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The First Step: Create a Compelling Executive Summary
By Lawrence Frank | March 7, 2008
They say that the first step toward bringing your business to life should be the creation of a compelling executive summary which will be the single component that serves to convince others to learn more about your business. The potential readership of your summary may include prospective and current investors, strategic partners, distributors, vendors, legal, financial and other service providers. Remember, you only get one first impression. This is very true when it comes to your business plan’s executive summary.
Your executive summary needs to be well conceived and written in a style that is easy to understand. It must be concise, interesting and believable. You want your summary to reflect an exciting and achievable opportunity.
This is not an easy task. You must boil down the essense of your business, to no more than 3-5 pages. And it’s got to be high on the readability charts too! No easy task.
Before you begin to think that you’re done and have created your best effort at a first impression, ask yourself if it communicates the following:
Description of Product/Service
A brief description that focuses on the value of your product/service , not how it performs it. Remember to be focused on what the customer benefits.
Business Objective
What goal do you want your business to achieve? This can be measured in a variety of ways including market share, sales revenue, channel distribution and market leadership positioning. (A combination of these elements works well). Just remember to make sure that it is based upon measurable, believable and achievable objectives. This should be no more than a paragraph that is qualified within the business plan.
Market Size and Opportunity
Succinctly describe who will buy your product/service and at what volume. Make sure that your business plan contains a description of the market to qualify whatever projection you make.
Target Market Description
Briefly describe who will make the purchase decision for your product or service. Remember to always think beyond the reseller channel and describe the end-user too. This will indicate to a prospective investor that you have thought through a comprehensive positioning of your product in the market.
Competitive Advantage
Realism is the key word to bear in mind here. Make sure that you have described the current and potential competitive forces in the marketplace. Once you describe these forces, position your product relative to the competition in the market. Assuming you have a clear competitive advantage, take the description a step further and communicate how your business plans to leverage that advantage.
Management Team
Briefly describe the key executive management team. A paragraph that highlights the individual team members’ accomplishments in your market will suffice. In the event that your team is not completely formed, don’t worry, describe the roles and plan to fill.
What do you need to Succeed?
Don’t be shy about asking for what you need to move your business forward. This usually precedes the Usage of Funds statement, indicating how you propose to allocate funds and resources.
Preliminary Financials
Finally, describe what investors can expect to receive as a result of their investment in your business.
If you have managed to create an executive summary that dynamically expresses the above points in less than five pages, you’re ready to submit it to potential investors.
Creating a compelling executive summary takes a lot of time and thought. Don’t underestimate how disciplined you will have to be in creating this. Make sure it looks professional. Get feedback from respected colleagues. Have an AdviCoach work with you to develop. Refine and refine further.
Your business deserves to make a powerful and positive first impression… after all, it’s the only one it will get.
Topics: Business and Market Planning |