassing key metrics such as gross margin, net profit margin, and EBITDA to revenue.
These indicators provide a comprehensive understanding of the business’s ability to generate profit relative to its revenue.
Furthermore, the financial indicators extend to leverage ratios, including the critical Debt to Equity ratio, Debt to Assets ratio, and Interest Coverage ratio.
These metrics illuminate the organization’s capital structure, debt management, and its capacity to meet interest obligations.
Liquidity ratios includes the Current Ratio and Current Debt to Total Asset Ratio.
These ratios provide insights into the company’s short-term financial health and its ability to meet immediate obligations.
The financial indicator toolbox is enriched with additional metrics, notably the Revenue to Equity ratio, which sheds light on the efficiency of generating revenue from equity investments.
![printable example of a business plan Financial Indicator](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/financial-indicator.png)
Tips For Writing Financial Indicators
- Detailed revenue forecasts for the next 3-5 years. Breakdown by product/service and geographical regions.
- Detailed breakdown of anticipated expenses. Include fixed and variable costs, operational expenses, and other relevant expenditures.
- Historical P&L statements if available. Projected future profits and losses based on revenue and expense projections.
- Outline of expected cash inflows and outflows. Emphasis on the ability to meet short-term obligations.
- Snapshot of the company’s financial position. Includes assets, liabilities, and equity.
- Calculation and presentation of key financial ratios (liquidity, solvency, profitability). Discussion on the significance of these ratios.
- Identification and explanation of relevant KPIs. Highlighting alignment with the overall business strategy.
- Discussion of potential financial risks. Mitigation strategies and addressing uncertainties.
- Clear statement of the amount and purpose of funds required.
- Outline of key assumptions underlying financial projections. Rationale for these assumptions.
- Summary of industry financial trends and business positioning. Outlook on future financial prospects considering market dynamics.
![printable example of a business plan Tips For Writing Financial Indicators](https://wisebusinessplans.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/tips-for-writing-financial-indicators.png)
Discover Business Plan Formats and Free Templates
Looking For The Right Business Plan Format?
These sample business plans will provide you with a complete structure and format for your business plan, which will give you a head start on developing your document, so you won’t be stuck seeing an empty page and wondering what to write.
Simply going through the process of writing a business plan is one of its key benefits. If you sit down to write, you’ll naturally think about your startup costs, your target market , and any market analysis or research you’ll need to conduct. In addition to defining your position among your competitors, you will establish your goals and milestones.
You can see what should be included in a sample financial plan, but It is wrong to assume that a sample company’s financial projections will fit your own. If you need more resources to get you started, we recommend this guide on how to write a business plan .
In addition, you can download our 40+ free business plan templates covering a range of industries.
Business Plan Examples For Students PDF
Common types of business plan, 1. one page business plan.
One-page business plans are short, compact, and to the point and are designed to make the plan easy to read at a glance. Make sure to include all of the sections, but truncate and summarize them
2. Start-up business plan
Start-up business plans are for businesses that are just getting started. They are usually developed to secure outside funding. In this regard, financials are of increased importance, as well as other sections that determine whether your business idea is viable, such as market research.
3. Strategic business plan
A strategic business plan lays out a company’s goals and how it will achieve them at a high level. It is a foundational document for the company as a whole. A strategic business plan allows all levels of the business to see the big picture, inspiring employees to work together to reach the company’s goals.
4. Feasibility business plan
Developing a feasibility plan answers two primary questions about a business venture: who would purchase the service or product the company wants to sell, and if the venture is profitable.
5. Internal business plan
Internal Business plans are geared to a specific audience within a company to keep your team on the same page and focused on the same goals.
Conclusion
In conclusion, whether you’re venturing into a traditional business or creating an innovative startup, the significance of a well-crafted business plan cannot be overstated. Different types of business plans cater to specific needs, from internal alignment to strategic expansion. Employing a template in MS Word ensures a polished presentation. The process of writing an executive summary, creating a plan, and defining the components of your business plan is essential.
Recognizing the need for a comprehensive and standard business plan can help guide your endeavors. Whether you choose to write a full business plan or opt for a one-page business overview, leveraging templates in MS Word can simplify the process. In essence, understanding the types of business plans and utilizing an executive summary template provides a structured approach to showcase your business overview.
Take inspiration from example business plans to tailor your strategy, ensuring a roadmap for success in the dynamic world of entrepreneurship. Always remember, a meticulously crafted business plan not only communicates your vision effectively but also serves as a valuable resource that can help secure investments and guide your business’s growth trajectory.
Frequently Asked Questions
Begin with an executive summary, delve into market analysis, outline your strategies, create financial projections, and use available business plan examples as templates to guide your writing.
A comprehensive business plan template should encompass key sections such as an executive summary, business description, market analysis, marketing strategy, organizational structure, and financial projections. Seek templates online that cover these elements.
Tailor your business plan to the scale of your small business. Define your objectives clearly, outline cost-effective strategies, and emphasize agility in adapting to market changes.
Explore well-crafted business plan examples you can visit our website wisebusinessplan.
The fundamental components include an executive summary, business description, market analysis, marketing and sales strategy, organizational structure, product/service description, and financial projections.
Investors focus on growth potential, detailed financial projections, market analysis, competition analysis, and the qualifications and experience of your management team when reviewing a business plan.
To find a business plan example for a tech startup,you can visit our visit wisebusinessplan .
A business plan provides a comprehensive overview of your entire business, including strategies, operations, and financials. In contrast, a business proposal typically focuses on a specific project or offer, outlining the details and benefits to a potential client.
Craft an engaging executive summary by summarizing your business’s mission, highlighting the market opportunity, showcasing your product or service, and providing a concise overview of your financial projections.
Seek tailored business plan examples for nonprofit organizations you can visit wisebusinessplan .
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Business Plan Templates
Use our template to make an investment-worthy business plan.
![printable example of a business plan business plan template](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/business-plan-template-297x420.webp)
Updated December 8, 2023 Written by Sara Hostelley | Reviewed by Brooke Davis
A business plan is a document outlining a company’s operations, strategies, goals, and objectives. It’s crucial to guide you through each stage of starting and growing your business.
Templates (8)
What is a business plan, why is a business plan essential, components of a business plan, how to write a business plan, business plan sample.
Below, you can find free business plan templates for specific business types. You can also find more in-depth information on writing a plan for your business, whether it’s a food truck, restaurant, real estate business, or another entity:
![printable example of a business plan business plan screenshot](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/business-plan-screenshot-min-200x260.webp)
Create a detailed plan that lays out the details of how your business will achieve it's objectives.
Traditional Business Plan
![printable example of a business plan One-Page Business Plan Template](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/one-page-business-screenshot-min-200x260.webp)
Create a simplified version of a traditional business plan.
One-Page Business Plan
![printable example of a business plan Non-profit business plan screenshot](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/Nonprofit-business-Plan_download-friendly-min-200x260.webp)
Create a Non-Profit Business Plan and learn how to write one.
![printable example of a business plan Daycare business plan screenshot](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/Daycare-business-Plan_download-friendly-min-200x260.webp)
Create a Daycare Business Plan and learn how to write one.
![printable example of a business plan Restaurant business plan screenshot](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/Restaurant-business-Plan_download-friendly.doc-560-min-200x260.webp)
Create a Restaurant Business Plan and learn how to write one.
![printable example of a business plan Real estate business plan screenshot](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/Real-estate-business-Plan_download-friendly-min-200x260.webp)
Create a Real Estate Business Plan and learn how to write one.
Real Estate
![printable example of a business plan Food truck business plan screenshot](https://legaltemplates.net/wp-content/uploads/Food-truck-business-Plan_download-friendly-min-200x260.webp)
Create a Food Truck Business Plan and learn how to write one.
A business plan is a document detailing how a business, whether it’s a new or existing company, will achieve its goals and objectives. It guides you through every step of starting and running a company.
A business plan can be the foundation of your business, serving as a written roadmap that covers all aspects of how to structure, run, and grow your business. You can also refer back to it as your business progresses to track its growth and success.
In addition to being a helpful document internally, a business plan is also vital for a company to communicate its success to external parties that may influence its future success.
Consider some of the main reasons why large and small business owners alike use business plans:
1. Use As a Roadmap
A business plan sets specific, measurable, and time-bound goals. Having these goals helps you track progress, evaluate performance, and adjust as necessary.
By laying out goals, you have a clear and attainable plan of action with the ability to see and monitor your progress.
2. Plan Strategies For Potential Challenges
A business plan can help you think objectively about your business’s key elements and inform your decision-making as you move forward.
A detailed plan can provide a semblance of control over a potentially cumbersome process. Formulating a plan can improve your ability to make choices and decisions for yourself and the business. This approach is much better than suddenly making a critical decision without time to evaluate or haphazardly letting others decide for you.
3. Get Funding or Bring on New Business Partners
An accurate business plan is essential whether or not you need to secure a business loan. Investors and lenders often require a business plan before they commit capital. A solid plan demonstrates your commitment, viability, and potential return on investment.
Create a business plan that grabs the attention of potential investors and provides them with enough structure and confidence that they will move forward and grant funding and support to your business.
You can use your business plan to highlight how the proposed business will be successful and profitable.
4. Discover Any Weaknesses
A business plan includes a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis that helps identify potential risks and challenges. It is essential to allocate resources and demonstrate monthly profit or loss. By recognizing these elements early, you can develop strategies to mitigate or address them.
5. Analyze the Market and Competition
Market research within the plan helps you better understand your target audience, competition, and industry trends. This knowledge is crucial for making informed business decisions.
By learning about your competition, you can help make your goods or services stand out and help validate your business idea.
You should update a business plan as you go, altering your goals as necessary and being mindful of any changes of direction in your business.
A typical business plan includes the following sections:
- Executive Summary
- Management Team
- Products and Services
- Customers and Marketing
- SWOT Analysis
Our business plan template includes all of the above, so you won’t have to worry about missing out on essential sections.
Step 1 – Create an Executive Summary
An executive summary is the first section of a traditional business plan, serving as the first impression of your business. Please give a brief overview of your company, including its mission, key goals, and a snapshot of your financial projections.
You can skip this step if you’re writing a lean business plan for a startup. Instead, replace it with a few sentences outlining the problem your startup aims to solve and the solution you will provide.
Executive Summary Example:
Market research indicates there are a growing number of dog owners in Tallahassee who want to train their animals. Consumer surveys indicate that most consumers don’t have the time or resources to train their animals themselves.
Consumers have also expressed a desire for combined dog walking and training services to help discipline their animals.
Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks provides a convenient service for customers with furry friends and disposable incomes.
Tips for Writing an Executive Summary
- Define a problem in your market and state how your business will solve it.
- Limit your executive summary to one page.
- Use a tone appropriate for your audience.
Step 2 – Describe Your Company’s Team
A professional business plan will include a statement about your company’s team and management.
Describe your startup’s legal structure. After that, you can insert a chart to show the hierarchical structure of your company. Show and name your C-suite executives, management team, and key employees. Include short biographies and links to their resumes and LinkedIn profiles to give the reader a complete picture of your staff’s qualifications.
If you have a smaller staff, you can highlight the founder and CEO and your staff members who perform the services or create your business’s products.
Example for Company’s Team Statement:
Jamie Clayton, Founder and CEO
- Board-certified veterinarian.
Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks’s dog walkers and trainers
- 14 full-time staff members.
- 26 part-time staff members.
- All staff members have the Certified Professional Dog Trainer-Knowledge and Skills Assessed (CPDT-KSA) credential from the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers.
Tips for Writing about Your Company Management and Team
- Include any roles you’d like to hire to grow your company, if applicable.
- Highlight expertise and awards one to show your staff’s capabilities.
Step 3 – Summarize Market Analysis and Potential
Your business plan must also thoroughly analyze your target market and customer base. The goal here is to show that you understand your market and target audience and that there is a viable market for your business.
Market Analysis Example:
Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks’s ideal customer is a dog owner between the ages of 25 and 65 with a high disposable income. They’re ideally a working professional or have recently retired from the workplace. They love their dog (or dogs) and want them to be well-behaved and have an outlet for all their energy.
Market research shows that Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks has ample opportunities in the Tallahassee area:
- The total revenue for dog walking services in the U.S. increased from $900 million in 2019 to $1.1 billion in 2023.
- Dog ownership has increased by 20% over the last five years.
- Online search volume for “dog walkers in Tallahassee” is up by 10% since last year.
- 19% of Tallahassee’s residents have a household income of $125,000 or more (compared to the average of 5% across the U.S.).
Tips for Writing a Market Analysis
- Use reliable sources for acquiring data.
- Conduct consumer surveys to hear from people in your target area.
- Focus on the demand in your area and the growth potential.
- Include revenue and expense projections based on market data.
Step 4 – Describe Your Product or Service
Describe the products and services you offer. Pinpoint the value they provide to current and future customers and share your plans for research and development.
The main goal of this section is to convince the reader and yourself that your business is viable and that you have enough resources, time, and energy to achieve your goals.
Product Description Example:
Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks isn’t an ordinary dog walking service. When a customer signs up for our monthly subscription plan, we have one of our certified dog walkers go to their house 12 times a month on a schedule that works for them.
Our dog walker takes their dog on a 30-minute walk and corrects their behavior. Their dog learns how to walk on a leash calmly and be around cars and people. Not only does the dog get some exercise and fresh air, but they also learn discipline, meaning the customer doesn’t have to worry about training their dog in this sense.
Tips for Writing a Product/Service Description
- Highlight cross-sell and upsell opportunities, if applicable.
- Emphasize what distinguishes you from other companies providing similar services/products.
- Include details for updating your offerings in the future.
Step 5 – Plan Your Marketing Strategy
Discuss the brand vision you want to cultivate, the metrics you’ll track, and the channels you’ll use to reach your target audience. Outlining how you plan to collect and retain customers will help you experience growth in the long term.
Marketing Strategy Example:
Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks will focus on social media and direct mail marketing as its two main forms of advertising. We’ll track customer referrals to determine how many current customers are satisfied with our services.
On our social media platforms, including Instagram and Facebook, we’ll track our audience growth rate, bounce rate, and click-through rate.
Tips for Writing a Marketing Strategy
- Add the budget/resources you have, if applicable.
- Create strategies for marketing to different segments within your main target audience.
Step 6 – Conduct SWOT Analysis
Organizations use SWOT analyses to determine how closely a business will adhere to its growth trajectories. This analysis involves looking at a company’s SWOTs, which are:
- Strengths: Strengths are things your company does well. Examples include having a unique selling proposition, standout brandings, or human resources, like your employees and C-class executives.
- Weaknesses: These barriers prevent your project or company from reaching certain milestones. Examples include financial limitations, a shortage of skilled professionals, and unclear selling propositions.
- Opportunities: These positive external factors could give you a competitive edge. For instance, if you’re a manufacturer and the federal government cuts tariffs, you can export your products into a new market to boost market share and sales.
- Threats: These are events, competitors, and situations that pose a risk to your company and the goals you’ve set for it. Typical threats include negative media coverage, changing customer demands, emerging competitors, and new rules and regulations.
SWOT Analysis Example:
- Appeals to people who don’t have the time or resources to train their pets.
- Low startup costs.
- Finding enough certified employees to meet the anticipated demand.
- Dealing with aggressive animals may be challenging for newer employees.
Opportunities
- Offering multiple subscription packages for customers who want more frequent training sessions for their pets.
- BehaviorBuddies is a dog walking service in Bradfordville that may take away customers.
Tips for Writing a SWOT Analysis
- Be honest with your business’s weaknesses and threats.
- Capitalize on opportunities you find through market analysis.
Step 7 – Develop a Strategy for Operations
Your business plan needs to include a thorough operations plan. This section reveals your manufacturing, fulfillment, managing, staffing, hiring strategies, and all the other processes you go through when running your business daily.
Operations Strategy Example:
Jamie Clayton will oversee the hiring of all employees, and the team lead will train all employees for at least one month to ensure they have the knowledge necessary to deal with animals of all temperaments.
The team lead will also organize the dog walking schedule to ensure all team members have enough time to arrive at customers’ houses and complete the dog walking/training sessions thoroughly.
Tips for Writing a Business Strategy
- Consider what your business needs to thrive on a daily basis.
- Account for inventory and supplies, even if your business is service-based.
Step 8 – Compile Your Business Financials
Create financial projections, including income statements, balance sheets, and cash flow statements for the first few years of operation. If you need funding, specify the amount and how you plan to use it.
Financial Statement Example:
Income Statement for the Year Ended December 31, 2023
- Revenue: $150,000
- Cost of Goods Sold: $30,000
- Gross Profit: $120,000
- Operating Expenses: $80,000
- Net Operating Income: $40,000
- Other Income/Expenses: -$2,000
- Net Income: $38,000
Tips for Writing a Financial Section
- Double-check the accuracy of financial information.
- Demonstrate how the proposed funding aligns with your company’s goals.
- Forecast future financial performance.
Step 9 – Explain Your Funding Request
If you’re seeking funding or investment for your business, explain the amount you need and how you intend to use it. Be transparent about the terms you’re offering to investors or lenders.
Funding Request Example:
Pawsitive Strides Canine Coaching & Walks has already hired a team to serve our existing customers. Once we scale to $500,000 in annual revenue over the next two years and at a 10% profit margin, our primary ongoing annual expenses (not including taxes) will total $350,000.
While already profitable, we are requesting $200,000 in the form of a business loan to buy two additional company vehicles. These vehicles will improve our employees’ ability to get to customers’ homes, and the remaining money will go toward maintaining current company vehicles.
Tips for Writing a Funding Request
- Add a timeline so investors know your goals and how you plan to use the money.
- If you seek funding in the form of an exchange for equity, an investor may expect to gain decision-making powers in your company. Plan for this situation accordingly.
Step 10 – Compile an Appendix for Official Documents
Include relevant documents, such as resumes of key team members, legal agreements, market research data, product design mock-ups, and your business’s legal structure documents.
Remember that each business plan is unique, so tailor your content to your venture and audience. Your business plan should effectively communicate your vision, strategy, and financial viability to potential investors, partners, and stakeholders.
Combine the appendix with a table of contents and footnotes section so you can reference it throughout your document.
You can download a free business plan template below in PDF or Word format:
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Related Documents
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- One-Page Business Plan : A simplified version of a traditional business plan that outlines the basics of your business.
- LLC Operating Agreement : An internal written document among members of a Limited Liability Company (“LLC”).
- Business Proposal : Use this document to form new relationships with other businesses and organizations.
- Request for Proposal : Download this form to allow you to collect offers from various vendors who can provide goods or services your business needs.
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Free Small Business Plan Templates and Examples
By Kate Eby | April 27, 2022
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We’ve compiled the most useful collection of free small business plan templates for entrepreneurs, project managers, development teams, investors, and other stakeholders, as well as a list of useful tips for filling out a small business template.
Included on this page, you’ll find a simple small business template and a one-page small business plan template . You can also download a fill-in-the-blank small business plan template , and a sample small business plan template to get started.
Small Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Small Business Plan Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-Small-Business-Plan-Template_WORD_0.png)
Download Small Business Plan Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs
Use this small business plan template to identify trends and demographics in the company overview. Highlight how your product or service uniquely benefits consumers in the offerings section, and note your proposed timeline, milestones, and the key performance metrics (KPIs) you will use to measure your success. This template has all the components of a standard business plan, from the executive summary through financing details.
Small Business Plan Sample Template
![printable example of a business plan Small Business Plan Sample Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-Small-Business-Plan-Sample-Template_WORD.png)
Download Small Business Plan Sample Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs
Use this small business plan sample template to draft the subsections and headings of the contents of your plan. This template provides editable sample text that shows you how to organize and create a ready-to-be-implemented business plan. This sample template helps remove the guesswork of what to include in a small business plan.
