a standard business plan outline

Use This Simple Business Plan Outline to Organize Your Plan

12 min. read

Updated April 10, 2024

When starting a business, having a well-thought-out business plan prepared is necessary for success . It helps guide your strategy and prepares you to overcome the obstacles and risks associated with entrepreneurship. In short, a business plan makes you more likely to succeed.

However, like everything in business, starting is often the hardest part. What information do you need? How in-depth should each section be? How should the plan be structured?

All good questions that you can answer by following this business plan outline. 

• What is a business plan outline?

A business plan outline is similar to most business plan templates . It lists the common sections that all business plans should include.

A traditional business plan typically includes an executive summary, an overview of your products and services, thorough market research, a competitive analysis, a marketing and sales strategy, operational and company details, financial projections, and an appendix. 

• Why is a business plan outline important?

Starting with a business plan outline helps ensure that you’re including all of the necessary information for a complete business plan. 

But, depending on what you intend to do with your plan, you may not need all of this information right away. If you’re going to speak with investors or pursue funding, then yes, you’ll need to include everything from this outline.

But, if you’re using your plan to test an idea or help run your business, you may want to opt for a one-page plan . This is a simpler and faster method that is designed to be updated and used day-to-day. 

If you’re unsure of which plan is right for you, check out our guide explaining the differences and use cases for each plan type . 

• 10 key sections in a standard business plan outline

No matter the type of business plan you create, these are the ten basic sections you should include. Be sure to download your free business plan template to start drafting your own plan as you work through this outline.

1. Executive summary

While it may appear first, it’s best to write your executive summary last. It’s a brief section that highlights the high-level points you’ve made elsewhere in your business plan.

Summarize the problem you are solving for customers, your solution, the target market, your team that’s building the business, and financial forecast highlights. Keep things as brief as possible and entice your audience to learn more about your company. 

Keep in mind, this is the first impression your plan and business will make. After looking over your executive summary, your reader is either going to throw your business plan away or keep reading. So make sure you spend the time to get it just right.

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2. Products and services

Start the products and services section of your business plan by describing the problem you are solving for your customer. Next, describe how you solve that problem with your product or service. 

If you’ve already made some headway selling your solution, detail that progress here—this is called “traction”. You can also describe any intellectual property or patents that you have if that’s an important part of your business.

3. Market analysis 

You need to know your target market —the types of customers you are looking for—and how it’s changing.

Use the market analysis section of your business plan to discuss the size of your market—how many potential customers exist for your business—and if your potential customers can be segmented into different groups, such as age groups or some other demographic.

4. Competition

Describe your competition in this section. If you don’t have any direct competitors, describe what your customers currently do to solve the problem that your product fixes. 

If you have direct competition, detail what your strengths and weaknesses are in comparison, and how you’ll differentiate from what is already available. 

5. Marketing and sales

Use this business plan section to outline your marketing and sales plan —how you’ll reach your target customers and what the process will be for selling to them.

You’ll want to cover your market position, marketing activities, sales channels, and your pricing strategy. This will likely evolve over time, but it’s best to include anything that clearly details how you will sell and promote your products and services. 

6. Operations

What’s included in the operations section really depends on the type of business you are planning for. If your business has a physical location or other facilities, you’ll want to describe them here. If your business relies heavily on technology or specific equipment or tools, you should describe that technology or equipment here.

You can also use this section to describe your supply chain if that’s an important aspect of your business. 

7. Milestones and metrics

In a business, milestones are important goals that you are setting for your business. They may be important launch dates, or a timeline of when you’ll get regulatory approval—if that’s something you need for your business. Use this section of your plan to describe those milestones and the roadmap you are planning to follow.

You can also describe important metrics for your business, such as the number of sales leads you expect to get each month or the percentage of leads that will become customers.

8. Company overview and team

The company and team section of your plan is an overview of who you are.

It should describe the organization of your business, and the key members of the management team. It should also provide any historical background about your business. For example, you’ll describe when your company was founded, who the owners are, what state your company is registered in and where you do business, and when/if your company was incorporated.

Be sure to include summaries of your key team members’ backgrounds and experience—these should act like brief resumes—and describe their functions with the company. You should also include any professional gaps you intend to fill with new employees.

9. Financial plan and forecasts

Your financial plan should include a sales forecast, profit and loss, cash flow projections, and balance sheet, along with a brief description of the assumptions you’re making with your projections.

If you are raising money or taking out loans, you should highlight the money you need to launch the business. This part should also include a use of funds report—basically an overview of how the funding will be used in business operations. 

And while it’s not required, it may be wise to briefly mention your exit strategy . This doesn’t need to be overly detailed, just a general idea of how you may eventually want to exit your business. 

10. Appendix

The end of your business plan should include any additional information to back up specific elements of your plan. More detailed financial statements, resumes for your management team, patent documentation, credit histories, marketing examples, etc. 

• Detailed business plan outline

If you’re looking for greater insight into what goes into specific planning sections, check out the following outline for a business plan. It can help you develop a detailed business plan or provide guidance as to what may be missing from your current plan. 

Keep in mind that every business plan will look a bit different because every business is unique. After all, business planning is to help you be more successful, so focus on the sections that are most beneficial to your business and skip the sections that aren’t useful or don’t apply. 

To help, we’ve marked sections that are truly optional with an *.

Executive summary

Company purpose / mission statement.

A very brief description of what your business does and/or what its mission is.

Problem We Solve

A summary of the problem you are solving and an identifiable need in the market you are filling.

Our Solution

A description of the product or service you will provide to solve the problem.

Target Market

A defined customer base who will most likely purchase the product or service.

Briefly describe who is behind the business.

Financial Summary

A short overview of revenue goals and profitability timeline.

If you’ve already started selling your product or service, highlight important initial details here.

Funding Needed*

If you are raising money for your business, describe how much capital you need.

Products & Services

Problem worth solving.

A thorough description of the problem or pain points you intend to solve for your customer base. 

A thorough description of your proposed product or service that alleviates the problem for your customer base.

Describe any initial evidence that your customers are excited to spend money on your solution. Initial sales or signed contracts are good signs.

Intellectual Property/Patents*

If this is important for your business, outline it here.

Regulatory Requirements*

If government approval is required for your business, explain the details and timeline.

Future Products and Services*

What products and services might you offer in the future once your initial products and services are successful?

Market Size & Segments

How many potential customers do you have and what potential groups of customers are separated by specific characteristics?

Market Trends*

How consumers in your target market tend to act including purchasing habits, financial trends, and any other relevant factors.

Market Growth*

The perceived potential increase or decrease in the size of your target market.

Industry Analysis*

If your industry is changing or adjusting over time, describe those changes.

Key Customers*

If your business relies on certain important customers, describe who they are here.

Future Markets*

A snapshot of the potential market based on the last few sections and how your business strategy works within it.

Competition 

Current alternatives.

A list of potential competitors. Identifying the competition isn’t always obvious and it may take some digging on your part.

Our Advantages

The strategic advantage(s) that makes your target market more likely to choose you over the competition. 

Barriers to Entry*

If there’s anything that makes it more difficult for other people to start competing with you, describe those barriers.

Marketing & Sales

Market positioning.

Where do your products or services fit into the market? Are you the low-price leader or the premium option?

Unique value proposition*

What’s special about your offering that makes your customers want to choose it over the competition.

Marketing Plan

An outline of your marketing and advertising strategy including costs, advertising channels, and goals.

How do you sell your product or service? Self-serve or with a team of sales representatives?

Pricing Strategy*

Describe your pricing and how it compares to alternatives in the market.

Distribution*

Describe how your product gets in front of customers. Are you selling in stores and online? Which retailers?

SWOT Analysis*

Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Location & Facilities

If you have a physical presence, describe where and what it is.

What technology is crucial for your business success?

Equipment & Tools

If special equipment or tools are needed for your business, describe them here.

Sourcing and fulfillment*

If you purchase your products or parts for your products from somewhere else, describe that sourcing and supply chain.

Partners and Resources*

If you have key partners that you work with to make your business a success, describe who they are and what services or products they provide.

Milestones and metrics

A detailed roadmap of specific goals and objectives you plan to achieve will help you manage and steer your business.

Key metrics

Performance measurements that help you gauge the overall performance and health of your business.

Company overview and team

Organizational structure.

An overview of the legal structure of your business. 

Company history and ownership

A summary of your company’s history and how it relates to planning your business.

Management team

The team that is starting or running your business and why they are uniquely qualified to make the business a success.

Management team gaps

Key positions that your business will need to fill to make it successful.

Financial plan and forecast

Projected profit and loss.

How much money you will bring in by selling products and/or services and how much profit you will make or lose after accounting for costs and expenses.

Projected cash flow

How and when cash moves in and out of your business. This also includes your overall cash position.

Projected balance sheet

Expected balances for business assets, liabilities, and equity.

Use of funds

If you are raising money either through loans or investment, explain how funds will be used. This is typically meant to be shared with investors or lenders.

Exit strategy

A brief explanation of how you intend to eventually exit from your business. This could include selling the business, going public, transitioning the business to a family member/employee, etc.

A repository for any additional information, including charts and graphs, to support your business plan.

Business plan outline FAQ

How do you organize your business plan?

There’s no real established order to business plans, aside from keeping the Executive Summary at the top. As long as you have all of the main business plan components, then the order should reflect your goals. 

If this is meant solely for your personal use, lay it out as a roadmap with similar sections grouped together for easy reference. If you’re pitching this to potential investors, lead with the stronger sections to emphasize the pitch. Then if you’re unsure of what order makes sense, then just stick to the outline in this article.

Should you include tables and charts in your business plan?

Every business plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers. It’s a simple way for you, your team, and investors to visualize and digest complex financial information.

Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a business plan, and a standard cash flow statement or table should never be missing. Most standard business plans also include a sales forecast and income statement (also called profit and loss), and a balance sheet.

How long should your business plan be?

