{"id":279,"date":"2012-04-30T10:32:35","date_gmt":"2012-04-30T17:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/?p=279"},"modified":"2023-05-22T22:10:34","modified_gmt":"2023-05-23T05:10:34","slug":"what-best-length-business-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gordonbenzie.com\/blog\/what-best-length-business-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"What is the Right Length for a Business Plan?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Anyone who has contemplated writing a business plan must decide upon an appropriate length. If you are a frequent reader of business plans, then you probably complain that they are too long. Alternatively, if you are passionate about your new innovation, technology or process, then you might feel that more detail is needed, to help explain why the investment opportunity is so special. This divergence of opinion often results in ambiguity when determining what the right length should be.<\/p>\n

Before I proceed to articulate my opinion on this topic, let’s first consider the following: Most readers of your business plan will never<\/strong><\/em> read it in its entirety, regardless the number pages, how well it is written or what neat images are included. If you can embrace and accept this concept, then it will force you to think differently about what length is best … worse case, your choice will only impact a small percentage of total readers!<\/p>\n

Following in this theme, I am sure you can now realize that it is absolutely<\/span><\/strong> critical your business plan includes an Executive summary.<\/p>\n

Regardless of how busy your reader is, most will spend the time to read a single page for a glimpse of the business opportunity. It is for this reason that your Executive summary is the most important page of your entire plan.<\/p>\n

Here is where Pareto\u2019s law<\/a> comes into effect \u2013 only 10 to 20% of your plan (the Executive summary) will likely be read by 80-90% of your readers. How well you write that section will determine, to some extent, how much (or if) the rest of the plan will ever be read.<\/p>\n

Next, if you follow my logic, the rest of your business plan may only be read by 10-20% of your readers. These folks are now engaged and interested. Your topic has appealed to them in some way, so now you have them “hooked.” They are now willing to make a time investment to learn more. It is this group, therefore, that we must seek greater understanding, to then best determine an appropriate length to satisfy their needs.<\/p>\n

My logic follows this path:<\/p>\n