microsoft word business plan template

Free Microsoft Word Business Plan Templates

By Joe Weller | September 22, 2020

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We’ve compiled a variety of expert-approved business plan templates and samples for Microsoft Word. There are options for organizations of any size and type — from coffee shops and hair salons to professional services, and everything in between.

Included on this page, you’ll find Word business plan templates for small businesses , startup businesses , product and service businesses , and more.

Simple Business Plan Word Templates

These customizable business plan templates come professionally designed and ready to use, and are available to download in Microsoft Word format.

Simple Business Plan Template

Use this template as a basis for creating an organized and thorough business plan. Customize the built-in table of contents to suit your needs, and use the space included to detail the nature of your business, the solution to the problem you’re solving, a market analysis, key performance indicators (KPIs), financial forecasts, and more.

Download Simple Business Plan Template — Word

Simple 30-60-90 Business Plan Template

This template is ideal for developing a 90-day action plan to create and implement your business plan in manageable, 30-day chunks. Use the document to outline your main goals and deliverables, and then assign key business activities and deadlines to ensure your plan stays on track. 

Download Simple 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Template

Word  | Smartsheet

For more 30-60-90 business plan templates, visit our "Free 30-60-90-Day Business Plan Templates and Samples" article.

Simple Business Plan Outline Template

This template provides a standard outline for a traditional business plan, which you can use to guide your research and develop your plan. Easily modify the provided information to include information that is relevant to your business. 

Download Simple Business Plan Outline Template — Word

For additional downloadable resources in a variety of formats, visit, “ Simple Business Plan Templates .”

One-Page Business Plan Word Templates

These single page business plan templates in this section provide a useful way to organize ideas. Companies can use these templates to develop a pitch document for potential partners and investors.

One-Page Business Plan Template

Use this template to capture the main details of your business concept, including your product or service offering, who it benefits, how it helps your target buyer, the pricing structure, income streams, and key milestones. There’s also room at the bottom to include a SWOT analysis .

Download One-Page Business Plan Template

Word | Smartsheet

One-Page Lean Business Plan

This template utilizes a Lean approach to help you showcase the core concepts of your business idea in a scannable format. Provide a brief overview of your company and industry, the unique benefits your product or service possesses, distribution strategy, key objectives and success metrics, and a financial plan. Use the visual timeline at the bottom to display dates and milestones.

Download One-Page Lean Business Plan Template - Word  

One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

A 30-60-90-day template is useful for developing an actionable plan. Simply add your main goals and the activities required to achieve them in 30-day increments. Update the status of each goal regularly to ensure your plan stays on track.

Download One-Page 30-60-90 Day Business Plan Template

For additional single page plans, along with an example of a business plan , visit " One-Page Business Plan Templates with a Quick How-To Guide ."

Small Business Plan Word Templates

These customizable business plan templates are especially useful for small businesses to develop a roadmap for structuring, operating, and growing their organization.

Small Business Plan Template

This comprehensive business plan template is ideal for small businesses that want to thoroughly document key goals and the associated activities. Add essential information to each section to keep your plan clear and concise — and pay special attention to the financial section and provide details that will validate your plan.

Download Small Business Plan Template — Word

Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template

This fill-in-the-blank template is useful for small business owners that need some guidance adding details to the various elements of their business plan. Each section of this standard business plan comes with pre-filled content that you can expand on and customize to reflect the specific needs and details of your business. 

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Small Business Plan Template — Word

Additional Fill-in-the-Blank Business Plan templates can be found here . 

One-Page Small Business Plan Template

Small businesses can use this template to articulate business ideas in a succinct, easily digestible manner. There is space to include a business overview, key team members, a market analysis, marketing and sales plans, objectives and success metrics, and a financial plan.

Download One-Page Business Plan for Small Business — Word

Startup Business Plan Word Templates

These business plan templates are ideal for entrepreneurs to assess the viability of their idea and gain buy-in from prospective investors and stakeholders.

Startup Business Plan Template

Use this startup business plan template to create a strong and detailed roadmap of your concept and related goals. The template includes space for an executive summary, business description, summary of product or service offerings, pricing structure, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, startup expenses, funding sources, and more to ensure you have a thorough plan in place.

Download Startup Business Plan Template

Sample 30-60-90-Day Business Plan for Startup

This 30-60-90-day business plan template is versatile, and can be used to develop an actionable plan for virtually any business activity. This sample contains pre-filled information to help you explain the organization’s main goals and deliverables, as well as to assign key tasks, ownership, and deadlines. 

