The following e-learning course has been designed to assist you in developing a business

plan for your facility or golf operation.

It is recommended that you thoroughly read all of the information contained in this
course first. Then complete the activities suggested in preparation for the actual writing
of the business plan.

Your final step is writing a business plan that clearly states your mission statement, the
goals and objectives of your operation, and contains a complete budget.

An outline of a business plan has been provided to assist you in writing all aspects of
your plan. However, if some portions of this outline do not pertain to you, simply
eliminate them.

Please feel free to e-mail me at [email protected] with any questions concerning the
construction of your plan.

When the final plan is completed, e-mail the document to me at the above address for
review. Following my review and acceptance of your completed business plan, 4 MSR
hours will be awarded.
The Successful Business Plan
 Business Planning Model

I. Introduction
 Developing the plan
 Controlling the business
 Elements of a successful business

II. Conducting Research / Understanding Your Facility

 How to conduct research
 Evaluating data
 Knowing your target market
 Competition
 Getting started
 Management team
 Financials
 Industry analysis
 Operations
 Technology

II. Mission Statement

III. Product / Service

III. Strategic Position

 Position
 Four P’s
 Five F’s

IV. Create Your Plan

 What to include
 Outline
I. INTRODUCTION

DEVELOPING THE PLAN

Creating a business plan is an opportunity.

As you start developing your business plan, keep in mind that the greatest beneficiary of
this project is not your banker, accountant or employer – it’s you. A complete, thoughtful
business plan is perhaps the best tool you can have to help you reach your own short- and
long-term goals.

Whether your business is large or small, a startup or long established, developing a

business plan enables you to:

• Make the crucial business decisions that focus your activities and maximize your
resources.
• Understand the financial aspects of your business, including cash flow and break-
even requirements.
• Gather crucial industry and marketing information.
• Anticipate and avoid obstacles your business is likely to encounter.
• Forecast / anticipate favorable conditions that your business can us as a positive
advantage.
• Set specific goals and measurements to assess progress over time.

A roadmap to success

A business plan is essentially a map to your targeted destination. Ideally, it gets you from
your starting point to your goal: from your basic business concept to a healthy, successful
business. It gives you a clear idea of the obstacles that lie ahead, points out alternate
routes and identifies needed / valuable tools and resources.

This is your opportunity to learn more about the golf industry and market; gain
control over your business; and obtain a competitive edge.

Learning about your industry and market

One of the major benefits you’ll receive from developing a business plan is getting to
know the golf industry and it’s market thoroughly. A secondary benefit is gaining a
deeper understanding of your own facility profile. The information in this area can make
a substantial difference. So, be thinking about how you define your facility and what
difference this can make in your area.
CONTROLLING THE BUSINESS

The business planning process helps you to gain control over both the short-term and
long-term progress of your business.

While developing your business plan, you’ll increase your understanding of the many
forces that have an impact on your business’ success, which in turn will give you a
stronger sense of control. A business plan provides mechanisms to enhance your
management in these areas:

• Marketing. By developing a marketing plan based on a well-defined target market

and evaluation of the golf industry and its competition.
• Operations. By evaluating and establishing the procedures, labor deployment, and
work flow necessary to run your business from day to day.
• Finances. By realistically projecting cash flow, income and expense, break-even
points, and by creating channels of information to keep you fully informed of your
financial picture.
• Long-Term Development. By setting specific goals and objectives, identifying
milestones, determining how your business will be positioned to respond to both
changes from within (internal changes such as staffing or resources), or those from
outside (external changes such as the economy or new competition), and the devising
of an exit strategy, if appropriate.

Obtaining a competitive edge

By evaluating and refining your business concept through the planning process, a clear
and concise message will become evident that will allow you to be more effective at
conveying your message to your target market. Thus, customers will be better able to
distinguish your business from the competition and therefore help you to achieve your
business goals.
KEY ELEMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS

The ultimate purpose of developing a business plan is to have a more successful business.
The business plan should identify and promote the most successful business practices.
As you create your plan, be certain to address the long-term needs of your business and
devise strategies that enhance both the overall performance of your business and your
personal satisfaction.

The business concept

Meeting needs is the basis of all business. You can devise a wonderful new machine, but
if it doesn’t address some real and important need or desire, people won’t buy it, and your
business will fail.

As you refine your business concept, keep in mind that successful golf businesses
incorporate at least one of these elements:

• Something new. This could be a new product, service, feature, or technology.

• Something better. This could be an improvement on an existing product or service

encompassing more features, lower price, greater reliability, faster speed, or increased
convenience.

• An underserved or new market. This is a market for which there is greater demand
than competitors can currently satisfy, an unserved location, or a small part of an
overall market – a niche market – that hasn’t yet been dominated by other golf
competitors.

• New delivery system or distribution channel. New technologies, particularly the

Internet, allow companies to reach customers more efficiently.

Examples:

Have you looked at selling merchandise over the Internet?

What did you do differently for your customers this past year over the previous year?

What services did you add this year over the previous year?
ACTIVITY

Basic business concept

Using the following questions as a guide, outline your business concept as you presently
conceive it.

What products or services do you presently provide?

Who do you see as your customers?

What is your facility profile (i.e. size, type location, services offered)?

Describe your facility’s basic overall marketing and sales strategy.

What tools do you use in your facility’s marketing and sales strategy?

S.W.O.T. Analysis

Strengths: List the competitive advantages in each area your facility offers:

Weaknesses: What are the real and perceived weaknesses / shortcomings that
currently exist or have existed in the past that impact the business of your facility?

Opportunities: What new products or services can you offer and what delivery
methods can you utilize at your facility?

Threats: Which companies (facilities) and types of companies do you

consider to be your competition? ___________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________

You should use the information you have collected from this activity to help you make
comparisons between your facility, and your competitors. This is the heart of business
planning – what you know about your own business, and that of your competitor’s helps
you strategize how to minimize your weaknesses and maximize your growth potential.
II. CONDUCTING RESEARCH / UNDERSTANDING YOUR FACILITY

HOW TO CONDUCT RESEARCH

Some of the most important information you need may not be available from any
published source, particularly information that is quite specific to your market or product.
To obtain this data, you will have to undertake your own research. However, the industry
is loaded with a significant amount of information with respect to marketing to help you
in this search. In reality, the true experts of a particular business, and, the most valuable
resource, is the knowledge of “the people”.

Personal observation
One fundamental way to gather information – and also one of the easiest – is
through personal observation. Watching what goes on in other businesses or the
way people shop gives you insight into factors affecting your own business. You
can observe foot-traffic patterns near a selected location similar to your business,
how customers behave when shopping in businesses similar to yours or for similar
products, and how competitors market or merchandise their products or services.
Personal observation is a vital tool in your planning process and applicable for
almost every business, large or small.

Informational interviews
The second principal method of market research is information interviewing.
Since the amount of information you can garner from personal observation is
limited and colored by your own perceptions, you should talk with as many
people as possible who can provide you with information relating to your
business.

Surveys
If you decide you need information from a large number of people, you may want
to conduct a survey, either by phone, by mail, on the Internet, or in person. This
could be a questionnaire on the pro-shop counter that seeks to determine who the
typical golfer is at your facility, and seeks their buying habits and playing habits.
Surveys are a good way to spot trends and are particularly useful in assessing
customer needs and desires.

Focus groups
A popular form of market research is the focus group, a small group of people
from diverse backgrounds, brought together to discuss a product, business
concern, or service in great detail. This could be a group of typical golf
customers at your facility.