Simple Small Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Simple Small Business Plan Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/IC-Simple-Small-Business-Plan-Template_WORD.png)
Download Simple Small Business Plan Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
Use this streamlined, customizable, simple small business plan template to chart revenue, expenses, and net profit or loss forecasts with sample graphics. Order your small business plan with numbered subsections and list them in a table of contents. Supplement the plan with additional information in the appendix for a complete business plan that you can present to investors.
Small Business Plan Chart Template
![printable example of a business plan Small Business Plan Chart Template Powerpoint](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-Small-Business-Plan-Chart-Template_PowerPoint.png)
Download Small Business Plan Chart Template Microsoft PowerPoint | Google Slides
Use this small business plan chart template to plan and track month-by-month and annual business planning. The flexible color-coded bar chart simplifies tracking and allows you to customize the plan to meet your needs. Add tasks, track owner status, and adjust the timeline to chart your progress with this dynamic, visually rich small business planning tool.
Small Business Plan Outline Template
![printable example of a business plan Small Business Plan Outline Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-Small-Business-Plan-Outline-Template_WORD.png)
Download Small Business Plan Outline Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs
Use this small business plan outline template to jumpstart a plan for your small business. This template includes the nine essential elements of a traditional business plan, plus a title page, a table of contents, and an appendix to ensure that your document is complete, comprehensive, and in order. Easily simplify or expand the outline to meet your company’s needs.
Printable Small Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Printable Small Business Plan Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-Printable-Small-Business-Plan-Template_WORD.png)
Download Printable Small Business Plan Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs
This print-friendly small business plan template is ideal for presentations to investors and stakeholders. The customizable template includes all the standard, critical business plan elements, and serves as a guide for writing a complete and comprehensive plan. Easily edit and add content to this printable template, so you can focus on executing the small business plan.
Small Business Startup Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Small Business Startup Plan Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-Small-Business-Startup-Plan-Template_WORD.png)
Download Small Business Startup Plan Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF | Google Docs
Use this small business startup plan template to draft your mission statement and list your keys to business success, in order to persuade investors and inform stakeholders. Customize your startup plan with fillable tables for sales revenue, gross profit margin, and cost of sales projections to secure your business's pricing structure.
Fill-in-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Fill-in-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2020-04/IC-Fill-in-the-Blank-Small-Business-Plan-Template_WORD.png)
Download Fill-in-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
This small business plan template simplifies the process to help you create a comprehensive, organized business plan. Simply enter original content for the executive summary, company overview, and other sections to customize the plan. This fill-in-the-blank small business plan template helps you to maintain organization and removes the guesswork in order to ensure success.
One Page Small Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan One Page Small Business Plan Template](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/2021-12/IC-One-Page-Small-Business-Plan-Template.png)
Download One Page Small Business Plan Template Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
This one page small business plan template is ideal for quick, simple presentations. Use this template to summarize your business overview, market analysis, marketing, and sales plan, key objectives and success metrics, and milestones timeline. Complete the fillable sections to educate investors and inform stakeholders.
One Page Small Business Plan Example
![printable example of a business plan One Page Small Business Plan Example](https://www.smartsheet.com/sites/default/files/IC-One-Page-Small-Business-Plan-Example.png)
Download One Page Business Plan Example Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word | Adobe PDF
This one page small business plan example prompts you to list your vision, mission, product or service, team member names, roles, and relevant experience to promote your small business. Use the market analysis, marketing, sales plan sections to detail how you aim to sell your product or service. This small business plan features fillable tables for key objectives and success metrics. Plus, you’ll find space for your financial cost structure and revenue sources to show how your business will remain profitable.
What Is a Small Business Plan Template?
A small business plan template is a roadmap for defining your business objectives and detailing the operational, financial, and marketing resources required for success. Use a small business plan template to strategize growth, forecast financial needs, and promote investment.
A small business plan template organizes and outlines the content needed to achieve goals for growth and profit, including marketing and sales tactics. As opposed to starting from scratch, using a template makes it easy to organize the information and customize the plan to meet your needs.
A small business plan template includes standard business plan sections, as well as the following sections:
- Executive Summary: Summarize the key points in your small business plan in two pages or less to hold your reader's attention and promote buy-in. Write this section last to capitalize on your understanding of the small business plan.
- Company Overview: Describe the nature of your small business, the industry landscape and trends, demographics, and economic and governmental influences. List your location, product or service, and goals to show what makes your small business unique.
- Problem and Solution: Identify and explain the problem your product or service will solve and its costs. Propose and describe your solution and its benefits. Conclude this section with a summary of the problem and solution.
- Target Market: Identify your small business's target market by researching your product and service to determine the most likely demographic. Explain your target market's motivations for buying your product or service.
- Competition: Note the other competitor product or service offerings, pricing, and company revenues to understand how to outperform your competitors. Detail your small business's competitive advantages, based on research.
- Product or Service Offerings: Describe your product or service, how it benefits your target market, and what makes it unique. Highlight how your product or service will outsell competitors.
- Marketing: Detail your marketing plan with objectives and strategy, including goals, costs, and an action plan. A successful marketing plan reduces costs and boosts your product or service sales.
- Timeline and Metrics: Break down your small business plan into smaller activities. Describe these activities (and the performance metrics you intend to use to track them) and list a completion date for each.
- Financial Forecasts: Explain how your organization uses past performance and market research to inform your business's economic forecasts. Estimate growth and profits based on your informed assumptions.
- Financing: List your funding sources and how you intend to use the funds to keep your company on track as it grows. Smart financing at the planning stage prepares your organization for unexpected challenges and helps to mitigate risk.
A small business plan template enables you to complete your business plan quickly and comprehensively, so you can achieve your goals and turn your product or service idea into a profitable reality.
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- Business plans
Business Plan Template
Used 10,558 times
Reviewed by Yauhen Zaremba
This business plan template is a great tool for your startup to customize to reflect your strong qualifications, experienced team, and marketable business idea.
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Business Plan
1. executive summary.
The Executive Summary is where you explain the general idea behind your company; it’s where you give the reader (most likely an investor, or someone else you need on board) a clear indication of why you’ve sent this Business Plan to them. This is a souped-up “elevator pitch,” a couple of pages that summarizes what your business is all about.
Note that, while the entire Business Plan should be well-written, this section must really demonstrate excellent composition and grammar. This is the first part of your Business Plan that anyone will read, so it’s important that it really “sing.”
The header section of the Executive Summary can benefit from flexible treatment, as well. You can use a company logo, or any other design you’d like, but you want to be sure you include the name of your business, right at the start of the Business Plan.
In the Business Plan section, you will want to get the reader’s attention by letting them know what you do. Try to answer some (or all) of the following questions:
- What products or services do you offer?
- What sector do you operate within?
- Who is your target audience?
- What is the future outlook of the marketplace?
- What makes your offer unique?
- Who’s the boss?
- Why did your company start?
The Executive Summary is the place to succinctly describe your business. It’s also appropriate to address why you’ve created your proposal, answering questions like these, briefly, in addition to those above:
- Do you need investment?
- How much money do you need?
- What is the money to be used for?
- How will your business become profitable?
- What’s in it for the recipient?
The last question is perhaps the most important. Already, only having read as far into your business plan as the Executive Summary, your reader is wondering “what’s in it for me?” And your challenge is to offer them a preview (remember this is a “summary”) of the benefits of accepting your business plan, while not giving away the whole story.
2. Business Description
This next section gives all the must-have details about your business. Here you are looking to answer questions like “when did you start?”; “Why?”; “By whom?”
This is the place for your “origin story.” This section should be just as well-written as the Executive Summary, of course. What is your interest in the market? How’d you get to this point?
As you can tell, the Business Description section amounts to backstory – and that’s essential to any Business Plan.
This is where you tell them where you’re coming from, before you get to “why” you’re in need of an investment, in a nutshell.
3. Mission Statement
The Mission Statement section of your Business Plan expands on some of what you talked about in the Executive Summary.
Here are the major points you will want to make in the Mission Statement.
Explain the end-result you seek from the business venture. Connect it to your customers and readers, in turn.
B) Objectives
Explain the steps you will take to reach your goal. Be specific; demonstrate that you have a good idea of what it will realistically take to achieve your goals.
C) Customers
Your target audience has to be well-defined. Here you need to explain exactly who your customer is. You should define your customer as specifically as possible. Is your customer the 18-24 year old customer base? How about the 18 -24 year old music consumers, as an example? Describe them to the finest level of detail possible.
D) Industry
Why is your niche attractive? Is your industry growing? Will you shake it up with your offer? Are you a disruptor? Explain thoroughly in this section.
E) Strengths
Here you want to outline what makes your company special. Answer why your business is different from the rest of the competition. Who’s on your team? The best tip we’ve got is: investors love a top-notch team.
F) Status of Ownership
Here you want to tell your prospective investors the legal status of your company. Is it a limited liability company (LLC)? Is it a sole proprietorship, or partnership? Whatever the case may be, you’ll want to explain it to your prospect.
4. Products and Services
This section is extremely important to a successful Business Plan. This is where you describe what it is that you have to offer the world.
Be sure to include:
- Detailed descriptions of your Products and/or Services. Feel free to include pictures, as you deem appropriate. Don’t forget to add the pricing and/or fees.
- Next, you’ll want to spend some time extolling the features and benefits of your products and/or services. Break it down. Remember that customers love benefits, and prospective investors want to know that you understand those benefits.
The Products/Services you offer are the core of your business. You really can’t afford to omit anything relevant here. Your prospective investor will surely want to know what you have to offer, and they’ll want to know enough about those things to be able to believe in them.
5. Marketing Plan
The Marketing Plan is one of the most essential parts of your Business Plan; marketing is the thing that brings your business to its audience.
The first thing to do in the Marketing Plan section is to prove that you know your target audience. Put the research, market analyses, and industry knowledge that you possess to work in this section. You are illustrating to your recipient that you know your audience better than anyone, and that makes yours the ideal business to serve the audience.
This section can be broken into six distinct parts, as follows:
- Clearly define and explain your target audience
- Briefly describe your competition – particularly what makes you better at what you do than them
- Detail your niche. What particular area of your industry to you fit? Where do you squeeze in, in light of the innovation?
- List your distribution channels.
- Describe how you will promote the business. What media outlets will you use for advertisement? How much is your marketing budget? Your prospective investor will surely want to know.
- State your image or message. How will you present your business to the public? Tell your reader how your customers will see your business.
The Marketing Plan is essential. Make sure you give it plenty of attention, in your Business Plan.
6. Operations Plan
This section of your Business Plan should detail your day-to-day operation. This is important; your prospective investors want to know that you’ve given some thought to the daily operation of your business.
Here, you’ll want to describe the various resources, personnel, and real estate involved in the execution of your business activities.
Here are some of the things you will want to include in the Operations Plan section:
Location-- for either service or product, where do you work out of? (Be specific, with dimensions, cost of utilities etc.)
Transportation-- how do you get your product to your clients? third-party store? Legal requirements -- Do you need permits? licenses? etc. What are the regulations you follow? Work with unions? etc.
Personnel-- Describe the type of positions you already have, plus what you may need to expand on.
Inventory-- Do you keep things in stock? Where? How much does that cost? What is the value of it? Providers/Suppliers -- Who do you lease work out to? List names, addresses, websites.
Timing for Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable-- Investors want to know about anything that could keep them from making a quick profit.
7. Management Organization
In this section, detail the management structure inside your organization. Your prospective investors will be keen to know who’s calling the shots and to whom at your business.
Here are the things you will want to make sure you list here:
- Board of Directors
- Accountants
- Consultants
Remember, you don’t have to list everyone, down to the janitors, but you do want to be thorough in this section. Let your prospect know that you’re not just winging it, and that you have a team in place.
8. Financial Plan
The Financial Plan is one of the most important, if not the absolute most important, parts of your Business Plan. This is a section that your reader will be eyeing closely, and they will expect you to have put a lot of love into this one, too.
Begin this section by telling the prospective investor about the funding you’ve received so far. Where has it come from? How much does it total? Be forthcoming about your capital and its sources, first and foremost.
This section is also the place where you plan your Profit and Loss (P&L) for at least the next 12 months. This spreadsheet can be used in connection to the cash flow spreadsheet. If your business plans to run a loss for the first year (or two, or three), you should clarify this point in this section, and add a model profitable year for good measure. Just be sure to explain that your Business Plan doesn’t always project a loss.
Cash Flow Spreadsheet Example
Cell and section names:.
CashReceivedB, Expenditures, etc are the names of the sections. To name the cell of section of cells - highlight it and then rename in the upper left corner. Changing the name afterwards, if misspelled or deleting it completely, if reverting back to original cell name is done through “Insert -> Name -> Define”.
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-1-8913a7bb9e.png)
Fiscal Year and PV of Cash Flows
Dates will be change automatically if the date in the “Fiscal Year Begins” is changed. Another section where investors would look is the present value of cash flows. It’s the sum of all cash flows discounted back 1 period using company’s annual rate of return, which is set by the company. A number was made up.
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-2-046ba8aca9.png)
Cash Received, Expenditures, Net Cash Flow
Cash Received is a section where someone would record all the cash inflow from different activities like operating or financial. Cash outflows are recorded in Expenditures. Both of these sections are summed in the subtotals: (=SUBTOTAL(109,CashReceivedB)). 109 – specifies the function that should be done by the subtotal, other could be used too, such as averaging; there are numbers from 1 to 11.
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-3-767d4c3b21.png)
With these two sections it is easy to find: Net Cash Flow = Cash inflow – Cash outflow. I also added two sections, which show how much money was in the beginning of the month, and how much is available at the end. That cash balance from previous month is transferred to the next month Cash Available section.
Profit/Loss Analysis Spreadsheet Example
Formulas for this spreadsheet:.
- Gross Profit = Revenue – Cost of production
- GP Margin = Gross Profit / Revenue
- Profit before taxes = Gross Profit + Other Income – Other Expenses
- Profit loss after tax = Profit before tax * (1 – Tax Rate) *However if loss was incurred, tax won’t be applied. To accommodate for that write the IF statement: if Profit Before Taxes > 0, then apply the formula above to that number, otherwise the negative number will be transferred to this cell.
- Net profit margin = Profit after tax / Revenue
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-4-b4db129664.png)
Sparklines:
Overview is done with Sparklines. Select the cell where you would want to see the graph then Insert -> Sparklines. The window will pop up where you can choose the data to be shown.
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-5-4e277ca844.png)
To customize the graph, click on one of them and the ribbon will show up, where you can choose different styles of presentation.
Graphs for Profit/Loss Analysis Example
Creating a chart:.
Go to Insert -> Charts, highlight the data you are trying to present. Charts ribbon has variety of options that will help you improve the look and style of graphs.
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-6-6ddaebc356.png)
Transferring chart to another spreadsheet
In order to move the chart to a new or existing sheet, press control or right click on it and choose “Move”:
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-7-2f831d928c.png)
Since the charts reference the same cells in the profit/loss analysis spreadsheet, updates in that table will automatically be reflected on the graph.
Break-Even Analysis Spreadsheet
Finding sales mix %:.
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-8-12cd7a97a4.png)
In this part, the goal is to find current products sales mix, which will be used in the analysis. You need to input the price and number of units sold/services provided. Sales mix % is then found for each product. These numbers should be transferred by hand to the second table.
Break-Even Analysis:
![printable example of a business plan image](https://www.pandadoc.com/app/packages/templates/free-business-plan/img/image-9-4c2da277a0.png)
- Contribution Margin Per Unit = Price per Unit – Variable Cost Per Unit
- Average CM per Unit = CM per Product 1 * Sales Mix % Product 1 + CM per Product 2 * Sales Mix % Product 2+ ...
- Break-Even number of Units to Sell = Fixed Costs / Average CM per Unit. *This is the total number of all products, to find how many units of each product you need to sell:
- B-E units of Product 1 = (Fixed Cost / Average CM per Unit) * Sales Mix of Product 1
- Product Sales in $ = B-E units of Product 1 * Price
This table is useful to quickly assess how different scenarios would affect the break-even points. You can copy the analysis table and paste it right next to each other for easier comparison.
9. Conclusion/Call to Action
The last part of your Business Plan is a conclusion, which ideally should contain a call to action (CTA). Your CTA here is a bit different from a CTA on something like a Web-based landing page. A Business Plan CTA simply clarifies the next step. Is it a phone call or a meeting? Perhaps it’s a phone call to schedule a meeting. Whatever your CTA may be, you’ll want to make it clear, in this section.
10. Confidentiality Statement
Your Business Plan is top secret, right? If that’s the case, it’s up to you to make sure that’s clearly stated to those who receive the Business Plan. One way to protect your business and its intellectual property (IP), is to include a confidentiality, or nondisclosure (NDA) statement in your Business Plan.
11. Addendums
Here is where you add extra information, including but not limited to:
- -- less interesting information, that someone might like to know (positive, of course)
- -- graphs, technical drawings, etc
- -- citations: sometimes you may include a statistic in your proposal, about your industry, your competitive market, etc., but you must cite it.
- -- business studies
- -- city plans, office plans
- -- list of assets for collateral; financial backgrounds of key investors
- -- CVs/resumes, credentials of key players
- -- key collaborators, etc
[Sender.Company]
MM / DD / YYYY
[Client.Company]
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Free Business Plan Template
Running your own business might be a real challenge. And even if you know exactly every single step of your company, you need a proper business plan to attract investors, employees, and potential partners. Creating one is easy with PandaDoc free business plan templates.
What Is a Business Plan Template?
A business plan template is an opportunity to find a simple and convenient tool that will grant you a proper start for your business. Using even a simple business plan will be a universal solution for all types of companies, especially startups or small ventures.
By providing all the essential facts in your business plan, you will be able to show its most beneficial parts. And with a proper sample of a business plan template, you will avoid all the possible mistakes.
What Is Included In a Free Business Plan Template?
Working with a template for a business plan, you will be able to include all the essential things about development and running your business.
The following chapters are the most important ones:
- The idea of your company. This is the very first thing that shows the purpose and the benefits of your venture. Here, you need to concisely explain your aims, ideally in one-two sentences.
- The description of your business. Here you can show the basic data about your company and the expanded version of your global aims.
- Your business mission. When you want to express the local goals of your company and show all your working aims, you have to use the page with the mission. Include the most important aspects. Goals, objectives, the targeted audience of your projects, the place you are going to take on a market, advantages of your company, and information for investors, who will be able to attend your business.
- Your products and services. Show the beneficial services that you are going to use as your main tool to attract customers and succeed.
- A detailed marketing plan. Here you can show the proper chain of business solutions with an expanded explanation of each and every step of your business. A marketing strategy might include both your potential income and costs.
- Operations plan. Here you can state all the essential tasks you have to do in order to run your project or manage it.
- Management. Show the hierarchy of your employees. It will give the clearest image of how many people your company will accept.
- Financial plan. Giving the clearest and the most expanded vision of all of your costs will be the most important part for your potential investors. Completing this chapter properly might be extremely challenging, but with a proper free business plan template, you will face no trouble with it.
As you can see, there will be more than enough solutions for your business plan. And with a proper conclusion, you will find it simple to show even more beneficial parts of your company to all your investors.
How To Write a Business Plan Template?
To write a proper business plan you can use a sample of a business plan template provided by PandaDoc. When filling it out, you need to include the following information:
- Facts about your company. You can expand it with numbers or achievements like the state of your client base, years of expertise in the market, or anything that attracts the attention of potential investors.
- State the costs and income of your company. It will be essential to calculate everything for investors to have a clear picture of the current state.
- Use the employee tab. With a proper business plan template sample, you will see that you can add employees to the chosen chapter in order to show the levels of responsibility in your company.
And also, you should keep in mind that all the information about your goals, aims, and tools to work on your project has to be clear for any single person that is going to read your business plan. But with PandaDoc tips PandaDoc, you will be able to see all the nuances and fill in your sample.
When To Use a Simple Business Plan Template?