‌Download Sample 30-60-90 Day Business Plan for Startup Template

For additional resources to create your plan, visit “ Free Startup Business Plan Templates and Examples .”

Product and Service Business Plan Word Templates

These business plan templates are designed for a product or service-focused business to use to develop a workplan that articulates its vision and objectives.

Business Plan Template for Professional Services

Entrepreneurs offering professional services can use this document to outline the main goals and objectives associated with their business, as well as how they plan to achieve them. This template comes with a built-in table of contents and includes all the components of a traditional business plan, including the company background, market and industry analysis, competitive analysis, service offering details, promotional plan, sales forecasts, financial statements, and more.

Download Business Plan Template for Professional Services — Word

One-Page Business Plan for Service Business

This business plan template is ideal for a service-type business owner who needs a basic plan to jot down core business concepts. This single-page template has room to include the business mission and vision, service provided, target market, competitive advantage, marketing and sales plan, and key objectives. There is also a visual timeline of milestones included at the bottom of the template for tracking progress.

Download One-Page Business Plan Template for Service Business — Word

One-Page Business Plan for a Product Business

Use this one-page business plan to outline the key details related to your product-focused idea. Articulate the purpose and vision of your business, the problem your product solves, potential customers, how you will get your product to buyers, pricing strategy, main objectives, and success metrics. The timeline of milestones at the bottom of the template automatically creates a visual display of noteworthy activities. 

Download One-Page Business Plan for Product Business — Word

Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Word Templates

Use these pre-filled business plan templates as a basis to build a thorough plan that keeps your strategy aligned with sales, promotional, and financial objectives.

Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan

This fill-in-the-blank template features a traditional business plan layout, and includes pre-filled content in each section. Outline the key components of a well-rounded business plan, and add a company overview, market analysis, marketing and sales plan, operations plan, financial statements, supporting documentation, and more.

Download Simple Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Template — Word

Lean Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan

This Lean business plan has all the necessary parts to articulate your business vision and strategy. Add information about the problem you aim to solve, your product or service offering, unique value proposition, target customers, cost structure, revenue streams, and a timeline of milestones.

Download Fill-In-the-Blank Lean Business Plan Template — Word

For additional resources, visit " Free Fill-In-the-Blank Business Plan Templates ."

For more free, downloadable templates for all aspects of your business, take a look at “ Free Business Templates for Organizations of All Sizes .”

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Create useful and inviting templates for resumes, cover letters, cards, flyers, brochures, letters, certificates, and more with no design experience needed. Here's how:

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Let's create something in word, frequently asked questions, what can i use word document templates for.

You can use Word document templates to design resumes , create business invoices , customize annual calendars , and more. There are also templates that you can use throughout your business's internal operations. Use Word document templates to create a business plan , design and share your org chart, and make printable letter head .

How do I create or customize templates for Word?

You can make your own Word document templates from scratch. Create documents that fit your exact needs since the options are limitless when using Word. If you don't know how to begin, you can also edit existing templates and customize them so that their content, colors, fonts, and media are curated for you.

Where do I find Word templates?

You can find Word templates by using the search bar. When you search "Word," a variety of templates will come up in the results. You can customize their colors, text, media, and more.

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21+ FREE Multipage Business Plan Templates to Kickstart Your Business

Why is a business plan called the “foundation” of a business, download business plan templates in ms word format.

#1 – General Business Plan Format

#2 – Business Plan Template with Sample Data

Helpful Video Tutorial

#3 – nonprofit business plan.

#5 – Small Business Plan

#7 – Startup Business Plan

#9 – Business Continuity Plan

#10 – One-Page Business Plan

#11 – Traditional Business Plan

#12 – Lean Business Plan

#13 – E-Commerce Business Plan

#14 – Restaurant Business Plan

#15 – Retail Business Plan

#16 – Franchise Business Plan

#17 – Real Estate Business Plan

#18 – Consulting Business Plan

#19 – Financial Services Business Plan

#20 – SaaS (Software as a Service) Business Plan

#21 – Marketing Agency Business Plan

How does a business plan help you start and manage your business?

Serves as your light in the tunnel:, earns you triple the outcomes:, helps you in proving your efficacy:, helps you in securing investments and funding:, brings the right team on board:, how does one jump into the process of business plan designing.