Which of the above items have you ever undertaken?

 Accessible sources for market research

Here are some sources to consider for your market research:

• Customers presently at your facility
• Suppliers in the industry
• Businesses related geographically
• Similar businesses serving different cities and others in golf
• Previous marketing / promotional efforts with documented explanation
and / or results
• Banks, real estate agents, universities, local or regional chambers of
commerce, merchant groups, or others observing the local economy
• Your competitors

Learn from other businesses

Those in related businesses often know about conditions affecting your business.
Try talking to people who are in the same industry or business as yours in a
different city; they are an excellent source of information.

Talk to the experts

Review trade publications, attend trade events, utilize consultants, attend

professional educational seminars, even talk to your competitors.

EVALUATING DATA

• Use the most recent data you can find; remember printed information is
often at least two years old and a lot can change in two years.
• Give the most reliable source the most credence. You should determine
reliability of data by what has worked for others in the past. Ask your fellow
PGA professionals what types of data are reliable, or have an expert review
your data and comment to you on what they think is reliable for your needs.
• Integrate data from one source to another in order to draw conclusions.
• Use the most conservative figures.

ACTIVITY

What data were you able to locate? _________________________________

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This data can help you to focus your efforts on how to improve your own business, and
how to develop business objectives to target new business, or developing repeat business.
Describe your facility profile with regard to:

Type _________________Public______________________________
(Private, Public Resort, etc.)

Size _______18 holes facility, normal amenities, 200_______________________

(number of holes, services, acreage, etc.)

Location _______Alliance, NE_______________________________________

Season ______________7-8 months___________________________________

(length as opposed to “seasonal”)

History ____________________________________________________
(information such as number of rounds played, merchandise
sales, cost of goods sold percentage)
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KNOWING YOUR TARGET MARKET

Know your customers

Essential to business success is a thorough understanding of your customers. After all, if

you don’t know who your customers are, how will you be able to assess whether you are
meeting their needs? Since success depends on your being able to meet customers’ needs
and desires, you must know who your customers are, what they want, how they behave,
and what they can afford. There are two components to the marketing equation. They
are: The market analysis and the marketing plan.

A market analysis differs from a marketing plan. An analysis enables you to identify and
understand your customers; a marketing plan tells how you are going to reach your
customers.

Demographic description

Begin describing your market by the most basic, objective aspects of the customer base.
These details are the specific and observable traits that define your target market.

Demographic information is particularly useful when devising your marketing plan.

Many marketing vehicles, such as publications, mailing lists, radio, and TV, accumulate
this kind of data about the market they reach. Thus, you are better able to judge whether
such vehicles are appropriate for your business.

Geographic description

Next, define the primary geographic area (s) you intend to serve. This definition should
be as concrete as possible, indicating whether your business serves a particular
neighborhood, city, state, or region.

Defining your target market

A market analysis allows you to identify the particular market segments you wish to
reach. These segments describe distinct, meaningful components of the overall market
and give you a set of specific characteristics by which to identify your target market.
Lifestyle / Business-style description

In the Target Market section of your plan, convey a sense of the concerns and interests of
your customers. How do they spend their time? What issues are they facing in their lives
or businesses? With whom do they associate? How do they relate to their employees and
community?

Pyschographic Description

In addition to the observable, objective characteristics of your market, less tangible but
equally important psychological factors also influence your targeted customer’s
purchasing decisions. These are aspects of self-image; how customers see, or want to
see, themselves.

Purchasing patterns description – Marketing Plan

In planning, it’s particularly important to understand the buying patterns of your

customers. You must keep these realistic constraints in mind when forecasting your sales
to this market.

Buying sensitivities description

What factors are most important to your customer when deciding to buy? Of course, all
customers would say that they want the higher quality, best service, and greatest
convenience, at the lowest price. But in reality, customers know they have to make
tradeoffs: paying a little more for extra features, driving farther to get a lower price.
What aspects are your customers least willing to give up? What are the areas of their
greatest sensitivity?

Market size and trends

Once you have defined the characteristics of your target market, you must then assess the
size of this market and evaluate the trends likely to influence both market size and
customer behavior in the near future.

Size

You want to make sure your customer base is large enough to support your business.
Trends

Equally important as estimating the size of your current market is evaluating the trends
that may affect the market in the coming years. Doing so will give you a sense of your
business’ continuing viability, the strategic opportunities the market presents, and how
the business must plan to respond to changing behavior of customers.

Preparing for change is not so much a matter of predicting the future as analyzing the
recent past. Much of your analysis can be based on observable changes in demographics
and customer behavior. A simple way to determine some trends is by doing Linear Trend
Analysis. This is simply comparing a later year to an earlier year, subtracting the earlier
year, and dividing by the earlier year, or:

Later year – Previous year = % Change

Previous year

This will give you information on positive or negative trends.

Activity

Define your customers (using the information previously provided as a guide)

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COMPETITION

Know what you’re up against

Every business has competition. Those currently operating a business are all too aware
of the many competitors for a customer’s dollar, and tend to underestimate the actual
extent of competition and fail to properly assess the impact of that competition on their
business.

Honestly evaluating your competition will help you better understand your own product
or service. It enables you to know how best to distinguish your facility in the customer’s
eyes, and it points to opportunities in the market.

Learn from your competition if your competitors are relatively successful and have the
“same” target market The basic concept of competition is responsiveness to customers,
and watching your competitors can help you understand what customers want.

When preparing the competitive analysis portion of your business plan, focus on
identifying:

• Who / What is a true competitor

• Who your major competitors are
• On what basis you compete
• How you compare
• Potential future competitors
• Barriers to entry for new competitors

Competitive position

The objective features of your product or service may be a relatively small part of the
competitive picture. In fact, all the components of customer preference, including price,
service, and location, are only half of the competitive analysis.

The other half of the equation is examining the internal strength of your competitors’
businesses. In the long run, companies with significant financial resources, highly
motivated or creative personnel, and other operational assets will prove to be tough,
enduring competition.

In order to overcome the competition, you must find out where you are strong in
comparison to them, and aggressively promote that difference. In regard to your
weaknesses, you must take a hard look at what your competition does better than you,
whether it be service, or product, and decide whether you have the money or resources
available to overcome those weaknesses.
Activity

Define your competition (not by facility, but by operations standards, customers,

service levels, etc.) ________________________________________________
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GETTING YOUR PLAN STARTED

The business plan process

Because a plan requires detailed information on almost every aspect of your business,
including industry, market, operations, and personnel, the process can seem
overwhelming. However, this process can be simplified by following this five-step
format.

1. Laying out your basic business concept

2. Gathering data on the feasibility and specifics of your concept

3. Focusing and refining the concept based on the data you compile

4. Outlining the specifics of your business

5. Putting your plan in compelling form

Basic Business Concept

The first step is to lay out your basic business concept. With an existing operation, it
may be tempting to skip over this step, but if you wish to develop strategies for future
success, you must first examine the assumptions underlying your current efforts.

Your focus should be on steps 2 and 3: gathering and interpreting the data you need.
Solid information gives you a realistic picture of what happens in businesses similar to
your, as well as a better understanding of your own business.

Once you have compiled sufficient information and re-evaluated your business concept,
you can begin to actually write your plan.

Developing a business plan is much more a business project than a writing assignment.
The process itself – not just the document produced – can positively affect the success of
your business.