There’s no perfect length for a business plan. A traditional business plan can be anywhere from 10 to 50 pages long depending on how much detail you include in each section. However, as we said before unless you intend to pursue funding, you likely don’t need a lengthy business plan at first.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Tim Berry is the founder and chairman of Palo Alto Software , a co-founder of Borland International, and a recognized expert in business planning. He has an MBA from Stanford and degrees with honors from the University of Oregon and the University of Notre Dame. Today, Tim dedicates most of his time to blogging, teaching and evangelizing for business planning.

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How to Write a Business Plan Outline [Examples + Templates] 

By Letícia Fonseca , Aug 11, 2023

When venturing into crafting a business plan, the initial hurdle often lies in taking that first step.

So, how can you evade those prolonged hours of staring at a blank page? Initiate your journey with the aid of a business plan outline.

As with any endeavor, an outline serves as the beacon of clarity, illuminating the path to confront even the most formidable tasks. This holds particularly true when composing pivotal documents vital to your triumph, much like a business plan.

Nonetheless, I understand the enormity of a business plan’s scope, which might make the task of outlining it seem daunting. This is precisely why I’ve compiled all the requisite information to facilitate the creation of a business plan outline. No need to break a sweat!

And if you’re seeking further assistance, a business plan maker and readily available business plan templates can offer valuable support in shaping your comprehensive plan.

Read on for answers to all your business plan outline questions or jump ahead for some handy templates. 

Click to jump ahead:

What is a business plan outline (and why do you need one), what format should you choose for your business plan outline, what are the key components of a business plan outline.

• Business plan template examples
• Writing tips to ace your outline 

A business plan outline is the backbone of your business plan. It contains all the most important information you’ll want to expand on in your full-length plan. 

Think of it this way: your outline is a frame for your plan. It provides a high-level idea of what the final plan should look like, what it will include and how all the information will be organized. 

Why would you do this extra step? Beyond saving you from blank page syndrome, an outline ensures you don’t leave any essential information out of your plan — you can see all the most important points at a glance and quickly identify any content gaps. 

It also serves as a writing guide. Once you know all the sections you want in your plan, you just need to expand on them. Suddenly, you’re “filling in the blanks” as opposed to writing a plan from scratch!

Incidentally, using a business plan template like this one gives you a running head start, too: 

Perhaps most importantly, a business plan outline keeps you focused on the essential parts of your document. (Not to mention what matters most to stakeholders and investors.)  With an outline, you’ll spend less time worrying about structure or organization and more time perfecting the actual content of your document. 

If you’re looking for more general advice, you can read about  how to create a business plan here . But if you’re working on outlining your plan, stick with me.

Return to Table of Contents

Most business plans fit into one of two formats. 

The format you choose largely depends on three factors: (1) the stage of your business, (2) if you’re presenting the plan to investors and (3) what you want to achieve with your business plan. 

Let’s have a closer look at these two formats and why you might choose one over the other.

Traditional format

Traditional business plans  are typically long, detailed documents. In many cases, they take up to 50-60 pages, but it’s not uncommon to see plans spanning 100+ pages. 

Traditional plans are long because they cover  every aspect  of your business. They leave nothing out. You’ll find a traditional business plan template with sections like executive summary, company description, target market, market analysis, marketing plan, financial plan, and more. Basically: the more information the merrier.

This business plan template isn’t of a traditional format, but you could expand it into one by duplicating pages:

Due to their high level of detail, traditional formats are the best way to sell your business. They show you’re reliable and have a clear vision for your business’s future. 

If you’re planning on presenting your plan to investors and stakeholders, you’ll want to go with a traditional plan format. The more information you include, the fewer doubts and questions you’ll get when you present your plan, so don’t hold back. 

Traditional business plans require more detailed outlines before drafting since there’s a lot of information to cover. You’ll want to list all the sections and include bullet points describing what each section should cover. 

It’s also a good idea to include all external resources and visuals in your outline, so you don’t have to gather them later. 

Lean format

Lean business plan formats are high level and quick to write. They’re often only one or two pages. Similar to a  business plan infographic , they’re scannable and quick to digest, like this template: 

This format is often referred to as a “startup” format due to (you guessed it!) many startups using it. 

Lean business plans require less detailed outlines. You can include high-level sections and a few lines in each section covering the basics. Since the final plan will only be a page or two, you don’t need to over prepare. Nor will you need a ton of external resources. 

Lean plans don’t answer all the questions investors and stakeholders may ask, so if you go this route, make sure it’s the right choice for your business . Companies not yet ready to present to investors will typically use a lean/startup business plan format to get their rough plan on paper and share it internally with their management team. 

Here’s another example of a lean business plan format in the form of a financial plan: 

Your business plan outline should include all the following sections. The level of detail you choose to go into will depend on your intentions for your plan (sharing with stakeholders vs. internal use), but you’ll want every section to be clear and to the point. 

1. Executive summary

The executive summary gives a high-level description of your company, product or service. This section should include a mission statement, your company description, your business’s primary goal, and the problem it aims to solve. You’ll want to state how your business can solve the problem and briefly explain what makes you stand out (your competitive advantage).

Having an executive summary is essential to selling your business to stakeholders , so it should be as clear and concise as possible. Summarize your business in a few sentences in a way that will hook the reader (or audience) and get them invested in what you have to say next. In other words, this is your elevator pitch.

2. Product and services description

This is where you should go into more detail about your product or service. Your product is the heart of your business, so it’s essential this section is easy to grasp. After all, if people don’t know what you’re selling, you’ll have a hard time keeping them engaged!

Expand on your description in the executive summary, going into detail about the problem your customers face and how your product/service will solve it. If you have various products or services, go through all of them in equal detail. 

3. Target market and/or Market analysis

A market analysis is crucial for placing your business in a larger context and showing investors you know your industry. This section should include market research on your prospective customer demographic including location, age range, goals and motivations. 

You can even  include detailed customer personas  as a visual aid — these are especially useful if you have several target demographics. You want to showcase your knowledge of your customer, who exactly you’re selling to and how you can fulfill their needs.

Be sure to include information on the overall target market for your product, including direct and indirect competitors and how your industry is performing. If your competitors have strengths you want to mimic or weaknesses you want to exploit, this is the place to record that information. 

4. Organization and management

You can think of this as a “meet the team” section — this is where you should go into depth on your business’s structure from management to legal and HR. If there are people bringing unique skills or experience to the table (I’m sure there are!), you should highlight them in this section. 

The goal here is to showcase why your team is the best to run your business. Investors want to know you’re unified, organized and reliable. This is also a potential opportunity to bring more humanity to your business plan and showcase the faces behind the ideas and product. 

5. Marketing and sales

Now that you’ve introduced your product and team, you need to explain how you’re going to sell it. Give a detailed explanation of your sales and marketing strategy, including pricing, timelines for launching your product and advertising.

This is a major section of your plan and can even live as a separate document for your marketing and sales teams. Here are some  marketing plan templates to help you get started .

Make sure you have research or analysis to back up your decisions — if you want to do paid ads on LinkedIn to advertise your product, include a brief explanation as to why that is the best channel for your business. 

6. Financial projections and funding request

The end of your plan is where you’ll look to the future and how you think your business will perform financially. Your financial plan should include results from your income statement, balance sheet and cash flow projections. 

State your funding requirements and what you need to realize the business. Be extremely clear about how you plan to use the funding and when you expect investors will see returns.

If you aren’t presenting to potential investors, you can skip this part, but it’s something to keep in mind should you seek funding in the future. Covering financial projections and the previous five components is essential at the stage of business formation to ensure everything goes smoothly moving forward.

7. Appendix

Any extra visual aids, receipts, paperwork or charts will live here. Anything that may be relevant to your plan should be included as reference e.g. your cash flow statement (or other financial statements). You can format your appendix in whatever way you think is best — as long as it’s easy for readers to find what they’re looking for, you’ve done your job!

Typically, the best way to start your outline is to list all these high-level sections. Then, you can add bullet points outlining what will go in each section and the resources you’ll need to write them. This should give you a solid starting point for your full-length plan.

Business plan outline templates

Looking for a shortcut? Our  business plan templates  are basically outlines in a box! 

While your outline likely won’t go into as much detail, these templates are great examples of how to organize your sections.

Traditional format templates

A strong template can turn your long, dense business plan into an engaging, easy-to-read document. There are lots to choose from, but here are just a few ideas to inspire you… 

You can duplicate pages and use these styles for a traditional outline, or start with a lean outline as you build your business plan out over time:

Lean format templates

For lean format outlines, a simpler ‘ mind map ’ style is a good bet. With this style, you can get ideas down fast and quickly turn them into one or two-page plans. Plus, because they’re shorter, they’re easy to share with your team.

Writing tips to ace your business plan outline

Business plans are complex documents, so if you’re still not sure how to write your outline, don’t worry! Here are some helpful tips to keep in mind when drafting your business plan outline:

• Ask yourself why you’re writing an outline. Having a clear goal for your outline can help keep you on track as you write. Everything you include in your plan should contribute to your goal. If it doesn’t, it probably doesn’t need to be in there.
• Keep it clear and concise. Whether you’re writing a traditional or lean format business plan, your outline should be easy to understand. Choose your words wisely and avoid unnecessary preambles or padding language. The faster you get to the point, the easier your plan will be to read.
• Add visual aids. No one likes reading huge walls of text! Make room in your outline for visuals, data and charts. This keeps your audience engaged and helps those who are more visual learners. Psst,  infographics  are great for this.
• Make it collaborative. Have someone (or several someones) look it over before finalizing your outline. If you have an established marketing / sales / finance team, have them look it over too. Getting feedback at the outline stage can help you avoid rewrites and wasted time down the line.

If this is your first time writing a business plan outline, don’t be too hard on yourself. You might not get it 100% right on the first try, but with these tips and the key components listed above, you’ll have a strong foundation. Remember, done is better than perfect. 

Create a winning business plan by starting with a detailed, actionable outline

The best way to learn is by doing. So go ahead, get started on your business plan outline. As you develop your plan, you’ll no doubt learn more about your business and what’s important for success along the way. 

