Business Plan Outline

Business Plan Outline Basics

The content of a business plan is quite straightforward. Here is a business plan outline presented in the order most businesses choose to organize their business plan:

1. Executive Summary: explain your particular business model and how it works.
2. Company Background: Who are you and what do you plan to do? Describe your company history and origin. Include contact information, annual sales figures, number of employees and type of business ownership structure (sole proprietor, partnership, non-profit, publicly traded or private corporation, limited liability company. Provide in-depth details about the professional backgrounds of your top executives.
3. Marketing Plan: How do you plan to sell your products or services? Discuss product pricing, distribution, customer satisfaction, marketing and promotion strategies, advertising plans and how you plan to make a difference in your particular industry.
4. Manufacturing & Production: How will you make your product or perform your service? Provide extensive details on all processes involved in the manufacture of your product(s) and your production facility. Include the size and floor plan of your production facility, inventory processes and control, and equipment required that will be either purchased or leased. Explain how you plan to service your customers in your particular niche and how this sets you apart from everyone else.
5. Finance: Where will your funds come from, and how do you make money? Discuss pre-existing loans, liabilities, expected returns, projected sales and costs, break-even analysis, and pro-forma cash flow statements.
6. Human Resources: How are your employees hired and what skills are required? Detail what is expected of your employees once taken aboard and any plans you have for training and retraining of basic skills. Describe their responsibilities, how tasks are assigned, salaries, benefits, and pay schedules, perks, bonuses and other incentives offered.
7. Supporting Documents: Copies of principals’ tax returns and personal financial statements from the past 2-3 years, facility lease, licenses, contracts and resumes of principals.

Sample Business Plans For Your Outline

Bplans: Free Sample Business Plans: An alphabetized directory of sample business plans for a wide variety of industries, including auto parts stores, construction, and salsa manufacturing.

Business Plan Archive: Check out an amazing selection of archived business plans—most of which were hatched during the dot.com boom. Registration is required, but at no cost.

More Business: An incredible site for all things business, you’ll find business and marketing plan templates to use, plus business “how-to’s” and information on running a small business.