Gathering information

Knowledge is power and sufficient research prevents you from including inaccurate
information in your plan.
Beginning the business plan writing process

Start your research by making a general statement that is the basis of your business plan
writing process.

An example of such a statement would be “We are a golf course facility with an
accompanying food and beverage operation, golf range, and merchandising concession.”

Next, make a list of questions that logically follow from this general statement and also
challenge that statement.

How many holes of golf do we have?

What type of food and beverages do we offer?
What type of clientele do we cater to?
Is our merchandise high- or low-end and can it be sold to tournament clientele?

List the questions for the examination of each area of your business using the following
categories as a guideline:

• Products / services – What is the major selling point of your product? What services
are you looking to offer?
• Target market – What is the scope of your market and what is your promotional plan
to get there? How much will it cost to reach the target market in that promotion?
• Competition – What is your competition? What do they do better than you? What do
you do better than them? How can you overcome your weaknesses?
• Marketing & sales strategy – What methods of marketing will you utilize (television,
radio, direct, web) and when will you run your ads?
• Operations / technology – What do your operations have that your competitors do not
and how are you taking advantage of technological innovation? If not, can you afford
not to?
• Long-term considerations – What do you foresee as the future of your golf business?
Do you wish to expand? Do you wish to refine? Do you have the budget for future
revisions?
ACTIVITY

Develop and list your questions.

Biggest strengths (from the above categories)

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Potential weaknesses or threats (from the above categories)

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One past weakness / threat and its remedy

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Past weaknesses / threats

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Remedy / result
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Opportunities
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EVALUATING YOUR BUSINESS CONCEPT

Use the following information to refine your focus and determine whether your business
idea is viable. In answering the questions, be honest and tough.

Your business industry

How economically healthy is your business? You can help determine the health of your
business by examining your cost of goods sold ratio, your gross margin ratio, and your
dollars per round and dollar return on investment. Your local accountant or point-of-
sales software should help you make these calculations. _____________________
__________________________________________________________________

Explain how your industry is sensitive to economic fluctuations (locally and nationally).
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Are the forecasts for your industry positive (locally and nationally)? The PGA
publications are a good source for industry information, as well as other industry
publications. _______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Is the industry or market changing rapidly? If so, how? You could determine this from
consulting fellow industry professionals, or by keeping abreast of research performed by
the trade publications mentioned. ______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

Your product / service

Is your product or service unique? If yes, explain how. Your golf course may be the only
high-end facility in the area, or maybe you are the only top 100 instructor in the area.
You are trying to determine how different (or alike) you are to the competition.
__________________________________________________________________
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Your market

Is your market clearly identifiable? If yes, explain how. You should be able to define
your market by analyzing whom other golf courses advertise toward in your area, and a
consultant can do a demographic study of the market for you if you desire. ______
__________________________________________________________________

Is your market large enough to support your business?

__________________________________________________________________
Is your market too large, and the costs to reach it prohibitive? ________________
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Is your market growing? If yes, how much? The same demographic information you
could obtain would alert you to a growing market. Your local newspapers are another
good source of growing market information. ______________________________
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Is your product / service too new for customers? ___________________________

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Do customers have strong loyalty to existing businesses (service-based, price conscious,

location)? If so, how can you separate your facility from theirs? _____________
__________________________________________________________________
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Your competition

Do one or two competitors dominate the market? If so, how can you become more like
them? _____________________________________________________________
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Is market share widely distributed, making it easier to get a foothold? _________

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What is your current market share? _____________________________________

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Have you identified a play / mix analysis? ________________________________

__________________________________________________________________

Your operations concerns

Does your business entail unusually difficult operational problems? If yes, what are they?
__________________________________________________________________
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Will personnel be hard to find, retain or train? If yes, how long has the existing trend
been in place and does history show this trend to be cyclical? ________________
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Does new technologies exist that will help you reduce costs? If yes, what? Have you
investigated computer technology and are you competent to use it? ____________
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Is reducing costs the sole reason for promoting technology? __________________

__________________________________________________________________

Will ongoing training be required? If yes, what tools have been identified to help
facilitate such training? ____________________________________________
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Your financial concerns

Is overhead unusually high, thus putting extra pressure on cash flow? You can gauge
whether your overhead is unusually high by doing research on facilities similar to your
own. Determine how much overhead they use, and compare yourself to them.
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Will credit be hard to establish? What assets do you have? __________________

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Are profit margins narrow, making the business vulnerable? _________________

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Will you have to carry a large amount of debt relative to property value, equity, annual
revenues, expectations? _______________________________________________
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MANAGEMENT TEAM

Your people determine your success

People are the heart of every business. Overwhelmingly, the quality of the people (i.e.
great people working toward achievable goals with clear expectations) and mutually
agreeable goals and objectives determine the success of the business.

Scrutinizing the qualifications of the people behind the business is essential. Look not
only to see if the management team has expertise necessary to run the business, but also
if the internal structure makes maximum use of the talents of team members.

An honest evaluation of your key employees’ strengths and weaknesses will help you
make the best use of your management team.

Evaluate each individual (and yourself) to see if he/she fits the profile of a successful
employee. Some of the traits shared by successful employees are:

• Experience. A long work history in the golf industry and/or they have a solid
management background that translates well to the specifics of your business.

• Realism. They understand the many needs and challenges of their business and
honestly assess their own limitations. They recognize the need for careful planning
and hard work.

• Flexibility. They know things go wrong or change over time, and they are able to
adapt without losing focus.

• Ability to work well with people. They are leaders and motivators with the patience
necessary to deal with a variety of people.

Your management team

Who are the people most important to your business’ future? Who are the people
determining the strategies you will pursue? Who makes final decisions? Which
members of your management decide on the products or services you will sell and the
prices you will charge? Who is in charge of your sales efforts?
Key employees / principals

Usually, the most important person in a business is you. Therefore, you should be the
first person evaluated on your management team. Then, after evaluating your own
strengths and weaknesses, analyze your subordinates.

Ask yourself:
• Do I have people who possess the skills necessary for their specific jobs?
• Do they have a record of success?
• Have their business setbacks given them insights that will help them in their current
roles?
• Do their personalities make them effective members of the team?
• If they have supervisory responsibility, are they able to direct and motivate
employees effectively?
• Taken as a whole, does your team incorporate the full range of expertise and
management skills you require?
• What type of training are you providing to this team?

Look at the following attributes and assess your team based on:

• Experience. State the specific positions held and job responsibilities that directly
relate to the current position.
• Successes. Describe noteworthy successes, particularly those that can quantified.
Include accomplishments that indicate the ability to plan, manage, overcome
obstacles, and reach a goal.
• Education. Include education in the written plan only if the person is new to
business or the education is directly related to or necessary for the task at hand.
• Strengths. Describe the individual’s best attributes in a business setting, including
traits such as the ability to motivate others, industry knowledge, and financial
capabilities.
• Areas lacking strength. Describe the attributes the individual must enhance to
become a more effective manager; such traits might include specific skills or
knowledge, better communication techniques. At this point, you might consider
training your employees to help them overcome their weaknesses, and then use the
“principles of motivating work” to properly delegate tasks to them.
• Growth potential / motivation. How can you motivate these employees and
empower them to grow in their jobs, or have they already reached the peak of their
potential?

Lines of authority

When examining your business, what are the official lines of authority? How are
employees supervised and how will job functions be allocated. While clear lines of
authority are vital in large organizations, they are equally important in small companies.
A frequent source of tension an uncertainty in business is the failure to plainly delineate
areas of responsibility and decision-making. An organizational chart helps eliminate this
tension.