• The Concept and idea behind your business
• Identifying your potential Clients or Customers
• Carving the Cashflow trails that can be expected

How do we organize a business plan for maximum efficiency?

• Executive summary – company’s goals (short-term as well as long-term), missions, and objectives
• Company and enterprise description – the structure, nature, history, mission, goals, and strategies. Explain what your enterprise aims to achieve and the industry it operates in.
• Products/services – What offerings will you provide to your market?
• Market Analysis – Understand your targeted customer base, industry knowledge, marketing data, and insights into your competitors.
• SWOT analysis – Analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to refine your strategy.
• Strategy and Implementation – Craft a sales and marketing strategy, plan for business promotion, navigate market entry, manage production and delivery, and outline your workforce strategies.
• Legal considerations – Address the legal matters essential for legitimizing your enterprise.
• Financial plans and projections – Detail profit and funding generation, strategies for sales maximization, cash flow management, and income statement projections.
• Timeline – Establish a timeline to track milestones and goals for your enterprise’s development.
• Appendix – Include additional supporting documents and resources.

How to choose the most appropriate plan for one’s business?

• A strategic plan can be chosen when you specifically want to focus on the organization’s vision and properties.
• A traditional plan can be selected when you wish to stick to the basic, standard template
• A lean plan can be your out-of-the-box thinking, helping you formulate a document based on new ideas. It takes less time to be formulated and is a summarized document.

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Business Plan Templates in Word

Craft comprehensive business strategies with ease using Template.net's free, editable business plans. From action plans to budgets, access a range of templates in Word, Excel, or one-page PSD files for seamless customization and printing.

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How To Make A Professional Business Plan

A business plan is a guide — a guide that describes your company objectives and explains how you plan to accomplish those objectives. Each company requires a written business plan. A formal business plan is essential to your organization's progress, whether it is to provide direction or attract potential investors. But how are you going to write a business plan? Here's how!

1. Research

Research and evaluate your product or service, target audience, and objective. Take into consideration spending as much time researching, assessing, and thinking as you decide writing the business plan. You need to understand your personal business, product, competition, and the market thoroughly to compose the ideal plan. In other words, it is your duty to know everything you can about your company and the sector you are entering. Research everything about your industry and speak to your audience.

2. Know the Purpose of your Business Plan

Just like making an action plan , your business plan must have a specific purpose. If you would like to attract investors, your plan should have a distinct objective, and you're going to write a plan targeting them. It should be simple and clear as possible. When defining your plan, make sure that you have also personally defined these objectives.

3. Make a Company Profile

Company profile involves your organization's background, what products or services you offer, your target market, your assets, how to fix an issue, and what makes your business different. Company profiles are commonly found on the website of the company and are used to attract potential clients and talent. Also, your profile can be used to determine your business.

4. Present All Aspects of the Business

Stakeholders want to make sure they make money from your company. Investors want to understand all about your company because of this expectation. Outline everything from your expenses, revenue, and industrial projections to assist with this process. Also, don't forget about some minor details such as your location strategy and licensing contracts .

5. Provide a Strategic Plan

An excellent business plan must have a marketing plan that is strategic and aggressive. This typically involves achieving marketing goals like to introduce new products, to expand the market for current products, to boost revenues in a specific product, market, or price range. Your strategic plan requires a section where you allocate funds for each scheduled activity. Creating separate expenses for internal hours and external costs would be useful for you.

6. Make it Adaptable

Just like developing a business analysis , ensure you can modify your plan depending on the audience reading your plan. Nevertheless, keep these changes limited from one plan to another. This implies that you must keep the same information across the board when sharing financial projections.

7. Expound Why You Care

Whether you're communicating your sales plan with an employer, a client or a member of a team, your plan requires to be enthusiastic and committed. Explain that you really care about your company and your plan. You may explain the failures you have experienced, list the issues you are hoping to fix, outline your values, and determine what makes you unique out from other competitors.

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35+ Best Business Plan Templates for Word 2024

Are you writing a business plan for a brand new startup? Or updating an old business plan for an established brand? Then this collection of MS Word business plan templates will definitely come in handy.

The key to making an effective business plan brochure that wins over investors and inspires employees is to use a modern and attractive design.

No one wants to read through a 100-page brochure that looks like a VCR manual from the 1960s. Today, people prefer cleaner brochure layouts with proper paragraph formatting that offer a much smoother reading experience.

