Writing a business plan for a small business, like an upholstery shop, establishes a plan for guiding the business to increased profits and through growth stages. A well written business plan also provides a document to distribute to banks and other potential finance sources. The executive summary introduces the plan to the reader, and, hopefully, creates excitement about the shop's potential.
What is an Executive Summary?
The executive summary is, usually, the first thing loan arrangers and financiers will read when looking at a business plan. This is because the summary provides a brief listing of the most important business data. The excutive summary is drafted after all of the other business plan information has been compiled, analyzed, and put together in a document for presentation.
When writing an executive summary for an upholstery shop business plan, keep in mind that the ideal length for the summary is between one and two pages. Touch on the key points without expanding too much on the information. A sentence or two is plenty.
What Data Should a Business Plan Writer Include in the Executive Summary?
- Description of the upholstery shop - include a few concrete details like the physical location of the shop
- Description of the services provided by the shop - many areas of specialization are available in the upholstery industry, and if the shop puts out a unique offering, mention it here. If, for example, the shop specializes in customized street rod interiors, mention the training and skills of the workers, local car clubs, and the size of the entire automotive after-market industry.
- Mission statement - explain briefly why the business was opened.
- Information about the business owner, qualifications, plus data about key employees and their talents. However, avoid repeating information that was covered earlier when describing the services provided by the shop. The summary should be brief, and repeating information is a waste of space.
- What the shop stands for in the industry and community.
- The size of the market
- How customers will be reached
- Planned advertising or promotional items
- The competition - It might seem counter-intuitive to include information about the competition. However, including information about the competition helps to show there is a plan in place to make this upholstery shop stand out.
- The shop's financial projections - It is okay to expand a bit more in this section if the goal is to receive financing. Make sure the key data about how much earnings are expected so financiers will be able to see the shop's repayment potential.
- Specific growth plans for the shop
- Closing paragraph - Explain why this business will succeed.
Tools for Writing a Business Plan for Small Business
Business plan writers needing extra support have the option of accessing extra tools beyond the information provided in this article. Templates for writing an executive summary, executive summary books, online business plan help, as well as business plan software, will guide a new business plan writer through the steps of putting the information in order. However, it takes a personal touch to polish the data and make it flow.
Keep the purpose of the individual business plan in mind when writing the executive summary. Make sure the information the reader is looking for is included, because a busy reader might not read the entire business plan if the summary does not look promising.
Laure Justice - Laure is a Topic Editor for Suite101, covering three topics. View her full profile for details and contact information.
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