Simple business plan outline

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Executive Summary: Write this last. Its just a page or two of highlights. Company Description: Legal establishment, history, start-up plans, etc. Product or Service: Describe what youre selling. Focus on customer benefits. Market Analysis: You need to know your market, customer needs, where they are, how to reach them, etc. Strategy and Implementation: Be specific. Include management responsibilities with dates and budgets. Make sure you can track results. Web Plan Summary: For e-commerce, include discussion of website, development costs, operations, sales and marketing strategies. Management Team: Describe the organization and the key management team members. Financial Analysis: Make sure to include at the very least your projected Profit and Loss and Cash Flow tables.

Build your plan, then organize it. I dont recommend developing the plan in the same order you present it as a finished document. For example, although the Executive Summary obviously comes as the first section of a business plan, I recommend writing it after everything else is done. It will appear first, but you write it last.

Standard tables and charts

There are also some business tables and charts that are normally expected in a standard business plan. Cash flow is the single most important numerical analysis in a plan, and should never be missing. Most plans will also have Sales Forecast and Profit and Loss statements. I believe they should also have separate Personnel listings, projected Balance Sheet, projected Business Ratios, and Market Analysis tables. I also believe that every plan should include bar charts and pie charts to illustrate the numbers.

Expanded business plan outline

Heres an expanded full business plan outline, with details you might want to include in your own business plan. 1.0 Executive Summary 1.1 Objectives 1.2 Mission 1.3 Keys to Success 2.0 Company Summary 2.1 Company Ownership

2.2 Company History (for ongoing companies) or Start-up Plan (for new companies) 2.3 Company Locations and Facilities 3.0 Products and Services 3.1 Product and Service Description 3.2 Competitive Comparison 3.3 Sales Literature 3.4 Sourcing and Fulfillment 3.5 Technology 3.6 Future Products and Services 4.0 Market Analysis Summary 4.1 Market Segmentation 4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy 4.2.1 Market Needs 4.2.2 Market Trends 4.2.3 Market Growth 4.3 Industry Analysis 4.3.1 Industry Participants 4.3.2 Distribution Patterns 4.3.3 Competition and Buying Patterns 4.3.4 Main Competitors 5.0 Strategy and Implementation Summary 5.1 Strategy Pyramids 5.2 Value Proposition 5.3 Competitive Edge 5.4 Marketing Strategy 5.4.1 Positioning Statements 5.4.2 Pricing Strategy 5.4.3 Promotion Strategy 5.4.4 Distribution Patterns 5.4.5 Marketing Programs 5.5 Sales Strategy 5.5.1 Sales Forecast 5.5.2 Sales Programs 5.6 Strategic Alliances 5.7 Milestones 6.0 Web Plan Summary 6.1 Website Marketing Strategy 6.2 Development Requirements 7.0 Management Summary 7.1 Organizational Structure 7.2 Management Team

7.3 Management Team Gaps 7.4 Personnel Plan 8.0 Financial Plan 8.1 Important Assumptions 8.2 Key Financial Indicators 8.3 Break-even Analysis 8.4 Projected Profit and Loss 8.5 Projected Cash Flow 8.6 Projected Balance Sheet 8.7 Business Ratios 8.8 Long-term Plan

Business plan outline advice

Size your business plan to fit your business. Remember that your business plan should be only as big as what you need to run your business. While everybody should have planning to help run a business, not everyone needs to develop a complete formal business plan suitable for submitting to a potential investor, or bank, or venture contest. So dont include outline points just because they are on a big list somewhere, or on this list, unless youre developing a standard business plan that youll be showing to somebody else who expects a standard business plan. Consider plan-as-you-go business planning. Ive done a lot of work on this idea lately, resulting in my new Plan As You Go business planning, which is a now a book published by Entrepreneur Press, available through Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Borders, and bundled as an eBook with Business Plan Pro and LivePlan.

