FIRST THOUGHTS ON LAYOUT 27
Make it feel good
Business plans are usually produced for a very limited circulation, and are often revised
several times during their short life. This almost certainly precludes the cost of profes-
sional design and printing.
It is most likely that you will print your plan using an office printer and either put it
in a ring binder or use a simple binding machine to add a comb or spiral binding. It is
advisable to use a binding method that allows the user to open it at any place and lay it
flat. You will weaken the reader’s concentration if he or she is struggling to keep it flat or
scrabbling around collecting up pages that have made a break for freedom.
The quality of the binder and the paper is important. The plan is often the reader’s first
substantive contact with your business. Do not overdo it, but remember that using good
quality material creates a better impression of your business. If you are raising venture
capital, the extra cost per plan is probably insignificant in the overall scheme of things.
If you take a look at reports produced by or for financiers, you will notice a tendency
towards stiff dark blue or green covers and cream paper. You might want to borrow this
style of presentation if you are trying to sell to a banker.
High-quality computer printers are so affordable now that there is almost no excuse for
poor printing. You can produce a report with near-photographic quality colour pictures
for a very small outlay. If you are in an impoverished start-up situation, and you don’t have
a good printer even for your marketing activities, see if you can borrow one or consider
taking your report to a business bureau for printing.
Remember also the little details. Include tabbed dividers to help readers find their way
around long reports. A self-adhesive, clear plastic business card holder stuck inside the
front cover will make sure that your name, company logo and contact details are conspic-
uous and available. Insert several cards so that if someone takes one before passing on
your plan your details are still there. You can also use stick-on computer disk wallets if you
want to include information in electronic format.
‘I think it is an immutable law in business that words are words, explanations are
explanations, promises are promises – but only performance is reality.’
HAROLD GENEEN
First thoughts on layout
THE OVERALL IMPRESSION
Your business plan should be laid out so that it is inviting, pleasing to the eye and easy
to read. Time-honoured rules apply. Aim for a clean layout that is not overburdened with
text, without too many distracting typefaces, and with illustrations to aid understanding.
28 CHAPTER 2 A WINNING PRESENTATION
It is better not to try to cram too much print on to the page. Leave plenty of white
space so that the report looks less daunting. Where possible, present material in tables or
charts. This aids understanding and breaks up blocks of text. Plenty of sub-headings also
break up the text, help set expectations about what is coming next and assist with navi-
gation of the document.
Do not feel that you have to fill each page. If you could say what you have to say about
one topic – say, competitor analysis – in half a page and leave it at that, the plan would
then be very easy to read and not too daunting for the reader.
Try to write in a lively, active manner (we expect that …) rather than a dull passive voice
(it is to be expected that …).
Take care when handling future events. If sales double we will recruit an additional
account manager might be a perfectly reasonable statement of your strategy, but some
readers will take this as an indication that you are uncertain about the future. Make sure
that you are explicit. Our analysis indicates that we will maximise sales if we employ one
account manager for each … the trigger point for new recruitment is …
KEEPING CONTROL
Business plans usually go through many revisions and pass through many hands. Keeping
track of who sees what can become a big task unless – and I apologise for repeating this –
you plan it in advance.
It is well worthwhile borrowing the document control procedures set out in the ISO
9000 quality standards published by the International Standards Organisation. There are
two very important ideas that can be carried through to all your reports, even those that
are not part of an ISO quality control programme. The first idea, document identification
and change control, is discussed here and illustrated in Figure 2.1. The second, document
circulation control, is reviewed below.
Figure 2.1 Document identification
Document no. BP2011.01D released 30 October 2011
Document number Version/release number D = draft *
BP2011 01
* For example, the fifth internal draft of a plan might be numbered BP2011.05D. When the plan is
approved for release, the D is removed and the version number is reset to 1 (BP2011.01).
FIRST THOUGHTS ON LAYOUT 29
Give your plan an identification code, even if it is only something simple such as an indi-
cation of the period to which the plan applies – such as BP2011. The following year you
can number the plan BP2012, thereby avoiding any possible confusion. Keep a list of ver-
sion numbers and recipients. When you deal with a user of your plan, you want to know
that you are both working from the same document. Nothing is more embarrassing than
leaning across a board room table, squinting at a copy of your report and saying ‘Oh, you
have that copy do you? We had to delete Alberto’s name because he took another job
with better prospects …’.
CIRCULATION
ISO quality standards require that procedure manuals and other important documents
are carefully controlled. The objective is to ensure that everyone operates from the same
page of the correct document so that, for example, only current work procedures are
employed. There are some tricks that can be usefully employed for your business plan.
If you indicate who owns the plan (e.g. Head of Planning) and who approved its release
(Board of Directors) you are giving a clear signal to readers that there is some rigour in
your planning process. The reader is also guided to the correct point of contact in your
organisation if further information is required.
For a business plan being used only within your organisation, you may want to include
a revision history and a record of recipients. ISO quality standards also require that addi-
tions and deletions are clearly marked on the latest release so that recipients can quickly
assess the changes that have been made. All this can be helpful, but it is probably not
information that you want to make available to third parties. You might not want venture
capital providers to know that you are also talking to their rival, or that you have revised
sales down by 20% because of production difficulties.
Accordingly, you could have a document control page that is not included in external
releases. You might also turn on your word processor’s option for tracking changes, make
the revisions, save or print a copy for your records, then incorporate the changes, turn off
tracking, and print the clean copies for external circulation.
Finally, and again possibly only for internal copies, you might want to mimic the docu-
ment control standard that requires the previous release to be taken out of circulation
when a new version is released.
YOUR LEGAL ADVISER’S REQUIREMENTS
Your business plan contains your intellectual property. It describes the way that you are
going to run your business. This is potentially very valuable commercial information.
Some people say that your strategy is your most valuable asset. You should make sure
that you protect this property as effectively as possible.
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