Designing such modern business plan documents is not that difficult. In fact, you can easily create them using Word templates.

In this post, we showcase high-quality business plan templates for Word that have been designed by professionals. They feature modern designs and clean layouts that are perfect for all kinds of startups, businesses, and corporate companies. Have a look.

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Explore Word Templates

Education Business Plan Word Template

This Word template is designed for making business plan documents related to educational brands and businesses. However, you can easily customize the design to make business plans for various other industries. The template includes 20 unique page layouts with modern designs.

Business Plan & Proposal Template for Word

You can use this Word template to make both business proposals and business plans. It has a very flexible page design that you can change to make brochures for startups, agencies, and other businesses. There are 20 pages in this template in A4 size.

Bold Business Plan Word Template

If you want to make a bold business plan with a high-end luxury feel, this Word template will come in handy. It features a dark color theme that will fit in nicely with luxury brands, hotels, corporate agencies, and more. The template has 56 different page layouts. It comes in Word, Apple Pages, and InDesign formats.

Big Business Plan Brochure Template for Word

Get started with this Word template to make business plan documents with clean and minimal design. It includes 28 unique pages with easily editable layouts. You can change its colors, fonts, and images with ease. The template is available in multiple formats, including Word, InDesign, Affinity Publisher, and more.

Free Simple Business Plan Word Template

While this free business plan template only has 4 page layouts and a simple design, it’s more than enough for making a basic business plan document for a small business. It comes in Word and Apple Pages formats.

Tropo – Minimalist Business Plan for Word

Tropo is a minimalist business plan template designed for Microsoft Word. It’s user-friendly, designed with organized files for effortless customization, and is suitable for creating business proposals. Tropo offers 32 editable pages, customizable fonts, and colors, well-organised layers, and is print-ready.

Business Proposal Template for Word

This is a professional-quality business proposal template for Word that offers flexibility and ease of customization. This 20-page template can be easily edited to suit your unique business needs without jeopardizing the layout or the readability. It’s fully customizable, well-layered, and organized.

This is an adaptable template, perfect for showcasing your unique services and business plans to new clients. It’s a user-friendly, customizable template, enabling designers to express their brand and work competence professionally. The pack includes a 20-page InDesign and Microsoft Word templates.

Business Proposal Template for Word & InDesign

A versatile business proposal template ideal for constructing thorough business plans or proposals. Compatible with Microsoft Word 2010 and higher, as well as Adobe InDesign CS4 and above, the template offers a comprehensive 16-page document that can adapt for print or digital output.

Business Plan & Project Proposal Template

This is a comprehensive business proposal template for Word. Boasting 40 pages of editable sections such as company details, project timelines, budget specifics, and more, the template utilizes a structured editorial layout to organize information efficiently.

Multipurpose Business Brochure Word Template

This brochure template features multipurpose page layouts. This means you can edit and customize each page to make many different types of documents, including business plans and proposals. It has 20 unique pages in A4 size.

Creative Business Plan Template for Word

This is a massive business plan template that comes with more than 60 different page layouts to choose from. It’s especially suitable for agencies and startups for making a high-quality business plan document. The template is available in Word and InDesign formats.

Company Proposal & Business Plan Word Template

Whether you want to make a business plan or a proposal document, this Word template can handle both. It features a modern and professional layout for making documents for corporate businesses. The template includes 20 pages in A4 size.

Education School Plan Template for Word

You can use this Word template to make a stylish business plan or educational plan for a school. The template has fully customizable paragraph styles, editable colors, fonts, images, and much more. It has 20 page custom layouts.

Free Agency Business Plan Word Template

This free business plan template includes 5 page layouts with very simple and basic designs. You can use it to make business plan documents for advertising and design agencies. It’s available in Apple Pages format too.

Modern Business Plan Template for Word

A business plan document is about presenting your goals, missions, and vision for the company in an appealing way. Having a great-looking design is a must for achieving that task. This Word template will help you create such a business plan document. It includes 20 different page layouts with modern designs. And you can edit it using either MS Word or InDesign.

Clean Business Plan Microsoft Word Template

If you want to make sure your business plan looks more professional, a clean and minimal design is the best choice for your brochure. With this template, you can design a clean and professional-looking business plan to showcase your business goals. It includes 16 page layouts with fully customizable designs. You can also choose from 3 different color schemes to design your document.