Executive Summary
Introduction Fosse Commercial Contractors LLC is a small construction company formed from the merger of Fosse Painting & General Construction and West General Contractors. The company has successfully operated in the Houston area for the past ten years working on both small and large scale construction, repair, and alteration projects focusing on residential contracting. With the business boom that is occuring in our local area and the desire to improve overall profit margins, the company is planning to shift its target market from residential clients to the larger commercial customers. This business plan will lay out our goals and tasks to make this transition successful and create enough market share to succeed in this highly competitive market. The Company Houston based Fosse Commercial Contractors, LLC began in 1985 when Mr. Robert Fosse began his own company, Fosse Painting and General Construction. In 1993 the original company

was merged with another small scale local company, West General Contractors and the company began to bid successfully for larger scale projects. As part of its growth and altered focus, FCC is planning on changing its charter from a limited liability company to a class C corporation registered in Texas. This will allow FCC greater access to investment funds to fuel its growth. Services Fosse offers comprehensive services designed allow the company to do whatever it takes to finish a project. Some of these services include; design work, remodeling and alterations, permitting, site preparation, carpentry, cement foundations, painting, and plumbing and utilities installation. In addition, skills Fosse lacks can be subcontracted. The Market The Houston area is booming at this moment, overall business growth during the past seven years has averaged approximately 9.5% and is expected to continue for at least the next four years. This makes for a very attractive market for Fosse Commercial Contractors. We will be concentrating on the customers that will provide us with the greatest margin, in other words those clients desiring office building construction. This is the fastest growing segment of commercial clients requiring our services. The other categories that we will serve include the restaurant segment, the special facilities segment, and all other potential commercial clients. Financial Considerations Fosse has only a small amount of debt and intends to stay that way. We expect to see increased profits from our market shift efforts by the end of Year 2. Over the next three years we expect lower profits as we make inroads into this tough market. We estimate that we will be able to reduce marginal costs and increase overall profitability by Year 3 or Year 4 as we grow and take advantages of economies of scale.

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1.1 Objectives
Fosse Commercial Contractors plans to:

Significantly expand into the commercial and office building contracting market to improve profit margins and increase local market share. Expand services and decrease costs by creating a permanent painting crew, as well as adding a bookkeeper and an accountant to our staff. Begin to market and offer services in the San Antonio area in preparation for opening an office there in Year 4.

1.2 Mission
Fosse Commercial Contractors (FCC) strives to offer the finest quality design, site preparation, cost estimates, construction, repair, and alteration to clients needing large scale construction services, whether it be office buildings, warehouses, large apartment complexes, public works, etc. Fosse maintains the highest standards of service in the commercial construction industry.

1.3 Keys to Success

The local commercial construction market is booming at the moment. In order to achieve a defendable position in this environment, Fosse must concentrate on the following tasks.

Secure at least five large scale commercial contracts over the next three years. Expand our customer base through expansion into other geographic areas to retain a sufficient level of profitability. Increase marketing expenditures by 15%.

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Company Summary
Fosse Commercial Contractors, LLC began in 1985 when Mr. Robert Fosse began his own company, Fosse Painting and General Construction in the Houston area. In 1993 the original company was merged with another small-scale local company, West General Contractors, and the company began to bid successfully for larger scale projects. In 2002 the company's management came to the conclusion that the firm had grown sufficiently to alter its primary target market segment from the residential construction segment to the higher margin office and commercial construction segment. The company plans to implement this change by the middle of Year 1. As part of its growth and altered focus, FCC is planning on changing its charter from a limited liability company to a class C corporation registered in Texas, allowing greater access to investment funds to fuel its growth.

2.1 Company History

Fosse Commercial Contractors, LLC began in the Houston area in 1985 when Mr. Robert Fosse, who had worked in the residental construction business for ten years began his own company, Fosse Painting and General Construction in the Houston area. For the next eight years the company grew slowly, working mostly on small scale residential projects while gaining a reputation for quality services and reliability. In 1993 the original company was merged with another small-scale local company, West General Contractors and the company began to bid successfully for larger projects. The company maintains a General Contractor's license in the state of Texas. In 2002 the company's management came to the conclusion that the firm had grown sufficiently to alter its primary target market from the residential construction segment to the higher margin office and commercial construction segment. The company plans to implement this change by the middle of 2004.

