If you include statistics such as your market’s past and anticipated growth, don’t forget to cite sources. For instance, “The number of teddy bears sold at the Hudson’s Bay Company has increased tenfold over the past ten years” (HBC 2010 annual report).
The key words in your market section are sustained growth for several years. Be sure you convince investors of your company’s potential to do this. Don’t forget it takes three to five years just to recover an investment, never mind make money on it!
Make your company sound good, but don’t go overboard. Keep your projections factual and realistic.
Don’t be a slave to your summary. Just because we’ve included the above topics, doesn’t mean you necessarily have to put each one in yours. You may be a one-person operation, who doesn’t need a whole paragraph of description. Whether or not you feel in command of what you’re writing influences what and how your words come out.
Your investors will be particularly interested in their returns: how much and when. Your projections should be based on your proforma financial statements.
As you write your summary, and business plan for that matter, always keep in mind who you are writing to. Try to imagine your investors sitting across the table from you. Would you talk to them in a formal, stiff manner, or try to keep things more personable and casual. A good exercise for you to try out sometime is being aware of the conversational style you adopt with the various people in your life. By style I mean things like posture, eye movement, what you say, how you say it, and your tone of voice. See how much difference there is between you telling your partner how much you love him or her, and telling your neighbor to keep his dog on his own side of the fence.
Finish off your summary with a strong statement. Don’t leave it hanging in mid-air. Make your investor WANT to turn the page. For instance, “Since the day we sold our first Cuddles Bear at the County Fair, our home hasn’t been the same–we can’t get off the phone long enough to even fry an egg,” rather than, “we expect incredible sales.”
Please be good enough to put your conclusions and recommendations on one sheet of paper in the very beginning of your report, so I can even consider reading it. Winston Churchill.