Simple Business Plan Template for Word

This Word business plan template uses a very simple design. It doesn’t have too many design elements, images, or lots of colors. Instead, the design puts more focus on the contents of the document. This approach makes it a great template for designing a highly effective business plan for many different types of businesses. It includes 12 page layouts as well.

Business Plan Brochure Template for Word

If you want to make an impressive and attractive business plan brochure for a big company or a corporate brand, this Word template will come in handy. It features 48 different page layouts with modern and stylish designs. The template is available in both MS Word and InDesign formats. And, as a bonus, you also get letterhead and business card templates.

One Page Business Plan Template for Word

Sometimes a simple one-page document is more than enough to highlight the key points of a business plan. This template is ideal for making such brochures. The template comes with 4 page layouts but you can easily customize it to create one-page or even multi-page documents.

Professional Services Free Business Plan Word Template

This free business plan template for Word comes directly from the official MS Office templates directory. It’s free to download and features page layouts with modern designs. It’s ideal for creating a business plan for small agencies.

Free Word Business Plan Template for Freelancers

Another free Word business plan template from the Office directory. This template is designed with freelancers and agencies that specialize in home-based professional services. It includes a fully editable layout as well.

Editable Business Plan Template for Word

Every Word template should give you the freedom to edit, customize, and do anything you want with the design. This template lets you do all that and more. It features a fully editable layout that you can customize to your preference. The template also includes 40 page layouts that come in A4 and US Letter sizes.

Minimal Business Plan Word Template

Looking for a clean, simple, and minimalist business plan template? Then this Word template is made just for you. It has a very light and simple layout that allows you to showcase all elements of your business plan in a professional way. The template includes 32 page layouts and it’s available in Word and InDesign formats.

Startup Business Plan Word Template

This Word business plan template is designed specifically for startups and agencies. It features a set of modern page layouts, 20 custom page designs to be exact. You can also customize each page layout by changing colors and fonts. It comes in US Letter and A4 sizes as well.

4-Page Business Plan Template for Word

You can create a powerful four-page business plan using this Word template. It features an effective page design that is ideal for creating a summary of your business plan. The template is fully customizable and it’s available in Word, IDML, and INDD formats.

One Page Simple Business Plan Word Template

This simple and minimal business plan template is perfect for making a one-page brochure or even a two-page document. The template comes with 2 page layouts that you can use to create a simple double-sided one-page business plan. Or you can print them separately too. It’s very basic but quite effective at the same time.

Free Simple Business Plan Template for Word

A free business plan template that you can edit and customize in Word. This template has a very basic and blank design that you can use however you like. You can make this template your own by adding a few design elements as well.

Free One-Page Business Plan Template for Word

This is a free one-page business plan template that has a minimal layout for making a straightforward business plan brochure. It includes multiple sections for detailing different aspects of your business plan.

Marketing & Sales Plan Word Template

Marketing and sales plans are also part of a business plan, especially for marketing agencies. With this Word template, you can design an effective sales plan for your business. The template features 32 different page layouts in A4 size. It comes in Word and InDesign versions as well.

Real Estate Business Plan Template for Word

This Word template features a very clean and visual-centric design that’s ideal for making business plans for real estate and rental property businesses. There are more than 30 unique page layouts in this template with easily editable designs. You can change colors, fonts, and paragraphs however you like to fit your brand.

Basic Microsoft Word Business Plan Template

If you want to make a simple and basic business plan for a small company, this Word template is for you. It features a minimal layout with a basic design for making a small brochure. You can use 4 different page layouts to create your business plan. And it’s fully customizable too.

Simple Word Business Plan Template

This business plan template also features a simple design. It’s ideal for startups, agencies, and even small businesses for making a business plan to motivate employees and even set goals for your future. The template includes 4 page designs in A4 size.

A creative business plan Word template that comes with more than 50 different page designs. With this template, you can make all kinds of business plan brochures for various types of brands. The template also includes editable colors, paragraphs, objects, free fonts, and so much more.

Business Project Plan Template for Word

A simple business plan template for small brands. This template includes 3 unique page layouts for crafting a basic business plan. It’s ideal even for solopreneurs and freelancers for creating a strategy for your business. It comes in A4 size.

Free Healthcare Business Plan Word Template

This free business plan template is made with businesses and companies in the healthcare industry. It features a clean design with several page layouts you can use to craft an effective business plan.

Free Editable Business Plan Template for Word

Another blank and basic business plan Word template you can download for free. This template has very simple page layouts but they are ideal for creating an effective business plan brochure for small businesses.