A clean, compelling template is a great way to get a head start on your outline. After all, the sections are already separated and defined for you! 

Explore Venngage’s business plan templates  for one that suits your needs. Many are free to use and there are premium templates available for a small monthly fee. Happy outlining!

Business Plan Outline: Everything You Need To Know

A business plan outline is the structure you should follow and each business plan should contain specific information that details your operations. 3 min read updated on February 01, 2023

A business plan outline is the structure you should follow for this important document. Each business plan should contain specific information that details your operations, budget, marketing plan, staffing, and other key elements.

Executive Summary

Although this section will come first for readers of your business plan, you should write it last. It should pull together the highlights from each section of the plan and provide a quick summary that engages lenders, investors, and stakeholders. Your main points should be covered in two to three pages.

Business and Industry Overview

This section provides background information about your industry, including market trends, major competitors, and estimated sales. Is this industry declining, stable, or growing? What do experts predict the future holds in this industry? You should also provide information about how your company will fit into the industry.

Market Analysis

This section should cover your target market, including demographics, location, and needs and how those needs are currently met (or go unmet). The market analysis must demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of your target customers so that you can make accurate predictions about whether they will purchase your products and/or services. Your market analysis should be specific. For example, you aren't targeting all teenage girls; you're targeting all teenage girls who take dance lessons in a specific geographic region.

Competitive Analysis

This section should provide information about both your direct and indirect competitors. Evaluate their market advantage, and discuss your strategies to overcome barriers to market entry. You should also explain how your business will distinguish itself from competitors in order to succeed.

Sales and Marketing Plan

This should comprise a thorough discussion of your sales and marketing strategy , including promotional activities, pricing, and benefits of your products and services. You must create a unique selling proposition for your business that indicates the attraction for customers.

Your pricing strategy, which is included in the section, should:

• Provide a suggested price for your products or services.
• Offer comparison with competitor pricing.
• Explain the rationale behind your pricing.
• Show how this price will create profit.

Justifying a higher price for similar products offered by competitors can be challenging in a price-driven market.

One common pricing strategy is cost-plus pricing , in which you add a percentage margin to the cost of your product or service. This allows you to earn a guaranteed margin on every sale but could place your prices outside the range your target customers are willing to pay.

With benefit-driven pricing, you estimate the amount the customer will gain by using your product or service and set your price as a percentage of this gain. This is easiest when the product or service has a measurable benefit. This strategy allows you to maximize your pricing, but it can be challenging to find the right market price.

Ownership and Management Plan

This section details your executive and management team as well as the legal structure of your business. This should include both internal and external needs and resources as well as other human resource needs. If you plan to seek funding, make sure you have indicated the need for an advisory board.

Operating Plan

Here, you'll describe the physical location of your business, facilities, and equipment. This should also include the staffing needs, inventory requirements and suppliers, details about the manufacturing process, and other pertinent operations information.

Financial Plan

You'll need to comprehensively describe your business's funding requirements and provide complete financial statements and analysis. This includes your business's three main financial documents:

• Cash flow statement
• Income statement
• Balance sheet

Appendices and Exhibits

You should also append any other information that will lend credibility to your business idea. This includes:

• Marketing studies
• Patent applications
• Legal agreements
• Product photographs

Business cards, product packaging samples, floor plans, and other branding materials are also appropriate.

Finishing Touches

Your business plan should look like a formal, professional document. This is especially important if you are presenting the plan to potential lenders and investors. Make sure you proofread for grammar and spelling and use appropriate formatting and margins. If you provide paper copies of the plan, have them professionally printed and bound.

If you need help with your business plan outline, you can post your legal need on UpCounsel's marketplace. UpCounsel accepts only the top 5 percent of lawyers to its site. Lawyers on UpCounsel come from law schools such as Harvard Law and Yale Law and average 14 years of legal experience, including work with or on behalf of companies like Google, Menlo Ventures, and Airbnb.

Hire the top business lawyers and save up to 60% on legal fees

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• Creating a Business Plan
• How to Make a Business Plan Format
• Parts of Business Plan and Definition
• Business Description Outline
• Service Business Plan
• Business Plan Format: Everything you Need to Know
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• IT Company Business Plan
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• Business Plan Contents Page

Simple Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | April 2, 2020

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In this article, we’ve compiled a variety of simple business plan templates, all of which are free to download in PDF, Word, and Excel formats.

On this page, you’ll find a one-page business plan template , a simple business plan for startups , a small-business plan template , a business plan outline , and more. We also include a business plan sample and the main components of a business plan to help get you started.

Simple Business Plan Template

Download Simple Business Plan Template

This simple business plan template lays out each element of a traditional business plan to assist you as you build your own, and it provides space to add financing information for startups seeking funding. You can use and customize this simple business plan template to fit the needs for organizations of any size.

One-Page Business Plan Template

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Excel | Word | PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this one-page business plan to document your key ideas in an organized manner. The template can help you create a high-level view of your business plan, and it provides easy scannability for stakeholders. You can use this one-page plan as a reference to build a more detailed blueprint for your business. 

For additional single page plans, take a look at " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template

Download Simple Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan Template

Use this fill-in-the-blank business plan template to guide you as you build your business plan. Each section comes pre-filled with sample content, with space to add customized verbiage relevant to your product or service.

For additional free, downloadable resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

Simple Business Plan for Startup

‌ Download Startup Business Plan Template — Word

This business plan template is designed with a startup business in mind and contains the essential elements needed to convey key product or service details to investors and stakeholders. Keep all your information organized with this template, which provides space to include an executive summary, a company overview, competitive analysis, a marketing strategy, financial data, and more. For additional resources, visit " Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples ."

Simple Small-Business Plan Template

Download Simple Small-Business Plan Template

This template walks you through each component of a small-business plan, including the company background, the introduction of the management team, market analysis, product or service offerings, a financial plan, and more. This template also comes with a built-in table of contents to keep your plan in order, and it can be customized to fit your requirements.

Lean Business Plan Template

Download Lean Business Plan Template

This lean business plan template is a stripped-down version of a traditional business plan that provides only the most essential aspects. Briefly outline your company and industry overview, along with the problem you are solving, as well as your unique value proposition, target market, and key performance metrics. There is also room to list out a timeline of key activities.

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template

Word  | PDF

Use this simple business plan outline as a basis to create your own business plan. This template contains 11 sections, including a title page and a table of contents, which details what each section should cover in a traditional business plan. Simplify or expand this outline to create the foundation for a business plan that fits your business needs.

Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline

Download Simple Business Planning Template with Timeline

Excel | Smartsheet

This template doubles as a project plan and timeline to track progress as you develop your business plan. This business planning template enables you to break down your work into phases and provides room to add key tasks and dates for each activity. Easily fill in the cells according to the start and end dates to create a visual timeline, as well as to ensure your plan stays on track.

Simple Business Plan Rubric Template

Download Simple Business Plan Rubric

Excel | Word | PDF | Smartsheet

Once you complete your business plan, use this business plan rubric template to assess and score each component of your plan. This rubric helps you identify elements of your plan that meet or exceed requirements and pinpoint areas where you need to improve or further elaborate. This template is an invaluable tool to ensure your business plan clearly defines your goals, objectives, and plan of action in order to gain buy-in from potential investors, stakeholders, and partners.

Basic Business Plan Sample

Download Basic Business Plan Sample

This business plan sample serves as an example of a basic business plan that contains all the traditional components. The sample provides a model of what a business plan might look like for a fictional food truck business. Reference this sample as you develop your own business plan.

For additional resources to help support your business planning efforts, check out “ Free Strategic Planning Templates .”

Main Components of a Business Plan

The elements you include in your business plan will depend on your product or service offerings, as well as the size and needs of your business. 

Below are the components of a standard business plan and details you should include in each section:

• Company name and contact information
• Website address
• The name of the company or individual viewing the presentation
• Table of Contents
• Company background and purpose
• Mission and vision statement
• Management team introduction
• Core product and service offerings
• Target customers and segments
• Marketing plan
• Competitive analysis
• Unique value proposition
• Financial plan (and requirements, if applicable)
• Business and industry overview
• Historical timeline of your business
• Offerings and the problem they solve
• Current alternatives
• Competitive advantage
• Market size
• Target market segment(s)
• Projected volume and value of sales compared to competitors
• Differentiation from competitors
• Pricing strategy
• Marketing channels
• Promotional plan
• Distribution methods
• Legal structure of your business
• Names of founders, owners, advisors, etc.
• Management team’s roles, relevant experience, and compensation plan
• Staffing requirements and training plans
• Physical location(s) of your business
• Additional physical requirements (e.g., warehouse, specialized equipment, facilities, etc.)
• Production workflow
• Raw materials and sourcing methods
• Projected income statement
• Projected cash flow statement
• Projected balance sheet
• Break-even analysis
• Charts and graphs
• Market research and competitive analysis
• Information about your industry
• Information about your offerings
• Samples of marketing materials
• Other supporting materials

Tips for Creating a Business Plan

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed at the thought of putting together a business plan. Below, you’ll find top tips to help simplify the process as you develop your own plan. 

• Use a business plan template (you can choose from the variety above), or refer to the previous section to create a standard outline for your plan.
• Modify your outline to reflect the requirements of your specific business. If you use a standard business plan outline, remove sections that aren’t relevant to you or aren’t necessary to run your business.
• Gather all the information you currently have about your business first, and then use that information to fill out each section in your plan outline.
• Use your resources and conduct additional research to fill in the remaining gaps. (Note: It isn’t necessary to fill out your plan in order, but the executive summary needs to be completed last, as it summarizes the key points in your plan.)
• Ensure your plan clearly communicates the relationship between your marketing, sales, and financial objectives.
• Provide details in your plan that illustrate your strategic plan of action, looking forward three to five years.
• Revisit your plan regularly as strategies and objectives evolve.
• What product or service are we offering?
• Who is the product or service for?
• What problem does our product or service offering solve?
• How will we get the product or service to our target customers?
• Why is our product or service better than the alternatives?
• How can we outperform our competitors?
• What is our unique value proposition?
• When will things get done, and who is responsible for doing them?
• If you need to obtain funding, how will you use the funding?
• When are payments due, and when do payments come in?
• What is the ultimate purpose of your business?
• When do you expect to be profitable?

