2. Vision Statement: Write a concise one- or two-paragraph vision statement, which gives your answer to the question: 'What do we want this company to become over the next five to 10 years?'
3. Mission Statement: Lay the groundwork for your 'brand promise' in a one or two paragraph description of what your company will be to its customers.
4. Values: Provide a list of three to five core principles upon which you will build the business and stick to no matter what.
5. Goals: Make a list of three to five long-term goals that translate your company's vision into specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-specific objectives.
6. Market research: Take the next two to three pages to briefly answer the following questions:
- What do you know about your industry?
- What do you know about your competition?
- Who is your target customer and what do you know about them (i.e. demographics, buying patterns)?
6(a). Market differentiation: Take the next page to detail what makes your product or service unique in the market by answering questions like:
- What makes you different from your competition that actually matters to your target customer?
- What is your unique value proposition?
- What is your big bold brand promise?
6(b). Marketing message: Based on the answers you outline above, take the next half page to explain the message you plan to communicate to your target market.
6(c). Marketing mix: Use the next page or so to detail the methods you will use to deliver that message.
6(d). Measurement: Follow the previous two sections with another half-page describing how you will measure the effectiveness of each of those delivery methods and, based on the results, adjust your plan accordingly.
7. Sales: Take the next full page to summarize your sales plan by answering these questions:
- What is your overall sales process?
- What are the specific steps in your process?
- How are leads generated? - How are they researched/qualified? - How do you get in front of your customer? - How do you close the sale?
- How will you achieve the optimal sales cycle?
8. Operations plan: Now, take one to two pages to answer the following questions:
- How will you produce the product and/or deliver the service?
- What are the logistics?
- What business process will you employ?
- What facility, equipment, and other resource needs are involved?
- How will you assure and measure quality and customer satisfaction?
- Who are the key players?
- What are their backgrounds and qualifications?
- What are their specific roles?
- How will the business be organized (org. chart)?
9. Personnel Plan: Use one page to describe your 'people' plan by answering questions like:
- What personnel are needed now to accomplish current goals?
- How will the number of people needed change with the growth of the business?
10. Financial Plan: As noted earlier, keep the details about your financials brief, using the same narrative style you have been using throughout the plan. Then, use a footnote to alert readers that more detailed financial schedules and assumptions will exist in a separate document. To keep focused, consider telling your story by providing the following information:
- Start-up costs, if applicable
- Revenue projections with detailed assumptions
- Three- to five-year cash-flow projections
- Three- to five-year balance sheet projections
- Sources and uses of funds if you are raising capital
11. Executive Summary: Save the beginning for the end by taking one to two pages to write a concise synopsis of the entire plan.