Be sure to check out our best Word templates collection for more design inspiration.

Microsoft 365 Life Hacks > Writing > Writing and Formatting a Successful Business Plan

Writing and Formatting a Successful Business Plan

Whether you’re an experienced business person or a first-time entrepreneur, a business plan presents an important opportunity to showcase your unique business ideas and make a plan for how it will it function and operate.

Because of its importance, it can sometimes appear to be an overwhelming task. However, with some guidance on business plan formatting and a breakdown of the plan’s most essential components, you can make the task more manageable and more easily get started on your own plan—bringing the possibility of your grand opening ever closer.

What Is a Business Plan?

A business plan usually serves either or both of two purposes: Sometimes it’s used to court potential investors in a business. Other times, it sets out guidelines and a strategy for initial members of a business’s team to follow as they get things up and running. In either case, this formal document maps out the purpose, goals, finances, and future plans of a new or existing business.

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Formatting Your Business Plan

Before you get started on writing your business plan, it’s useful to understand the formatting of a typical business plan. Not only will this help you make sure you ultimately deliver the information that potential investors or teammates are expecting, but it will also help you see where you might need to do more research or spend more time.

Typically, all business plans contain each of the following parts:

Executive Summary

Company description, business goals, market and opportunity analysis, competitive analysis, execution plan, marketing plan, financial analysis and projections.

Below, we sum up what these sections entail to help you craft each of them according to your own business’s needs.

Business plans usually open with what’s called an executive summary. Typically taking up no more than about half of a page, this summary should include the most essential information about your business and highlights from the plan that follows, including:

• Your organization’s mission statement
• A description of the products and services your business offers
• The purpose of your business plan
• Any major achievements your business has made so far
• An overview of your business’s financial health

A company description should include both basic information about your organization—its registered name, physical location, and a short history of the company—as well as more detailed info about how your business intends to succeed. In other words, once you’ve touched on the very basics, this is your chance to hook readers of your business plan. To do so, it can be helpful to set the stage for your readers: consider the answers to questions like, “Why did you start this business?”, “What unique problems does your business solve?”, and “What makes your company different from others like it?”

Sometimes referred to as an “objective statement,” this section of your business plan should clearly outline your company’s goals—over both the short and long term. If you’re making an appeal to investors, this is also your chance to include some persuasive writing and describe to them how their investments are critical to helping you meet these goals.

This section requires keen research skills: Bring in all of your knowledge of the market your business is working in to show investors and potential partners where the opportunity lies. Show that you have an understanding of the market’s past, present, and future—and understand the unique risks that businesses in this space face. Additionally, you will want to show what typical types of customers in this market are like with information on key demographics and customer behaviors that your business will market itself to.

Moving past the broad view of the overall market, your business plan should include an analysis of the business models or examples of your closest competitors in the space. Showing how these other organizations operate, how they’ve fared over their histories, and how they market themselves to customers can help you make the case for how your business will do these things both differently and successfully.

The execution plan section should provide a window into how your business will operate behind the scenes: How will you and your employees be organized? Who will handle what tasks? Why are they the right people to do so? Answer these questions by providing thorough details on who will be doing the work and how they will be structured while getting it done.

Every business needs to have a plan on how they position and promote their offerings, as well as attract and retain customers. With this section of your business plan, explain to potential stakeholders and financiers what your initial marketing strategy is and how it will change and scale over time.

Especially for business owners seeking additional financing and investment, the financial portion of your business plan is critical in showing how your business has generated and managed income, plus deliver insight into how it will continue doing so.

This section should include a breakdown of your organization’s sales, expenses, and profits. If you’re applying for a loan or seeking investment, include an overview of what your company’s financials would look like over the next period of years if you were to receive that financial backing. In addition, you should outline a clear plan for how and when you will pay back these creditors.

Crafting a Business Plan That Succeeds

While the particulars of every business plan will be different, there are some aspects that should be common to all business plans:

• Be Concise: The writing in a business plan needs to be persuasive for its intended audience, but it needs to do so efficiently. Use clear and concise writing that communicates your ideas and plans effectively.
• Use Data for Support: Even if your writing is persuasive, it won’t be as effective as it can be without relevant data and hard numbers that back up your insights.
• Get Rid of Errors: In most cases, your audience is only going to read your business plan once. Make sure you present a tidy image of your business through your business plan writing by catching and fixing all of your typos and grammatical errors. Use a digital writing assistant like Microsoft Editor to help spot these mistakes, along with any slips in the formal tone that a business plan requires.
• Keep It Real: Avoid exaggeration, whether it’s in your sales projections, market opportunity, or elsewhere.