A simple business plan template is ideal for startups or small business owners who just consider starting their path. Individual entrepreneurs can benefit from it too, as it’s a great way to put all the aspects of the job together and spot a range of opportunities to improve.
Having a template for a business plan lets you focus on the main aspects of your business operation, making it full and detailed for your investors. And PandaDoc will help a lot with this task, while such features as eSignature will help with making this small business plan template a real and verified source of the information.
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Simple Business Plan Template (2024)
![printable example of a business plan Krista Fabregas](https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/fit-in/x/https://www.forbes.com/advisor/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Krista-Fabregas_CBheadshot-88x88.jpeg)
Updated: May 4, 2024, 4:37pm
![printable example of a business plan Simple Business Plan Template (2024)](https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/fit-in/900x510/https://www.forbes.com/advisor/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Simple_Business_Plan_-_article_image.jpg)
Table of Contents
Why business plans are vital, get your free simple business plan template, how to write an effective business plan in 6 steps, frequently asked questions.
While taking many forms and serving many purposes, they all have one thing in common: business plans help you establish your goals and define the means for achieving them. Our simple business plan template covers everything you need to consider when launching a side gig, solo operation or small business. By following this step-by-step process, you might even uncover a few alternate routes to success.
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Whether you’re a first-time solopreneur or a seasoned business owner, the planning process challenges you to examine the costs and tasks involved in bringing a product or service to market. The process can also help you spot new income opportunities and hone in on the most profitable business models.
Though vital, business planning doesn’t have to be a chore. Business plans for lean startups and solopreneurs can simply outline the business concept, sales proposition, target customers and sketch out a plan of action to bring the product or service to market. However, if you’re seeking startup funding or partnership opportunities, you’ll need a write a business plan that details market research, operating costs and revenue forecasting. Whichever startup category you fall into, if you’re at square one, our simple business plan template will point you down the right path.
Copy our free simple business plan template so you can fill in the blanks as we explore each element of your business plan. Need help getting your ideas flowing? You’ll also find several startup scenario examples below.
Download free template as .docx
Whether you need a quick-launch overview or an in-depth plan for investors, any business plan should cover the six key elements outlined in our free template and explained below. The main difference in starting a small business versus an investor-funded business is the market research and operational and financial details needed to support the concept.
1. Your Mission or Vision
Start by declaring a “dream statement” for your business. You can call this your executive summary, vision statement or mission. Whatever the name, the first part of your business plan summarizes your idea by answering five questions. Keep it brief, such as an elevator pitch. You’ll expand these answers in the following sections of the simple business plan template.
- What does your business do? Are you selling products, services, information or a combination?
- Where does this happen? Will you conduct business online, in-store, via mobile means or in a specific location or environment?
- Who does your business benefit? Who is your target market and ideal customer for your concept?
- Why would potential customers care? What would make your ideal customers take notice of your business?
- How do your products and/or services outshine the competition? What would make your ideal customers choose you over a competitor?
These answers come easily if you have a solid concept for your business, but don’t worry if you get stuck. Use the rest of your plan template to brainstorm ideas and tactics. You’ll quickly find these answers and possibly new directions as you explore your ideas and options.
2. Offer and Value Proposition
This is where you detail your offer, such as selling products, providing services or both, and why anyone would care. That’s the value proposition. Specifically, you’ll expand on your answers to the first and fourth bullets from your mission/vision.
As you complete this section, you might find that exploring value propositions uncovers marketable business opportunities that you hadn’t yet considered. So spend some time brainstorming the possibilities in this section.
For example, a cottage baker startup specializing in gluten-free or keto-friendly products might be a value proposition that certain audiences care deeply about. Plus, you could expand on that value proposition by offering wedding and other special-occasion cakes that incorporate gluten-free, keto-friendly and traditional cake elements that all guests can enjoy.
![printable example of a business plan](https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/fit-in/x/https://www.forbes.com/advisor/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Value_Proposition.jpg)
3. Audience and Ideal Customer
Here is where you explore bullet point number three, who your business will benefit. Identifying your ideal customer and exploring a broader audience for your goods or services is essential in defining your sales and marketing strategies, plus it helps fine-tune what you offer.
There are many ways to research potential audiences, but a shortcut is to simply identify a problem that people have that your product or service can solve. If you start from the position of being a problem solver, it’s easy to define your audience and describe the wants and needs of your ideal customer for marketing efforts.
Using the cottage baker startup example, a problem people might have is finding fresh-baked gluten-free or keto-friendly sweets. Examining the wants and needs of these people might reveal a target audience that is health-conscious or possibly dealing with health issues and willing to spend more for hard-to-find items.
However, it’s essential to have a customer base that can support your business. You can be too specialized. For example, our baker startup can attract a broader audience and boost revenue by offering a wider selection of traditional baked goods alongside its gluten-free and keto-focused specialties.
4. Revenue Streams, Sales Channels and Marketing
Thanks to our internet-driven economy, startups have many revenue opportunities and can connect with target audiences through various channels. Revenue streams and sales channels also serve as marketing vehicles, so you can cover all three in this section.
Revenue Streams
Revenue streams are the many ways you can make money in your business. In your plan template, list how you’ll make money upon launch, plus include ideas for future expansion. The income possibilities just might surprise you.
For example, our cottage baker startup might consider these revenue streams:
- Product sales : Online, pop-up shops , wholesale and (future) in-store sales
- Affiliate income : Monetize blog and social media posts with affiliate links
- Advertising income : Reserve website space for advertising
- E-book sales : (future) Publish recipe e-books targeting gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
- Video income : (future) Monetize a YouTube channel featuring how-to videos for the gluten-free and keto-friendly dessert niches
- Webinars and online classes : (future) Monetize coaching-style webinars and online classes covering specialty baking tips and techniques
- Members-only content : (future) Monetize a members-only section of the website for specialty content to complement webinars and online classes
- Franchise : (future) Monetize a specialty cottage bakery concept and sell to franchise entrepreneurs
Sales Channels
Sales channels put your revenue streams into action. This section also answers the “where will this happen” question in the second bullet of your vision.
The product sales channels for our cottage bakery example can include:
- Mobile point-of-sale (POS) : A mobile platform such as Shopify or Square POS for managing in-person sales at local farmers’ markets, fairs and festivals
- E-commerce platform : An online store such as Shopify, Square or WooCommerce for online retail sales and wholesale sales orders
- Social media channels : Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest shoppable posts and pins for online sales via social media channels
- Brick-and-mortar location : For in-store sales , once the business has grown to a point that it can support a physical location
Channels that support other income streams might include:
- Affiliate income : Blog section on the e-commerce website and affiliate partner accounts
- Advertising income : Reserved advertising spaces on the e-commerce website
- E-book sales : Amazon e-book sales via Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing
- Video income : YouTube channel with ad monetization
- Webinars and online classes : Online class and webinar platforms that support member accounts, recordings and playback
- Members-only content : Password-protected website content using membership apps such as MemberPress
Nowadays, the line between marketing and sales channels is blurred. Social media outlets, e-books, websites, blogs and videos serve as both marketing tools and income opportunities. Since most are free and those with advertising options are extremely economical, these are ideal marketing outlets for lean startups.
However, many businesses still find value in traditional advertising such as local radio, television, direct mail, newspapers and magazines. You can include these advertising costs in your simple business plan template to help build a marketing plan and budget.
![printable example of a business plan](https://thumbor.forbes.com/thumbor/fit-in/x/https://www.forbes.com/advisor/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Social_Media_Marketing.jpg)
5. Structure, Suppliers and Operations
This section of your simple business plan template explores how to structure and operate your business. Details include the type of business organization your startup will take, roles and responsibilities, supplier logistics and day-to-day operations. Also, include any certifications or permits needed to launch your enterprise in this section.
Our cottage baker example might use a structure and startup plan such as this:
- Business structure : Sole proprietorship with a “doing business as” (DBA) .
- Permits and certifications : County-issued food handling permit and state cottage food certification for home-based food production. Option, check into certified commercial kitchen rentals.
- Roles and responsibilities : Solopreneur, all roles and responsibilities with the owner.
- Supply chain : Bulk ingredients and food packaging via Sam’s Club, Costco, Amazon Prime with annual membership costs. Uline for shipping supplies; no membership needed.
- Day-to-day operations : Source ingredients and bake three days per week to fulfill local and online orders. Reserve time for specialty sales, wholesale partner orders and market events as needed. Ship online orders on alternating days. Update website and create marketing and affiliate blog posts on non-shipping days.
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6. Financial Forecasts
Your final task is to list forecasted business startup and ongoing costs and profit projections in your simple business plan template. Thanks to free business tools such as Square and free marketing on social media, lean startups can launch with few upfront costs. In many cases, cost of goods, shipping and packaging, business permits and printing for business cards are your only out-of-pocket expenses.
Cost Forecast
Our cottage baker’s forecasted lean startup costs might include:
Business Need | Startup Cost | Ongoing Cost | Source |
---|---|---|---|
Gross Profit Projections
This helps you determine the retail prices and sales volume required to keep your business running and, hopefully, earn income for yourself. Use product research to spot target retail prices for your goods, then subtract your cost of goods, such as hourly rate, raw goods and supplier costs. The total amount is your gross profit per item or service.
Here are some examples of projected gross profits for our cottage baker:
Product | Retail Price | (Cost) | Gross Profit |
---|---|---|---|
Bottom Line
Putting careful thought and detail in a business plan is always beneficial, but don’t get so bogged down in planning that you never hit the start button to launch your business . Also, remember that business plans aren’t set in stone. Markets, audiences and technologies change, and so will your goals and means of achieving them. Think of your business plan as a living document and regularly revisit, expand and restructure it as market opportunities and business growth demand.
Is there a template for a business plan?
You can copy our free business plan template and fill in the blanks or customize it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word or another word processing app. This free business plan template includes the six key elements that any entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a new business.
What does a simple business plan include?
A simple business plan is a one- to two-page overview covering six key elements that any budding entrepreneur needs to consider when launching a startup. These include your vision or mission, product or service offering, target audience, revenue streams and sales channels, structure and operations, and financial forecasts.
How can I create a free business plan template?
Start with our free business plan template that covers the six essential elements of a startup. Once downloaded, you can edit this document in Google Docs or another word processing app and add new sections or subsections to your plan template to meet your specific business plan needs.
What basic items should be included in a business plan?
When writing out a business plan, you want to make sure that you cover everything related to your concept for the business, an analysis of the industry―including potential customers and an overview of the market for your goods or services―how you plan to execute your vision for the business, how you plan to grow the business if it becomes successful and all financial data around the business, including current cash on hand, potential investors and budget plans for the next few years.
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Krista Fabregas is a seasoned eCommerce and online content pro sharing more than 20 years of hands-on know-how with those looking to launch and grow tech-forward businesses. Her expertise includes eCommerce startups and growth, SMB operations and logistics, website platforms, payment systems, side-gig and affiliate income, and multichannel marketing. Krista holds a bachelor's degree in English from The University of Texas at Austin and held senior positions at NASA, a Fortune 100 company, and several online startups.
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7 Business Plan Examples to Inspire Your Own (2024)
Need support creating your business plan? Check out these business plan examples for inspiration.
![printable example of a business plan business plan examples](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/business_20plan_20examples.jpg?v=1685397795)
Any aspiring entrepreneur researching how to start a business will likely be advised to write a business plan. But few resources provide business plan examples to really guide you through writing one of your own.
Here are some real-world and illustrative business plan examples to help you craft your business plan .
7 business plan examples: section by section
The business plan examples in this article follow this template:
- Executive summary. An introductory overview of your business.
- Company description. A more in-depth and detailed description of your business and why it exists.
- Market analysis. Research-based information about the industry and your target market.
- Products and services. What you plan to offer in exchange for money.
- Marketing plan. The promotional strategy to introduce your business to the world and drive sales.
- Logistics and operations plan. Everything that happens in the background to make your business function properly.
- Financial plan. A breakdown of your numbers to show what you need to get started as well as to prove viability of profitability.
- Executive summary
Your executive summary is a page that gives a high-level overview of the rest of your business plan. It’s easiest to save this section for last.
In this free business plan template , the executive summary is four paragraphs and takes a little over half a page:
![printable example of a business plan A four-paragraph long executive summary for a business.](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/executive_summary_2b780640-bba6-4fa9-979f-f4b7a7baec6d.png?v=1685052930)
- Company description
You might repurpose your company description elsewhere, like on your About page, social media profile pages, or other properties that require a boilerplate description of your small business.
Soap brand ORRIS has a blurb on its About page that could easily be repurposed for the company description section of its business plan.
![printable example of a business plan A company description from the website of soap brand Orris](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/orris.png?v=1685053110)
You can also go more in-depth with your company overview and include the following sections, like in the example for Paw Print Post:
- Business structure. This section outlines how you registered your business —as an LLC , sole proprietorship, corporation, or other business type . “Paw Print Post will operate as a sole proprietorship run by the owner, Jane Matthews.”
- Nature of the business. “Paw Print Post sells unique, one-of-a-kind digitally printed cards that are customized with a pet’s unique paw prints.”
- Industry. “Paw Print Post operates primarily in the pet industry and sells goods that could also be categorized as part of the greeting card industry.”
- Background information. “Jane Matthews, the founder of Paw Print Post, has a long history in the pet industry and working with animals, and was recently trained as a graphic designer. She’s combining those two loves to capture a niche in the market: unique greeting cards customized with a pet’s paw prints, without needing to resort to the traditional (and messy) options of casting your pet’s prints in plaster or using pet-safe ink to have them stamp their ‘signature.’”
- Business objectives. “Jane will have Paw Print Post ready to launch at the Big Important Pet Expo in Toronto to get the word out among industry players and consumers alike. After two years in business, Jane aims to drive $150,000 in annual revenue from the sale of Paw Print Post’s signature greeting cards and have expanded into two new product categories.”
- Team. “Jane Matthews is the sole full-time employee of Paw Print Post but hires contractors as needed to support her workflow and fill gaps in her skill set. Notably, Paw Print Post has a standing contract for five hours a week of virtual assistant support with Virtual Assistants Pro.”
Your mission statement may also make an appearance here. Passionfruit shares its mission statement on its company website, and it would also work well in its example business plan.
![printable example of a business plan A mission statement example on the website of apparel brand Passionfruit, alongside a picture of woman](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/mission_statement.png?v=1685053205)
- Market analysis
The market analysis consists of research about supply and demand, your target demographics, industry trends, and the competitive landscape. You might run a SWOT analysis and include that in your business plan.
Here’s an example SWOT analysis for an online tailored-shirt business:
![printable example of a business plan A SWOT analysis table showing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/swot-example.png?v=1685053230)
You’ll also want to do a competitive analysis as part of the market research component of your business plan. This will tell you who you’re up against and give you ideas on how to differentiate your brand. A broad competitive analysis might include:
- Target customers
- Unique value add or what sets their products apart
- Sales pitch
- Price points for products
- Shipping policy
- Products and services
This section of your business plan describes your offerings—which products and services do you sell to your customers? Here’s an example for Paw Print Post:
![printable example of a business plan An example products and services section from a business plan](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/products_0d941ab8-5039-424b-8f0e-abd0716b9918.png?v=1685053278)
- Marketing plan
It’s always a good idea to develop a marketing plan before you launch your business. Your marketing plan shows how you’ll get the word out about your business, and it’s an essential component of your business plan as well.
The Paw Print Post focuses on four Ps: price, product, promotion, and place. However, you can take a different approach with your marketing plan. Maybe you can pull from your existing marketing strategy , or maybe you break it down by the different marketing channels. Whatever approach you take, your marketing plan should describe how you intend to promote your business and offerings to potential customers.
- Logistics and operations plan
The Paw Print Post example considered suppliers, production, facilities, equipment, shipping and fulfillment, and inventory.
Financial plan
The financial plan provides a breakdown of sales, revenue, profit, expenses, and other relevant financial metrics related to funding and profiting from your business.
Ecommerce brand Nature’s Candy’s financial plan breaks down predicted revenue, expenses, and net profit in graphs.
![printable example of a business plan A sample bar chart showing business expenses by month](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/financial-metrics_example.png?v=1685053351)
It then dives deeper into the financials to include:
- Funding needs
- Projected profit-and-loss statement
- Projected balance sheet
- Projected cash-flow statement
You can use this financial plan spreadsheet to build your own financial statements, including income statement, balance sheet, and cash-flow statement.
![printable example of a business plan A sample financial plan spreadsheet](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/financial-plan-spreadsheet.png?v=1685053380)
Types of business plans, and what to include for each
A one-page business plan is meant to be high level and easy to understand at a glance. You’ll want to include all of the sections, but make sure they’re truncated and summarized:
- Executive summary: truncated
- Market analysis: summarized
- Products and services: summarized
- Marketing plan: summarized
- Logistics and operations plan: summarized
- Financials: summarized
A startup business plan is for a new business. Typically, these plans are developed and shared to secure outside funding . As such, there’s a bigger focus on the financials, as well as on other sections that determine viability of your business idea—market research, for example.
- Market analysis: in-depth
- Financials: in-depth
Your internal business plan is meant to keep your team on the same page and aligned toward the same goal.
A strategic, or growth, business plan is a bigger picture, more-long-term look at your business. As such, the forecasts tend to look further into the future, and growth and revenue goals may be higher. Essentially, you want to use all the sections you would in a normal business plan and build upon each.
- Market analysis: comprehensive outlook
- Products and services: for launch and expansion
- Marketing plan: comprehensive outlook
- Logistics and operations plan: comprehensive outlook
- Financials: comprehensive outlook
Feasibility
Your feasibility business plan is sort of a pre-business plan—many refer to it as simply a feasibility study. This plan essentially lays the groundwork and validates that it’s worth the effort to make a full business plan for your idea. As such, it’s mostly centered around research.
Set yourself up for success as a business owner
Building a good business plan serves as a roadmap you can use for your ecommerce business at launch and as you reach each of your business goals. Business plans create accountability for entrepreneurs and synergy among teams, regardless of your business model .
Kickstart your ecommerce business and set yourself up for success with an intentional business planning process—and with the sample business plans above to guide your own path.
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Business plan examples FAQ
How do i write a simple business plan, what is the best format to write a business plan, what are the 4 key elements of a business plan.
- Executive summary: A concise overview of the company's mission, goals, target audience, and financial objectives.
- Business description: A description of the company's purpose, operations, products and services, target markets, and competitive landscape.
- Market analysis: An analysis of the industry, market trends, potential customers, and competitors.
- Financial plan: A detailed description of the company's financial forecasts and strategies.
What are the 3 main points of a business plan?
- Concept: Your concept should explain the purpose of your business and provide an overall summary of what you intend to accomplish.
- Contents: Your content should include details about the products and services you provide, your target market, and your competition.
- Cashflow: Your cash flow section should include information about your expected cash inflows and outflows, such as capital investments, operating costs, and revenue projections.
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How to Write a Business Plan in 9 Steps (+ Template and Examples)
Every successful business has one thing in common, a good and well-executed business plan. A business plan is more than a document, it is a complete guide that outlines the goals your business wants to achieve, including its financial goals . It helps you analyze results, make strategic decisions, show your business operations and growth.
If you want to start a business or already have one and need to pitch it to investors for funding, writing a good business plan improves your chances of attracting financiers. As a startup, if you want to secure loans from financial institutions, part of the requirements involve submitting your business plan.
Writing a business plan does not have to be a complicated or time-consuming process. In this article, you will learn the step-by-step process for writing a successful business plan.
You will also learn what you need a business plan for, tips and strategies for writing a convincing business plan, business plan examples and templates that will save you tons of time, and the alternatives to the traditional business plan.
Let’s get started.
What Do You Need A Business Plan For?
Businesses create business plans for different purposes such as to secure funds, monitor business growth, measure your marketing strategies, and measure your business success.
1. Secure Funds
One of the primary reasons for writing a business plan is to secure funds, either from financial institutions/agencies or investors.