Some questions to ask when examining your business’ structure include:

• Should responsibilities be allocated by functional area or product line?
• Which employees will each manager supervise, and over what functions will each
manager have responsibility?
• Will you use a production line or team approach in producing your product or
service? Thus, will each worker be responsible for one particular task, or will a group
be responsible for many tasks?

Management style

For most companies, especially small companies, building a sense of teamwork is

essential. Help your employees feel they are an important part of the organization and
that their contribution matters. Communication is a vital ingredient in team building; if
employees know what’s going on in the business, they feel a part of the whole picture.

Regardless of your management style, remember that everyone, whether assistant or head
professional, wants to feel important. Recognize achievement, both privately and
publicly. Reward initiative with both monetary and non-monetary awards. Acknowledge
jobs well done. Solicit suggestions, and be responsive to concerns.

The five most important elements of your management style are:

1. Clear policies
2. Communication
3. Employee recognition
4. Employee’s ability to affect change
5. Fairness

The more you develop a team approach, the more successful you will be. You can start
developing this team by setting “expectations for performance” together, utilizing team
member ideas. The PGA course on “Supervising and Delegating” provides the essential
structure for your “performance system” created with your team.

Activity

Develop an analysis of your management team __________________________

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THE FINANCIALS

How to painlessly deal with numbers and financial forms

People in business usually fall into one of two categories: those who are fascinated with
numbers, or those who are frightened by them.

Numbers represent your decisions

Take heart: Numbers are neither magical, mysterious, nor menacing. They merely
reflect other decisions you have made previously in your business planning. If you
decided to advertise each week in your local newspaper, there’s a number attached to that
decision. If you projected sales at a certain level, there’s a number attached to that
decision as well.

Every business decision leads to a number, and taken together, these numbers form the
basis of your financial forms. But numbers themselves are not decisions. You cannot
pull a number out of thin air because the financial forms you are completing call for a
specific figure on a specific line. Rather, your numbers should always be the result of
careful planning.

Getting control of your finances

Even if you are not responsible for preparing ongoing financial reports, you should have
a working understanding of financial statements so that you can better control your
business.

Financial statements provide the information you need to make decisions. Many
professionals mistakenly believe that they are in charge of the big picture, while
bookkeepers get caught up with mere details. Numbers are not just details: They are the
vital signs of any business; you must understand your business’ numbers to realistically
assess the condition of your business.

Read your financial statements

Get in the habit of reading your financial statements at least monthly, and make
sure you understand what you read. Track items such as sales receipts on a daily or
weekly basis. Don’t wait for reports to come back from the accountants before knowing
your cash position. You will find you have more confidence in your decisions if you
comprehend the financial implications of each of your choices.

Try to view your financial statements in a relatively dispassionate manner and approach
them from the point of view of a potential investor. It is difficult, especially when you
own your own business, to keep emotions from clouding your ability to properly examine
your financial reports. If you know it has been a bad month, you may be tempted just to
ignore that month’s cash-flow or income statements. Don’t.
Set policies and stick with them

Set financial policies in place and stick with them, in good times and bad. Many
businesses, even big companies, get in trouble through inadequate billing and collection
procedures. Stay on top of your finances.

Cash-basis accounting

One aspect of your business an accountant will help you decide is whether to set up your
books on an accrual basis or a cash basis. Most smaller businesses are generally advised
to conduct business on a cash basis, meaning that income and expenses are entered in the
books at the time money actually changes hands.

Thus, if you receive a $5,000 order in January, but you don’t receive payment until
March, the $5,000 credit appears as income only on your March statements. This gives a
truer picture of a business’ ability to meet its financial obligations than does accrual
accounting.

Accrual-basis accounting

With accrual-basis accounting, income and expenses are counted at the time they are
originally transacted; thus, the $5,000 order would show as income in January. If
payment is never made, additional accounting entries would later be made to write off the
loss. Larger businesses choose this accounting form to have a better sense of overall
profitability.

Types of financial forms

For the financial portion of your business plan, the three most important forms are:
• Income statement. Shows whether your business is making a profit.
• Cash-flow projection. Shows whether the business has the cash to pay its bills.
• Balance sheet. Shows how much the business is worth overall.

Guidelines for preparing your financial forms

In preparing your financial forms, you will almost certainly have questions as to how to
attribute certain expenses for your business. You might wonder whether you should
ascribe sales commissions to cost of goods sold or to operating expenses. Accounting
practices differ, so follow these guidelines:

When preparing your financial forms, keep these imperatives in mind:

1. Be conservative. Avoid the tendency to paint the rosiest picture possible; doing
so reduces your credibility.
2. Be honest. Experienced financial sources will sense dishonest or manipulated
figures; expect to be asked to justify your numbers.
3. Don’t be creative. Use standard formats and financial terms; otherwise you look
inexperienced to financing sources.
4. Get your accountant’s advice.
5. Follow the practices used in your industry.
6. Choose the appropriate accounting method.
7. Be consistent. Make a decision and stick with it for all you accounts, otherwise
you can’t compare one year’s figures to another.

Income statements

The income statement is also frequently called either a profit and loss statement – P & L
– or income and expense statement. This form shows how profitable your business is –
how much money it will make after all expenses are accounted for. It does not give a
total picture of what your business is worth overall, or its cash position.

A business can be losing money but still be worth a great deal because it owns valuable
property, or it can be profitable but still not have enough cash to pay its bills due to cash-
flow problems. An income statement does not reveal either of these “hidden” situations.

Cash-flow projections

For almost every business, cash-flow analysis is the single most important financial
assessment. After all, if you can’t pay your employees, your bills, or yourself, you’re not
going to stay in business long, and you’re certainly not going to sleep very well at night.

The cash-flow projection is not about profit – it’s about how much money you have in the
bank. It doesn’t tell you whether your business will show an overall profit at the end of
the year or how many orders you are placing, but instead gives you a real-life picture of
the money going in and out of your business on a monthly basis.

Cash-flow analysis is particularly important for seasonal businesses, those with large
inventories, or those that sell much of their merchandise on credit. You must plan for the
slow months and for the long time lag between paying for materials and actually realizing
cash receipts.
Balance sheet

For those who are new to business, the balance sheet is probably the least understood of
the financial forms. In essence, the balance sheet gives a snapshot of the overall financial
worth of the business – the value of all its various components and the extent of all its
obligations.

The balance sheet accounts for all the business’ assets minus all the business’ liabilities.
The remaining amount (if any) is figured to be the net worth of the business. The net
worth is then distributed as either belonging to the owners of the business – equity – or as
retained earnings for the business to use. These allotments are listed in the liabilities
category. Once you do this, the amounts in the assets and liabilities categories are equal:
they balance.
FINANCIAL CONTROL

As you develop your business plan, make sure you have the information to understand
your financial picture on an ongoing basis.

Anticipating change and adaptability

Change is inevitable, and the rate of change gets even faster. The rate of change gets
faster in this whirlwind day and age, and you must keep abreast of these changes or your
business will lag behind, or, you may go out of business. In planning for change, keep in
mind the kinds of conditions that will affect your business’ future.

They include:

• Technological changes. It’s impossible to predict the exact technological

developments that will affect your industry, but you can be sure that you will be faced
with such changes.