Creating a successful business plan requires pulling together a lot of disparate information, which takes a diverse set of skills to pull off. Whether you’re new to new businesses or this is just your latest and greatest project, this can always be a tall order.

Make it easier on yourself by using all of the tools you have at your disposal to help. In addition to the guidelines above, explore a wide range of business plan templates available from Microsoft 365, including everything from complete business plans to individual components like revenue forecasts .

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Free Business Plan Template

One of the reasons that so many small businesses fail is that they don't do the necessary up front work to create an accurate and realistic business plan. Creating a business plan doesn't guarantee success, but the process of writing a plan is critical for any successful new business. It isn't our goal to try to tell you everything you need to know about creating a business plan. Instead, our goal is to make the process easier by providing a professionally designed business plan template that you can edit easily using Word and Excel .

Business Plan Template

License : Private Use (not for distribution or resale)

Authors : Jon Wittwer and Jim Wittwer

Update (7/22/2016) : We've added a basic break-even analysis worksheet to the companion Excel workbook.

Description

This template provides a business plan outline with sample questions, tables, and a working table of contents. It was created for newer versions of Word and Excel (Office 2007 or later) so that you can easily change the fonts and color scheme and the file will be compatible with the mobile and web-based Word & Excel apps.

It is best to use Excel for financial statements, data tables and charts. So, we have provided a companion Excel workbook with these sample financial statements and other tables and graphs that you can copy and paste into your Word document.

The companion workbook combines many of the different spreadsheets you can find on Vertex42.com, but customized specifically for inclusion in a business plan.

Using the Business Plan Template

Editing headings and table of contents.

Word allows you to assign format Styles to text and paragraphs, and we've designed the template to use these Styles for defining headings, sub-headings, and figure captions.

If you want to add a new section so that the Table of Contents updates correctly, just add a new heading in the body of the document and assign it the Heading 1 or Heading 2 style.

To update the Table of Contents, go to the References tab and within the Table of Contents group of buttons, click on Update Table and then "Update entire table."

Copy/Paste From Excel to Word

For simple tables, you can use Copy/Paste (Ctrl+c / Ctrl+v) to copy a table from Excel to Word. This will typically paste the data as a formatted and editable table in Word, though none of the formulas will be functional within Word (and the table will not be linked to Excel). If you don't want the table to be editable in Word, you can "Paste as a Picture" using Paste Special or by choosing the "Picture" option when you right-click in Word to paste the table.

Important : When you paste a chart object into your business plan, make sure to "Paste as a Picture" because pasting the chart as an embedded object means that the entire spreadsheet becomes embedded in your Word document (even though what you see is only the chart).

If you want to insert a table into Word as a "Linked Object" so that when you edit Excel, the table in Word will update automatically, you may have a more difficult time preserving the formatting of the original. However, at the least the entire spreadsheet won't be embedded within your business plan Word document.

More Related Templates

Resources for Writing a Business Plan

• Write Your Business Plan at SBA.gov - Anybody starting a business should become familiar with the SBA (small business association). SBA.gov also has an online tool for creating a business plan .
• YouTube: How to Write a Business Plan - Business Wales (3 minutes) - This video offers a quick overview and tips for the essential parts of a business plan.
• YouTube: How to Write a Business Plan - Berkeley-Haas (71 minutes) - This presentation offers both the venture capitalist and entrepreneur perspective on how to write a business plan that can successfully attract funding.
• Write Your Business Plan at Entrepreneur.com - A book written by the staff of a company that should know what they are talking about.
• Sample Business Plans at bplans.com - Finding a business plan for similar businesses in your industry is a great way to get ideas for what to include in your plan. This site is a great resource for not only finding sample plans, but also for creating a business plan online using their step-by-step approach.

Other Free Business Plan Templates

• Business Planning Template Gallery at SCORE.org - This nonprofit organization (supported by the SBA) has provided expertise and free mentorship for millions of small business owners. They also have a useful collection of templates.
• Develop Your Business Plan at business.gov.au - This Australian Government site provides a really good business plan template for Word, including a detailed guide, questions to answer, and sample financial statements.

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