For you to effectively acquire funds, your business plan must contain the key elements of your business plan . For example, your business plan should include your growth plans, goals you want to achieve, and milestones you have recorded.
A business plan can also attract new business partners that are willing to contribute financially and intellectually. If you are writing a business plan to a bank, your project must show your traction , that is, the proof that you can pay back any loan borrowed.
Also, if you are writing to an investor, your plan must contain evidence that you can effectively utilize the funds you want them to invest in your business. Here, you are using your business plan to persuade a group or an individual that your business is a source of a good investment.
2. Monitor Business Growth
A business plan can help you track cash flows in your business. It steers your business to greater heights. A business plan capable of tracking business growth should contain:
- The business goals
- Methods to achieve the goals
- Time-frame for attaining those goals
A good business plan should guide you through every step in achieving your goals. It can also track the allocation of assets to every aspect of the business. You can tell when you are spending more than you should on a project.
You can compare a business plan to a written GPS. It helps you manage your business and hints at the right time to expand your business.
3. Measure Business Success
A business plan can help you measure your business success rate. Some small-scale businesses are thriving better than more prominent companies because of their track record of success.
Right from the onset of your business operation, set goals and work towards them. Write a plan to guide you through your procedures. Use your plan to measure how much you have achieved and how much is left to attain.
You can also weigh your success by monitoring the position of your brand relative to competitors. On the other hand, a business plan can also show you why you have not achieved a goal. It can tell if you have elapsed the time frame you set to attain a goal.
4. Document Your Marketing Strategies
You can use a business plan to document your marketing plans. Every business should have an effective marketing plan.
Competition mandates every business owner to go the extraordinary mile to remain relevant in the market. Your business plan should contain your marketing strategies that work. You can measure the success rate of your marketing plans.
In your business plan, your marketing strategy must answer the questions:
- How do you want to reach your target audience?
- How do you plan to retain your customers?
- What is/are your pricing plans?
- What is your budget for marketing?
![printable example of a business plan Business Plan Infographic](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Business-Plan-Infographic.jpg)
How to Write a Business Plan Step-by-Step
1. create your executive summary.
The executive summary is a snapshot of your business or a high-level overview of your business purposes and plans . Although the executive summary is the first section in your business plan, most people write it last. The length of the executive summary is not more than two pages.
![printable example of a business plan Executive Summary of the business plan](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Executive-Summary-of-the-business-plan.jpg)
Generally, there are nine sections in a business plan, the executive summary should condense essential ideas from the other eight sections.
A good executive summary should do the following:
- A Snapshot of Growth Potential. Briefly inform the reader about your company and why it will be successful)
- Contain your Mission Statement which explains what the main objective or focus of your business is.
- Product Description and Differentiation. Brief description of your products or services and why it is different from other solutions in the market.
- The Team. Basic information about your company’s leadership team and employees
- Business Concept. A solid description of what your business does.
- Target Market. The customers you plan to sell to.
- Marketing Strategy. Your plans on reaching and selling to your customers
- Current Financial State. Brief information about what revenue your business currently generates.
- Projected Financial State. Brief information about what you foresee your business revenue to be in the future.
The executive summary is the make-or-break section of your business plan. If your summary cannot in less than two pages cannot clearly describe how your business will solve a particular problem of your target audience and make a profit, your business plan is set on a faulty foundation.
Avoid using the executive summary to hype your business, instead, focus on helping the reader understand the what and how of your plan.
View the executive summary as an opportunity to introduce your vision for your company. You know your executive summary is powerful when it can answer these key questions:
- Who is your target audience?
- What sector or industry are you in?
- What are your products and services?
- What is the future of your industry?
- Is your company scaleable?
- Who are the owners and leaders of your company? What are their backgrounds and experience levels?
- What is the motivation for starting your company?
- What are the next steps?
Writing the executive summary last although it is the most important section of your business plan is an excellent idea. The reason why is because it is a high-level overview of your business plan. It is the section that determines whether potential investors and lenders will read further or not.
The executive summary can be a stand-alone document that covers everything in your business plan. It is not uncommon for investors to request only the executive summary when evaluating your business. If the information in the executive summary impresses them, they will ask for the complete business plan.
If you are writing your business plan for your planning purposes, you do not need to write the executive summary.
2. Add Your Company Overview
The company overview or description is the next section in your business plan after the executive summary. It describes what your business does.
Adding your company overview can be tricky especially when your business is still in the planning stages. Existing businesses can easily summarize their current operations but may encounter difficulties trying to explain what they plan to become.
Your company overview should contain the following:
- What products and services you will provide
- Geographical markets and locations your company have a presence
- What you need to run your business
- Who your target audience or customers are
- Who will service your customers
- Your company’s purpose, mission, and vision
- Information about your company’s founders
- Who the founders are
- Notable achievements of your company so far
When creating a company overview, you have to focus on three basics: identifying your industry, identifying your customer, and explaining the problem you solve.
If you are stuck when creating your company overview, try to answer some of these questions that pertain to you.
- Who are you targeting? (The answer is not everyone)
- What pain point does your product or service solve for your customers that they will be willing to spend money on resolving?
- How does your product or service overcome that pain point?
- Where is the location of your business?
- What products, equipment, and services do you need to run your business?
- How is your company’s product or service different from your competition in the eyes of your customers?
- How many employees do you need and what skills do you require them to have?
After answering some or all of these questions, you will get more than enough information you need to write your company overview or description section. When writing this section, describe what your company does for your customers.
![printable example of a business plan It describes what your business does](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Company-Description-describes-what-your-business-does.jpg)
The company description or overview section contains three elements: mission statement, history, and objectives.
- Mission Statement
The mission statement refers to the reason why your business or company is existing. It goes beyond what you do or sell, it is about the ‘why’. A good mission statement should be emotional and inspirational.
Your mission statement should follow the KISS rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid). For example, Shopify’s mission statement is “Make commerce better for everyone.”
When describing your company’s history, make it simple and avoid the temptation of tying it to a defensive narrative. Write it in the manner you would a profile. Your company’s history should include the following information:
- Founding Date
- Major Milestones
- Location(s)
- Flagship Products or Services
- Number of Employees
- Executive Leadership Roles
When you fill in this information, you use it to write one or two paragraphs about your company’s history.
Business Objectives
Your business objective must be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.) Failure to clearly identify your business objectives does not inspire confidence and makes it hard for your team members to work towards a common purpose.
3. Perform Market and Competitive Analyses to Proof a Big Enough Business Opportunity
The third step in writing a business plan is the market and competitive analysis section. Every business, no matter the size, needs to perform comprehensive market and competitive analyses before it enters into a market.
Performing market and competitive analyses are critical for the success of your business. It helps you avoid entering the right market with the wrong product, or vice versa. Anyone reading your business plans, especially financiers and financial institutions will want to see proof that there is a big enough business opportunity you are targeting.
This section is where you describe the market and industry you want to operate in and show the big opportunities in the market that your business can leverage to make a profit. If you noticed any unique trends when doing your research, show them in this section.
Market analysis alone is not enough, you have to add competitive analysis to strengthen this section. There are already businesses in the industry or market, how do you plan to take a share of the market from them?
You have to clearly illustrate the competitive landscape in your business plan. Are there areas your competitors are doing well? Are there areas where they are not doing so well? Show it.
Make it clear in this section why you are moving into the industry and what weaknesses are present there that you plan to explain. How are your competitors going to react to your market entry? How do you plan to get customers? Do you plan on taking your competitors' competitors, tap into other sources for customers, or both?
Illustrate the competitive landscape as well. What are your competitors doing well and not so well?
Answering these questions and thoughts will aid your market and competitive analysis of the opportunities in your space. Depending on how sophisticated your industry is, or the expectations of your financiers, you may need to carry out a more comprehensive market and competitive analysis to prove that big business opportunity.
Instead of looking at the market and competitive analyses as one entity, separating them will make the research even more comprehensive.
Market Analysis
Market analysis, boarding speaking, refers to research a business carried out on its industry, market, and competitors. It helps businesses gain a good understanding of their target market and the outlook of their industry. Before starting a company, it is vital to carry out market research to find out if the market is viable.
![printable example of a business plan Market Analysis for Online Business](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Market-Analysis-for-Online-Business.jpg)
The market analysis section is a key part of the business plan. It is the section where you identify who your best clients or customers are. You cannot omit this section, without it your business plan is incomplete.
A good market analysis will tell your readers how you fit into the existing market and what makes you stand out. This section requires in-depth research, it will probably be the most time-consuming part of the business plan to write.
- Market Research
To create a compelling market analysis that will win over investors and financial institutions, you have to carry out thorough market research . Your market research should be targeted at your primary target market for your products or services. Here is what you want to find out about your target market.
- Your target market’s needs or pain points
- The existing solutions for their pain points
- Geographic Location
- Demographics
The purpose of carrying out a marketing analysis is to get all the information you need to show that you have a solid and thorough understanding of your target audience.
Only after you have fully understood the people you plan to sell your products or services to, can you evaluate correctly if your target market will be interested in your products or services.
You can easily convince interested parties to invest in your business if you can show them you thoroughly understand the market and show them that there is a market for your products or services.
How to Quantify Your Target Market
One of the goals of your marketing research is to understand who your ideal customers are and their purchasing power. To quantify your target market, you have to determine the following:
- Your Potential Customers: They are the people you plan to target. For example, if you sell accounting software for small businesses , then anyone who runs an enterprise or large business is unlikely to be your customers. Also, individuals who do not have a business will most likely not be interested in your product.
- Total Households: If you are selling household products such as heating and air conditioning systems, determining the number of total households is more important than finding out the total population in the area you want to sell to. The logic is simple, people buy the product but it is the household that uses it.
- Median Income: You need to know the median income of your target market. If you target a market that cannot afford to buy your products and services, your business will not last long.
- Income by Demographics: If your potential customers belong to a certain age group or gender, determining income levels by demographics is necessary. For example, if you sell men's clothes, your target audience is men.
What Does a Good Market Analysis Entail?
Your business does not exist on its own, it can only flourish within an industry and alongside competitors. Market analysis takes into consideration your industry, target market, and competitors. Understanding these three entities will drastically improve your company’s chances of success.
![printable example of a business plan Market Analysis Steps](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Market-Analysis-Steps.jpg)
You can view your market analysis as an examination of the market you want to break into and an education on the emerging trends and themes in that market. Good market analyses include the following:
- Industry Description. You find out about the history of your industry, the current and future market size, and who the largest players/companies are in your industry.
- Overview of Target Market. You research your target market and its characteristics. Who are you targeting? Note, it cannot be everyone, it has to be a specific group. You also have to find out all information possible about your customers that can help you understand how and why they make buying decisions.
- Size of Target Market: You need to know the size of your target market, how frequently they buy, and the expected quantity they buy so you do not risk overproducing and having lots of bad inventory. Researching the size of your target market will help you determine if it is big enough for sustained business or not.
- Growth Potential: Before picking a target market, you want to be sure there are lots of potential for future growth. You want to avoid going for an industry that is declining slowly or rapidly with almost zero growth potential.
- Market Share Potential: Does your business stand a good chance of taking a good share of the market?
- Market Pricing and Promotional Strategies: Your market analysis should give you an idea of the price point you can expect to charge for your products and services. Researching your target market will also give you ideas of pricing strategies you can implement to break into the market or to enjoy maximum profits.
- Potential Barriers to Entry: One of the biggest benefits of conducting market analysis is that it shows you every potential barrier to entry your business will likely encounter. It is a good idea to discuss potential barriers to entry such as changing technology. It informs readers of your business plan that you understand the market.
- Research on Competitors: You need to know the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors and how you can exploit them for the benefit of your business. Find patterns and trends among your competitors that make them successful, discover what works and what doesn’t, and see what you can do better.
The market analysis section is not just for talking about your target market, industry, and competitors. You also have to explain how your company can fill the hole you have identified in the market.
Here are some questions you can answer that can help you position your product or service in a positive light to your readers.
- Is your product or service of superior quality?
- What additional features do you offer that your competitors do not offer?
- Are you targeting a ‘new’ market?
Basically, your market analysis should include an analysis of what already exists in the market and an explanation of how your company fits into the market.
Competitive Analysis
In the competitive analysis section, y ou have to understand who your direct and indirect competitions are, and how successful they are in the marketplace. It is the section where you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors, the advantage(s) they possess in the market and show the unique features or qualities that make you different from your competitors.
![printable example of a business plan Four Steps to Create a Competitive Marketing Analysis](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Four-Steps-to-Create-a-Competitive-Marketing-Analysis.jpg)
Many businesses do market analysis and competitive analysis together. However, to fully understand what the competitive analysis entails, it is essential to separate it from the market analysis.
Competitive analysis for your business can also include analysis on how to overcome barriers to entry in your target market.
The primary goal of conducting a competitive analysis is to distinguish your business from your competitors. A strong competitive analysis is essential if you want to convince potential funding sources to invest in your business. You have to show potential investors and lenders that your business has what it takes to compete in the marketplace successfully.
Competitive analysis will s how you what the strengths of your competition are and what they are doing to maintain that advantage.
When doing your competitive research, you first have to identify your competitor and then get all the information you can about them. The idea of spending time to identify your competitor and learn everything about them may seem daunting but it is well worth it.
Find answers to the following questions after you have identified who your competitors are.
- What are your successful competitors doing?
- Why is what they are doing working?
- Can your business do it better?
- What are the weaknesses of your successful competitors?
- What are they not doing well?
- Can your business turn its weaknesses into strengths?
- How good is your competitors’ customer service?
- Where do your competitors invest in advertising?
- What sales and pricing strategies are they using?
- What marketing strategies are they using?
- What kind of press coverage do they get?
- What are their customers saying about your competitors (both the positive and negative)?
If your competitors have a website, it is a good idea to visit their websites for more competitors’ research. Check their “About Us” page for more information.
![printable example of a business plan How to Perform Competitive Analysis](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/How-to-Perform-Competitive-Analysis.jpg)
If you are presenting your business plan to investors, you need to clearly distinguish yourself from your competitors. Investors can easily tell when you have not properly researched your competitors.
Take time to think about what unique qualities or features set you apart from your competitors. If you do not have any direct competition offering your product to the market, it does not mean you leave out the competitor analysis section blank. Instead research on other companies that are providing a similar product, or whose product is solving the problem your product solves.
The next step is to create a table listing the top competitors you want to include in your business plan. Ensure you list your business as the last and on the right. What you just created is known as the competitor analysis table.
Direct vs Indirect Competition
You cannot know if your product or service will be a fit for your target market if you have not understood your business and the competitive landscape.
There is no market you want to target where you will not encounter competition, even if your product is innovative. Including competitive analysis in your business plan is essential.
If you are entering an established market, you need to explain how you plan to differentiate your products from the available options in the market. Also, include a list of few companies that you view as your direct competitors The competition you face in an established market is your direct competition.
In situations where you are entering a market with no direct competition, it does not mean there is no competition there. Consider your indirect competition that offers substitutes for the products or services you offer.
For example, if you sell an innovative SaaS product, let us say a project management software , a company offering time management software is your indirect competition.
There is an easy way to find out who your indirect competitors are in the absence of no direct competitors. You simply have to research how your potential customers are solving the problems that your product or service seeks to solve. That is your direct competition.
Factors that Differentiate Your Business from the Competition
There are three main factors that any business can use to differentiate itself from its competition. They are cost leadership, product differentiation, and market segmentation.
1. Cost Leadership
A strategy you can impose to maximize your profits and gain an edge over your competitors. It involves offering lower prices than what the majority of your competitors are offering.
A common practice among businesses looking to enter into a market where there are dominant players is to use free trials or pricing to attract as many customers as possible to their offer.
2. Product Differentiation
Your product or service should have a unique selling proposition (USP) that your competitors do not have or do not stress in their marketing.
Part of the marketing strategy should involve making your products unique and different from your competitors. It does not have to be different from your competitors, it can be the addition to a feature or benefit that your competitors do not currently have.
3. Market Segmentation
As a new business seeking to break into an industry, you will gain more success from focusing on a specific niche or target market, and not the whole industry.
If your competitors are focused on a general need or target market, you can differentiate yourself from them by having a small and hyper-targeted audience. For example, if your competitors are selling men’s clothes in their online stores , you can sell hoodies for men.
4. Define Your Business and Management Structure
The next step in your business plan is your business and management structure. It is the section where you describe the legal structure of your business and the team running it.
Your business is only as good as the management team that runs it, while the management team can only strive when there is a proper business and management structure in place.
If your company is a sole proprietor or a limited liability company (LLC), a general or limited partnership, or a C or an S corporation, state it clearly in this section.
Use an organizational chart to show the management structure in your business. Clearly show who is in charge of what area in your company. It is where you show how each key manager or team leader’s unique experience can contribute immensely to the success of your company. You can also opt to add the resumes and CVs of the key players in your company.
The business and management structure section should show who the owner is, and other owners of the businesses (if the business has other owners). For businesses or companies with multiple owners, include the percent ownership of the various owners and clearly show the extent of each others’ involvement in the company.
Investors want to know who is behind the company and the team running it to determine if it has the right management to achieve its set goals.
Management Team
The management team section is where you show that you have the right team in place to successfully execute the business operations and ideas. Take time to create the management structure for your business. Think about all the important roles and responsibilities that you need managers for to grow your business.
Include brief bios of each key team member and ensure you highlight only the relevant information that is needed. If your team members have background industry experience or have held top positions for other companies and achieved success while filling that role, highlight it in this section.
![printable example of a business plan Create Management Team For Business Plan](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Create-Management-Team-For-Business-Plan.jpg)
A common mistake that many startups make is assigning C-level titles such as (CMO and CEO) to everyone on their team. It is unrealistic for a small business to have those titles. While it may look good on paper for the ego of your team members, it can prevent investors from investing in your business.
Instead of building an unrealistic management structure that does not fit your business reality, it is best to allow business titles to grow as the business grows. Starting everyone at the top leaves no room for future change or growth, which is bad for productivity.
Your management team does not have to be complete before you start writing your business plan. You can have a complete business plan even when there are managerial positions that are empty and need filling.
If you have management gaps in your team, simply show the gaps and indicate you are searching for the right candidates for the role(s). Investors do not expect you to have a full management team when you are just starting your business.
Key Questions to Answer When Structuring Your Management Team
- Who are the key leaders?
- What experiences, skills, and educational backgrounds do you expect your key leaders to have?
- Do your key leaders have industry experience?
- What positions will they fill and what duties will they perform in those positions?
- What level of authority do the key leaders have and what are their responsibilities?
- What is the salary for the various management positions that will attract the ideal candidates?
Additional Tips for Writing the Management Structure Section
1. Avoid Adding ‘Ghost’ Names to Your Management Team
There is always that temptation to include a ‘ghost’ name to your management team to attract and influence investors to invest in your business. Although the presence of these celebrity management team members may attract the attention of investors, it can cause your business to lose any credibility if you get found out.
Seasoned investors will investigate further the members of your management team before committing fully to your business If they find out that the celebrity name used does not play any actual role in your business, they will not invest and may write you off as dishonest.
2. Focus on Credentials But Pay Extra Attention to the Roles
Investors want to know the experience that your key team members have to determine if they can successfully reach the company’s growth and financial goals.
While it is an excellent boost for your key management team to have the right credentials, you also want to pay extra attention to the roles they will play in your company.
Organizational Chart
![printable example of a business plan Organizational chart Infographic](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/An-organizational-chart-helps-to-identify-how-best-to-structure-your-management-team.jpg)
Adding an organizational chart in this section of your business plan is not necessary, you can do it in your business plan’s appendix.
If you are exploring funding options, it is not uncommon to get asked for your organizational chart. The function of an organizational chart goes beyond raising money, you can also use it as a useful planning tool for your business.
An organizational chart can help you identify how best to structure your management team for maximum productivity and point you towards key roles you need to fill in the future.