• Sociological changes. Evaluate demographic and lifestyle trends in light of their

potential influence on your business. What sociological factors have the greatest
impact on your facility? Keep your eye on trends that represent true change; be
careful not to build a business on passing fads. A good way to tell whether something
is a passing fad or true change is to consult the history of your industry and find a
similar trend. If one exists, it may be true change, if one doesn’t it could be a fad.
Expert opinion is also valuable in making this determination.

• Competitive changes. New businesses start everyday. How hard is it for a new
competitor to enter the market, and what are the barriers to entry? The Internet has
made it possible for companies all over the world to compete against each other,
increasing the number and type of competitors you may face.

When developing your business plan, consider how your business deals with these
outside changes. Also anticipate major internal changes, such as growth, the arrival or
departure of key personnel, and new products or services. As you write your business
plan, keep it flexible to allow for these changes.
ACTIVITY

What technological, sociological, or competitive changes do you see coming in

your business, with regard to the above? _____________________________
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INDUSTRY ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Your business and industry

No business operates in a vacuum. Every business is part of a larger, overall industry; the
forces that affect your industry as a whole will inevitably affect your business as well.
Evaluating your industry increases your own knowledge of the factors that contribute to
your business’ success and the factors that may negatively influence or challenge the
future viability of your business.

Size and growth rate of your industry

You must pay particular attention to the rate at which your business is expanding. This
will provide you with valuable insight into the opportunities available to your business.

Past and future growth of your industry

Factor 2 Years Ago Past Year This Year Next Year Next 5 Years
Total
Net
Revenue

Financial characteristics

No area of your Industry Analysis is more important than an evaluation of the financial
patterns characterizing your industry, especially if you are new to the field. Knowing the
standards of such aspects as labor costs, tax issues, fixed expenses, capital issues,
markups, commissions, and returns on sales will substantially help your own budgeting
process.

You can obtain information on your industry from publications such as PGA Magazine,
etc. You should take the information you get from these sources and compare it to the
research information you have accumulated about your business, to see where you stand
in relation to the industry as a whole. You can then determine where your growth
opportunities are, or where your weaknesses may lie.

See the income statement on the next two pages for an example.

Activity

Define key industry trends and how they may affect you in your operation.
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 Income Statement
Golf Operations – Internal
MONTH YEAR TO DATE ANNUAL
Actual Budget Variance Actual Budget Variance BUDGET

Revenue – Resorts and Clubs

Merchandise Sales 12,537 12,000 537 105,862 115,000 (9,138) 180,000
Tournament 5,417 - 5,417 8,720 - 8,720 -
Lesson Fees 297 - 297 297 - 297 -
Employee Discount - (200) 200 - (1,550) 1,550 (2,450)
Other discounts 226 50 176 1,802 400 1,402 600
Total Revenues 18,477 11,850 6,627 116,581 113,850 2,731 168,150

Cost of Sales
Cost – Merchandise 8,781 8,880 (99) 86,698 85,100 1,598 133,200
Total Cost of Sales 8,781 8,880 (99) 86,698 85,100 1,598 133,200

Wages & Benefits

Salaries & Wages 3,576 8,786 (5,210) 53,756 69,181 (15,425) 104,560
Payroll Taxes Insurance (810) 1,929 (2,739) 10,568 19,390 (8,822) 27,162
Payroll Allocation - - - (95) - (95) -
Total Wages & Benefits 2,766 10,715 (7,949) 64,229 88,571 (24,342) 131,722

Other Expenses
Other Employee Re 32 50 (18) 127 400 (273) 600
Uniforms 70 - 70 70 720 (650) 1,080
Other Operating S 791 150 641 3,580 1,200 2,380 1,800
Other Operating E 269 30 239 334 240 94 360
Tees - - - 125 - 125 -
Other Tournament 4,300 500 3,800 7,842 9,300 (1,458) 25,300
Prizes - - - 346 500 (154) 1,200
Equipment Rental - - - - 400 (400) 400
R & M – Other Repairs & M - - - - 500 (500) 600
Printing and Stat - 50 (50) 1,864 400 1,464 600
Total Other Expenses 5,462 780 4,682 14,288 13,660 628 31,940

Net Income (Loss) 1,468 (8,525) 9,993 (48,634) (73,481) 24,847 (118,712)
 Income Statement
Golf Operations – External
MONTH YEAR TO DATE ANNUAL
Actual Budget Variance Actual Budget Variance BUDGET

Revenue – Resorts and Clubs

Bag Storage 66 66 - 264 321 (57) 849
Greens Fees 40,604 35,972 4,632 175,337 159,586 15,751 363,062
Cart Fees 54,014 47,890 6,124 222,111 199,657 22,454 501,389
Driving Range 2,510 2,200 310 20,662 19,200 1,462 39,814
Club Rental 288 100 188 1,150 500 650 1,600
Handicap Fee 112 60 52 4,612 3,000 1,612 3,540
Total Revenues 97,594 86,288 11,306 424,136 382,264 41,872 910,254

Cost of Sales
Total Cost of Sales

Wages & Benefits

Salaries & Wages 6,921 6,147 774 26,114 29,474 (3,360) 77,925
Payroll Taxes Insurance 968 871 97 4,222 3,518 704 9,878
Total Wages & Benefits 7,889 7,018 871 30,336 32,992 (2,656) 87,803

Operating Expenses
Uniforms - - - 531 300 231 1,200
Other Operations 32 400 (368) 1,717 4,300 (2,583) 10,700
Other Operations - 250 (250) 74 1,000 (926) 3,000
Balls - - - 2,494 3,500 (1,006) 10,000
Buckets, Pails - - - - 250 (250) 500
Tees - - - 248 - 248 -
Other Tournaments - - - 51 - 51 -
R & M – Equipment - - - 70 - 70 -
R & M – Golf Carts - 100 (100) - 700 (700) 1,500
Total Other Expenses 32 750 (718) 5,185 10,050 (4,865) 26,900

Net Income (Loss) 89,673 78,520 11,153 388,615 339,222 49,393 795,551
Describing how you run your business

How are you actually going to run your business? The Operations section of your
business plan is where you begin to explain the day-to-day functions of your facility.
This is where you translate your theories vs. practice, concept vs. application, what you
want to do vs. what you have to do, and how you will achieve it.

Much of this information appears mundane, for instance, how you keep track of
inventory, or what equipment you need and when it must be replaced. These seem like
the kind of details that take care of themselves. But there’s a far greater chance that a
business will fail because fundamentals aren’t handled properly than because the basic
business concept is faulty.

Examining your basic operation is particularly important for internal planning. A capable
professional does not take any activity in the business process for granted. Each step is
worthy of evaluation and improvement. A little bit of extra planning in operational areas
can mean market improvements in profit margin. Assessing and developing the
underlying mechanisms of your business will certainly pay off. Tie your anticipated
practices back to your mission statement. The link must be evident.

To do a thorough job planning your internal operations, you may want to develop a
separate operations or procedures manual. Such a manual should describe the specific
details of the processes by which you produce, distribute, or maintain your products and
services. A detailed operations philosophy with support materials will cover many
subjects.
Policies & Procedures Manual Example – Table of Contents

I. Mission Statement

II. Organizational Chart and Job Descriptions

III. Basics
A. Professional Attire
B. Policy for Employee Evaluations
C. Customer Service
D. Emergency Situations

IV. Golf School

A. Procedures
B. Conducting the School

V. Golf Shop Procedures

A. Shop Opening Procedures
B. Golfer Check-In
C. Tee Time Booking
D. Starting Procedures
E. Merchandizing Procedures
F. Gift Certificate Procedures
G. Golf School Booking and Lesson Procedure
H. Tournament Booking
I. Closing Procedure

VI. Golf Range Procedures

VII. Junior Camp Procedures

VIII. Tournament Procedures

IX. Golf Car Procedures

X. Marketing

XI. Telephone Procedures

XII. Appendix
A. Emergency Numbers
B. Employee Numbers
C. Copy of Forms Used for the Academy
D. Copy of Student Handbook
TECHNOLOGY

Every business needs technology. Because technology is so central to running a business

today, you need to plan what technology you will use and how you will use it.

