Emerging

You Have 30 Seconds Or Less!

Created on Tuesday, 11 November 2008 04:04 Last Updated on Friday, 06 May 2011 11:37 Published Date Written by Small Business Can Hits: 869

The average reading time for a business plan is 30 seconds and is getting shorter. If your plan or presentation does not capture the imagination in that time frame, you are wasting your time. In the same goes for the executive summary. It is the first part of a Business Plan to be read – and the last to be written. Here, in less than a page, you summarise the key points of your plan. It should:

• Describes your unique offering and why it is exciting
• Describes the market and the clients you have secured (make sure you name drop)
• Show how you will and have reached the market (routes to market)
• Explains your business model
• Includes the results so far and your projections
• Includes the ask (money, advise)
• Explain how your company came to be

This is the most important part of the business plan, since it’s usually on this that a decision is taken to read further. Most business plans are rejected before the Executive Summary has been fully read. So make sure it makes the reader sit up, make it real, make it enjoyable and make them beg for your business.