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Past Performance 2001 Sales Gross Margin Gross Margin % Operating Expenses Collection Period (days) Inventory Turnover Balance Sheet 2001 Current Assets Cash $36,705 $38,430 $40,428 2002 2003 $523,276 $94,190 18.00% $41,129 42 2.00 2002 $547,870 $98,124 17.91% $43,063 45 2.00 2003 $571,976 $111,364 19.47% $44,957 48 2.00

Accounts Receivable Inventory Other Current Assets Total Current Assets Long-term Assets Long-term Assets Accumulated Depreciation Total Long-term Assets Total Assets Current Liabilities Accounts Payable Current Borrowing

$18,215 $39,240 $37,300 $131,460

$22,403 $41,083 $35,661 $137,577

$23,157 $43,220 $37,991 $144,796

$18,540 $6,000 $12,540 $144,000

$19,411 $7,000 $12,411 $149,988

$20,421 $8,000 $12,421 $157,217

$23,300 $17,000

$22,600 $18,000 $23,162 $63,762 $18,164 $81,926 $0 $68,062 $0 $68,062 $149,988

$25,400 $20,000 $21,677 $67,077 $19,039 $86,116 $0 $71,101 $0 $71,101 $157,217

Other Current Liabilities (interest free) $20,600 Total Current Liabilities Long-term Liabilities Total Liabilities Paid-in Capital Retained Earnings Earnings Total Capital Total Capital and Liabilities Other Inputs Payment Days Sales on Credit Receivables Turnover 15 $156,983 8.62 $60,900 $17,438 $78,338 $0 $65,662 $0 $65,662 $144,000

15 $164,361 7.34

15 $171,593 7.41

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2.2 Company Ownership

Fosse is a Limited Liability Company registered in the state of Texas. Fosse Commercial Contractors, LLC is exclusively owned by Mr. Robert Fosse (50%) and his partner, Michael West (50%). The company is expecting to alter to a Class C corporation chartered in Texas in 2004. This will create greater investment opportunities through the acquisition of investment capital from a limited number of shareholders.

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Services
Fosse offers a comprehensive package of services designed to allow the client to work with one of our managers and create a project the company can carry forward to completion. Some of the myriad services Fosse offers are:

Design work Remodeling and alterations Permitting Site preparation Carpentry Cement foundations Painting Plumbing and utilities installation Exterior renovations Subcontractor assessment and evaluation.

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Market Analysis Summary

The Houston area is booming at this moment, overall business growth over the past seven years has averaged approximately 9.5% and is expected to continue for at least the next four years. This constitutes an attractive market for Fosse Commercial Contractors.

We will be concentrating on the customers that will provide us with the greatest margin, in other words those clients desiring office building construction. This is the fastest growing segment of all the commercial clients requiring our services. The other categories we will serve include the restaurant and special facilities segments, along with a segment we will call the general category, to serve all other potential commercial clients.

4.1 Market Segmentation

At the moment our potential list of clients includes all the various businesses in the Houston area and its suburbs. According to the Texas Small Business Association there are 6,512 firms of all types and sizes in the surrounding area. We will concentrate on the customers that can provide us with the greatest margin, in other words those clients desiring office building construction. This is the fastest growing segment of all the commercial clients requiring our services. The other categories that we will serve include the restaurant segment, the special facilities segment, such as gas stations, and theaters, and a category which we will call "general", encompassing all other potential commercial clients.

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Market Analysis

2004 Potential Customers Office building construction 6% Restaurant construction 3% Growth 2,517 1,779 2,750 3,264 10,310 2,668 1,832 2,833 3,329 10,662

2005

2006

2007

2008 CAGR

2,828 1,887 2,917 3,396 11,028

2,998 1,944 3,005 3,464 11,411

3,178 2,002 3,095 3,533 11,808

6.00% 3.00% 3.00% 2.00% 3.45%

Special facilities construction 3% General construction Total 2% 3.45%

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4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy

Since office building construction has the highest average profit margin, we will focus most of our marketing and servicing toward these customers. Usually these clients require the largest projects in scope, land use, and cost. In addition, they tend to be the most sensitive to completion times. Therefore, we plan to accommodate these clients through a well established and expeditious permitting program, strict cost accounting and supply management, and intensive and comprehensive project management capitalizing on Fosse's experience in the field.