Why a technology plan?

Sometimes even the simplest technology issues prove to be difficult and time-consuming.
For example, options for today’s telephone systems can be surprisingly confusing, even
for relatively small companies. Few of us have the technical expertise to understand the
wide-range of technology choices available to us. Often, we don’t even know the right
terms of use or questions to ask.

Many decisions you make about your technology, such as the choice of your database
program, may be costly or cumbersome to change later. When outlining your technology
plan, keep in mind how your business might grow or change; try to choose technology
that is flexible enough to grow and change with you. As much as possible, choose
technology that, while meeting your needs, is simpler rather than overly complex. All
those extra “features” may just make your technology, whether it be a software program
or a telephone, harder to use.

What is the right technology for you?

If you walk into a computer store and say, “I need a computer,” the first question the
salesperson will ask is, “What do you need it for?” Base your technology choices on
your actual and projected business needs.

When you examine your business operations, look at which functions require or could
benefit from technology. Common business needs that utilize technology include:
• Accounting, taxes, finance
• Order taking and tracking
• Order fulfillment / shipping
• Inventory management
• Database management, such as customer, product, supplier, or inventory
• Mailing lists
• Communication with customers
• Internal communication
• Presentations
• Desktop publishing / graphics
• Personnel / human resources management
• Production: design, cost-tracking, supply management
• Internet marketing / website / email
• Internet sales
You have to rely on an “expert” to make recommendations / suggestions as to what will
satisfy your needs (i.e. what applications are available to satisfy your needs).

Choosing technology

Key issues when choosing technology include:

• Functions
• Ease-of-use
• Cost
• Security
• Ability to be upgraded and expanded
• Integration with existing data, technology, systems, etc.

List your technology needs and how you will meet those needs.
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III. MISSION STATEMENT

A crucial factor for successful business is the development of a clear strategic position
that differentiates you from your competition – and then maintaining focus on that
position. However, in trying to be unique, don’t lose sight in promoting the best business
practices and customer service (i.e. “we do it better” may be the only differentiation that
you will ever need).

Defining a clear strategic position enables you to capture a particular place in the market
and distinguish yourself from your competitors. Different companies may sell a similar
product, but each may have a very different sense of what its business is really all about.

To help clarify your business’ position and focus as part of the business plan process, you
should define a Statement of Mission. This Mission Statement should guide your
business’ short-term activities and long-term strategy, position your marketing, and
influence your internal policies.

You should be able to sum up the basic objectives and philosophy of your business in just
a few sentences. One statement should encapsulate the nature of your business, your
business principles, your financial goals, and how you expect to have your business
viewed in the marketplace, who you are, what you will do and for what markets.

A Statement of Mission provides focus for your business and should be the defining
concept of your business for at least the next few years. It should be the result of a
meaningful examination of your business, and virtually every word should be important.

Example of a Mission Statement

ABC Facility is dedicated to offering an enjoyable social and recreational golfing

experience to the surrounding metropolitan population, but particularly to seniors. Our
goal is exceptional service at reasonable prices. We will respond to customer needs,
employ environmentally sound practices, and make the course accessible to all golfers.
While achieving the financial goals of the facility, we will create a rewarding work
environment for staff through superior training and support programs.

The mission statement is the foundation of the business plan. All the planned goals and
objectives must fit within the parameters of the mission statement.
A sound mission statement defines the business and why it exists by stating the following
items:

 What is our business?

 Why does our business exist?
 What is unique about our business?
 Who is our customer?
 What products and services do we offer?
 What philosophical issues are important to our business?

The mission statement should be a brief statement of the facility purpose, what it is, and
what it does for whom. To some extent, it may suggest how the facility intends to deliver
services or sell products. The mission statement also sets the overall direction for all
facility planning and operations.

Key elements of the mission statement include:

 Facility image
 Quality of customer services
 Profitability
 Employee needs

Business’ Objectives / Statement of Mission

Many, if not most, successful large companies describe the main goal of their internal
planning process as articulating and clarifying their “philosophy” or “mission”. The best,
most effective, Mission Statements are not mere empty words, but principles and
objectives that guide all other aspects and activities of the business.

ACTIVITY

Create your Mission Statement now.

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IV. PRODUCTS / SERVICES

This part of your business plan can be relatively short, or it can be an entire section of its
own. If your products are particularly technical, complicated, or innovative, you will
want to spend considerable time describing them.

In this part of your plan, clearly identify and describe the nature of the products or
services you provide. Be fairly specific, but if you have a large line of products or
services, you do not need to list each one, as long as you indicate the general categories.
Also indicate future products or services planned by you and when you expect to
introduce them.

Legal Issues

Legal form

What is the legal form of your business currently?

• Sole proprietorship
• Partnership
• Subchapter S Corporation
• C Corporation
• Limited Liability Business
• No legal entity / status
• Other, describe

Ownership

If a sole proprietor or partnership, list the owners.

Have you secured written agreements between / with:

• Principals, partners
• Suppliers
• Investors
• Key employees / management
• Customers
• Strategic partners

We suggest consulting an attorney to help you draft these documents, or to help review
the ones that have already been drafted.
Management / Leadership

List key members of management and describe their positions.

Business location

List the location of your facility.

Development stage and milestones achieved to date

Begin by stating when your business was founded. Next, indicate your phase of
development: a startup (in early stages of operation); expansion (adding new products or
services); or established (maintaining what you are working for while being employed at
that facility).

Financial status

You also want to give a brief idea of the status of your business in financial and
personnel terms.
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See the income statement example given previously.

Activity

Using the guidelines above, create your business description and include:
• Objective
• Mission Statement
• Product and/or Service
• Legal Entity
• Management / Leadership Personnel
• Location
• Financial Status
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V. STRATEGIC POSITION & RISK ASSESSMENT

In today’s highly competitive and constantly changing business environment, it’s no

longer enough just to know how to run a business; you also have to know what business
you’re really running. While you must, of course, attend to the basics of operating your
business, you also have to see exactly where you stand in the marketplace, what makes
you compelling to customers, and what advantages you have over the competition. You
need a clearly-defined strategic position.

Today’s business reality is that customers have easy, convenient access to many of your
competitors, some of whom may sell the same or similar products or services for lower
prices. In this environment, you have to develop a distinct impetus for your customer to
keep doing business with you.

A strategic position defines what you do

One of the great advantages of outlining a strategic position is it gives you a touchstone
when making business decisions. Just as well-written mission statement guides your
business’ values and long-term vision, a well-delineated strategic position influences
almost every aspect of your business, such as the development of your products or
services, marketing, operations, and choice of location.

Your strategic position should be where you find the following coming together:
• Your strengths and interests
• Industry trends and developments
• Market changes and opportunities
• Competitive changes and opportunities
• Changes and opportunities brought through new technologies

What kind of strategic positions are there?