To identify which type of business plan you should write, and for more helpful tips, take a look at our guide to writing a simple business plan .

Benefits of Using a Business Plan Template

Creating a business plan can be very time-consuming, especially if you aren’t sure where to begin. Finding the right template for your business needs can be beneficial for a variety of reasons. 

Using a business plan template — instead of creating your plan from scratch — can benefit you in the following ways:

• Enables you to immediately write down your thoughts and ideas in an organized manner
• Provides structure to help outline your plan
• Saves time and valuable resources
• Helps ensure you don’t miss essential details

Limitations of a Business Plan Template

A business plan template can be convenient, but it has its drawbacks — especially if you use a template that doesn’t fit the specific needs of your business.

Below are some limitations of using a business plan template:

• Each business is unique and needs a business plan that reflects that. A template may not fit your needs.
• A template may restrict collaboration with other team members on different aspects of the plan’s development (sales, marketing, and accounting teams).
• Multiple files containing different versions of the plan may be stored in more than one place.
• You still have to manually create charts and graphs to add to the plan to support your strategy.
• Updates to the plan, spreadsheets, and supporting documents have to be made in multiple places (all documents may not update in real time as changes are made).

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Use This Business Plan Format to Expertly Write Your Plan

Written by Dave Lavinsky

In this guide, you’ll learn how to format your business plan professionally. Business plan structure and format helps readers look beyond distracting style to the real meat of your idea.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

How to Format Your Business Plan: The Cover Sheet

Every business plan should begin with a simple business plan cover page including the business name, your name and contact information. An easy to read table of contents should follow.

Example Business Plan Table of Contents

I: Executive Summary      a. Business Overview      b. Success Factors      c. Financial Highlights

II: Company Overview      a. Who is [Company Name]?      b. [Company Name]’s History      c. [Company Name]’s Products & Services

III: Industry Analysis      a. Industry Trends

IV: Customer Analysis      a. Customer Segmentation

V: Competitive Analysis      a. Direct & Indirect Competitors      b. Competitive Advantage

VI: Marketing Plan      a. The [Company Name] Brand      b. Promotions Strategy      c. Pricing Strategy

VII: Operations Plan      a. Functional Roles      b. Goals and Milestones

VIII: Management Team      a. Management Team Members      b. Hiring Plan

IX: Financial Plan      a. Revenue Model      b. Revenue and Cost Drivers      c. Key Assumptions & Forecasts

X: Appendix

The cover sheet should leave no question for readers to be able to identify the business plan when it is in a stack with dozens of others on their desk. The table of contents allows them to easily refer to sections within the plan. For example, after reading the executive summary, some investors with an eye for numbers may turn directly to the financial plan and statements. Proper business plan format allows readers to quickly get the information they want.

Example Business Plan Format

There are 10 business plan components or sections that every entrepreneur and business owner must include in their plan. These include:

• Executive summary
• Company overview
• Industry analysis
• Customer analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Marketing plan
• Operations plan
• Management team
• Financial plan

You should recognize these if you’ve ever worked with the best business plan template .

Formatting your business plan with charts and graphs is welcomed to break up long blocks of text. However, charts and graphs shouldn’t be used for their own sake. They must make the information easier to pass on than text would.

The business plan format that investors and lenders expect includes the following 10 sections. You can download our business plan format pdf here, to help you get started. We’ve included important notes in each section specific to business plan formatting to help you as you write your plan.

1. Start with Your Executive Summary

An executive summary gives readers a crisp overview of your business at the start of your plan. This section should not be more than two pages long and should include the following:

• What is the business about?
• Where and why did the idea of the business originate?
• Who are the owners?
• Which industry is it operating in?
• What is its core function?
• Where is it located?
• How is it going to make money?
• How much money (if any) is it already making?
• What are its financial projections?

The best format for your executive summary is paragraphs. Utilizing bullets and headings is also useful formatting within an executive summary, as it aids the reader in scanning the content on the page.

2. Company Overview Section

The company overview is the perfect place to highlight the strengths of your business. This section gives the reader additional information about your products and/or services and describes your company’s past accomplishments.

Including the below in this section will provide further clarity about your business:

• What type of business you are (e.g., C-Corporation, sole proprietor)
• When your business started
• Business’ accomplishments to date

The best formatting to use in this section is paragraphs to describe your company’s strengths and products/services. You should also include a chart that outlines your company’s achievements to date.

3. Industry or Market Analysis

The industry or market analysis gives the reader a clear understanding of your industry and the audience it serves. It includes a detailed explanation of your market size and trends.

Typically, the format of this section should be paragraphs. Feel free to include charts and graphs to best convey the information to the reader.

4. The Customer Analysis States Who Your Customers Are and What They Need

In this section of your plan, explain who your target customers are and identify their specific needs. Doing this will help you better target and attract customers.

5. Competitive Analysis

The Competitive Analysis section identifies your direct and indirect competitors. It discusses who they are and their strengths and weaknesses. It then details your areas of competitive advantages.

Whether your competitors are small or large businesses, describe them. Telling investors there are no competitors (big or small) often gives the impression that a market does not exist for your company.

With regards to formatting, use paragraphs to describe each competitor. As appropriate, adding a competitor matrix to show similarities and differences between your company and the competition can be very powerful.

6. Your Marketing Plan is a Key Section

The marketing & sales section of your business plan should outline how you plan to attract new customers and retain old ones. This section should outline the ways customers can be introduced to and engage with your offerings and describe how you will convert these prospects into paying customers.

Set marketing objectives that include the following (if applicable):

• Introducing new products
• Extending the market reach
• Exploring new markets
• Boosting sales
• Cross-selling
• Creating a long-term partnership with clients
• Increasing prices without affecting sales
• Creating a content marketing strategy

Organize your Marketing Plan into the 4 P’s – Price, Product, Promotions and Place. If you have multiple products or services, include a menu with each key item and its price.

7. The Operations Plan Format

Your Operations Plan identifies your key operational processes and milestones you expect to accomplish. Using a Gantt chart is a great way to show your expected future milestones. You can also format this section with tables that document the dates of future milestones.

8. You Need to Prove Your Management Team Can Execute

“A company is only as good as the people it keeps.” – Mary Kay Ash, American Entrepreneur and Businesswoman

The Management Team section of your business plan focuses on the people who run the business.

Who are the decision-makers, who is the product expert, who is the operations head, and who is running the entire show? A glimpse into the expertise and capabilities of your team members and how their experiences will help grow your business will boost stakeholder confidence.

To improve the formatting and best convey your management team to readers, consider adding an organizational chart that shows your team members and reporting structure.

9. Format Your Financial Plan

The goal of this section is to convince the reader that your business is stable and will be financially successful. Arm this section with past and/or forecasted cash flow statements, balance sheets, profit & loss statements, expense budgeting and sales forecasts.

If you run an operational business, include 3 years of historical data to help investors gain an understanding of how feasible your funding request is and if your business is capable of generating good returns.

Also include your funding request, if applicable, in this section. You should mention how much investment is required to take your business to the next significant milestone and how the money will be spent. You should also define if you are seeking debt or equity funding. If you are seeking debt financing like an SBA loan, ensure your financial projections include the debt and show steady repayments of both the principal and return under reasonable loan terms.

If you are seeking equity financing, you don’t need to include your valuation expectations in the business plan, but you should be aligned within your ownership team on the amount of equity you are willing to exchange before you pitch investors.

Example Financial Plan

Projected sales, gross profit & net income.

5 Year Annual Income Statement

5 year annual balance sheet, 5 year annual cash flow statement, 10. appendix.

This section includes supporting documentation of your business case. This could include renderings of a planned store location, market research reports referenced in the plan, key supplier or buyer contracts that substantiate your financial projections or historical marketing and sales data.

Formatting Your Business Plan

Overall, business plans should use simple and standard formatting. Twelve point font size in a standard font like Arial or Times New Roman is best, as well as the standard margin size of one inch on each side. Pages should be numbered, and the name of the company should appear on each page in the header or footer.

Use charts whenever possible as it makes it much easier for readers to consume the information in your plan.

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Other Helpful Business Plan Articles & Templates

The Ultimate Business Plan Outline

So, what is the difference between a business plan format and a business plan outline ? To be honest, a business plan format and a business plan outline are essentially the same thing.  Your business plan structure should include a few key components including:

• Executive Summary

Business Overview

• Market Analysis
• Products & Services
• Operational Plan
• Marketing Strategy
• Management Team
• Financial Plan

Executive Summary The executive summary is a fundamental element of any basic business plan outline. It holds a strategic position, often appearing at the beginning. Surprisingly, it is advisable to compose this section last. The executive summary serves as a concise overview, encapsulating the key highlights detailed throughout your comprehensive business plan.

In this section, provide a condensed yet impactful summary of the problem your business addresses, the innovative solution you offer, your identified target market, the dynamic team driving your enterprise, and highlights from your financial forecasts . This segment functions as a teaser, inviting your audience to delve deeper into the intricacies of your company.

Recognize that the executive summary constitutes the initial impression your business plan will make. Upon reviewing this section, your reader is poised to make a crucial decision: continue exploring your plan or set it aside. Hence, dedicating sufficient time to craft an engaging and informative executive summary is paramount for capturing and retaining your reader’s attention.

In the business overview section, we present a comprehensive outline for a business plan, offering insights into the structure and the layout of a business plan. This includes a business outline example and a sample business plan outline , providing clarity on the format and headers of a typical business plan. Understanding the traditional business plan format is essential, and this section serves as a guide for creating a well-structured business plan that adheres to the standard business plan format. It delves into the basics, giving an example of an outline of business plan while illustrating the breakdown and sections integral to a business plan.