You can use the organizational chart to show your company’s internal management structure such as the roles and responsibilities of your management team, and relationships that exist between them.
5. Describe Your Product and Service Offering
In your business plan, you have to describe what you sell or the service you plan to offer. It is the next step after defining your business and management structure. The products and services section is where you sell the benefits of your business.
Here you have to explain how your product or service will benefit your customers and describe your product lifecycle. It is also the section where you write down your plans for intellectual property like patent filings and copyrighting.
The research and development that you are undertaking for your product or service need to be explained in detail in this section. However, do not get too technical, sell the general idea and its benefits.
If you have any diagrams or intricate designs of your product or service, do not include them in the products and services section. Instead, leave them for the addendum page. Also, if you are leaving out diagrams or designs for the addendum, ensure you add this phrase “For more detail, visit the addendum Page #.”
Your product and service section in your business plan should include the following:
- A detailed explanation that clearly shows how your product or service works.
- The pricing model for your product or service.
- Your business’ sales and distribution strategy.
- The ideal customers that want your product or service.
- The benefits of your products and services.
- Reason(s) why your product or service is a better alternative to what your competitors are currently offering in the market.
- Plans for filling the orders you receive
- If you have current or pending patents, copyrights, and trademarks for your product or service, you can also discuss them in this section.
What to Focus On When Describing the Benefits, Lifecycle, and Production Process of Your Products or Services
In the products and services section, you have to distill the benefits, lifecycle, and production process of your products and services.
When describing the benefits of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.
- Unique features
- Translating the unique features into benefits
- The emotional, psychological, and practical payoffs to attract customers
- Intellectual property rights or any patents
When describing the product life cycle of your products or services, here are some key factors to focus on.
- Upsells, cross-sells, and down-sells
- Time between purchases
- Plans for research and development.
When describing the production process for your products or services, you need to think about the following:
- The creation of new or existing products and services.
- The sources for the raw materials or components you need for production.
- Assembling the products
- Maintaining quality control
- Supply-chain logistics (receiving the raw materials and delivering the finished products)
- The day-to-day management of the production processes, bookkeeping, and inventory.
Tips for Writing the Products or Services Section of Your Business Plan
1. Avoid Technical Descriptions and Industry Buzzwords
The products and services section of your business plan should clearly describe the products and services that your company provides. However, it is not a section to include technical jargons that anyone outside your industry will not understand.
A good practice is to remove highly detailed or technical descriptions in favor of simple terms. Industry buzzwords are not necessary, if there are simpler terms you can use, then use them. If you plan to use your business plan to source funds, making the product or service section so technical will do you no favors.
2. Describe How Your Products or Services Differ from Your Competitors
When potential investors look at your business plan, they want to know how the products and services you are offering differ from that of your competition. Differentiating your products or services from your competition in a way that makes your solution more attractive is critical.
If you are going the innovative path and there is no market currently for your product or service, you need to describe in this section why the market needs your product or service.
For example, overnight delivery was a niche business that only a few companies were participating in. Federal Express (FedEx) had to show in its business plan that there was a large opportunity for that service and they justified why the market needed that service.
3. Long or Short Products or Services Section
Should your products or services section be short? Does the long products or services section attract more investors?
There are no straightforward answers to these questions. Whether your products or services section should be long or relatively short depends on the nature of your business.
If your business is product-focused, then automatically you need to use more space to describe the details of your products. However, if the product your business sells is a commodity item that relies on competitive pricing or other pricing strategies, you do not have to use up so much space to provide significant details about the product.
Likewise, if you are selling a commodity that is available in numerous outlets, then you do not have to spend time on writing a long products or services section.
The key to the success of your business is most likely the effectiveness of your marketing strategies compared to your competitors. Use more space to address that section.
If you are creating a new product or service that the market does not know about, your products or services section can be lengthy. The reason why is because you need to explain everything about the product or service such as the nature of the product, its use case, and values.
A short products or services section for an innovative product or service will not give the readers enough information to properly evaluate your business.
4. Describe Your Relationships with Vendors or Suppliers
Your business will rely on vendors or suppliers to supply raw materials or the components needed to make your products. In your products and services section, describe your relationships with your vendors and suppliers fully.
Avoid the mistake of relying on only one supplier or vendor. If that supplier or vendor fails to supply or goes out of business, you can easily face supply problems and struggle to meet your demands. Plan to set up multiple vendor or supplier relationships for better business stability.
5. Your Primary Goal Is to Convince Your Readers
The primary goal of your business plan is to convince your readers that your business is viable and to create a guide for your business to follow. It applies to the products and services section.
When drafting this section, think like the reader. See your reader as someone who has no idea about your products and services. You are using the products and services section to provide the needed information to help your reader understand your products and services. As a result, you have to be clear and to the point.
While you want to educate your readers about your products or services, you also do not want to bore them with lots of technical details. Show your products and services and not your fancy choice of words.
Your products and services section should provide the answer to the “what” question for your business. You and your management team may run the business, but it is your products and services that are the lifeblood of the business.
Key Questions to Answer When Writing your Products and Services Section
Answering these questions can help you write your products and services section quickly and in a way that will appeal to your readers.
- Are your products existing on the market or are they still in the development stage?
- What is your timeline for adding new products and services to the market?
- What are the positives that make your products and services different from your competitors?
- Do your products and services have any competitive advantage that your competitors’ products and services do not currently have?
- Do your products or services have any competitive disadvantages that you need to overcome to compete with your competitors? If your answer is yes, state how you plan to overcome them,
- How much does it cost to produce your products or services? How much do you plan to sell it for?
- What is the price for your products and services compared to your competitors? Is pricing an issue?
- What are your operating costs and will it be low enough for you to compete with your competitors and still take home a reasonable profit margin?
- What is your plan for acquiring your products? Are you involved in the production of your products or services?
- Are you the manufacturer and produce all the components you need to create your products? Do you assemble your products by using components supplied by other manufacturers? Do you purchase your products directly from suppliers or wholesalers?
- Do you have a steady supply of products that you need to start your business? (If your business is yet to kick-off)
- How do you plan to distribute your products or services to the market?
You can also hint at the marketing or promotion plans you have for your products or services such as how you plan to build awareness or retain customers. The next section is where you can go fully into details about your business’s marketing and sales plan.
6. Show and Explain Your Marketing and Sales Plan
Providing great products and services is wonderful, but it means nothing if you do not have a marketing and sales plan to inform your customers about them. Your marketing and sales plan is critical to the success of your business.
The sales and marketing section is where you show and offer a detailed explanation of your marketing and sales plan and how you plan to execute it. It covers your pricing plan, proposed advertising and promotion activities, activities and partnerships you need to make your business a success, and the benefits of your products and services.
There are several ways you can approach your marketing and sales strategy. Ideally, your marketing and sales strategy has to fit the unique needs of your business.
In this section, you describe how the plans your business has for attracting and retaining customers, and the exact process for making a sale happen. It is essential to thoroughly describe your complete marketing and sales plans because you are still going to reference this section when you are making financial projections for your business.
Outline Your Business’ Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
![printable example of a business plan Unique Selling Proposition (USP)](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Unique-Selling-Proposition-USP.jpg)
The sales and marketing section is where you outline your business’s unique selling proposition (USP). When you are developing your unique selling proposition, think about the strongest reasons why people should buy from you over your competition. That reason(s) is most likely a good fit to serve as your unique selling proposition (USP).
Target Market and Target Audience
Plans on how to get your products or services to your target market and how to get your target audience to buy them go into this section. You also highlight the strengths of your business here, particularly what sets them apart from your competition.
![printable example of a business plan Target Market Vs Target Audience](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Target-Market-Vs-Target-Audience.jpg)
Before you start writing your marketing and sales plan, you need to have properly defined your target audience and fleshed out your buyer persona. If you do not first understand the individual you are marketing to, your marketing and sales plan will lack any substance and easily fall.
Creating a Smart Marketing and Sales Plan
Marketing your products and services is an investment that requires you to spend money. Like any other investment, you have to generate a good return on investment (ROI) to justify using that marketing and sales plan. Good marketing and sales plans bring in high sales and profits to your company.
Avoid spending money on unproductive marketing channels. Do your research and find out the best marketing and sales plan that works best for your company.
Your marketing and sales plan can be broken into different parts: your positioning statement, pricing, promotion, packaging, advertising, public relations, content marketing, social media, and strategic alliances.
Your Positioning Statement
Your positioning statement is the first part of your marketing and sales plan. It refers to the way you present your company to your customers.
Are you the premium solution, the low-price solution, or are you the intermediary between the two extremes in the market? What do you offer that your competitors do not that can give you leverage in the market?
Before you start writing your positioning statement, you need to spend some time evaluating the current market conditions. Here are some questions that can help you to evaluate the market
- What are the unique features or benefits that you offer that your competitors lack?
- What are your customers’ primary needs and wants?
- Why should a customer choose you over your competition? How do you plan to differentiate yourself from the competition?
- How does your company’s solution compare with other solutions in the market?
After answering these questions, then you can start writing your positioning statement. Your positioning statement does not have to be in-depth or too long.
All you need to explain with your positioning statement are two focus areas. The first is the position of your company within the competitive landscape. The other focus area is the core value proposition that sets your company apart from other alternatives that your ideal customer might consider.
Here is a simple template you can use to develop a positioning statement.
For [description of target market] who [need of target market], [product or service] [how it meets the need]. Unlike [top competition], it [most essential distinguishing feature].
For example, let’s create the positioning statement for fictional accounting software and QuickBooks alternative , TBooks.
“For small business owners who need accounting services, TBooks is an accounting software that helps small businesses handle their small business bookkeeping basics quickly and easily. Unlike Wave, TBooks gives small businesses access to live sessions with top accountants.”
You can edit this positioning statement sample and fill it with your business details.
After writing your positioning statement, the next step is the pricing of your offerings. The overall positioning strategy you set in your positioning statement will often determine how you price your products or services.
Pricing is a powerful tool that sends a strong message to your customers. Failure to get your pricing strategy right can make or mar your business. If you are targeting a low-income audience, setting a premium price can result in low sales.
You can use pricing to communicate your positioning to your customers. For example, if you are offering a product at a premium price, you are sending a message to your customers that the product belongs to the premium category.
Basic Rules to Follow When Pricing Your Offering
Setting a price for your offering involves more than just putting a price tag on it. Deciding on the right pricing for your offering requires following some basic rules. They include covering your costs, primary and secondary profit center pricing, and matching the market rate.
- Covering Your Costs: The price you set for your products or service should be more than it costs you to produce and deliver them. Every business has the same goal, to make a profit. Depending on the strategy you want to use, there are exceptions to this rule. However, the vast majority of businesses follow this rule.
- Primary and Secondary Profit Center Pricing: When a company sets its price above the cost of production, it is making that product its primary profit center. A company can also decide not to make its initial price its primary profit center by selling below or at even with its production cost. It rather depends on the support product or even maintenance that is associated with the initial purchase to make its profit. The initial price thus became its secondary profit center.
- Matching the Market Rate: A good rule to follow when pricing your products or services is to match your pricing with consumer demand and expectations. If you price your products or services beyond the price your customer perceives as the ideal price range, you may end up with no customers. Pricing your products too low below what your customer perceives as the ideal price range may lead to them undervaluing your offering.
Pricing Strategy
Your pricing strategy influences the price of your offering. There are several pricing strategies available for you to choose from when examining the right pricing strategy for your business. They include cost-plus pricing, market-based pricing, value pricing, and more.
![printable example of a business plan Pricing strategy influences the price of offering](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pricing-strategy-influences-the-price-of-offering.jpg)
- Cost-plus Pricing: This strategy is one of the simplest and oldest pricing strategies. Here you consider the cost of producing a unit of your product and then add a profit to it to arrive at your market price. It is an effective pricing strategy for manufacturers because it helps them cover their initial costs. Another name for the cost-plus pricing strategy is the markup pricing strategy.
- Market-based Pricing: This pricing strategy analyses the market including competitors’ pricing and then sets a price based on what the market is expecting. With this pricing strategy, you can either set your price at the low-end or high-end of the market.
- Value Pricing: This pricing strategy involves setting a price based on the value you are providing to your customer. When adopting a value-based pricing strategy, you have to set a price that your customers are willing to pay. Service-based businesses such as small business insurance providers , luxury goods sellers, and the fashion industry use this pricing strategy.
After carefully sorting out your positioning statement and pricing, the next item to look at is your promotional strategy. Your promotional strategy explains how you plan on communicating with your customers and prospects.
As a business, you must measure all your costs, including the cost of your promotions. You also want to measure how much sales your promotions bring for your business to determine its usefulness. Promotional strategies or programs that do not lead to profit need to be removed.
There are different types of promotional strategies you can adopt for your business, they include advertising, public relations, and content marketing.
Advertising
Your business plan should include your advertising plan which can be found in the marketing and sales plan section. You need to include an overview of your advertising plans such as the areas you plan to spend money on to advertise your business and offers.
Ensure that you make it clear in this section if your business will be advertising online or using the more traditional offline media, or the combination of both online and offline media. You can also include the advertising medium you want to use to raise awareness about your business and offers.
Some common online advertising mediums you can use include social media ads, landing pages, sales pages, SEO, Pay-Per-Click, emails, Google Ads, and others. Some common traditional and offline advertising mediums include word of mouth, radios, direct mail, televisions, flyers, billboards, posters, and others.
A key component of your advertising strategy is how you plan to measure the effectiveness and success of your advertising campaign. There is no point in sticking with an advertising plan or medium that does not produce results for your business in the long run.
Public Relations
A great way to reach your customers is to get the media to cover your business or product. Publicity, especially good ones, should be a part of your marketing and sales plan. In this section, show your plans for getting prominent reviews of your product from reputable publications and sources.
Your business needs that exposure to grow. If public relations is a crucial part of your promotional strategy, provide details about your public relations plan here.
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a popular promotional strategy used by businesses to inform and attract their customers. It is about teaching and educating your prospects on various topics of interest in your niche, it does not just involve informing them about the benefits and features of the products and services you have,
![printable example of a business plan The Benefits of Content Marketing](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Benefits-of-Content-Marketing.jpg)
Businesses publish content usually for free where they provide useful information, tips, and advice so that their target market can be made aware of the importance of their products and services. Content marketing strategies seek to nurture prospects into buyers over time by simply providing value.
Your company can create a blog where it will be publishing content for its target market. You will need to use the best website builder such as Wix and Squarespace and the best web hosting services such as Bluehost, Hostinger, and other Bluehost alternatives to create a functional blog or website.
If content marketing is a crucial part of your promotional strategy (as it should be), detail your plans under promotions.
Including high-quality images of the packaging of your product in your business plan is a lovely idea. You can add the images of the packaging of that product in the marketing and sales plan section. If you are not selling a product, then you do not need to include any worry about the physical packaging of your product.
When organizing the packaging section of your business plan, you can answer the following questions to make maximum use of this section.
- Is your choice of packaging consistent with your positioning strategy?
- What key value proposition does your packaging communicate? (It should reflect the key value proposition of your business)
- How does your packaging compare to that of your competitors?
Social Media
Your 21st-century business needs to have a good social media presence. Not having one is leaving out opportunities for growth and reaching out to your prospect.
You do not have to join the thousands of social media platforms out there. What you need to do is join the ones that your customers are active on and be active there.
![printable example of a business plan Most popular social media platforms](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Most-popular-social-media-platforms.jpg)
Businesses use social media to provide information about their products such as promotions, discounts, the benefits of their products, and content on their blogs.
Social media is also a platform for engaging with your customers and getting feedback about your products or services. Make no mistake, more and more of your prospects are using social media channels to find more information about companies.
You need to consider the social media channels you want to prioritize your business (prioritize the ones your customers are active in) and your branding plans in this section.
![printable example of a business plan Choosing the right social media platform](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Choosing-the-right-social-media-platform.jpg)
Strategic Alliances
If your company plans to work closely with other companies as part of your sales and marketing plan, include it in this section. Prove details about those partnerships in your business plan if you have already established them.
Strategic alliances can be beneficial for all parties involved including your company. Working closely with another company in the form of a partnership can provide access to a different target market segment for your company.
The company you are partnering with may also gain access to your target market or simply offer a new product or service (that of your company) to its customers.
Mutually beneficial partnerships can cover the weaknesses of one company with the strength of another. You should consider strategic alliances with companies that sell complimentary products to yours. For example, if you provide printers, you can partner with a company that produces ink since the customers that buy printers from you will also need inks for printing.
Steps Involved in Creating a Marketing and Sales Plan
1. Focus on Your Target Market
Identify who your customers are, the market you want to target. Then determine the best ways to get your products or services to your potential customers.
2. Evaluate Your Competition
One of the goals of having a marketing plan is to distinguish yourself from your competition. You cannot stand out from them without first knowing them in and out.
You can know your competitors by gathering information about their products, pricing, service, and advertising campaigns.
These questions can help you know your competition.
- What makes your competition successful?
- What are their weaknesses?
- What are customers saying about your competition?
3. Consider Your Brand
Customers' perception of your brand has a strong impact on your sales. Your marketing and sales plan should seek to bolster the image of your brand. Before you start marketing your business, think about the message you want to pass across about your business and your products and services.
4. Focus on Benefits
The majority of your customers do not view your product in terms of features, what they want to know is the benefits and solutions your product offers. Think about the problems your product solves and the benefits it delivers, and use it to create the right sales and marketing message.
Your marketing plan should focus on what you want your customer to get instead of what you provide. Identify those benefits in your marketing and sales plan.
5. Focus on Differentiation
Your marketing and sales plan should look for a unique angle they can take that differentiates your business from the competition, even if the products offered are similar. Some good areas of differentiation you can use are your benefits, pricing, and features.
Key Questions to Answer When Writing Your Marketing and Sales Plan
- What is your company’s budget for sales and marketing campaigns?
- What key metrics will you use to determine if your marketing plans are successful?
- What are your alternatives if your initial marketing efforts do not succeed?
- Who are the sales representatives you need to promote your products or services?
- What are the marketing and sales channels you plan to use? How do you plan to get your products in front of your ideal customers?
- Where will you sell your products?
You may want to include samples of marketing materials you plan to use such as print ads, website descriptions, and social media ads. While it is not compulsory to include these samples, it can help you better communicate your marketing and sales plan and objectives.
The purpose of the marketing and sales section is to answer this question “How will you reach your customers?” If you cannot convincingly provide an answer to this question, you need to rework your marketing and sales section.
7. Clearly Show Your Funding Request
If you are writing your business plan to ask for funding from investors or financial institutions, the funding request section is where you will outline your funding requirements. The funding request section should answer the question ‘How much money will your business need in the near future (3 to 5 years)?’
A good funding request section will clearly outline and explain the amount of funding your business needs over the next five years. You need to know the amount of money your business needs to make an accurate funding request.
Also, when writing your funding request, provide details of how the funds will be used over the period. Specify if you want to use the funds to buy raw materials or machinery, pay salaries, pay for advertisements, and cover specific bills such as rent and electricity.
In addition to explaining what you want to use the funds requested for, you need to clearly state the projected return on investment (ROI) . Investors and creditors want to know if your business can generate profit for them if they put funds into it.
Ensure you do not inflate the figures and stay as realistic as possible. Investors and financial institutions you are seeking funds from will do their research before investing money in your business.
If you are not sure of an exact number to request from, you can use some range of numbers as rough estimates. Add a best-case scenario and a work-case scenario to your funding request. Also, include a description of your strategic future financial plans such as selling your business or paying off debts.
Funding Request: Debt or Equity?
When making your funding request, specify the type of funding you want. Do you want debt or equity? Draw out the terms that will be applicable for the funding, and the length of time the funding request will cover.
Case for Equity
If your new business has not yet started generating profits, you are most likely preparing to sell equity in your business to raise capital at the early stage. Equity here refers to ownership. In this case, you are selling a portion of your company to raise capital.