What makes a facility different? There are several ways to distinguish yourself from
your competitors, including:
• Customer perception factors
• Market segment / share
• Operational / technological advantages
• Proprietary products, technology, abilities or relationships
• Sales channels

Customer perception factors

This is the “better, faster, cheaper” approach based on how customers distinguish your
facility and its products and services from the competition. Some key customer
perception factors include:
• Price
• Quality
• Features
• Customer service
• Convenience

Market segment

This strategy is based on targeting a specific portion of the total market. Some possible
ways of segmenting the market are:
• Geographic location
• Age, income, interests, family size, etc. of consumer served (in business-to-consumer
companies)
• Age, size and/or industry of business served (in business-to-business companies)
• Customers’ specialized need

Market share

This strategy is based on establishing and commanding such a dominant portion of the
total customer base that it becomes difficult for others to compete. The goal is to become
the “800-pound gorilla” of a market. Obviously, our goals in the golf business are
somewhat different. We are not trying to put other PGA professionals out of business.
But, competition is always healthy!

Branding

One increasingly important strategy that many companies pursue is intentionally trying to
build a brand. By becoming a brand name, customers develop such a strong relationship
with your facility that it is difficult for others to compete.

Strategic position plan preparation

Provide information about the following to use as the basis for the Strategic Position &
Risk Analysis section of your business plan.
• Industry trends
• Target market
• Competitive environment
• Your strengths relative to the competition
• Your weaknesses relative to the competition
• Risks

Your business’ message

Every business sends a message in its marketing. This message, based on the strategic
position the business stakes out for itself, emphasizes particular attributes, such as “low-
price leader” or “one-day service.” Or perhaps the message exploits a market niche:
“specialists in golf”. Maybe the message is less direct and aimed more at the customer’s
self-image: “the choice of a new generation” or “you deserve a break today.”
The four P’s of marketing

1. Product. The tangible aspects of the product or service itself

2. Price. The cost advantage
3. Place. The location’s convenience and décor
4. Promotion. The amount and nature of the marketing activities

What customers want: The five F’s

“The Five F’s,” shown below, are a convenient way to sum up what customers want:

1. Functions. How does the product or service meet their concrete needs?
2. Finances. How will the purchase affect their overall financial situation, not just
the price of the product or service, but other savings and increased productivity?
3. Freedom. How convenient is it to purchase and use the product or service? How
will they gain more time and less worry in other aspects of their lives?
4. Feelings. How does the product or service make customers feel about
themselves, and how does it affect and relate to their self-image? Do they like
and respect your business?
5. Future. How will they deal with the product or service and your business over
time? Will support and service be available? How will the product or service
affect their lives in the coming years?

Marketing Vehicles / Tools

Once you have clarified what you want to tell customers about your business, you must
describe how you disseminate that information.

How do you reach potential customers? Do you advertise? If so, where? Do you send
direct mail? If so, to what mailing lists? Do you use the Internet or create a phone
calling campaign? Do you have a database of your customers’ birthdays, anniversaries,
etc.?

Since every marketing vehicle costs money, carefully plan how you intend to spend your
marketing dollars in the categories listed above. Some will be more useful for certain
types of facilities. Thus, in devising your overall marketing program, be sure you look
for:

• Fit. Your marketing vehicles must reach your actual target customer and be
appropriate to your image.
• Mix. Use more than one method so customers get exposure to you from a number of
sources.
• Repetition. It takes many exposures before a customer becomes aware of a message.
• Affordability.
Activity

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DEVELOPMENT, MILESTONES AND EXIT PLAN

Where do you want to go?

If a business plan serves as a road map for your business, then to use it properly, a sense
of your ultimate destination is required. What do you want your business to look like in
three, five, or seven years? You can’t hope to just stumble across success; you have to
figure out how to get there. One of the most important aspects of the business planning
process, therefore, is the examination of your long-term goals.

Goals

In assessing your business concept, consider which of the following visions you have for
your business and yourself:
• Steady provider. Maintain a stable level of profit; earn a good, reliable income
while owning your own business.
• Innovator. Produce new and different products or services; change the way the
market views the product or service; act on your creativity.
• Quality leader. Produce the product or service everyone would buy if price were no
object; develop a reputation for excellence; take pride in creating the best.
• Market or industry leader. Dominate the market in terms of sales and products;
have a well-known name and run a large operation.
• Niche leaders. Carve out a narrow place in the market that your business dominates;
do only one thing, but do it extremely well.
• Exploiter. Take advantage of the trends of the moment or copy the successes of
others; take risks for quick rewards.

Strategies to meet your goals

You now must consider what business strategy will take your business from its present
situation towards your long-term goals. Developing an overall strategy gives you the
basis for deciding on the priorities for specific actions and expenditures of funds.

Among the business strategies you might undertake are:

• Market penetration. Gain a foothold in the market as you introduce either the
business or a new product or service and attempt to develop sufficient sales to sustain
your initial development/
• Promotion and support. Intensify the marketing and development of your current
product or service lines to increase sales and gain market share.
• Expansion. Add products or services in existing lines, additional locations,
production capacity, or distribution systems in an effort to increase sales.
• Increase focus. Narrow the scope of activities of your business by eliminating some
products or services and marshaling your resources on your remaining line(s) to
increase profit margin.
• Diversity. Add new product or service lines (or buy other companies), thus
broadening the nature of the business, in an effort to expand the overall size and sales
 of the business and making you less dependent on your current products or services
for survival.
• Refocus. Modify the essential nature of the business in terms of market, products, or
services to respond to changing conditions or substantial business reverses.
VI. CREATE YOUR PLAN

Five crucial minutes

The most important aspects of your plan must jump out at even the most casual reader.
Even if your plan is intended for internal use only, it will be more effective if it is
presented in a compelling, vivid form. Highlighting specific facts, goals, and conclusions
makes your plan easier to review, more effective as a working document, and increases
your chances of making a positive impact.

As you start your business plan process, keep in mind the kind of information, statistics,
and graphics your readers expect to see and that will enable your plan to make a greater
impact. When it comes time to put your plan into final form, you will then have this
information handy.

How your business plan is read

When evaluating a business plan, experienced business plan readers generally spend the
first five minutes reviewing it in this order: first, the Executive Summary; second, the
Financials; third, the Management section.

The most asked questions

• Is the business plan solid?

• Is there sufficient market for the product or service offered?
• Are the financial projections healthy and realistic?
• Is key management described in the plan experienced and capable?
• Does the plan clearly describe a complete financial package with goals and
objectives?

Increasing the reader’s interest

Three sections – the Executive Summary, the Financials, and the Management
description – must spark enough interest and inspire sufficient confidence to make the
reader decide it is worthwhile to spend additional time reading other sections of your
plan.

Getting your facts right

The worst mistake you can make in a business plan is to make a mistake. If the reader of
your plan knows a statement you have made is not true, you have lost credibility, even if
you were just mistaken, not trying to mislead. Make certain your facts are correct.
Length of the plan

Limit the plan itself to cover all necessary ingredients in a precise manner. Twenty pages
are usually enough for nearly any business.

What period of time should your plan cover?

Most plans should project three to five years into the future, or until you have reached
your anticipated exit strategy, whichever is earlier. For the second and third years,
quarterly financials are usually adequate; annual projections suffice for fourth and fifth
years.

Use language to convey success

The language you use in your plan can give the impression you are thoughtful,
knowledgeable, and prudent, or, conversely, it can make you seem naïve and
inexperienced. Your fundamental goal is to convey realistic optimism and businesslike
enthusiasm about your prospects.