Market Analysis In your business plan’s market analysis section, delve into understanding your target market and its evolving dynamics. Outline the size of your market, evaluating the potential customer base for your business. Consider segmentation possibilities, exploring whether your potential customers can be categorized into distinct groups, such as various age groups or other relevant demographics. This strategic approach to market analysis provides valuable insights into the composition and characteristics of your target audience, enabling you to tailor your business strategies effectively and align them with the evolving needs of your customers.

Products & Services In the products and services section of your business plan, initiate by articulating the problem addressed for customers. Then, meticulously illustrate how your product or service serves as the solution. If you’ve achieved notable progress in selling your solution, highlighting this as “traction” is crucial. Additionally, elucidate any intellectual property or patents, if integral to your business model outline. This detailed insight provides an essential understanding of what your business offers and the uniqueness that sets it apart. Ensure clarity in your layout of a business plan, utilizing headers and a well-structured breakdown to exemplify the depth and viability of your business.

Operational Plan The content of the operations section varies based on your business type. For businesses with physical locations or facilities, details about these spaces are essential. Similarly, businesses relying on specific technology or equipment should elaborate on these aspects. This section is also valuable for outlining the supply chain, especially if it plays a crucial role in the business.

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Marketing Strategy The marketing strategy is a critical aspect of any business plan. It involves the strategic layout of business plan, making it an integral part of a business plan outline. The section offers a business plan structure example, emphasizing the importance of a well-defined marketing plan . It explores the basics of a business plan, including what is a business plan outline and the format of a basic business plan. By outlining a business model and detailing the format for a business plan, this section provides a comprehensive guide to developing an effective marketing strategy within the broader business plan.

Management Team In the management team section, we outline the key individuals crucial to the business’s success. This includes an outline for business plan, giving an example of the roles and structure within a business plan. It emphasizes the importance of a well-structured business plan layout, offering insights into the business plan headers and business plan breakdown. The section delves into the traditional business plan format, providing clarity on the standard business plan and the structure of a business plan. Understanding the basic business plan is essential for stakeholders, and this section ensures a clear outline of a business plan that adheres to business plan basics.

Financial Plan A comprehensive financial plan encompasses key elements such as sales forecasts, profit and loss statements, cash flow projections, and balance sheets. Additionally, it should provide clear assumptions underlying these projections. If seeking funding, outline the capital required for business launch, accompanied by a use of funds report outlining allocation in operations. Although not obligatory, a brief mention of the exit strategy can be prudent, offering a general overview of future business exit plans.

If you are looking for a business plan outline example , you have come to the right place. The business plan outlines below will guide you through the majority of criterium for most audiences:

1 Executive Summary

1.1 Mission Statement

1.2 Vision Statement

2 Company Summary

2.1 Milestones

2.2 Critical Success Factors

3 Business Opportunity

3.1 The Problem

3.2 The Solution

4 Industry Analysis

4.1 Total Available Market

4.2 Market Growth Rate

4.3 Key Competitors

4.4 Market Trends

5 Business Model

5.1 Unique Selling Point

5.2 Revenue Streams

5.3 Business Pipeline

6 Marketing Strategy

6.1 SWOT Analysis

6.2 Target Audience

6.3 Key Channels

6.4 Audience Needs

6.5 Sales Plan

6.6 Key Metrics

7 Investment Proposal

7.1 Capital Allocations

8 Financial Projections

8.1 Opening Balance Sheet

8.2 Income Statement

8.3 Business Ratios

9 Organizational Structure

9.1 Management Team

9.2 Management Team Gaps

9.2 Key Personnel

9.3 Compensation Summary

10 Appendix

Your business outline should include the majority of the headings regardless of what you are applying for. At BSBCON , our dedicated team of experts is ready to assist you with your business plan needs. As a trusted consulting firm, we specialize in providing tailored solutions for your business’s success. Whether you’re starting a new venture or seeking to refine your existing plan, our team is committed to delivering results. Contact us today and let us guide you through the process. We offer a detailed proposal outlining our services, and with our business plan outline template, we ensure a comprehensive and effective approach. Let us help you turn your business vision into a reality.

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How to get started creating your business plan, a successful business plan can help you focus your goals and take actionable steps toward achieving them. here’s what to consider as you develop your plan..

Regardless of whether or not you’re pitching to investors and lenders, starting a business requires a plan. A business plan gives you direction, helps you qualify your ideas and clarifies the path you intend to take toward your goal.

Four important reasons to write a business plan:

• Decision-making:  Business plans help you eliminate any gray area by writing specific information down in black and white. Making tough decisions is often one of the hardest and most useful parts of writing a business plan. 
• A reality check:  The first real challenge after deciding to launch a new venture may be writing the business plan. Through the process, you may realize your business idea is a bit flawed or not yet fully developed. This may feel like extra work, but the effort you put into improving your idea during this step can bolster your chance of future success. 
• New ideas: Discovering new ideas, different approaches and fresh perspectives are invaluable parts of the business planning process. Working closely with your concept can lead to unexpected insights, shifting your business in the right direction. 
• Developing an action plan: Your business plan is a tool that will help you outline action items, next steps and future activities. This living, breathing document shows where you are and where you want to be, with the framework you need to get there.

Business plan guide: How to get started

Use this exercise to gather some of the most important information. When you're ready to put an outline together, follow our standard business plan template (PDF) and use this business plan example to use as a guide as you fill in your outline. Once your outline is finalized, you can share it with business partners, investors or banks as a tool to promote your concept.

• Vision: Your vision statement sets the stage for everything you hope your business will accomplish going forward. Let yourself dream, pinpointing the ideas that will keep you inspired and motivated when you hit a bump in the road. 
• Mission: A mission statement clarifies the purpose of your business and guides your plan, ultimately answering the question, "Why do you exist?" 
• Objectives: Use your business objectives to define your goals and priorities. What are you going to accomplish with your business, and in what timeframe? These touchstones will drive your actions and help you stay focused. 
• Strategies: Your objectives describe what you’re going to do, while your strategies describe how you’re going to do it. Consider your goals here, and identify the different ways you’ll work to reach them. 
• Startup capital: Determine what your startup expenses will be. Having a clear idea will allow you to figure out where the money is coming from and help you spend what you have in the right areas. 
• Monthly expenses: What do you estimate your business’ ongoing monthly expenses will be? This may change significantly over time — consider what your expenditure could be immediately after launch, in three months, in six months and in one year. 
• Monthly income: In order to cover your expenses (and hopefully make a profit), you will need to estimate your income. What are your revenue streams? It's always wise to diversify your income. That way, you won’t be tied to one stream that might not be lucrative as quickly as you need it to be. 
• Goal-setting and creating an action plan: Once you have all the specifics outlined, it's time to set up the step-by-step action items explained in the companion guide, a standard business plan outline. This process will utilize the hard work you've already done, breaking each step down in a way that you can follow.   

A business plan isn’t necessarily a static document that you create once and then forget about. You can use it as a powerful tool by referencing it to adjust your priorities, stay on track and keep your goals in sight.

Business plan: An outline

Use this exercise to gather important information about your business.

Answer these questions to start your planning process. Your responses will provide important information about your business, which you can use as an overview to develop your plan further.

• What is your dream? 
• What do you feel inspired to do or create?
• What keeps you motivated, even in the face of uncertainty?  
• Why does this business exist? 
• What purpose(s) or need(s) does it fulfill for customers?   

Objectives 

• List the goals of your company, then number them in order of importance. 
• What will the business accomplish when it’s fully established and successful? 
• How much time will it take to reach this point?  
• For each goal or objective listed above, write one or more actions required to complete it.   

Startup capital 

• List any and all startup expenses that come to mind. 
• Next to each: 
• Estimate the cost of any expenses you can. 
• List the most likely source of the funding. 
• Circle the high-priority expenses. 
• Assess whether your available capital is going toward the high-priority items. If not, reconsider the way you will allocate funds.  

Monthly expenses

• If you can, estimate your business’ ongoing monthly expenses immediately after launch, in three months, in six months and in one year. 
• If you can’t, what information will you need in order to estimate your expenses?  

Monthly income 

• What are your revenue streams? Estimate your monthly income accordingly. 
• Which revenue sources deliver fast or slow returns? Are there other sources you could consider to diversify assets?  
• After completing your outline, reference your responses as you work through a traditional business plan guide. This next step will allow you to expand and add more detailed information to your plan. 
• When you’re ready to make your formal plan, reference this companion guide, a standard business plan outline  (PDF). We've also included a  business plan example  to help as you fill in your outline. 

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How to Write a Business Plan Outline

You have a great business idea, and you have been diligently planning your business, but it is mostly in your head.

You realize the importance of putting your plan on paper, but you have never written anything resembling a business plan and have no idea where to start.

You have looked at countless startup business plan outlines online, but they do not seem to agree with each other on format or flow, so how do you know you have found a good one?

The best startup business plan outline defines the steps necessary to launch a new business. 

A professional business plan consultant is uniquely positioned to help you devise a list of goals that will clearly lay out each milepost from the start of your business to its successful operation.

Note: There is no absolute right or wrong way to write a business plan, and these sections do not have to be in any particular order.

Parts of a Business Plan Outline

• Executive Summary

Product & Service Description

• Market Analysis
• Competitor Analysis
• Competitive Advantages
• SWOT Analysis
• Target Market
• Marketing Strategy
• Management Team

Financial Projections

Business plan outline template, start a business plan with business plan outline, business plan structure, title page & table of contents, faqs about business plan outline.