Although this method of raising capital for your business does not put your business in debt, keep in mind that an equity owner may expect to play a key role in company decisions even if he does not hold a major stake in the company.
Most equity sales for startups are usually private transactions . If you are making a funding request by offering equity in exchange for funding, let the investor know that they will be paid a dividend (a share of the company’s profit). Also, let the investor know the process for selling their equity in your business.
Case for Debt
You may decide not to offer equity in exchange for funds, instead, you make a funding request with the promise to pay back the money borrowed at the agreed time frame.
When making a funding request with an agreement to pay back, note that you will have to repay your creditors both the principal amount borrowed and the interest on it. Financial institutions offer this type of funding for businesses.
Large companies combine both equity and debt in their capital structure. When drafting your business plan, decide if you want to offer both or one over the other.
Before you sell equity in exchange for funding in your business, consider if you are willing to accept not being in total control of your business. Also, before you seek loans in your funding request section, ensure that the terms of repayment are favorable.
You should set a clear timeline in your funding request so that potential investors and creditors can know what you are expecting. Some investors and creditors may agree to your funding request and then delay payment for longer than 30 days, meanwhile, your business needs an immediate cash injection to operate efficiently.
Additional Tips for Writing the Funding Request Section of your Business Plan
The funding request section is not necessary for every business, it is only needed by businesses who plan to use their business plan to secure funding.
If you are adding the funding request section to your business plan, provide an itemized summary of how you plan to use the funds requested. Hiring a lawyer, accountant, or other professionals may be necessary for the proper development of this section.
You should also gather and use financial statements that add credibility and support to your funding requests. Ensure that the financial statements you use should include your projected financial data such as projected cash flows, forecast statements, and expenditure budgets.
If you are an existing business, include all historical financial statements such as cash flow statements, balance sheets and income statements .
Provide monthly and quarterly financial statements for a year. If your business has records that date back beyond the one-year mark, add the yearly statements of those years. These documents are for the appendix section of your business plan.
8. Detail Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projections
If you used the funding request section in your business plan, supplement it with a financial plan, metrics, and projections. This section paints a picture of the past performance of your business and then goes ahead to make an informed projection about its future.
The goal of this section is to convince readers that your business is going to be a financial success. It outlines your business plan to generate enough profit to repay the loan (with interest if applicable) and to generate a decent return on investment for investors.
If you have an existing business already in operation, use this section to demonstrate stability through finance. This section should include your cash flow statements, balance sheets, and income statements covering the last three to five years. If your business has some acceptable collateral that you can use to acquire loans, list it in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.
Apart from current financial statements, this section should also contain a prospective financial outlook that spans the next five years. Include forecasted income statements, cash flow statements, balance sheets, and capital expenditure budget.
If your business is new and is not yet generating profit, use clear and realistic projections to show the potentials of your business.
When drafting this section, research industry norms and the performance of comparable businesses. Your financial projections should cover at least five years. State the logic behind your financial projections. Remember you can always make adjustments to this section as the variables change.
The financial plan, metrics, and projection section create a baseline which your business can either exceed or fail to reach. If your business fails to reach your projections in this section, you need to understand why it failed.
Investors and loan managers spend a lot of time going through the financial plan, metrics, and projection section compared to other parts of the business plan. Ensure you spend time creating credible financial analyses for your business in this section.
Many entrepreneurs find this section daunting to write. You do not need a business degree to create a solid financial forecast for your business. Business finances, especially for startups, are not as complicated as they seem. There are several online tools and templates that make writing this section so much easier.
Use Graphs and Charts
The financial plan, metrics, and projection section is a great place to use graphs and charts to tell the financial story of your business. Charts and images make it easier to communicate your finances.
Accuracy in this section is key, ensure you carefully analyze your past financial statements properly before making financial projects.
Address the Risk Factors and Show Realistic Financial Projections
Keep your financial plan, metrics, and projection realistic. It is okay to be optimistic in your financial projection, however, you have to justify it.
You should also address the various risk factors associated with your business in this section. Investors want to know the potential risks involved, show them. You should also show your plans for mitigating those risks.
What You Should In The Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection Section of Your Business Plan
The financial plan, metrics, and projection section of your business plan should have monthly sales and revenue forecasts for the first year. It should also include annual projections that cover 3 to 5 years.
A three-year projection is a basic requirement to have in your business plan. However, some investors may request a five-year forecast.
Your business plan should include the following financial statements: sales forecast, personnel plan, income statement, income statement, cash flow statement, balance sheet, and an exit strategy.
1. Sales Forecast
Sales forecast refers to your projections about the number of sales your business is going to record over the next few years. It is typically broken into several rows, with each row assigned to a core product or service that your business is offering.
One common mistake people make in their business plan is to break down the sales forecast section into long details. A sales forecast should forecast the high-level details.
For example, if you are forecasting sales for a payroll software provider, you could break down your forecast into target market segments or subscription categories.
![printable example of a business plan Benefits of Sales Forecasting](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Benefits-of-Sales-Forecasting.jpg)
Your sales forecast section should also have a corresponding row for each sales row to cover the direct cost or Cost of Goods Sold (COGS). The objective of these rows is to show the expenses that your business incurs in making and delivering your product or service.
Note that your Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) should only cover those direct costs incurred when making your products. Other indirect expenses such as insurance, salaries, payroll tax, and rent should not be included.
For example, the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for a restaurant is the cost of ingredients while for a consulting company it will be the cost of paper and other presentation materials.
![printable example of a business plan Factors that affect sales forecasting](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Factors-that-affect-sales-forecasting.jpg)
2. Personnel Plan
The personnel plan section is where you provide details about the payment plan for your employees. For a small business, you can easily list every position in your company and how much you plan to pay in the personnel plan.
However, for larger businesses, you have to break the personnel plan into functional groups such as sales and marketing.
The personnel plan will also include the cost of an employee beyond salary, commonly referred to as the employee burden. These costs include insurance, payroll taxes , and other essential costs incurred monthly as a result of having employees on your payroll.
![printable example of a business plan True HR Cost Infographic](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/True-HR-Cost.jpg)
3. Income Statement
The income statement section shows if your business is making a profit or taking a loss. Another name for the income statement is the profit and loss (P&L). It takes data from your sales forecast and personnel plan and adds other ongoing expenses you incur while running your business.
![printable example of a business plan The income statement section](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-income-statement-section.jpg)
Every business plan should have an income statement. It subtracts your business expenses from its earnings to show if your business is generating profit or incurring losses.
The income statement has the following items: sales, Cost of Goods Sold (COGS), gross margin, operating expenses, total operating expenses, operating income , total expenses, and net profit.
- Sales refer to the revenue your business generates from selling its products or services. Other names for sales are income or revenue.
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) refers to the total cost of selling your products. Other names for COGS are direct costs or cost of sales. Manufacturing businesses use the Costs of Goods Manufactured (COGM) .
- Gross Margin is the figure you get when you subtract your COGS from your sales. In your income statement, you can express it as a percentage of total sales (Gross margin / Sales = Gross Margin Percent).
- Operating Expenses refer to all the expenses you incur from running your business. It exempts the COGS because it stands alone as a core part of your income statement. You also have to exclude taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Your operating expenses include salaries, marketing expenses, research and development (R&D) expenses, and other expenses.
- Total Operating Expenses refers to the sum of all your operating expenses including those exemptions named above under operating expenses.
- Operating Income refers to earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. It is simply known as the acronym EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization). Calculating your operating income is simple, all you need to do is to subtract your COGS and total operating expenses from your sales.
- Total Expenses refer to the sum of your operating expenses and your business’ interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization.
- Net profit shows whether your business has made a profit or taken a loss during a given timeframe.
4. Cash Flow Statement
The cash flow statement tracks the money you have in the bank at any given point. It is often confused with the income statement or the profit and loss statement. They are both different types of financial statements. The income statement calculates your profits and losses while the cash flow statement shows you how much you have in the bank.
![printable example of a business plan Cash Flow Statement Example](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Cash-Flow-Statement-Example.jpg)
5. Balance Sheet
The balance sheet is a financial statement that provides an overview of the financial health of your business. It contains information about the assets and liabilities of your company, and owner’s or shareholders’ equity.
You can get the net worth of your company by subtracting your company’s liabilities from its assets.
![printable example of a business plan Balance sheet Formula](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Balance-sheet-Formula.jpg)
6. Exit Strategy
The exit strategy refers to a probable plan for selling your business either to the public in an IPO or to another company. It is the last thing you include in the financial plan, metrics, and projection section.
You can choose to omit the exit strategy from your business plan if you plan to maintain full ownership of your business and do not plan on seeking angel investment or virtual capitalist (VC) funding.
Investors may want to know what your exit plan is. They invest in your business to get a good return on investment.
Your exit strategy does not have to include long and boring details. Ensure you identify some interested parties who may be interested in buying the company if it becomes a success.
![printable example of a business plan Exit Strategy Section of Business Plan Infographic](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Exit-Strategy-Section-of-Business-Plan-Infographic.jpg)
Key Questions to Answer with Your Financial Plan, Metrics, and Projection
Your financial plan, metrics, and projection section helps investors, creditors, or your internal managers to understand what your expenses are, the amount of cash you need, and what it takes to make your company profitable. It also shows what you will be doing with any funding.
You do not need to show actual financial data if you do not have one. Adding forecasts and projections to your financial statements is added proof that your strategy is feasible and shows investors you have planned properly.
Here are some key questions to answer to help you develop this section.
- What is your sales forecast for the next year?
- When will your company achieve a positive cash flow?
- What are the core expenses you need to operate?
- How much money do you need upfront to operate or grow your company?
- How will you use the loans or investments?
9. Add an Appendix to Your Business Plan
Adding an appendix to your business plan is optional. It is a useful place to put any charts, tables, legal notes, definitions, permits, résumés, and other critical information that do not fit into other sections of your business plan.
The appendix section is where you would want to include details of a patent or patent-pending if you have one. You can always add illustrations or images of your products here. It is the last section of your business plan.
When writing your business plan, there are details you cut short or remove to prevent the entire section from becoming too lengthy. There are also details you want to include in the business plan but are not a good fit for any of the previous sections. You can add that additional information to the appendix section.
Businesses also use the appendix section to include supporting documents or other materials specially requested by investors or lenders.
You can include just about any information that supports the assumptions and statements you made in the business plan under the appendix. It is the one place in the business plan where unrelated data and information can coexist amicably.
If your appendix section is lengthy, try organizing it by adding a table of contents at the beginning of the appendix section. It is also advisable to group similar information to make it easier for the reader to access them.
A well-organized appendix section makes it easier to share your information clearly and concisely. Add footnotes throughout the rest of the business plan or make references in the plan to the documents in the appendix.
The appendix section is usually only necessary if you are seeking funding from investors or lenders, or hoping to attract partners.
People reading business plans do not want to spend time going through a heap of backup information, numbers, and charts. Keep these documents or information in the Appendix section in case the reader wants to dig deeper.
Common Items to Include in the Appendix Section of Your Business Plan
The appendix section includes documents that supplement or support the information or claims given in other sections of the business plans. Common items you can include in the appendix section include:
- Additional data about the process of manufacturing or creation
- Additional description of products or services such as product schematics
- Additional financial documents or projections
- Articles of incorporation and status
- Backup for market research or competitive analysis
- Bank statements
- Business registries
- Client testimonials (if your business is already running)
- Copies of insurances
- Credit histories (personal or/and business)
- Deeds and permits
- Equipment leases
- Examples of marketing and advertising collateral
- Industry associations and memberships
- Images of product
- Intellectual property
- Key customer contracts
- Legal documents and other contracts
- Letters of reference
- Links to references
- Market research data
- Organizational charts
- Photographs of potential facilities
- Professional licenses pertaining to your legal structure or type of business
- Purchase orders
- Resumes of the founder(s) and key managers
- State and federal identification numbers or codes
- Trademarks or patents’ registrations
Avoid using the appendix section as a place to dump any document or information you feel like adding. Only add documents or information that you support or increase the credibility of your business plan.
Tips and Strategies for Writing a Convincing Business Plan
To achieve a perfect business plan, you need to consider some key tips and strategies. These tips will raise the efficiency of your business plan above average.
1. Know Your Audience
When writing a business plan, you need to know your audience . Business owners write business plans for different reasons. Your business plan has to be specific. For example, you can write business plans to potential investors, banks, and even fellow board members of the company.
The audience you are writing to determines the structure of the business plan. As a business owner, you have to know your audience. Not everyone will be your audience. Knowing your audience will help you to narrow the scope of your business plan.
Consider what your audience wants to see in your projects, the likely questions they might ask, and what interests them.
- A business plan used to address a company's board members will center on its employment schemes, internal affairs, projects, stakeholders, etc.
- A business plan for financial institutions will talk about the size of your market and the chances for you to pay back any loans you demand.
- A business plan for investors will show proof that you can return the investment capital within a specific time. In addition, it discusses your financial projections, tractions, and market size.
2. Get Inspiration from People
Writing a business plan from scratch as an entrepreneur can be daunting. That is why you need the right inspiration to push you to write one. You can gain inspiration from the successful business plans of other businesses. Look at their business plans, the style they use, the structure of the project, etc.
To make your business plan easier to create, search companies related to your business to get an exact copy of what you need to create an effective business plan. You can also make references while citing examples in your business plans.
When drafting your business plan, get as much help from others as you possibly can. By getting inspiration from people, you can create something better than what they have.
3. Avoid Being Over Optimistic
Many business owners make use of strong adjectives to qualify their content. One of the big mistakes entrepreneurs make when preparing a business plan is promising too much.
The use of superlatives and over-optimistic claims can prepare the audience for more than you can offer. In the end, you disappoint the confidence they have in you.
In most cases, the best option is to be realistic with your claims and statistics. Most of the investors can sense a bit of incompetency from the overuse of superlatives. As a new entrepreneur, do not be tempted to over-promise to get the interests of investors.
The concept of entrepreneurship centers on risks, nothing is certain when you make future analyses. What separates the best is the ability to do careful research and work towards achieving that, not promising more than you can achieve.
To make an excellent first impression as an entrepreneur, replace superlatives with compelling data-driven content. In this way, you are more specific than someone promising a huge ROI from an investment.
4. Keep it Simple and Short
When writing business plans, ensure you keep them simple throughout. Irrespective of the purpose of the business plan, your goal is to convince the audience.
One way to achieve this goal is to make them understand your proposal. Therefore, it would be best if you avoid the use of complex grammar to express yourself. It would be a huge turn-off if the people you want to convince are not familiar with your use of words.
Another thing to note is the length of your business plan. It would be best if you made it as brief as possible.
You hardly see investors or agencies that read through an extremely long document. In that case, if your first few pages can’t convince them, then you have lost it. The more pages you write, the higher the chances of you derailing from the essential contents.
To ensure your business plan has a high conversion rate, you need to dispose of every unnecessary information. For example, if you have a strategy that you are not sure of, it would be best to leave it out of the plan.
5. Make an Outline and Follow Through
A perfect business plan must have touched every part needed to convince the audience. Business owners get easily tempted to concentrate more on their products than on other sections. Doing this can be detrimental to the efficiency of the business plan.
For example, imagine you talking about a product but omitting or providing very little information about the target audience. You will leave your clients confused.
To ensure that your business plan communicates your full business model to readers, you have to input all the necessary information in it. One of the best ways to achieve this is to design a structure and stick to it.
This structure is what guides you throughout the writing. To make your work easier, you can assign an estimated word count or page limit to every section to avoid making it too bulky for easy reading. As a guide, the necessary things your business plan must contain are:
- Table of contents
- Introduction
- Product or service description
- Target audience
- Market size
- Competition analysis
- Financial projections
Some specific businesses can include some other essential sections, but these are the key sections that must be in every business plan.
6. Ask a Professional to Proofread
When writing a business plan, you must tie all loose ends to get a perfect result. When you are done with writing, call a professional to go through the document for you. You are bound to make mistakes, and the way to correct them is to get external help.
You should get a professional in your field who can relate to every section of your business plan. It would be easier for the professional to notice the inner flaws in the document than an editor with no knowledge of your business.
In addition to getting a professional to proofread, get an editor to proofread and edit your document. The editor will help you identify grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and inappropriate writing styles.
Writing a business plan can be daunting, but you can surmount that obstacle and get the best out of it with these tips.
Business Plan Examples and Templates That’ll Save You Tons of Time
1. hubspot's one-page business plan.
![printable example of a business plan HubSpot's One Page Business Plan](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HubSpots-One-Page-Business-Plan.jpg)
The one-page business plan template by HubSpot is the perfect guide for businesses of any size, irrespective of their business strategy. Although the template is condensed into a page, your final business plan should not be a page long! The template is designed to ask helpful questions that can help you develop your business plan.
Hubspot’s one-page business plan template is divided into nine fields:
- Business opportunity
- Company description
- Industry analysis
- Target market
- Implementation timeline
- Marketing plan
- Financial summary
- Funding required
2. Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Bplan’s Free Business Plan Template](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Bplans-Free-Business-Plan-Template.jpg)
Bplans' free business plan template is investor-approved. It is a rich template used by prestigious educational institutions such as Babson College and Princeton University to teach entrepreneurs how to create a business plan.
The template has six sections: the executive summary, opportunity, execution, company, financial plan, and appendix. There is a step-by-step guide for writing every little detail in the business plan. Follow the instructions each step of the way and you will create a business plan that impresses investors or lenders easily.
3. HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan HubSpot's Downloadable Business Plan Template](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/HubSpots-Downloadable-Business-Plan-Template.jpg)
HubSpot’s downloadable business plan template is a more comprehensive option compared to the one-page business template by HubSpot. This free and downloadable business plan template is designed for entrepreneurs.
The template is a comprehensive guide and checklist for business owners just starting their businesses. It tells you everything you need to fill in each section of the business plan and how to do it.
There are nine sections in this business plan template: an executive summary, company and business description, product and services line, market analysis, marketing plan, sales plan, legal notes, financial considerations, and appendix.
4. Business Plan by My Own Business Institute
![printable example of a business plan The Business Profile](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-Business-Profile.jpg)
My Own Business Institute (MOBI) which is a part of Santa Clara University's Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offers a free business plan template. You can either copy the free business template from the link provided above or download it as a Word document.
The comprehensive template consists of a whopping 15 sections.
- The Business Profile
- The Vision and the People
- Home-Based Business and Freelance Business Opportunities
- Organization
- Licenses and Permits
- Business Insurance
- Communication Tools
- Acquisitions
- Location and Leasing
- Accounting and Cash Flow
- Opening and Marketing
- Managing Employees
- Expanding and Handling Problems
There are lots of helpful tips on how to fill each section in the free business plan template by MOBI.
5. Score's Business Plan Template for Startups
![printable example of a business plan Score's Business Plan Template for Startups](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Scores-Business-Plan-Template-for-Startups.jpg)
Score is an American nonprofit organization that helps entrepreneurs build successful companies. This business plan template for startups by Score is available for free download. The business plan template asks a whooping 150 generic questions that help entrepreneurs from different fields to set up the perfect business plan.
The business plan template for startups contains clear instructions and worksheets, all you have to do is answer the questions and fill the worksheets.
There are nine sections in the business plan template: executive summary, company description, products and services, marketing plan, operational plan, management and organization, startup expenses and capitalization, financial plan, and appendices.
The ‘refining the plan’ resource contains instructions that help you modify your business plan to suit your specific needs, industry, and target audience. After you have completed Score’s business plan template, you can work with a SCORE mentor for expert advice in business planning.
6. Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage
![printable example of a business plan Minimalist Architecture Business Plan Template by Venngage](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Minimalist-Architecture-Business-Plan-Template-by-Venngage.jpg)
The minimalist architecture business plan template is a simple template by Venngage that you can customize to suit your business needs .
