10 Steps to Improve Your Business Plan

Your business plan is going to service the blueprint for your organization, defining all the necessary steps you’re going to follow as you make your business ready to launch and grow throughout the first few years. This document is also important because it might be persuasive to investors and potential partners.

You may have a draft of your business plan already in the works, but are you sure that your business plan is all that it can be? Is there anything you can do to make it better?

How to Improve Your Business Plan

If you’re looking to punch up your business plan, these are some of the most important steps to take:

1. Give the numbers a reality check. Many business owners are eager to make the business look as promising and as attractive as possible, especially if they’re going to make a presentation to investors. However, this approach frequently leads to over inflated numbers, which look unrealistic and unprofessional to seasoned investors. You’re going to make your document much more persuasive and set the stage for much more reasonable growth if you give those numbers a reality check and make sure they’re actually achievable.
2. Make your executive summary more compelling. One of the most important parts of your business plan is the executive summary, since it effectively summarizes information you’ve included throughout the rest of the document. This is also the first section most of your readers are going to see, so it’s important to make an excellent impression on this page. Revisit your executive summary and do what you can to make it more compelling, keeping it concise yet meaningful.
3. Plan on professional printing and binding. When your draft is finished, prepare to invest in professional printing and binding. Little touches, like adding wire-O binding, or upgrading the stock of paper you use, can instantly make your business plan look more professional. Of course, this is only relevant if you plan on showing your business plan to other people; if this is the case, consider going all out to make the best possible first impression.
4. Acknowledge the biggest challenges and weaknesses. It’s easy to assume that the best business plans are ironclad, showing off a perfect business that has no real weaknesses or flaws. But the reality is that all businesses have weaknesses and flaws, and pretending they don’t exist is only going to make you look worse. Go out of your way to list and acknowledge the biggest challenges your business faces and the biggest weaknesses you’re concerned about. Proactively identifying these, and setting out a plan for how to address them, will improve your business plan dramatically.
5. Inject your personality. Your business plan shouldn’t be a dry, personality-less legal document. Instead, it should include elements of your personality. Show off how knowledgeable you are about this subject matter and how enthusiastic you are about this project – and don’t be afraid to make a few jokes.
6. Focus on what makes you unique. You might already have a unique value proposition (UVP) drafted. If you don’t, now is a good time to do that. Throughout your entire business plan, you should be focusing on elements that make you unique. What makes your business different from those of your competitors? Why should customers choose you over any other business? How could this business succeed where others have failed?
7. Identify multiple growth and development opportunities. Most investors look for growth potential in the businesses they consider funding. Accordingly, your business plan should have multiple growth and development opportunities listed. What’s your primary strategy for growing the business? And what will you do if that doesn’t meet your expectations?
8. Include major milestones. What major milestones are going to define your success as a business? This is important for several reasons. First, it shows that you have a definition of success in mind. Second, that makes your business plan much more actionable, giving the business a solidified trajectory to follow in its first few years. Third, it provides real metrics for success; very soon, you’ll be able to identify whether or not the business is performing as intended.
9. Make tweaks for your specific audience. Consider making specific tweaks for the audience who is going to read this business plan. Instead of having a generic document you use to show everyone, develop slightly modified, targeted documents for each specific group. This way, you can appeal specifically to their interests and maximize your potential to persuade them.
10. Proofread everything one more time. If your business idea is amazing, you probably won’t lose it just because you forgot one punctuation mark at the end of a section. But there’s no real excuse to have any mistakes in your business plan. Before printing, proofread everything one last time to make sure it’s fully polished.

The Living Document

Some people see business plans as stagnant, unchanging documents that should permanently describe how this business will operate. But with so many variables to consider and so many changes in your near future, it’s better to think of your business plan as a living document – something you can update periodically as you learn more information. Don’t hesitate to return to your business plan and make further changes to it as you learn more information about your market, your competitive environment, and the changing nature of the economy.