Use a straightforward, even understated, tone. Let the information you convey, rather
than your language, inescapably lead to the conclusion that your business will succeed.
Avoid formal, stilted language. Instead be natural, as if you were speaking to the reader
in person; however, avoid slang and don’t be chatty. Always be professional.

Use business terms

Although it is certainly not necessary to be a business school graduate to develop a

business plan, you should know and use appropriate basic business terms. You don’t
want to be discredited or misunderstood by using words improperly.

Use numbers for impact

People tend to put great faith in numbers, and using numbers to support your plan can
add significant credibility.

Use bullet points

Bullets are symbols that precede information offset from the text (such as the small boxes
before the three sentences below). Bullets:

• Draw attention to specific information.

• Make long material more inviting to read.
• Eliminate the need to write whole sentences.
Bullet points are an excellent way to convey information, and they make writing your
plan somewhat easier. Because they are read faster than text and quickly get the reader’s
attention, use bullet points only with information you particularly want the reader to
notice.

Using visuals in your plan

In the case of your business plan, a picture may be worth more than a thousand words. A
thousand words, after all, most likely will not be read, but a picture will definitely be
looked at. Graphs, charts, and illustrations also are visually appealing; they catch the
reader’s attention, forcefully explain concepts, and break up the monotony of the text.

Graphs and charts

Graphs and charts are excellent tools for communicating important or impressive
information, and you should find ways of including graphs or charts in your plan. Place
charts, particularly of half-page size or less, in the text rather than in the appendix; this
will engage the reader with your plan, and many readers pay minimal attention to the
appendix.
The Executive Summary is crucial

Without a doubt, the single most important portion of your business plan is the Executive
Summary. Only a clear, concise, and compelling condensation of your business right up
front will persuade readers to wade through the rest of your plan. No matter how
beneficial your business or product, it is your Executive Summary alone that persuades a
reader to spend the time to find out about your product, market, and techniques.

Write your summary last

Because of this, it is imperative that you prepare the Executive Summary last. Although
it appears first in your completed document, the Summary reflects the results of all your
planning and should be crafted only after careful consideration of all other aspects of
your business.

Even if your business plan is for internal use only, the Executive Summary is still crucial.
The Summary is the place where you bring all your thoughts and planning together,
where you make a whole out of the disparate parts of your business, and where you “sum
up” all that you propose. So, if you have not yet completed the other sections of your
plan, return to the Executive Summary when you have finished the rest of your plan.

What to convey in your Executive Summary

The Executive Summary gives the reader a chance to understand the basic concept and
highlights of your business quickly, and to decide whether to commit more time to
reading the entire plan. Therefore, your goal in the Executive Summary is to motivate
and entice the reader.

In a short space, you must let the reader know that:

• Your basic business concept makes sense.
• Your business itself has been thoroughly planned.
• The management is capable.
• A clear-cut market exists.
• Your business incorporates significant competitive advantages.
• Your financial projections are realistic.

Length and design of the summary

The great advantage to the reader of the Executive Summary is that it is short. An
Executive Summary should be no more than two to three pages in length. A one-page
Summary is perfectly acceptable.

Your Executive Summary is the single most important part of your business plan; it must
motivate the reader to consider your plan as a whole.
Synopsis Executive Summary Plan Preparation

Take highlights from each section of your completed plan and address the areas listed
below. Remember to be brief and clear. Cover each topic in no more than one to three
sentences. Describe only the most important and impressive features of your business.

Business description: List the facility name, type of business, location, and legal status,
e.g., corporation, sole proprietorship, partnership.

Statement of mission: Write the concise statement of business purpose you developed.

Products and services: List the products or services your business sells.

Target market: List the markets you intend to reach and why you chose them; indicate
the results of any market analysis or market research.
PREPARING, PRESENTING AND SENDING OUT YOUR PLAN

Now that your plan is complete, or almost complete, it’s time to put it to use.
Ideally, this course has helped you work through the process of developing your
plan and improved your understanding of the forces that affect your business
success. If you now do nothing more than put the written document on the shelf and
never look at it again, you will still have already reaped major benefits.

Cover sheet

The very first page in your plan should be a simple cover sheet (different from the cover
letter). When binding your plan with a clear front cover (which is recommended), your
cover sheet then becomes, in effect, your plan’s cover. As such, it should make a positive
first impression. It must be uncluttered and businesslike. On your cover letter, include
this information:

• The words “Business Plan”

• The name of your business
• The date
• The name of the contact person
• The business logo, if desired

You should be able to put all of this information on a cover sheet and still leave attractive
white space on the page.

Table of Contents

Any plan more than 10 pages long benefits from a table of contents. Place it at the
beginning of your plan, immediately after your cover sheet and before the executive
summary. Title your table of contents “Contents,” and simply list the sections and page
numbers on which each section starts. If you want to draw attention to particular portions
of certain sections, do so by using subheadings for those sections in the table of contents,
but don’t get carried away. After all, a business plan is relatively short, and your readers
can find their way around fairly easily.

Activity

Create your business plan by following these guidelines. Include your 12-month
operating and cash flow budgets and how you plan to monitor performance against the
plan.
OUTLINE OF A BUSINESS PLAN

I. Executive Summary

II. Business Description

A. Legal Name and Form of Business
B. Mission Statement / Objectives
C. Names of Top Management
D. Location and Geographical Information
E. Trademarks, Copyrights & Other Legal Issues
F. Business Products or Services
G. Specialty Business Information
H. Financial Status
I. Milestones Achieve to Date

III. Industry Analysis and Trends

A. Size and Growth
B. Maturity of Industry
C. Vulnerability to Economic Factors
D. Seasonal Factors
E. Technological Factors
F. Regulatory Issues
G. Supply and Distribution
H. Financial Considerations
I. Anticipated Changes & Trends in Industry

IV. The Target Market

A. Demographics / Geographics
B. Lifestyle and Psychographics
C. Purchasing Patterns
D. Buying Sensitivities
E. Size and Trends of Market

V. The Competition
A. Competitive Position
B. Market Share Distribution
C. Barriers to Entry
D. Future Competition

VI. Strategic Position & Risk Assessment

A. Business Strengths
B. Market / Industry Opportunities
C. Risks Assessment
D. Definition of Strategic Position
VII. Marketing Plan and Sales Strategy
A. Business’ Message
B. Marketing Vehicles
C. Other Marketing Tactics
D. Sales Force and Structure
E. Sales Assumptions

VIII. Operations
A. Facilities
B. Equipment and Technology
C. Variable Labor Requirements
D. Inventory Management
E. Supply and Distribution
F. Order Fulfillment and Customer Service
G. Research and Development
H. Quality Control
I. Safety, Health and Environmental Concerns
J. Shrinkage
K. Management Information Systems
L. Other Operational Concerns

IX. Technology Plan

A. Technology Goals and Positions
B. Internet Goals and Plan
C. Hardware Needs
D. Software Needs
E. Telecommunications Needs
F. Technology Personnel Needs

X. Management and Organization

A. Principals / Key Employees
B. Management to be Added
C. Organizational Chart
D. Management Style

XI. Community Involvement & Social Responsibility

A. Social Responsibility Goals
B. Business Policies
C. Community Activities

XII. Development, Milestones & Exit Plan

A. Long-Term Business Goals
B. Growth Strategy
C. Milestones
XIII. The Financials
A. Income Statement
B. Cash Flow
C. Balance Sheet
D. Break-Even Analysis (if desired)
E. Plan Assumptions
F. Uses of Funds