There are five sections in the template: an executive summary, statement of problem, approach and methodology, qualifications, and schedule and benchmark. The business plan template has instructions that guide users on what to fill in each section.
7. Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan Small Business Administration Free Business Plan Template](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Small-Business-Administration-Free-Business-Plan-Template.jpg)
The Small Business Administration (SBA) offers two free business plan templates, filled with practical real-life examples that you can model to create your business plan. Both free business plan templates are written by fictional business owners: Rebecca who owns a consulting firm, and Andrew who owns a toy company.
There are five sections in the two SBA’s free business plan templates.
- Executive Summary
- Company Description
- Service Line
- Marketing and Sales
8. The $100 Startup's One-Page Business Plan
![printable example of a business plan The $100 Startup's One Page Business Plan](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-100-Startups-One-Page-Business-Plan.jpg)
The one-page business plan by the $100 startup is a simple business plan template for entrepreneurs who do not want to create a long and complicated plan . You can include more details in the appendices for funders who want more information beyond what you can put in the one-page business plan.
There are five sections in the one-page business plan such as overview, ka-ching, hustling, success, and obstacles or challenges or open questions. You can answer all the questions using one or two sentences.
9. PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template
![printable example of a business plan PandaDoc’s Free Business Plan Template](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PandaDocs-Free-Business-Plan-Template.jpg)
The free business plan template by PandaDoc is a comprehensive 15-page document that describes the information you should include in every section.
There are 11 sections in PandaDoc’s free business plan template.
- Executive summary
- Business description
- Products and services
- Operations plan
- Management organization
- Financial plan
- Conclusion / Call to action
- Confidentiality statement
You have to sign up for its 14-day free trial to access the template. You will find different business plan templates on PandaDoc once you sign up (including templates for general businesses and specific businesses such as bakeries, startups, restaurants, salons, hotels, and coffee shops)
PandaDoc allows you to customize its business plan templates to fit the needs of your business. After editing the template, you can send it to interested parties and track opens and views through PandaDoc.
10. Invoiceberry Templates for Word, Open Office, Excel, or PPT
![printable example of a business plan Invoiceberry Templates Business Concept](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Invoiceberry-Templates-Business-Concept.jpg)
InvoiceBerry is a U.K based online invoicing and tracking platform that offers free business plan templates in .docx, .odt, .xlsx, and .pptx formats for freelancers and small businesses.
Before you can download the free business plan template, it will ask you to give it your email address. After you complete the little task, it will send the download link to your inbox for you to download. It also provides a business plan checklist in .xlsx file format that ensures you add the right information to the business plan.
Alternatives to the Traditional Business Plan
A business plan is very important in mapping out how one expects their business to grow over a set number of years, particularly when they need external investment in their business. However, many investors do not have the time to watch you present your business plan. It is a long and boring read.
Luckily, there are three alternatives to the traditional business plan (the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck). These alternatives are less laborious and easier and quicker to present to investors.
Business Model Canvas (BMC)
The business model canvas is a business tool used to present all the important components of setting up a business, such as customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance in a single sheet. It provides a very focused blueprint that defines your business initially which you can later expand on if needed.
![printable example of a business plan Business Model Canvas (BMC) Infographic](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Business-Model-Canvas-BMC.jpg)
The sheet is divided mainly into company, industry, and consumer models that are interconnected in how they find problems and proffer solutions.
Segments of the Business Model Canvas
The business model canvas was developed by founder Alexander Osterwalder to answer important business questions. It contains nine segments.
![printable example of a business plan Segments of the Business Model Canvas](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Segments-of-the-Business-Model-Canvas.jpg)
- Key Partners: Who will be occupying important executive positions in your business? What do they bring to the table? Will there be a third party involved with the company?
- Key Activities: What important activities will production entail? What activities will be carried out to ensure the smooth running of the company?
- The Product’s Value Propositions: What does your product do? How will it be different from other products?
- Customer Segments: What demography of consumers are you targeting? What are the habits of these consumers? Who are the MVPs of your target consumers?
- Customer Relationships: How will the team support and work with its customer base? How do you intend to build and maintain trust with the customer?
- Key Resources: What type of personnel and tools will be needed? What size of the budget will they need access to?
- Channels: How do you plan to create awareness of your products? How do you intend to transport your product to the customer?
- Cost Structure: What is the estimated cost of production? How much will distribution cost?
- Revenue Streams: For what value are customers willing to pay? How do they prefer to pay for the product? Are there any external revenues attached apart from the main source? How do the revenue streams contribute to the overall revenue?
Lean Canvas
The lean canvas is a problem-oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas. It was proposed by Ash Maurya, creator of Lean Stack as a development of the business model generation. It uses a more problem-focused approach and it majorly targets entrepreneurs and startup businesses.
![printable example of a business plan The lean canvas is a problem oriented alternative to the standard business model canvas](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/The-lean-canvas-is-a-problem-oriented-alternative-to-the-standard-business-model-canvas.jpg)
Lean Canvas uses the same 9 blocks concept as the business model canvas, however, they have been modified slightly to suit the needs and purpose of a small startup. The key partners, key activities, customer relationships, and key resources are replaced by new segments which are:
- Problem: Simple and straightforward number of problems you have identified, ideally three.
- Solution: The solutions to each problem.
- Unfair Advantage: Something you possess that can't be easily bought or replicated.
- Key Metrics: Important numbers that will tell how your business is doing.
Startup Pitch Deck
While the business model canvas compresses into a factual sheet, startup pitch decks expand flamboyantly.
Pitch decks, through slides, convey your business plan, often through graphs and images used to emphasize estimations and observations in your presentation. Entrepreneurs often use pitch decks to fully convince their target audience of their plans before discussing funding arrangements.
![printable example of a business plan Startup Pitch Deck Presentation](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Startup-Pitch-Deck-Presentation.jpg)
Considering the likelihood of it being used in a small time frame, a good startup pitch deck should ideally contain 20 slides or less to have enough time to answer questions from the audience.
Unlike the standard and lean business model canvases, a pitch deck doesn't have a set template on how to present your business plan but there are still important components to it. These components often mirror those of the business model canvas except that they are in slide form and contain more details.
![printable example of a business plan Airbnb Pitch Deck](https://www.founderjar.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Airbnb-Pitch-Deck.jpg)
Using Airbnb (one of the most successful start-ups in recent history) for reference, the important components of a good slide are listed below.
- Cover/Introduction Slide: Here, you should include your company's name and mission statement. Your mission statement should be a very catchy tagline. Also, include personal information and contact details to provide an easy link for potential investors.
- Problem Slide: This slide requires you to create a connection with the audience or the investor that you are pitching. For example in their pitch, Airbnb summarized the most important problems it would solve in three brief points – pricing of hotels, disconnection from city culture, and connection problems for local bookings.
- Solution Slide: This slide includes your core value proposition. List simple and direct solutions to the problems you have mentioned
- Customer Analysis: Here you will provide information on the customers you will be offering your service to. The identity of your customers plays an important part in fundraising as well as the long-run viability of the business.
- Market Validation: Use competitive analysis to show numbers that prove the presence of a market for your product, industry behavior in the present and the long run, as well as the percentage of the market you aim to attract. It shows that you understand your competitors and customers and convinces investors of the opportunities presented in the market.
- Business Model: Your business model is the hook of your presentation. It may vary in complexity but it should generally include a pricing system informed by your market analysis. The goal of the slide is to confirm your business model is easy to implement.
- Marketing Strategy: This slide should summarize a few customer acquisition methods that you plan to use to grow the business.
- Competitive Advantage: What this slide will do is provide information on what will set you apart and make you a more attractive option to customers. It could be the possession of technology that is not widely known in the market.
- Team Slide: Here you will give a brief description of your team. Include your key management personnel here and their specific roles in the company. Include their educational background, job history, and skillsets. Also, talk about their accomplishments in their careers so far to build investors' confidence in members of your team.
- Traction Slide: This validates the company’s business model by showing growth through early sales and support. The slide aims to reduce any lingering fears in potential investors by showing realistic periodic milestones and profit margins. It can include current sales, growth, valuable customers, pre-orders, or data from surveys outlining current consumer interest.
- Funding Slide: This slide is popularly referred to as ‘the ask'. Here you will include important details like how much is needed to get your business off the ground and how the funding will be spent to help the company reach its goals.
- Appendix Slides: Your pitch deck appendix should always be included alongside a standard pitch presentation. It consists of additional slides you could not show in the pitch deck but you need to complement your presentation.
It is important to support your calculations with pictorial renditions. Infographics, such as pie charts or bar graphs, will be more effective in presenting the information than just listing numbers. For example, a six-month graph that shows rising profit margins will easily look more impressive than merely writing it.
Lastly, since a pitch deck is primarily used to secure meetings and you may be sharing your pitch with several investors, it is advisable to keep a separate public version that doesn't include financials. Only disclose the one with projections once you have secured a link with an investor.
Advantages of the Business Model Canvas, Lean Canvas, and Startup Pitch Deck over the Traditional Business Plan
- Time-Saving: Writing a detailed traditional business plan could take weeks or months. On the other hand, all three alternatives can be done in a few days or even one night of brainstorming if you have a comprehensive understanding of your business.
- Easier to Understand: Since the information presented is almost entirely factual, it puts focus on what is most important in running the business. They cut away the excess pages of fillers in a traditional business plan and allow investors to see what is driving the business and what is getting in the way.
- Easy to Update: Businesses typically present their business plans to many potential investors before they secure funding. What this means is that you may regularly have to amend your presentation to update statistics or adjust to audience-specific needs. For a traditional business plan, this could mean rewriting a whole section of your plan. For the three alternatives, updating is much easier because they are not voluminous.
- Guide for a More In-depth Business Plan: All three alternatives have the added benefit of being able to double as a sketch of your business plan if the need to create one arises in the future.
Business Plan FAQ
Business plans are important for any entrepreneur who is looking for a framework to run their company over some time or seeking external support. Although they are essential for new businesses, every company should ideally have a business plan to track their growth from time to time. They can be used by startups seeking investments or loans to convey their business ideas or an employee to convince his boss of the feasibility of starting a new project. They can also be used by companies seeking to recruit high-profile employee targets into key positions or trying to secure partnerships with other firms.
Business plans often vary depending on your target audience, the scope, and the goals for the plan. Startup plans are the most common among the different types of business plans. A start-up plan is used by a new business to present all the necessary information to help get the business up and running. They are usually used by entrepreneurs who are seeking funding from investors or bank loans. The established company alternative to a start-up plan is a feasibility plan. A feasibility plan is often used by an established company looking for new business opportunities. They are used to show the upsides of creating a new product for a consumer base. Because the audience is usually company people, it requires less company analysis. The third type of business plan is the lean business plan. A lean business plan is a brief, straight-to-the-point breakdown of your ideas and analysis for your business. It does not contain details of your proposal and can be written on one page. Finally, you have the what-if plan. As it implies, a what-if plan is a preparation for the worst-case scenario. You must always be prepared for the possibility of your original plan being rejected. A good what-if plan will serve as a good plan B to the original.
A good business plan has 10 key components. They include an executive plan, product analysis, desired customer base, company analysis, industry analysis, marketing strategy, sales strategy, financial projection, funding, and appendix. Executive Plan Your business should begin with your executive plan. An executive plan will provide early insight into what you are planning to achieve with your business. It should include your mission statement and highlight some of the important points which you will explain later. Product Analysis The next component of your business plan is your product analysis. A key part of this section is explaining the type of item or service you are going to offer as well as the market problems your product will solve. Desired Consumer Base Your product analysis should be supplemented with a detailed breakdown of your desired consumer base. Investors are always interested in knowing the economic power of your market as well as potential MVP customers. Company Analysis The next component of your business plan is your company analysis. Here, you explain how you want to run your business. It will include your operational strategy, an insight into the workforce needed to keep the company running, and important executive positions. It will also provide a calculation of expected operational costs. Industry Analysis A good business plan should also contain well laid out industry analysis. It is important to convince potential investors you know the companies you will be competing with, as well as your plans to gain an edge on the competition. Marketing Strategy Your business plan should also include your marketing strategy. This is how you intend to spread awareness of your product. It should include a detailed explanation of the company brand as well as your advertising methods. Sales Strategy Your sales strategy comes after the market strategy. Here you give an overview of your company's pricing strategy and how you aim to maximize profits. You can also explain how your prices will adapt to market behaviors. Financial Projection The financial projection is the next component of your business plan. It explains your company's expected running cost and revenue earned during the tenure of the business plan. Financial projection gives a clear idea of how your company will develop in the future. Funding The next component of your business plan is funding. You have to detail how much external investment you need to get your business idea off the ground here. Appendix The last component of your plan is the appendix. This is where you put licenses, graphs, or key information that does not fit in any of the other components.
The business model canvas is a business management tool used to quickly define your business idea and model. It is often used when investors need you to pitch your business idea during a brief window.
A pitch deck is similar to a business model canvas except that it makes use of slides in its presentation. A pitch is not primarily used to secure funding, rather its main purpose is to entice potential investors by selling a very optimistic outlook on the business.
Business plan competitions help you evaluate the strength of your business plan. By participating in business plan competitions, you are improving your experience. The experience provides you with a degree of validation while practicing important skills. The main motivation for entering into the competitions is often to secure funding by finishing in podium positions. There is also the chance that you may catch the eye of a casual observer outside of the competition. These competitions also provide good networking opportunities. You could meet mentors who will take a keen interest in guiding you in your business journey. You also have the opportunity to meet other entrepreneurs whose ideas can complement yours.
Exlore Further
- 12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)
- 13 Sources of Business Finance For Companies & Sole Traders
- 5 Common Types of Business Structures (+ Pros & Cons)
- How to Buy a Business in 8 Steps (+ Due Diligence Checklist)
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Martin luenendonk.
Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.
This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.
BUSINESS STRATEGIES
Free business plan template for small businesses
- Amanda Bellucco Chatham
- Dec 7, 2023
![printable example of a business plan Free business plan template for your new business](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1f6616_4f9ca8ede74442ee8cbb6796460290b8~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_46,h_30,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/1f6616_4f9ca8ede74442ee8cbb6796460290b8~mv2.png)
Creating a successful business is about more than launching a business website or hanging a shingle on your front door. It requires a well-crafted plan that keeps you on track, anticipates obstacles and acts as a concrete roadmap for launching or improving your small business.
Business planning allows you to clarify your vision while providing information to both intrigue and reassure potential investors. The process may seem daunting, but creating a business plan isn’t difficult—and templates like the one below can help simplify the process even further.
Ready to launch your business? Create a website today.
What is a business plan?
A business plan is used by small business owners and entrepreneurs when starting a new business venture. It’s a strategic document that outlines the goals, objectives and strategies of your new or expanding business, including the company's vision, target market, financial projections and operational plans.
A business plan can attract potential partners, convince investors and banks to help you raise capital, and serve as a resource for future growth. Most importantly, you’ll be able to use your business plan as a roadmap for how to structure, operate and manage your new venture, whether it’s a sole proprietorship, a partnership or something larger.
Who needs a business plan?
Every business owner needs a business plan. They’re an essential tool for any person or entity interested in starting a business . There are many benefits, including:
Defining your business idea
Clarifying the market and competitive landscape
Outlining your marketing strategy
Stating your value proposition
Identifying/anticipating potential risks
Seeking investments from banks and other sources
Setting benchmarks, goals and key performance indicators (KPIs)
A business plan also gives you a way to assess the viability of a business before investing too much time or money into it. While all business involves risk, taking the time to create a plan can help mitigate fallout and avoid potentially costly mistakes.
When creating a business plan, it's important to establish your business goals up front and be prepared to spend time researching the market, performing a competitor analysis and understanding your target market .
Download Wix’s free business plan template
Creating a successful business plan is no easy feat. That’s why we’ve put together a simple, customizable, and free-to-download business plan template that takes the guesswork out of getting started. Use it to create a new business plan or to refresh an existing one.
![printable example of a business plan Download your free Wix business plan template](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6542d9_ad35fe6bfcf9456aa2ee1e93db4ea719~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_139,h_11,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/6542d9_ad35fe6bfcf9456aa2ee1e93db4ea719~mv2.jpg)
Lean startup versus traditional business plan formats
In terms of types of business plans , there are two main formats to choose from: traditional and lean.
Traditional business plan format
A traditional business plan includes every detail and component that defines a business and contributes to its success. It's typically a sizable document of about 30 to 50 pages that includes:
Executive summary: The executive summary contains a high-level overview of everything included in the plan. It generally provides a short explanation of your business and its goals (e.g., your elevator pitch ). Many authors like to write this section last after fleshing out the sections below.
Company description: A company description should include essential details like your business name, the names of your founders, your locations and your company’s mission statement . Briefly describe your core services (or products if you’re writing an eCommerce business plan ), but don't go into too much detail since you’ll elaborate on this in the service/product section. Wix offers some helpful mission statement examples if you get stuck. It’s also a good idea to create a vision statement . While your mission statement clarifies your company’s purpose, a vision statement outlines what you want your company to achieve over time.
Market analysis: One of the most extensive sections of the business plan, this section requires that you conduct market research and write your conclusions. Include findings for the following: industry background, a SWOT analysis , barriers/obstacles, target market and your business differentiators.
Organization and management: This is where you outline how your business is structured and who's in charge, including founders, executive team members, board members, employees and key stakeholders. To this end, it can be helpful to create a visual layout (e.g., org chart) to illustrate your company structure.
Service or product line: Create a detailed list of your current and future products and services. If you’re still working on your idea, create a concept statement to describe your idea or product. You should also include a proof of concept (POC), which demonstrates the feasibility of your idea. Wherever applicable, include diagrams, product images and other visual components to illustrate the product life cycle.
Marketing and sales: Detail how your business idea translates into selling and delivering your offerings to potential customers. You can start by outlining your brand identity, which includes the colors and fonts you plan to use, your marketing and advertising strategy, and details about planned consumer touchpoints (like your website, mobile app or physical storefront).
Financial projections and funding requests: Include financial statements, such as a balance sheet, profit-and-loss statement (P&L), cash flow statement and break-even analysis. It's not uncommon for a business plan to include multiple pages of financial projections and information. You’ll also want to mention how much funding you seek and what you plan to do with it. If you’ve already secured funding, provide details about your investments.
![printable example of a business plan essential parts of a business plan](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/1f6616_7fb418f888974a9a8d8a43218c04ae79~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_46,h_27,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/1f6616_7fb418f888974a9a8d8a43218c04ae79~mv2.png)
Lean startup business plan format
A lean startup business plan—also referred to as a “lean canvas”—is presented as a problem/solution framework that provides a high-level description of your business idea. A lean plan is a single-page document that provides a basic overview of the most essential aspects of your business. It’s a good way to dip a toe into business planning since it doesn't require the same level of detail as a traditional plan. This includes:
Problem: What problem does your product or service solve, or what need does it fulfill?
Solution: How do you intend to solve it?
Unique value proposition (UVP): Why should people use your product or service versus someone else’s?
Unfair advantage: What do you have that other companies don’t?
Customers: Who are your ideal customers?
Channels: How will those customers find you?
Key metrics: How do you define success? How will you track and measure it?
Revenue streams: How will your business make money?
Cost structure: What will you spend money on (fixed and variable costs)?
Benefits of a business plan template
Business plan templates offer numerous benefits for entrepreneurs and aspiring business owners. Here are some key advantages:
1. Save time and effort: Templates provide a pre-defined structure, eliminating the need to start from scratch. This frees up valuable time and effort that can be invested in other crucial aspects of business development.
