skip to Main Content

Business Plan Resources

Discover helpful articles, news, courses and public/private organizations that can help in the area of business planning

FAQs

How do you write a business proposal?
  1. Include a title page with information like the company’s name, address, telephone, e-mail, and website. Add a description of the company’s core business here.
  2. Create an executive summary of your proposal so the reader can understand the opportunity.
  3. Define the problem and magnitude of the need.
  4. Propose the solution to the problem.
  5. Define your qualifications to solve the problem. Examples might include a beta tested product or service, early sales with positive customer acceptance, or personnel qualifications.
  6. Financial analysis of the profit potential and forecast derivation.
  7. Description of your investment, partnership, or other proposal.
  8. Letter of understanding or contract agreement.

Many times, the company presenting a business plan requests a confidentiality agreement before presenting the proposal.

Why is it important to track your business results against your plan?

The business plan is an important document that allows you to look at your business at a point in time.  The business plan is supposed to consider all aspects of the business including product/service types, market size, competition, forecasts for revenue, costs, expenses, profit, cashflow, operating and sales plans, etc. The problem with the business plan is that you want to continually look at your progress, changes in environment, and the need for the business to change or adapt.

The tracking of your business should start immediately. The reporting is done such that management can quickly understand issues or opportunities. Management can then quickly work to resolve problems or capitalize on opportunities.

What is the dashboard concept?

A business dashboard is an information management tool that is used to track key performance indicators (KPIs), metrics, and other key data points relevant to a business. Generally, these measures are done on a shorter time, like one week. The idea is to allow management to more quickly visualize and react to business opportunities or problems. 

Key financial measures like revenue, major costs or expenses, and pretax profit can be some of these metrics. With data visualizations, dashboards simplify complex data sets to provide users with immediate awareness of current performance.

The dashboard is used to measure business results post business planning process. Dashboards can be established for various business segments.

On a strategic basis the business plan should be updated periodically, such as once a year.

Explore Topics