Customer Reviews

Writing a Convincing Business Plan (Barron's Business Library)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

As a CPA/Attorney who has both written and reviewed a lot of business plans, I have seen both some very good ones and some awful ones. Too often the preparers of the bad ones confuse a business plan with an offering circular, hoping to convince an unknown investor or venture capitalist to provide financial backing for their ideas. The resulting "Business Plan" is an incomplete, poorly researched, turgid description of their idea, with lots of spreadsheets attached (detailed monthly financial projections for the next ten years).

What is overlooked is the fact that a good business plan serves as a road map for the operators of a business. The process of systematically analyzing your business and stating your plans simply in writing will force you to think through how you are going to deal with the various problems you are going to face.

Like another reviewer of this book, after reading the descriptions of various books on the subject, I purchased three of them. This one is far and away the best of the three and of all those I've read in the past. It systematically takes you through the planning process (industry analysis, marketing and sales, the operating plan, the organization plan, and the financial plan) and provides useful and intelligent checklists at each stage.

If you follow its guidance, you will end up with a useful plan for running your business. And if you decide to seek outside investors, you will be far more likely to raise money.

I checked out a couple dozen books the first time i wrote a business plan (i like to get a lot of angles), but now i only use this one. it assumes nothing, gets straight to the point, and covers all the bases. i particularly like the bulleting, which makes it very easy to hit the main points of each section, and the questions, which focus your thinking on the critical issues and stimulate some very helpful introspection. i read a lot of non-fiction business/technical, and i have never been so impressed with a book. (and as a rule, i don't do reviews...)

I purchased three books from amazon.com and this was one of them. It is very well written. The writers are short, concise and to the point. This is a step-by-step guide in helping you write out your business plan. The other two books I purchased were thrown aside, but were of use when I needed to reference something else. Before you spend your money on other books, buy this one first and if you need additional help purchase another.

The authors have done a very good job of laying out a detailed framework with which to build a business plan. The book is an effective tool for merchandising, manufacturing and service sectors -- with custom sets of questions and busines plan components for each type of industry.

No fluff here. Every page has some usefull idea or advice for creating a business plan that you can use to gain financial backing and immeadiately staff your business.

The book provides extraordinary insight into writing a business plan! Every detail is laid out step by step, and includes addresses and phone numbers to organizations that provide crucial research that a person will need for any business research. Every aspect of the business plan is presented concisely and is well organized, leaving nothing for the reader to question. Not one question you may have will go unanswered! Unequivocally, the best book on writing a business proposal! (And I have purchased several books!)

Looking through the table of contents for this handy little book I cannot help feeling that this is a book for people who know the basics already about what goes into a business plan. That is, this book is a handy reference, but probably not the most useful for the complete beginner. It contains details, definitions, and some suggestions. I think that someone who went through a business program and who has already read about or completed a business proposal will find this useful.

As an entrepreneur starting a business, I needed to know the "ins and outs" for writing a business plan. This book was exactly what I needed. I highly recommend it.

This book is a gold mine of information.

A key point is that the material applies quite as well to an established business as it does to a startup or new business seeking financing. The result is that from a technical management standpoint the material is both strong and deep.

This book is especially strong in market analysis and sales forecasting. I have done a great deal of this work. From experience, I can say that the author's descriptions and recommendations are very well done. This is particularly important because the sales forecast becomes the cornerstone of all the numbers that make up the key financial section of the business plan.

Even more important the marketing analysis has to support the fundamental judgment that there is a market and that it is reasonable to assume that the market will yield the sales and cash inflow, which the business will require.

The book is rich in reference material such as a chapter on financing fundamentals and financing services, a glossary and a section with general business resources such as business associations and various internet resources. A section called Sources of Industry Information should have you well on your way to a thorough preparation of your Industry Analysis.

This book is written in the straightforward business language style that the authors recommend for your own business plan. The writing is not exciting but understandable and very efficient. The authors cover vast conceptual areas with language that is brief without being either misleading or incomplete.

Those lacking a business background may have to flesh out some sections from other sources. However, they will have enough information to determine the what, how and why each topic needs to be applied to their business.

For experienced people it is a great concept refresher, a good checklist and a source of much resource information.

Strongly recommended.

This book would be suited for people who have completed several business plans and want to sharpen their knives. For a beginner I found it an unbelievably useless reference. It made references to things that weren't there, many examples were unrelated to the text, undecipherable sections, addendums to chapters with no clear connection to the host chapter... I could go on and on. I suspect it was proofread by an insular group.

I recently had to write a business plan and ended up using this book as a guide. I had 2 other popular books I bought on business plans but ended up using them only to create my table of content. This book compared with other material can be use for the core of your business plan. As this book should not be the only material you use for your business plan it should be the main book about general business plans. This book is not for somebody who contemplates about a business plan but for somebody who actually needs to write one. It is very good structured and the chapters go into details that are not covered in other materials. Thanks for the previous reviews that pointed me to this book, as for anybody who reads this; this book is the one you will need when you write your business plan.