2. Improve structure: Templates ensure a consistent and organized approach to presenting your business plan. This makes it easier for potential investors, lenders and advisors to understand your vision and evaluate the feasibility of your business. 3. Enhance professionalism: Using a well-designed template demonstrates professionalism and seriousness to external stakeholders. This can significantly impact their perception of your business and increase their confidence in your venture. 4. Guide your thought process: Templates act as a helpful framework, prompting you to consider all the key elements of your business plan and ensuring you haven't overlooked any critical areas. 5. Ensure completeness: Templates often include checklists and prompts to ensure you cover all essential information, minimizing the risk of missing crucial details. 6. Standardize formatting: Templates ensure a consistent and uniform appearance throughout your business plan, contributing to a more polished and professional presentation. 7. Access to expert knowledge: Many templates are developed by experienced business professionals or organizations, incorporating best practices and insights gained from successful ventures. 8. Adaptability and customization: While templates offer a basic structure, they can be easily customized to reflect the unique characteristics and needs of your specific business. 9. Cost-effectiveness: Templates are generally available for free or at a low cost, making them an accessible and budget-friendly option for entrepreneurs. 10. Increased success rate: Studies have shown that businesses with well-developed plans are more likely to succeed. Templates can help you create a comprehensive and persuasive plan, increasing your chances of securing funding and achieving your business goals.
Tips for filling out your business plan template
The hardest part of a journey is always the first step, or so the saying goes. Filling out your business plan template can be daunting, but the template itself is meant to get you over that crucial first hurdle—getting started. We’ve provided some tips aimed at helping you get the most from our template.
These are best practices—they’re not rules. Do what works for you. The main thing to remember is that these tips can help you move more easily through the planning process, so that you can advance onto the next (exciting) step, which is launching your business.
Consider your goals: What is the purpose of your business? Are you looking to expand, launch a new product line or fund a specific project? Identifying your goals helps you prioritize important information in your business plan.
Fill out what you can: You may already have a vague—or specific—idea of what you want your business to achieve. Go through each section of the template and fill out what you can. We suggest leaving the executive summary blank for now, since it'll be the last thing you write.
Be realistic: Even though this document is meant to serve as a marketing tool for potential investors, don't exaggerate any numbers or make any false promises.
Dig into the research: Nothing's more motivating than getting some intel about your competitors and your market. If you're truly stuck, a little research can help motivate you and provide valuable insight about what direction to take your business. For example, if you plan to start a landscaping business, learn about the specific pricing offered in your area so that you can differentiate your services and potentially offer better options.
Get help from others: Bouncing your ideas off a friend, mentor or advisor is a great way to get feedback and discover approaches or products to incorporate into your plan. Your network can also give you valuable insight about the industry or even about potential customers. Plus, it's nice to be able to talk through the challenges with someone who understands you and your vision.
Revise and review: Once complete, step back from your plan and let it "cook." In a day or two, review your plan and make sure that everything is current. Have other people review it too, since having another set of eyes can help identify areas that may be lacking detail or need further explanation.
Once you’ve completed your business plan template, it can become a meaningful resource for developing your mission statement, writing business proposals and planning how to move forward with the marketing, distribution and growth of your products and services.
After launch, you can also analyze your value chain to identify key factors that create value for your customers and maximum profitability for you. This can help you develop a more effective business plan that considers the entire value chain, from research and development to sales and customer support.
Business plan template FAQ
What is the easiest way to write a business plan.
The easiest way to write a business plan is to utilize a template. Templates provide a structured format and guide you through each section, simplifying the process of creating a comprehensive plan.
Is there a template for how to write a business plan?
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Medicare Advantage in 2024: Enrollment Update and Key Trends
Meredith Freed , Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek , Anthony Damico, and Tricia Neuman Published: Aug 08, 2024
Medicare Advantage enrollment has been on a steady climb for the past two decades following changes in policy designed to encourage a robust role for private plan options in Medicare. After a period of some instability in terms of plan participation and enrollment, The Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 created stronger financial incentives for plans to participate in the program throughout the country and renamed private Medicare plans Medicare Advantage. In 2024, 32.8 million people are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan, accounting for more than half, or 54 percent, of the eligible Medicare population, and $462 billion (or 54%) of total federal Medicare spending (net of offsetting receipts, such as premiums). Medicare Advantage enrolls a disproportionate share of people of color in Medicare as well as an increasing number of dual eligible beneficiaries. The average Medicare beneficiary in 2024 has access to 43 Medicare Advantage plans , the same as in 2023, but more than double the number of plans offered in 2018.
The growth in Medicare Advantage enrollment is due to a number of factors, including the availability of plans that charge no premium (other than the Part B premium), and extra benefits offered by most Medicare Advantage plans. Nearly all Medicare Advantage plans offer some benefits not included in traditional Medicare, such as coverage of dental, vision, or hearing services, often for no additional premium. Medicare beneficiaries are also drawn to the financial protection that comes with an out-of-pocket limit, which Medicare Advantage plans are required to provide, while traditional Medicare has no out-of-pocket cap on spending. On the other hand, Medicare Advantage plans have limited provider networks and apply cost management tools such as prior authorization , which traditional Medicare does not.
Generally, research shows that Medicare pays more to private Medicare Advantage plans for enrollees than their costs would be in traditional Medicare. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) reports that plans receive payments from CMS that are 122% of spending for similar beneficiaries in traditional Medicare, on average, translating to an estimated $83 billion in higher spending in 2024 . As Medicare Advantage takes on a more dominant presence in the Medicare program, and with current payments to plans higher for Medicare Advantage than for traditional Medicare for similar beneficiaries, policymakers have become increasingly focused on how well Medicare’s current payment methodology for Medicare Advantage is working to enhance efficiency and hold down beneficiary costs and Medicare spending.
To better understand trends in the growth of the program, this brief provides current information about Medicare Advantage enrollment, by plan type and firm, and shows how enrollment varies by state and county. A second, companion analysis describes Medicare Advantage premiums, out-of-pocket limits, supplemental benefits offered, and prior authorization requirements in 2024. This analysis does not provide detailed information by enrollee characteristics, such as race/ethnicity, income, or dual status, because that information is not available.
Highlights for 2024:
- More than half (54%) of eligible Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2024. The share of Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans varies across states, ranging from 2% to 63%. In 7 states, AL, CT, MI, HI, ME, FL, RI (and Puerto Rico), 60% or more of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans, an increase from 3 states in 2023.
- More than one-third (37%) of Medicare beneficiaries live in a county where at least 60 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Three counties (excluding those in Puerto Rico) enroll 80% or more of Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans: Monroe County, NY (Rochester; 82%), Starr, Texas (81%), and Miami-Dade County, Florida (80%). At the same time, 8 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries nationwide live in a county with relatively low enrollment, where less than one third of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. The wide variation in county enrollment rates reflect several factors, such as differences in firm strategy, urbanicity of the county, Medicare payment rates, number of Medicare beneficiaries, health care use patterns, and historical Medicare Advantage market penetration.
- Medicare Advantage enrollment is highly concentrated among a small number of firms, with UnitedHealthcare and Humana accounting for nearly half (47%) of all Medicare Advantage enrollees nationwide . In more than a quarter of all U.S. counties (29%; or 931 counties), these two firms account for at least 75 percent of Medicare Advantage enrollment. Since 2017, the market share for UnitedHealthcare and CVS Health has increased (25% to 29% and 8% to 12%, respectively), Humana (18%) and Cigna (2%) have held steady, while other firms’ share of total enrollment has slightly decreased (Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) affiliates, Kaiser Permanente, and Centene). Small firms (which each account for less than 2% of enrollment) have a smaller share of the market in 2024 than in 2017 (19% to 16%).
More than half of eligible Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage in 2024
In 2024, more than half (54%) of eligible Medicare beneficiaries – 32.8 million people out of 61.2 million Medicare beneficiaries with both Medicare Parts A and B – are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare Advantage enrollment as a share of the eligible Medicare population has jumped from 19% in 2007 to 54% in 2024 (Figure 1).
Between 2023 and 2024, total Medicare Advantage enrollment grew by about 2.1 million beneficiaries, or 7 percent – a similar growth rate as the prior year (8%). The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that the share of all Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans will rise to 64% by 2034 (Figure 2).
In 2024, nearly two-thirds of Medicare Advantage enrollees are in individual plans that are open for general enrollment.
More than 6 in 10 Medicare Advantage enrollees (62%), or 20.5 million people, are in plans generally available to all beneficiaries for individual enrollment (Figure 3). That is an increase of 0.9 million enrollees compared to 2023. Individual plans have declined as a share of total Medicare Advantage enrollment since 2010 (71%).
More than 6.6 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in special needs plans in 2024, more than double the enrollment in 2019.
More than 6.6 million Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in special needs plans (SNPs). SNPs restrict enrollment to specific types of beneficiaries with significant or relatively specialized care needs, or who qualify because they are eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. Enrollment in SNPs increased by 16 percent between 2023 and 2024, and accounts for 20 percent of total Medicare Advantage enrollment in 2024, an increase from 12 percent in 2010. Since 2019, SNP enrollment has more than doubled from 2.92 million to 6.64 million (Figure 4). This increase is due in part to the increasing number of SNP plans available on average and more dual eligible individuals having access to these plans .
Most SNP enrollees (88%) are in plans for beneficiaries dually enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid (D-SNPs). Another 10 percent of SNP enrollees are in plans for people with severe chronic or disabling conditions (C-SNPs) and 2 percent are in plans for beneficiaries requiring a nursing home or institutional level of care (I-SNPs).
While D-SNPs are designed specifically for dually-eligible individuals , 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries with full Medicaid benefits were enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans generally available to all beneficiaries (not designed specifically for this population) in 2021, while 2.3 million full dual eligible individuals were in D-SNPs. D-SNPs have increasingly become the main source of Medicare Advantage coverage for dual eligible individuals.
SNP enrollment varies across states. In the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, SNP enrollees comprise about half of all Medicare Advantage enrollees (49% in DC and 51% in PR). In nine states, SNP enrollment accounts for at least a quarter of Medicare Advantage enrollment: 46% in MS, 34% in AR, 33% in LA and NY, 28% in FL and GA, and 25% in CT, SC and AL.
C-SNP enrollment in 2024 (about 675,000 people) is 45% higher than it was in 2023 – an increase of about 210,000 enrollees. Nearly all (97%) C-SNP enrollees are in plans for people with diabetes or cardiovascular conditions in 2024. Enrollment in I-SNPs has been increasing slightly, with approximately 115,000 enrollees in 2024, up from about 103,000 in 2023.
Slightly less than one in five (17% or about 5.7 million) Medicare Advantage enrollees are in a group plan offered to retirees by an employer or union.
Group enrollment as a share of total Medicare Advantage enrollment has fluctuated between 17% to 20% since 2010, but the actual number has increased from 1.8 million in 2010 to 5.7 million in 2024 (Figure 5). With a group plan, an employer or union contracts with an insurer and Medicare pays the insurer a fixed amount per enrollee to provide benefits covered by Medicare. For example, 13 states provide health insurance benefits to their Medicare-eligible retirees exclusively through Medicare Advantage plans.
As with other Medicare Advantage plans, employer and union group plans may provide additional benefits and/or lower cost sharing than traditional Medicare and are eligible for bonus payments if they obtain required quality scores. The employer or union (and sometimes the retiree) may also pay an additional premium for these supplemental benefits. Group enrollees comprise a quarter or more of Medicare Advantage enrollees in nine states: Alaska (100%), Michigan (38%), New Jersey (33%), West Virginia (31%), Maryland (30%), Illinois (29%), Vermont (27%), Kentucky (26%), and Connecticut (25%).
The share of Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans varies by state and county
The share of Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans varies across states, ranging from 2% to 63%.
In 30 states, Medicare Advantage enrollees account for more than half of all Medicare beneficiaries, including in 7 states, AL, CT, MI, HI, ME, FL, RI (and Puerto Rico) where 60% or more of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans (Figure 6). In contrast, Medicare Advantage enrollment is relatively low (less than 40%) in 13 states, including five states with less than 30% of beneficiaries enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan – AK, MD, ND, SD, and WY – all of which (beside MD) are mostly rural. Overall, Puerto Rico has the highest Medicare Advantage penetration, with 95 percent of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan. A decade ago, the share of Medicare beneficiaries in Medicare Advantage plans did not exceed 50 percent in any state (other than Puerto Rico).
The share of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage varies widely across counties.
For example, in Florida, 60% of all Medicare beneficiaries in the state are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, ranging from 21% in Monroe County (Key West) to 80% in Miami-Dade County (Figure 7). In Ohio, 57% of all Medicare beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicare Advantage, with the share ranging from 32% in Mercer County (Celina) to 69% in Stark County (Canton).
In 2024, more than a third (37%) of Medicare beneficiaries live in a county where at least 60 percent of all Medicare beneficiaries in that county are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans (618 counties). That is substantially more than in 2010 when just 3 percent of the Medicare population lived in a county where 60 percent or more of Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan (83 counties). Many counties with high Medicare Advantage penetration are centered around relatively large, urban areas, such as Monroe County, NY (82%), which includes Rochester, and Allegheny County, PA (74%), which includes Pittsburgh. In contrast, 8 percent of Medicare beneficiaries live in a county where less than one third of all Medicare beneficiaries in that county are enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans (849 counties). Counties with relatively low enrollment tend to be less populated rural areas. However, others, such Montgomery County, MD (27%) and Suffolk, NY (31%), which includes much of Long Island, are in more populous areas. (This county-level analysis excludes Medicare Advantage enrollment in Connecticut. See methods for more details.)
Variation in the share of eligible Medicare beneficiaries who are enrolled in a Medicare Advantage plan is explained by a combination of factors, including firm-level strategies to target particular geographic areas, the urbanicity of the county and state, variation in Medicare payment rates, the number and characteristics of people eligible for Medicare, health care use patterns, and the historical Medicare Advantage market penetration.
Medicare Advantage enrollment is highly concentrated among a small number of firms
The average Medicare beneficiary is able to choose from Medicare Advantage plans offered by 8 firms in 2024 , one fewer than in 2023 and 2022, and one-third of beneficiaries (33%) can choose among Medicare Advantage plans offered by 10 or more firms.
UnitedHealthcare and Humana account for nearly half of all Medicare Advantage enrollees nationwide in 2024.
Despite most beneficiaries having access to plans operated by several different firms, Medicare Advantage enrollment is highly concentrated among a small number of firms. UnitedHealthcare, alone, accounts for 29% of all Medicare Advantage enrollment in 2024, or 9.4 million enrollees. Together, UnitedHealthcare and Humana (18%) account for nearly half (47%) of all Medicare Advantage enrollees nationwide, the same as in 2023. In more than a quarter of counties (29%; or 931 counties), these two firms account for at least 75% of Medicare Advantage enrollment. These counties include East Baton Rouge (Baton Rouge), LA (81%), Clark County (Las Vegas), NV (79%), Travis County (Austin), FL (78%), and El Paso County (Colorado Springs), CO (76%). (Again, this county-level analysis does not include Connecticut.)
BCBS affiliates (including Anthem BCBS plans) account for 14% of enrollment, and four firms (CVS Health, Kaiser Permanente, Centene, and Cigna) account for another 23% of enrollment in 2024.
UnitedHealthcare and Humana have consistently accounted for a relatively large share of Medicare Advantage enrollment.
UnitedHealthcare has had the largest share of Medicare Advantage enrollment and largest growth in enrollment since 2010, increasing from 20 percent of all Medicare Advantage enrollment in 2010 to 29 percent in 2024. Humana has also had a high share of Medicare Advantage enrollment, though its share of enrollment has grown more slowly, from 16 percent in 2010 to 18 percent in 2024. BCBS plans share of enrollment has been more constant over time but has declined moderately since 2014.
CVS Health, which purchased Aetna in 2018, has seen its share of enrollment double from 6 percent in 2010 to 12 percent in 2024. Kaiser Permanente now accounts for 6 percent of total enrollment, a moderate decline as a share of total Medicare Advantage enrollment since 2010 (9%), mainly due to the growth of enrollment in plans offered by other insurers and only a modest increase in enrollment growth for Kaiser Permanente over that time. However, for those insurers that have seen declines in their overall share of enrollment, the actual number of enrollees for each insurer is larger than it was in 2010.
By absolute numbers, CVS Health had the largest growth in plan year enrollment, increasing by 758,000 beneficiaries between March 2023 and March 2024. Humana had the second largest growth in plan year enrollment, with an increase of about 472,000 beneficiaries between March 2023 and March 2024. UnitedHealthcare plans had the third highest growth in plan year enrollment, increasing by 456,000 beneficiaries – the first time in 8 years it did not have the largest plan growth among all firms. BCBS plans had the fourth largest growth in plan enrollment with an increase of about 283,000, followed by Kaiser Permanente, increasing by about 45,000 beneficiaries between March 2023 and March 2024. However, Centene had fewer enrollees, with enrollment declining by about 202,000 between March 2023 and March 2024.
Meredith Freed, Jeannie Fuglesten Biniek, and Tricia Neuman are with KFF. Anthony Damico is an independent consultant.
This analysis uses data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicare Advantage Enrollment, Benefit and Landscape files for the respective year. KFF uses the Medicare Enrollment Dashboard for enrollment data for March 2023 and 2024, and the CMS Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse Master Beneficiary Summary File (MBSF) for March for earlier years. Trend analysis begins in 2007 because that was the earliest year of data that was based on March enrollment. Enrollment data is only provided for plan-county combinations that have at least 11 beneficiaries; thus, this analysis excludes approximately 400,000 individuals who reside in a county where county-wide plan enrollment does not meet this threshold. Connecticut is excluded from the analysis of Medicare Advantage penetration at the county level due to a change in FIPS codes that are in the Medicare Enrollment Dashboard data but are not yet reflected in the Medicare Advantage enrollment data. KFF calculates the share of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage, meaning they must have both Part A and B coverage. The share of enrollees in Medicare Advantage would be somewhat smaller if based on the total Medicare population that includes 5.9 million beneficiaries with Part A only or Part B only (in 2024) who are not generally eligible to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan. In previous years, KFF calculated the share of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage by including Medicare beneficiaries with either Part A and/or B coverage. We modified our approach in 2022 to estimate the share enrolled among beneficiaries eligible for Medicare Advantage who have both Medicare Part A and Medicare B. In the past, the number of beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage was smaller and therefore the difference between the share enrolled with Part A and/or B vs Part A and B was also smaller. For example, in 2010, 24% of all Medicare enrollees were enrolled in Medicare Advantage versus 25% with just Parts A and B. However, these shares have diverged over time: in 2024, 49% of all Medicare beneficiaries were enrolled in Medicare Advantage versus 54% with just Parts A and B. These changes are reflected in all data displayed trending back to 2007. Additionally, in previous years, KFF had used the term Medicare Advantage to refer to Medicare Advantage plans as well as other types of private plans, including cost plans, PACE plans, and HCPPs. However, cost plans, PACE plans, and HCPPs are now excluded from this analysis in addition to MMPs. In this analysis, KFF excludes these other plans as some may have different enrollment requirements than Medicare Advantage plans (e.g., may be available to beneficiaries with only Part B coverage) and in some cases, may be paid differently than Medicare Advantage plans. These exclusions are reflected in all data displayed trending back to 2007. Medicare projections for 2025-2033 are from the June Congressional Budget Office (CBO) Medicare Baseline for 2024. Using the CBO baseline, Medicare enrollment is based on individuals who are enrolled in Part B, which is designed to include only individuals who are eligible for Medicare Advantage and exclude those who only have Part A only (~5 million people in 2025) and cannot enroll in Medicare Advantage. However, it may include some individuals who have Part B only and also are not eligible for Medicare Advantage. Enrollment counts in publications by firms operating in the Medicare Advantage market, such as company financial statements, might differ from KFF estimates due to inclusion or exclusion of certain plan types, such as SNPs or employer group health plans. |
- Medicare Advantage
Also of Interest
- Medicare Advantage in 2024: Premiums, Out-of-Pocket Limits, Supplemental Benefits, and Prior Authorization
- Medicare Advantage 2024 Spotlight: First Look
- Use of Prior Authorization in Medicare Advantage Exceeded 46 Million Requests in 2022
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