4.3 Service Business Analysis

The Houston area is booming at this moment, with overall business growth for the past seven years averaging approximately 9.5%. This growth level is expected to continue for at least the next four years. One of the prime reasons for this growth is the creation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), that removed trade boundaries throughout our continent. Texas is ideally situated to take advantage of these new conditions and is experiencing a boom to prove it. This makes for a very attractive market for Fosse Commercial Contractors. The commercial construction industry is highly fragmented across the nation. More than 86% of all construction companies in the U.S. consist of small "mom and pop" style companies employing less than ten individuals. Contrasted to this are the large companies that engage in "heavy" construction such as roads, shopping malls, etc. who often have a nationwide scope and employ several thousands of workers. This creates a highly competitive market with low profit margins. Companies wanting to create a defensible position in this market need some form of competitive edge, such as brand name, low cost advantages, or size.

4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns

Currently we have three major competitors within the Houston area. These are TNT General Contractors, Texas Specialty Construction, and Polanski Construction. Each of these companies targets the same clients as Fosse and each has a fine reputation for customer satisfaction. However, the market in Houston is growing so fast that the demand is currently greater than supply. This is an excellent opportunity to gain market share and a defensible position in the industry. One of the greatest limiting factors in this industry is its strong seasonality. During the winter months, contracts and production drop off sharply, increasing the company's short-term risk of cash flow shortfall.

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Strategy and Implementation Summary

Fosse plans to market itself through a variety of methods. Our plan will use referral systems, radio and published ads, leveraging of our pre-existing contacts with the local real estate companies, and industry contacts. Fosse has been able to gain a very advantageous supplier contract that will allow Fosse to obtain its materials at a significant discount. This will allow the company to underbid its rivals and achieve a low cost leadership role.

5.1 Competitive Edge

In the construction industry the primary ways to compete are through low cost or better project management. One of the most important processes for winning a contract is the bid process. Fosse has a unique competitive edge over most of its competitors. Mr. David West, FCC's General Projects Manager, is the nephew of Charles Nunn, who owns McHoughton's Lumber, one of the Midwest's major construction material suppliers. Through this relationship, Fosse has been able to gain a very advantageous supplier contract allowing Fosse to obtain its materials at a significant discount. With this edge the company can underbid its rivals and achieve a low cost leadership role.

5.2 Marketing Strategy

Fosse plans to market itself through a variety of methods. First, the company will use a referral system with local businesses. We will also air radio spots and publish ads in a variety of commercial construction trade magazines. In addition we will leverage our pre-existing contacts with the local real estate companies. Finally, as a member of the local construction association, we will be updated on new projects let out for bid.

5.3 Sales Strategy

The most critical part of sales is not the marketing, but the bidding process, in which companies offer their designs, services, material quality, project timeline estimates, and costs. The company that offers the best combination of these variables is the most likely to get the contract. Therefore very detailed project planning, including supply agreements, labor needs, subcontractors, presentation, and other factors, is crucial for Fosse in winning contracts. We will be designing a standardized method for doing this with all our contracts, with an emphasis on quality, timeliness, and low cost to outbid our competitors.

5.3.1 Sales Forecast

Sales forecasts are based on conservative estimates. We expect sales in 2003 to be lower than previously planned as we adjust to a new client base. After that, we expect sales growth to be much higher as we gain market share.

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Need actual charts?

We recommend using LivePlan as the easiest way to create graphs for your own business plan. Create your own business plan

Sales Forecast 2004 Sales New Construction Repair work Alteration work Total Sales Direct Cost of Sales New Construction Repair work Alteration work $247,562 $293,478 $332,165 $250,414 $293,478 $332,165 $245,760 $293,478 $332,165 $743,736 $880,434 $996,495 2004 2005 2006 2005 2006

$176,797 $214,239 $242,480 $181,004 $214,239 $242,480 $177,723 $220,109 $249,124 $535,525 $648,586 $734,085

Subtotal Direct Cost of

Sales

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