Need A Business Plan? Here Are A Few Tips

If you're finishing up your business plan and starting to think about presenting the plan to potential investors and lenders the presentation is important. The business plan represents you and your company. It doesn't have to be in a gold embossed leather binder with four color photographs but it does have to look professional. Ask yourself these questions:

Does the plan include a title page with your company name, a person's name and the address and phone numbers? Don't just clip a business card to the front page, it could get separated. It's not a bad idea to include your company name and phone number on every page right next to the page number.

Has your plan been proofed and spell checked? And by a real person, not just your word processor? Word processor spell check doesn't know the difference between its and it's, there, their, and they're for example so those types of mistakes won't be caught.

Did you check all abbreviations or acronyms to make sure the first time they're used they're explained, ie., World Wide Web (www)?

Have you gone through the plan to make sure all technical terms are explained?

Are the pages numbered?

Do the page numbers for the index match the actual page numbers?

Have you edited the business plan to see what you can include in the Appendix rather than in the body of the plan?

Has someone unfamiliar with your company read the plan and understood it?

Is your executive summary limited to no more than 3 pages?

Have you had someone unfamiliar with your company read just the executive summary and understand your company?

Are your margins at least one inch wide on each side, top and bottom?

Is your font size at least 11, preferably 12?

If you are using a word processing system which allows color graphics, have you changed the color graphics to grayscale for printing? Or will you be printing the business plan in color?

Have you checked to make sure you didn't use too many fonts and font sizes? Variation is fine but using too many fonts makes the page look busy.

Have you taken advantage of bullet points, shading, indents, and borders to add visual interest to your presentation? (Just don't go overboard.)

Is the use of your page titles and headings consistent in format throughout the presentation?

You can print your business plan on both sides of the paper, just make sure it's printed on quality paper so that the printing doesn't bleed through to the other side.

If you are using duplicating or copying services to print your business plans, is the quality nearly perfect?

Follow these tips and your business plan will have a solid presentation to investors and lenders.

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