What Investors Don’t Want to See in a Business Plan
 | Plans are critical’, ‘they are the road maps’, ‘important for investments’; these are common ways how business plan articles begin. Some of them will also tell you about the structure, format, and business plan essentials, but not many, talk about what investors just hate in a business plan. They get bugged by certain commonly committed blunders. Such mistakes are common for all kinds of plans. Whether you are writing a coffee shop business plan or a B&B business plan, take care of these points.
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1. Never Submit a Plan without an Executive Summary: A short crisp summary that gives a clear idea about your business and how you want it to shape up is perfect. You don’t need to write the plan in the summary and you don’t need to write it first because it is the first thing read. It must be written only after the plan is complete.
2. Just Give Up The Idea Of Adding Quotes: Nobody is interested in quotes from famous business management books. Investors have read many of them and have hundreds of business plans piled up. Make it a quick, crisp plan that talks business, not quotes.
3. No Lengthy Plans Please: It’s not a novel. You won’t get more marks for writing more. Just keep it very short and simple. Do not complicate or elaborate things for the sake of making it thicker. If it is genuinely a thick book, cut it short as far as possible.
4. Appendices Should Support the Plan and not Vice Versa: Supporting documents help in clarifying many strategies, but the plan should have something to say without them too. Referring to the appendix every now and then is irritating and breaks the flow.
5. Too Many Abbreviations: No, it does not mean the investors are illiterate or poorly updated. They can’t be aware of every acronym that you use. Regular abbreviations like a B&B business plan are okay, but don’t get into complicated ones. Keep the plan straightforward and clear. Planners won’t judge your plan on the basis of how good your language is. Stick to an easy-to-understand language.
6. Spelling Mistakes: If you think it’s impossible to not make any spelling or grammatical errors while writing a business plan, outsource it. Chances of this kind are not worth it.
7. Don’t Criticize, Just Analyze: You need to mention the weaknesses of your competitor. It is different from criticizing their products or services. Keep your analysis more to-the-point. Don’t say the product is bad, just list the negatives and carry sufficient proof to support what you are writing in the plan.
8. Absence of a Plan: Your plan is not a book on your dreams and what product you want to develop. Put your dream in one sentence and focus on how you will realize it. Give steps that will help you make your dream a reality. Don’t just elaborate on your product features. A plan demands who will buy your product and why, and how will you sell it to make profits.
Your compelling strategies will be read only if the plan is readable. Good plans are useless if they put off the investors right in the beginning. Follow the above points to ensure the business plan leaves a good impression.
