Starting a Business | SEO & Google

How to write an Executive Summary

The executive summary should always form the start of your business plan, but paradoxically it should always be the last part that you write.

What you are trying to achieve with an executive summary is similar to the back-cover blurb of a novel: get them hooked, don't just list all the fancy things you intend to buy and sell.

Once you have a first draft of your complete business plan it is time to start looking at creating the executive summary. You are looking to write no more than about three pages. A summary should be a brief précis of the main points in your business plan. It should not include any information that is not contained elsewhere in the plan. The purpose is to give readers a quick overview of the plan before they read it (or decide not to bother), so it must be an accurate reflection of the plan. The trick is to keep it as short and attractive as possible, because you are also, in effect, writing a teaser to entice your reader to continue reading. What is going to grab their attention? What is going to excite and have them thinking about you and your business and what, primarily, is going to hook them to read the full plan?

SURPRISE, SURPRISE

The summary should not reveal all of your secrets and surprises - the business plan can still add to the reader's excitement. Use the executive summary to hint at surprises contained within. A good executive summary should be self-sufficient and not require any other supporting documents. It should be possible to read and digest it within a couple of minutes, otherwise it is wasted. Remember to use bullet points and headings to make it easy to read.

LAST MINUTE?

The executive summary, quite simply, could be your one opportunity to get the right investor, supplier or customer on board. Treat it with the same time and effort that is going into the rest of your business plan. If your reader does not engage with the executive summary then he is unlikely to read on, so come out with all guns blazing. If your executive summary takes just as long to write as the plan proper, this is no bad thing. Check it through again and again for errors and omissions and get someone else to proofread it too. Try reading it aloud; you'll be amazed at how different it seems, and you will probably find things that can be improved.

WHAT TO INCLUDE

Your summary should introduce the reader to:

The business - name of the company, company particulars and branding.
What it intends to achieve - description of the purpose, be it retail, manufacturing or tertiary, and an introduction to potential market share and financial projections.
How it intends to achieve its goals - marketing, PR, growth strategy, operations and market analysis.
Who is going to make sure it achieves - the management team and organisational structure.


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