• Problem statement
• How you will solve this problem
• Target Market, who will buy your products or services
• A brief introduction to the competition
• Financial plan summary
• Investment requirements
• Key achievements and milestones
• The problem you’ll solve
• How your product or service will solve the problem
• Show your product is a good match for the problem
• Product overview
• The competitive advantage of your product
• Research and development plan
• Business Plan Examples
• Customer groups and market segmentation
• Buyer Persona
• Market growth prospects
• Competitors and alternatives for your product or service
• You have not done sufficient research
• You are deliberately misleading
• There is no market for your business idea
• Direct and indirect competitors
• Product/service alternatives in the market
• Your competitive advantage or how you’ll win the market
• How your product or service is better than the competition
• How you will maintain this advantage
• Can you create or enhance your competitive advantage?
• Size of your Target market
• Ideal customer
• Dynamics of your target market
• The growth trajectory for new businesses in your target market

Business Plan Writers

Write your plan with the help of expert

• Marketing Plan
• The marketing tools you will use
• Budget for the marketing strategy
• Short-term and long-term goals of your marketing strategy
• Management team introduction
• Management team gaps
• Personnel Plan or who you will need to hire
• Key people on your team
• Revenue and Sales Forecast data
• Expected expenses
• Profit and loss projection
• Cash flow projection
• Projected balance sheet
• How you’ll use funds
• Problem Statement 
• Target Market Description 
• Competition Analysis 
• Financial Summary 
• Funding Requirements for Business 
• Milestones and Traction of your Business 
• Business Location 
• Company History 
• Product and Services Brief
• Short-term and long-term business goals 
• Spot Direct and Indirect Competitors 
• SWOT Analysis for Competitors 
• Competitors and alternatives
• Competitive advantage 
• Market Segmentation
• Target market segment strategy
• Market needs
• Market trends
• Market growth
• Key customers / Customer persona
• Future markets or Growth Plan 
• Solution of the Problem with our Product or Service 
• Validation of Problem and Solution. 
• Product Overview
• Product Competition Analysis 
• Roadmap/Future Plans for Product Development 
• Business Goals 
• Assign Responsibilities and Tasks
• Outline Resources 
• Sole Proprietorship/LLC/LLP/Corp
• Revenue and Sales Forecast
• Projected Profit and Loss
• Projected Cash Flow
• Projected Balance Sheet
• Personnel Plan
• Use of Funds
• Location and Facilities Description
• Technology or Marketing Methods 
•  Equipment and tools for Marketing

Thinking About Writing a Business Plan

write your own plan with the help of these 7 simple steps

Trying to create all of these sections for your business plan may seem overwhelming. 

Just remember that a business plan is intended to be a roadmap that can be adjusted as you monitor the results of your business, so none of this is set in stone.

You can also download our 300+ free business plan templates covering a wide range of industries.

A good business plan consultant should be equipped to research and format data that will outline projected sales, profits and losses, cash flow, and the balance sheet. 

The business plan should include any tables that are industry-specific or necessary, and close with appendices that outline projections for the first year of operations.

A professional business plan writer can create an easy-to-follow and implement the best startup business plan outline that you can confidently take to investors and loan officers. It will stand up under even the most rigorous scrutiny.

Want to write a business plan?

Get our business plan writing service now!

Your business will start with a table of content, no matter when you write it.

The title page should be designed well and look professional. You may need to hire a designer for creating your business plan title page . However, you can also make use of our business plan title page designs.  

Access our free business plan examples now!

The goal of a business plan is to effectively present your business idea to potential investors.

Keep the structure of your business plan in a logical way so that everyone can understand your business idea by the end of the business plan.

Use our business plan outline to structure your business plan well.

A business plan outline shows sections and subsections of your business plan.

A business plan outline will include these sections.

• Product and Service Description
• Financial Analysis and Projections

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Hire WiseBusinessPlans’ Plan writers if you need a business plan writer !

A business plan outline is a structured framework that helps entrepreneurs organize their thoughts and ideas into a comprehensive document. It serves as a roadmap for the business, outlining its goals, strategies, financial projections, and other key details.

A business plan outline provides clarity and direction for the business owner and potential stakeholders. It helps to identify potential risks and challenges, set realistic goals, attract investors or lenders, and serve as a reference point for decision-making and business growth.

The key components of a business plan outline typically include an executive summary, company description, market analysis, product or service offering, marketing and sales strategy, organizational structure, financial projections, and a conclusion.

To create a business plan outline, start by defining your business idea and conducting market research. Then, organize your thoughts into sections based on the key components mentioned earlier. Write concise summaries for each section, focusing on the most important information.

Yes, there are various templates and resources available online that can guide you in creating a business plan outline. These templates provide a structure and prompts for each section, making it easier to organize your thoughts and ensure you include all the necessary information.

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First of all, Your blog is well-written. Secondly, I want to say that A business outline is very important. I wanted one for my business. Could your team help us?

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12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)

Starting and running a successful business requires proper planning and execution of effective business tactics and strategies .

You need to prepare many essential business documents when starting a business for maximum success; the business plan is one such document.

When creating a business, you want to achieve business objectives and financial goals like productivity, profitability, and business growth. You need an effective business plan to help you get to your desired business destination.

Even if you are already running a business, the proper understanding and review of the key elements of a business plan help you navigate potential crises and obstacles.

This article will teach you why the business document is at the core of any successful business and its key elements you can not avoid.

Let’s get started.

Why Are Business Plans Important?

Business plans are practical steps or guidelines that usually outline what companies need to do to reach their goals. They are essential documents for any business wanting to grow and thrive in a highly-competitive business environment .

1. Proves Your Business Viability

A business plan gives companies an idea of how viable they are and what actions they need to take to grow and reach their financial targets. With a well-written and clearly defined business plan, your business is better positioned to meet its goals.

2. Guides You Throughout the Business Cycle

A business plan is not just important at the start of a business. As a business owner, you must draw up a business plan to remain relevant throughout the business cycle .

During the starting phase of your business, a business plan helps bring your ideas into reality. A solid business plan can secure funding from lenders and investors.

After successfully setting up your business, the next phase is management. Your business plan still has a role to play in this phase, as it assists in communicating your business vision to employees and external partners.

Essentially, your business plan needs to be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the needs of your business.

3. Helps You Make Better Business Decisions

As a business owner, you are involved in an endless decision-making cycle. Your business plan helps you find answers to your most crucial business decisions.

A robust business plan helps you settle your major business components before you launch your product, such as your marketing and sales strategy and competitive advantage.

4. Eliminates Big Mistakes

Many small businesses fail within their first five years for several reasons: lack of financing, stiff competition, low market need, inadequate teams, and inefficient pricing strategy.

Creating an effective plan helps you eliminate these big mistakes that lead to businesses' decline. Every business plan element is crucial for helping you avoid potential mistakes before they happen.

5. Secures Financing and Attracts Top Talents

Having an effective plan increases your chances of securing business loans. One of the essential requirements many lenders ask for to grant your loan request is your business plan.

A business plan helps investors feel confident that your business can attract a significant return on investments ( ROI ).

You can attract and retain top-quality talents with a clear business plan. It inspires your employees and keeps them aligned to achieve your strategic business goals.

Key Elements of Business Plan

Starting and running a successful business requires well-laid actions and supporting documents that better position a company to achieve its business goals and maximize success.

A business plan is a written document with relevant information detailing business objectives and how it intends to achieve its goals.

With an effective business plan, investors, lenders, and potential partners understand your organizational structure and goals, usually around profitability, productivity, and growth.

Every successful business plan is made up of key components that help solidify the efficacy of the business plan in delivering on what it was created to do.

Here are some of the components of an effective business plan.

1. Executive Summary

One of the key elements of a business plan is the executive summary. Write the executive summary as part of the concluding topics in the business plan. Creating an executive summary with all the facts and information available is easier.

In the overall business plan document, the executive summary should be at the forefront of the business plan. It helps set the tone for readers on what to expect from the business plan.

A well-written executive summary includes all vital information about the organization's operations, making it easy for a reader to understand.

The key points that need to be acted upon are highlighted in the executive summary. They should be well spelled out to make decisions easy for the management team.

A good and compelling executive summary points out a company's mission statement and a brief description of its products and services.

An executive summary summarizes a business's expected value proposition to distinct customer segments. It highlights the other key elements to be discussed during the rest of the business plan.

Including your prior experiences as an entrepreneur is a good idea in drawing up an executive summary for your business. A brief but detailed explanation of why you decided to start the business in the first place is essential.

Adding your company's mission statement in your executive summary cannot be overemphasized. It creates a culture that defines how employees and all individuals associated with your company abide when carrying out its related processes and operations.

Your executive summary should be brief and detailed to catch readers' attention and encourage them to learn more about your company.

Components of an Executive Summary

Here are some of the information that makes up an executive summary:

• The name and location of your company
• Products and services offered by your company
• Mission and vision statements
• Success factors of your business plan

2. Business Description

Your business description needs to be exciting and captivating as it is the formal introduction a reader gets about your company.

What your company aims to provide, its products and services, goals and objectives, target audience , and potential customers it plans to serve need to be highlighted in your business description.

A company description helps point out notable qualities that make your company stand out from other businesses in the industry. It details its unique strengths and the competitive advantages that give it an edge to succeed over its direct and indirect competitors.

Spell out how your business aims to deliver on the particular needs and wants of identified customers in your company description, as well as the particular industry and target market of the particular focus of the company.

Include trends and significant competitors within your particular industry in your company description. Your business description should contain what sets your company apart from other businesses and provides it with the needed competitive advantage.

In essence, if there is any area in your business plan where you need to brag about your business, your company description provides that unique opportunity as readers look to get a high-level overview.

Components of a Business Description

Your business description needs to contain these categories of information.

• Business location
• The legal structure of your business
• Summary of your business’s short and long-term goals

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section should be solely based on analytical research as it details trends particular to the market you want to penetrate.

Graphs, spreadsheets, and histograms are handy data and statistical tools you need to utilize in your market analysis. They make it easy to understand the relationship between your current ideas and the future goals you have for the business.

All details about the target customers you plan to sell products or services should be in the market analysis section. It helps readers with a helpful overview of the market.

In your market analysis, you provide the needed data and statistics about industry and market share, the identified strengths in your company description, and compare them against other businesses in the same industry.

The market analysis section aims to define your target audience and estimate how your product or service would fare with these identified audiences.

