One-hour presentation by Mark Engle, Director, Maricopa SBDC, Phoenix, Arizona August 22, 2012

1. Writing a Winning Business Plan
Workshop
Presented by:
Mark Engle, Director
MCCD Small Business Development Center
2400 N. Central Avenue, #104
Phoenix, AZ 85004
480-784-0590

2. Before We Get Started
• Introductions of Site
SBDC staff
• Questions can be posed
through moderators
• www.maricopasbdc.com
• Plan and Workbook

3. Why Do A Business Plan?
• Failure to Plan is like
Planning for Failure
• Roadmap to chart path
to success
• Goals lead to success
• Decision making tool

4. Why Do A Business Plan?
• Educate and Motivate
Others
• Failure to Plan is like
planning to fail
• Forces you to think it
through
• Avoid costly mistakes!

5. Who Is The Plan For?
• For a banker
• For an investor
• For an insurance policy
• For employees & family
• For YOU!

6. Authorship Issues
• Neat, typed & free of
errors
• YOU need to do the
plan
• Not too slick or
polished
• Not too long

7. Authorship Issues
• Avoid the “trust me” or
too many
generalizations
• Use facts & figures to
make points
• SBA Guideline for what
to have for an SBA loan

8. Authorship Issues
• Protecting the
Confidentiality of Your
plan
• Non-disclosure
statements
• Loaning vs. giving

9. What Do Lenders Want?
• What is your background?
Years in industry, experience
factors
• Answer the lenders questions:
• What you will use funds for
(schedule if possible), source
of repayment (show in
projection), collateral (schedule
if possible), your equity
(sources & uses schedule), and
backup repayment plans

10. What Do Investors Want?
• Must believe in you, first and
foremost
• Answer the investors
questions:
• How soon can you buy them
out? What is the potential for
future deals? What will you do
if things don’t turn out as
expected?

11. The Physical Plan
• 3-ring Binder for your
plan
• Not too fat for the banker
or investor
• Use your plan as a tool, to
evaluate progress over
time
• Name, address, phone
#’s, email, website all on
the front.

12. The Business Plan
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• Write last
• Concept/mission
statement
• Summary statements and
results

13. Management &
Operations
• Organization structure
• Key management
personnel (resumes
attached)
• Other management &
organizational matters

14. The Industry Analysis
• The Name and information
• The Industry
• The Company
• Products and/or services

15. The Marketing Strategy
• Market research
• Who is your customer?
• Competitive Analysis
• Market evaluation & trends

16. The Marketing Plan
• Show marketing objectives and
goals – overall strategy
• Pricing strategies
• Sales tactics
• Advertising & other methods
• Service & warranty issues
• Show timelines & Budget

17. Critical Risks &
Problems
• Shows forethought and planning
• Murphy’s Law
• Product improvement and new
products
• Costs of improvements or
startup costs

18. The Financial Plan
• The financial history is shown – three
years financials
• A projection for three to five years of:
– Balance sheet
– Profit and Loss
– Cash Flow
– Ratios
– Breakeven & other analysis

19. The Financial Plan
• Show “reasonable” assumptions
• For financing or investors, show them:
– Need for financing
– Use of funds
– Sources & Uses Statement
– Collateral?
– Repayment
– Debt coverage ratio
– Breakeven analysis

20. The Financial Projections
SBDC Excel Workbook
• Either on your own or with our help
• Download from
www.maricopasbdc.com go to Free
Downloads section and save to hard
drive (before loading)

21. Where do we go from
here
• Getting “hopping” on the plan
• Do like the Nike slogan “Just Do It”
• Using other organizations resources
– SBDC
– SCORE
– Accountant/Attorney/Banker
– Employees/Associates

22. Thank you for
attending!

23. Building Your Winning
Business Plan Workshop
Presented by:
Mark Engle, Director
Maricopa Community Colleges Small
Business Development Center
2400 N. Central Avenue, #104
Phoenix, AZ 85004
480-784-0590
www.maricopaSBDC.com
Satellite locations – Paradise Valley,
Scottsdale, Mesa, Chandler,
Avondale, Glendale, Surprise &
Online!