Outline of What is Needed in a Business Plan
1.0 Mission Statement
1.1 Mission Statement
1.2 Business Objectives
1.3 Keys to Success (Unfair Advantages)
2.0 Executive Summary
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Company Description: Legal establishment, history,
development plans, etc.
Product or Service: Describe what you are selling. Focus
on customer benefits.
Market Analysis: Show your marketplaces, your customer
needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include
management responsibilities with dates and budgets.
Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion
of website, development costs, operations, sales and
marketing strategies.
Management Team: Describe your organization and the
key management team members.
Financial Analysis: Include at the very least your projected
Profit and Loss and Cash Flow tables.
3.0 Company Description
2.1 Company History
2.2 Company Ownership, plus Business Structure
2.3 Company Locations and Facilities
5.4 Strategic Alliances
5.4.1 Opinion Makers/Centers of Influence
4.0 Market Analysis
3.1 Overview of the Industry: Know your market, customer
needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc.
(Customer Sensitivities)
3.2 Market Size, Trends and Major Industry Participants
3.3 Overview of your niche in the industry and how you fit in.
3.4 Competitive Comparisons and Advantages
78.1 Business Controls + Reporting Structure (Internal and
external auditing; risk management (insurance, back-up
systems, etc.)
7.2 Important Assumptions
7.3 Key Financial Indicators + Business Ratios
7.4 Break-even Analysis
7.5 Projected Profit and Loss
7.6 Projected Cash Flow
7.7 Projected Balance Sheet
7.8 Long-term Plan (Advance into an Exit Strategy)
7.9 Funding Request and Return To Investors
8.0 Marketing Plan
8.1 Marketing Strategies
8.1.1 Positioning Statement (Objectives)
8.1.2Your Products and Services and how you are
delivering them
 Current Products and Services
 Future Products and Services
 Technology
8.1.3 Pricing Strategy
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Are prices in line with current industry practice?
Pricing policy based on your cost structure?
Have you conducted price sensitivity studies?
8.1.4 Promotion Programs
 Advertising, Publicity, Sales Promotion
 Sales Literature, Trade Shows, Direct Mail
 Personal Selling
 Customer service as a priority
8.1.5 Distribution Strategies
 Bookstores
 Special Sales
9.0 Marketing Implementation
9.1 Action Plan
9.2.1 Product Tactics
9.2.1 Pricing tactics
9.2.2 Promotion tactics
9.2.3. Distribution tactics
10.0 Forecasts and Evaluation
10.1 Sales Forecast
10.2 Milestones
5.0 Web Plan Summary
6.1 Marketing Strategy for Website
6.2 Development Requirements and Schedule
11.0 Exit Strategies and Options
Standard Tables and Charts
6.0 Management Summary
7.1 Organizational Structure
7.2 Management Team and Relationships
7.3 Management Team Gaps + Plan (Skills You Have,
Skills You Need)
Brian Jud, Book Marketing Works;
7.0 Financial Plan
brianjud@bookmarketing.com
What graphics can you use to make the presentation more
effective?
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What questions should you ask?
Our Company
1) Who are you? What strengths do you have? What parts of
this business can you do better than most other people or
companies? What things are you okay at but not
outstanding? Finally, in which areas are you weak?
13) How are you going to brand our business and our products
and services? Our branding must make our customers be
able to understand clearly what your products and services
do and why it is different (better) than our competitors’
offering.
14) What kind of quality will your customers expect?
2) Is it your plan to buy rather than build; to outsource
everything you can, like payroll services, benefits, taxes;
technology; to stick to your core competencies of
understanding the marketplace; having uncommon access
to it due to your reputation and contacts; and a proven ability
to integrate and to market, sell and support.
How Will You Market and Sell To Your Customers?
3) What resources do you have? Skills, experience, education?
Who do you know that can help us? What kind of assets and
income can you develop?
16) Is our customer an individual? An organization? What
motivations will you address? Who could it be?
4) Why is your business going to succeed?
5) What is your company like? What will it be like? Why would
someone want to buy it?
What is the Marketplace Like?
15) Is the user also the person or organization that will buy the
product? (You've got to know who can say yes!) If the buyer
is not the end user, then you've got to evaluate both the
buyer and the intended user.
17) What kind of quality will you offer? Speed? Are you going to
offer something for everyone, or only for a specific target
niche of customers?
18) How are your customers going to see your products or
services? How are you going to let them know about the
products and services?
19) How are you going to make them try it?
6) How big is the market for your products and services?
7) What is the competitive environment? Make a list of your
competitors and their advantages;
8) How will you position yourself?
9) What methods will you use to demonstrate your commitment
to high quality?
10) How do you show and persuade your customers that you can
provide them an unfair advantage?
20) How are you going to make them long term users?
21) What kind of pricing do you plan? Are you going to offer a
premium product for a premium price? Offer a mass-market
product at a popular price? Are you going to undercut
competitors' prices? What are they willing to pay for the
product?
22) How are they going to pay for it?
23) Where are your customers? Does it matter?
24) How quickly do they need the product?
Our Products and Services
11) Who needs our products or services? Or who wants them?
Why can you do a better job of satisfying their needs than is
currently being done? How are they currently meeting this
need or want? For what purposes are they going to use this
product or service?
25) What type of customer support will they need? How to make
a sale? How will you provide this? Online? Seminars?
Teleseminars? Coordination with our vendors? How much
will they pay for it?
26) What kind of warranty or guarantee do they want? What are
you willing to provide?
12) What are our products and services going to be? What are
you going to offer; immediately and in the future? What are
you going to be selling? With whom are you going to be
selling them?
Brian Jud, Book Marketing Works;
brianjud@bookmarketing.com
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