Market analysis helps visualize a target market by researching and identifying the primary target audience of your company and detailing steps and plans based on your audience location.

Obtaining this information through market research is essential as it helps shape how your business achieves its short-term and long-term goals.

Market Analysis Factors

Here are some of the factors to be included in your market analysis.

• The geographical location of your target market
• Needs of your target market and how your products and services can meet those needs
• Demographics of your target audience

Components of the Market Analysis Section

Here is some of the information to be included in your market analysis.

• Industry description and statistics
• Demographics and profile of target customers
• Marketing data for your products and services
• Detailed evaluation of your competitors

4. Marketing Plan

A marketing plan defines how your business aims to reach its target customers, generate sales leads, and, ultimately, make sales.

Promotion is at the center of any successful marketing plan. It is a series of steps to pitch a product or service to a larger audience to generate engagement. Note that the marketing strategy for a business should not be stagnant and must evolve depending on its outcome.

Include the budgetary requirement for successfully implementing your marketing plan in this section to make it easy for readers to measure your marketing plan's impact in terms of numbers.

The information to include in your marketing plan includes marketing and promotion strategies, pricing plans and strategies , and sales proposals. You need to include how you intend to get customers to return and make repeat purchases in your business plan.

5. Sales Strategy

Sales strategy defines how you intend to get your product or service to your target customers and works hand in hand with your business marketing strategy.

Your sales strategy approach should not be complex. Break it down into simple and understandable steps to promote your product or service to target customers.

Apart from the steps to promote your product or service, define the budget you need to implement your sales strategies and the number of sales reps needed to help the business assist in direct sales.

Your sales strategy should be specific on what you need and how you intend to deliver on your sales targets, where numbers are reflected to make it easier for readers to understand and relate better.

6. Competitive Analysis

Providing transparent and honest information, even with direct and indirect competitors, defines a good business plan. Provide the reader with a clear picture of your rank against major competitors.

Identifying your competitors' weaknesses and strengths is useful in drawing up a market analysis. It is one information investors look out for when assessing business plans.

The competitive analysis section clearly defines the notable differences between your company and your competitors as measured against their strengths and weaknesses.

This section should define the following:

• Your competitors' identified advantages in the market
• How do you plan to set up your company to challenge your competitors’ advantage and gain grounds from them?
• The standout qualities that distinguish you from other companies
• Potential bottlenecks you have identified that have plagued competitors in the same industry and how you intend to overcome these bottlenecks

In your business plan, you need to prove your industry knowledge to anyone who reads your business plan. The competitive analysis section is designed for that purpose.

7. Management and Organization

Management and organization are key components of a business plan. They define its structure and how it is positioned to run.

Whether you intend to run a sole proprietorship, general or limited partnership, or corporation, the legal structure of your business needs to be clearly defined in your business plan.

Use an organizational chart that illustrates the hierarchy of operations of your company and spells out separate departments and their roles and functions in this business plan section.

The management and organization section includes profiles of advisors, board of directors, and executive team members and their roles and responsibilities in guaranteeing the company's success.

Apparent factors that influence your company's corporate culture, such as human resources requirements and legal structure, should be well defined in the management and organization section.

Defining the business's chain of command if you are not a sole proprietor is necessary. It leaves room for little or no confusion about who is in charge or responsible during business operations.

This section provides relevant information on how the management team intends to help employees maximize their strengths and address their identified weaknesses to help all quarters improve for the business's success.

8. Products and Services

This business plan section describes what a company has to offer regarding products and services to the maximum benefit and satisfaction of its target market.

Boldly spell out pending patents or copyright products and intellectual property in this section alongside costs, expected sales revenue, research and development, and competitors' advantage as an overview.

At this stage of your business plan, the reader needs to know what your business plans to produce and sell and the benefits these products offer in meeting customers' needs.

The supply network of your business product, production costs, and how you intend to sell the products are crucial components of the products and services section.

Investors are always keen on this information to help them reach a balanced assessment of if investing in your business is risky or offer benefits to them.

You need to create a link in this section on how your products or services are designed to meet the market's needs and how you intend to keep those customers and carve out a market share for your company.

Repeat purchases are the backing that a successful business relies on and measure how much customers are into what your company is offering.

This section is more like an expansion of the executive summary section. You need to analyze each product or service under the business.

9. Operating Plan

An operations plan describes how you plan to carry out your business operations and processes.

The operating plan for your business should include:

• Information about how your company plans to carry out its operations.
• The base location from which your company intends to operate.
• The number of employees to be utilized and other information about your company's operations.
• Key business processes.

This section should highlight how your organization is set up to run. You can also introduce your company's management team in this section, alongside their skills, roles, and responsibilities in the company.

The best way to introduce the company team is by drawing up an organizational chart that effectively maps out an organization's rank and chain of command.

What should be spelled out to readers when they come across this business plan section is how the business plans to operate day-in and day-out successfully.

10. Financial Projections and Assumptions

Bringing your great business ideas into reality is why business plans are important. They help create a sustainable and viable business.

The financial section of your business plan offers significant value. A business uses a financial plan to solve all its financial concerns, which usually involves startup costs, labor expenses, financial projections, and funding and investor pitches.

All key assumptions about the business finances need to be listed alongside the business financial projection, and changes to be made on the assumptions side until it balances with the projection for the business.

The financial plan should also include how the business plans to generate income and the capital expenditure budgets that tend to eat into the budget to arrive at an accurate cash flow projection for the business.

Base your financial goals and expectations on extensive market research backed with relevant financial statements for the relevant period.

Examples of financial statements you can include in the financial projections and assumptions section of your business plan include:

• Projected income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Income statements

Revealing the financial goals and potentials of the business is what the financial projection and assumption section of your business plan is all about. It needs to be purely based on facts that can be measurable and attainable.

11. Request For Funding

The request for funding section focuses on the amount of money needed to set up your business and underlying plans for raising the money required. This section includes plans for utilizing the funds for your business's operational and manufacturing processes.

When seeking funding, a reasonable timeline is required alongside it. If the need arises for additional funding to complete other business-related projects, you are not left scampering and desperate for funds.

If you do not have the funds to start up your business, then you should devote a whole section of your business plan to explaining the amount of money you need and how you plan to utilize every penny of the funds. You need to explain it in detail for a future funding request.

When an investor picks up your business plan to analyze it, with all your plans for the funds well spelled out, they are motivated to invest as they have gotten a backing guarantee from your funding request section.

Include timelines and plans for how you intend to repay the loans received in your funding request section. This addition keeps investors assured that they could recoup their investment in the business.

12. Exhibits and Appendices

Exhibits and appendices comprise the final section of your business plan and contain all supporting documents for other sections of the business plan.

Some of the documents that comprise the exhibits and appendices section includes:

• Legal documents
• Licenses and permits
• Credit histories
• Customer lists

The choice of what additional document to include in your business plan to support your statements depends mainly on the intended audience of your business plan. Hence, it is better to play it safe and not leave anything out when drawing up the appendix and exhibit section.

Supporting documentation is particularly helpful when you need funding or support for your business. This section provides investors with a clearer understanding of the research that backs the claims made in your business plan.

There are key points to include in the appendix and exhibits section of your business plan.

• The management team and other stakeholders resume
• Marketing research
• Permits and relevant legal documents
• Financial documents

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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.

Start your business off right with a business plan outline

A business plan outline provides the framework for the business plan that will act as your small business blueprint. Answer these questions as you create yours.

Ready to start your business? Plans start at $0 + filing fees.

by   Sandra Beckwith

Sandra Beckwith has been writing for traditional and online publications since she sold her first magazine article wh...

Read more...

Updated on: February 5, 2024 · 3 min read

Start with standard business plan elements

Who will read and use your plan, how new is your business, are you a solo entrepreneur, fill in the blanks.

Most veteran business owners agree that the best approach to write your business plan is to start with a business plan outline that you can expand as you gather information.

Here's how to create and complete one for your business.

Most  business plans  include the following elements. Use each as an outline section.

• Executive summary
• Company description with mission statement
• Products and services
• Target audience
• Market analysis
• Competitive analysis
• Operations and management
• Sales and marketing strategy
• Financial plan

How each of these applies to your business, and how in-depth you'll be in your outline and plan, depends on your answers to the following questions.

Your  business plan  will look different depending on whether you write it to secure investors, form a business alliance, or hire contractors, says Nishank Khanna, chief financial officer of  Clarify Capital .

If you'll be approaching banks and investors, your outline and resulting plan will be more detailed than one you'll only use internally with your team.

"Investors will value your business based on the details and data, so it's important to be comprehensive and thorough. Your investors will be looking for holes in your assessment and plan to determine whether or not your business is viable and to what extent it's profitable," Khanna says.

Business plan outlines aren't just for startups. Small businesses with months or years of experience also use them when they change direction or need to secure funding.

Startups can begin the outlining process with fewer details because they don't have the in-house data needed to document presumptions or projections. But a business relying on its track record to seek outside funding or a partner needs to go deeper to make the case for success.

"As the business matures, the outline can change. A highly detailed outline in the very early stage would most probably go to waste as the business might look nothing like what's in the outline after a few months," says Gian Moore, a partner at  MellowPine , a home DIY blog.

If so, you still need an outline and a plan, but you can skip the management team, funding requirements, and exit strategy components, says Daniel Seeff, CEO of sock retailer  Foot Cardigan .

"My advice to small business owners is always to include an executive summary, industry analysis, customer and competitive analyses, marketing, and operation plans in the outline. Outlining your revenues, expenses, and forecast of net income for the next three to five years is crucial for understanding where your business is going," Seeff says.

Brian Cairns, CEO of  ProStrategix Consulting , agrees that the financial component is important, even for sole proprietors. "Without that piece, if you hire because you expect an increase in demand, for example, you might not realize that you pay for the labor before you get the payment from the client, which could cause an unexpected cash flow crunch," he says. If you've included financial statements in the outline, you'll expect and plan for this.

With the outline in place, expand each section by adding bullet points documenting what you know now and what you need to research. Think of it as a living document that grows as you add new information, one step at a time.

Some sections will have more bullet points than others, depending on your situation.

When your research is complete, and each section has the facts needed, you're ready to  write a business plan  that will be your small business success blueprint.

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The Complete Guide To A Business Plan Outline For 2024

A good business plan outline will help you start and run your business. It is a necessary document as a roadmap for structuring, operating, and growing your new business. The business plan outline can also help you obtain funding or attract partners. 

Your business plan outline is the tool you can use to convince others that you are worth working with or financing your business.

Make sure you have a good template for your business plan outline. This will make the time you spend writing the plan shorter and more accessible. 

A typical business plan outline may include background research, market analysis, customers, competitors, and advertising or operating methods strategies and concludes with financial data.

Choose an outline for your business plan that suits you. Most plans fall into one of the two categories: traditional or lean startup. Traditional business plans are more common and use standard structures. 

Lean business plans for startups are less common but use the same structure as the other types of business plans – they focus on summarizing only the critical points of the essential elements of your project. They usually take an hour or less to complete and can even be as little as one page long if you need to move quickly. 

Lean startup plans are quick to create and focus only on the essential elements you may need additional information.

Traditional Business Plan Outline 

Traditional business plan outlines are more common, use standard structures, and encourage you to go into detail in every section – they usually require more work upfront and can be dozens of pages long. It is detailed, takes more time to write, and is more comprehensive. Lenders and investors usually require this type of plan, but it can be time-consuming.

The outline below summarizes what each section of your business plan outline should contain. There is no definitive guide to creating the perfect business plan for your particular venture, as you may want to combine sections or add additional detail on a personal level. The idea is to paint the best possible picture and present yourself as attractive and professional, whatever that means to you.

1) Executive Summary

The executive summary is written at the end of a business plan outline, summarizing everything that was described earlier in the document. It offers an introduction and overview of your company’s mission statement, what product(s) or service(s) you offer, as well as highlights any pertinent industry background information.

Although the executive summary is essential in plans written for outsiders, depending on who your audience will be, many people will only read the executive summary and not go into detail. Others may look at the summary of a plan first to decide whether or not they want to read more about it. Therefore, it is important that a summary captures the reader’s attention. 

The general rule of thumb for an effective summary is that it should be as short as possible so that readers can get all the information they need quickly and easily; this usually means a maximum of 2 pages (though if you have absolutely no choice but to include additional information, you can include your cover page last).

Briefly explain to the reader what our company is and why it will be successful. Include the mission statement, product or service, and basic information about the leadership team responsible for running the company. You should also include financial information and high-level growth plans if you apply for funding. Keep the following pointers in mind while writing the abstract. 

A summary of the problem we are solving and an identifiable need in this market that we are addressing.

A description of the product/service that will solve the problem (explain).

Target Market: 

A defined customer base that is most likely to buy the products or services mentioned.

Competition

Current alternatives or substitutes are currently available to customers in this market. Present both types prominently, 

Financial Summary

Highlight critical points such as cost, revenue, and profitability. 

Target market

A defined customer base that is most likely to buy the product or service 

Funding Requirements

Provide a brief overview of how much money you will need to start your business . 

Milestones indicate where you are currently and what goals you hope to achieve later, also indicating funding needs if you are seeking investors for this project.

2) Business description

Use your business description to provide detailed information about your company. Go into detail about your business’s problems and list whom you plan to serve. Explain what makes your company successful and highlight its strengths over the competition. 

In this section, you can also highlight industry trends and key players so readers can better understand where your company fits within the industry – or outside of it, if applicable. Also, provide an overview of the current status or future revenue potential. 

The goal should be to present yourself in a way that sets you apart from other similar businesses; explain why customers should choose your business

3) Market Analysis. 

The market analysis section of your business plan outline is crucial as it identifies your best potential customers or clients. To create a practical market analysis, you should thoroughly research the primary target market for your products/services, including geographic location, demographics, and why they are a good target for you.

This is to show that you know exactly who you are selling to, so you can make educated predictions about how much these people would buy from you – and convince other prospects, too.

With a marketing analysis, you can reduce your risk, identify emerging trends, and forecast revenue. You can use a marketing analysis at various stages of your business to keep up with any major changes in the marketplace.

A detailed market analysis is usually part of your business plan because it tells you who you serve and what competitors have done so far to position themselves as well.

Below is an example of a marketing analysis that graphically illustrates how a marketing analysis is conducted.

Source  

4) Competitive Analysis 

As you prepare for the competitive analysis section, you will learn how successful your direct and indirect competitors are in the marketplace. This section of your business plan outline includes an assessment of your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses, the advantages they currently have over you, and the factors that set your business apart from all others. 

It also includes whether any obstacles might hinder your success as a new entrant in this market. 

The main goal is to stand out from other companies to convince potential investors that investing in this company will give them a significant advantage over the competition. 

However, a solid competitive analysis should identify the areas where there are no natural barriers that would prevent the future success of anyone entering those markets with a similar product line . 

5) Sales and Marketing Plans 

You can explain your sales strategy in detail in the sales and marketing section. This is where you outline your company’s unique selling proposition. 

You should describe how you plan to bring it to market – and how you will convince people that they need what this product or service has for them. You can also include information about pricing, planned advertising and sales promotions, and any benefits of your products/services.

This is an important section of the business plan outline as it is this section you describe how you will attract and retain customers. When you talk about your marketing and sales strategies, you also need to address the actual sales process. If you are making financial projections later, you should read about what they might look like here.

The basics of marketing and sales are about understanding your market and competition and crafting a product’s message, pricing, and strategy to make it successful. There are five P’s that play a role in these processes, as well as how you will measure the success of your marketing mix. The following elements should be included in sales and marketing plans. 

Product 

Describe the products or services you offer to customers as part of your home business. Include details about physical characteristics (size, color, etc.), features, and differences from other similar products on the market or compared to other services. Explain why potential customers should buy these products from you and not from another vendor, 

Price 

Pricing strategies should always be focused on achieving your target profit margin. Consider whether you want to charge more or less than the competition and how this can be justified (i.e., what do buyers get for paying more for your product?).

Place  

Indicate where the products will be sold, whether online or in-store or both and how they will reach consumers. Here it is also important to indicate if there are any shipping or labeling requirements that need to be followed and how the company will take care of them. In the end, the transaction and return policy must also be mentioned. 

Promotion 

This refers to the type of promotional strategies the company will use to reach the target customers. Other elements like incentives and coupons offered to the consumers can also be mentioned.

People 

Once you have decided on a marketing strategy, you also need to determine the people who will be tasked with selling and marketing the product. Incentives for the sales staff and consumer satisfaction are other elements you need to pay attention to.

Source   

6) Operating Plan 

The operating plan is a detailed breakdown of how your business will be run. It includes the location, descriptions of facilities and equipment, the type of employees needed for the industry, inventory requirements, and vendors. In addition to these items, other details may be included that relate to specific types of businesses, such as manufacturing processes or special items needed for daily operations.

When writing this section of the business plan, you should first explain what you have done so far to make the business operational, and then explain what remains to be done. The following items should be included:

Production overflow. 

A detailed, step-by-step description of how your product or service will be produced. At the end of this section, include a subsection titled “Risks” where you discuss potential problems that could affect production and what you will do to address them before they can occur. Provide an overview of how employees will be trained to deal with safety issues related to the use of hazardous materials.

Memberships in industry associations. 

In this section, demonstrate your knowledge of regional, local, or national industry standards by indicating which industries you are already a member of or would like to join. 

Supply Chains

In this section, you should detail who your suppliers are, their pricing, and the standards to which they operate. You should also address crisis management, i.e. alternative methods in case the supply chain fails for any reason. 

Quality Control 

This section includes the quality controls that are already in place or have yet to be implemented.

7) Financial Plan 

Your goal is to convince the reader that your business is stable and financially successful. If you have other collateral, list it now. Provide an outlook for the next five years, including projected income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and capital budgets.

Include projections for all of these categories on an annual basis – quarterly or monthly predictions are necessary to provide more detail on the future goals of this business plan.

The reason for financial data in a business plan is twofold. First, you need these numbers if you are seeking investment from venture capitalists, angel investors, or even smart family members.

They need to see that your business can grow and make a profit quickly while they still have time to enjoy it before it is sold to them with stock so they do not suffer a loss and that you are able to repay their loans in full – something any bank or lender would require as well!

Plan your sales over a three-year period by creating a spreadsheet with different sections for each sales area and columns for each month. This will keep you on track.

Following the revenue forecast, create an expense budget to understand how much it will cost you to generate the projected revenue. After you have created the expense budget, create a cash flow statement detailing the amount of cash coming in and going out.

You will also need to create an income projection, which is a pro forma income statement that lists the projections for the business for the next three days. You must also project a balance sheet.

8) Appendices and Attachments. 

In addition to the sections above, please include any other information supporting your business idea’s credibility and underpinning its potential success. 

You may have in this section marketing studies, photos of your product, permits/patents/ other intellectual property rights, credit histories (including bankruptcies), resumes, marketing materials, and contracts or other legal agreements relevant to your business.

How long should a business plan outline be?

The length of a business plan varies depending on the level of detail you include in each section. However, if you are not seeking any funding, your first business plan doesn’t need to be lengthy. 

You only need enough information that can be completed within 30-minutes, and this should serve as more like a long-term management tool where updates can quickly happen regularly. 

There is no set order to your business plan, the only exception being that the executive summary should always come first. Beyond that, it depends on what you want to achieve with your plan.

If you are writing a business plan to help yourself organize and gather information and create a roadmap, then managing it intuitively would be most helpful for your process (for example by grouping similar content together, such as all material related to markets). 

However, they are written to seek funding or gather support from other people before launching the company, then leading with convincing materials is essential. This will encourage readers who may have been skeptical about reading more of this document because they might value these things (such as highlighting strengths).

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