Start a Consulting Business

Consulting Services Business Plan Outline

All business plans tend to follow a consistent structure. But, feel free to emphasize certain areas depending on the specific type of consulting services business you are starting and the marketplace in which you plan to operate. In general, a business plan contains the following sections:

• Cover Page: Includes the business name, owner’s name, and contact information.
• Table of Contents: Business plans can be quite lengthy and a Table of Contents is needed for readers to quickly find each section.
• Executive Summary: The executive summary is the first and most widely read section of your plan. As a concise overview of the business plan, the executive summary includes a description of the business, highlights the key points of the plan, and provides a succinct explanation of your key strategies. Keep the executive summary to two pages or less and write it last
• Company Description: Your company description highlights your mission statement, vision, strategy and operational goals. You’ll also talk about the industry in which you plan to operate and highlight your core strengths that will allow you to compete effectively. Briefly specify your market niche and describe your company’s legal entity structure.

• Products and Services: In this section you’ll describe, in detail, the products and services you plan to sell. If you possess a competitive advantage with an aspect of your product or service, detail it here as well as how you plan to protect this advantage. You will also provide details of the way in which you you will price your products and services. In this section also discuss any existing plans for future products or services.
• Marketing Plan: Here’s where you’ll expand upon the preliminary market research you’ve already conducted. As appropriate for your business and marketplace, you’ll expand upon topics including market and economic trends, product placement, customer demographics, promotional and distribution strategies, sales forecasts, and analysis of the competition.
• Operations Plan: This section describes your plan for managing day to day
  operations. This includes information such as the geographic location for your business, how you will manage production of products or the delivery of your services, how you will guarantee quality, any licensing or legal requirements to operate your business, how you will manage inventory and how you will interact with suppliers.
• Management and Organization: In this section you’ll discuss the management structure for your business (if there’s anyone other than you). You’ll also identify key professional relationships you’ll rely on in your business. This is where you can use the support network you described in your personal inventory. If you plan to have more than a dozen employees you should also include a high level organization
  chart that lists out roles and reporting relationships.
• Financial Data: In this section you’ll include detailed financial estimates including your cash flow projection from earlier, a list of startup expenses and your capital requirements, a twelve month profit and loss projection, and an initial balance sheet. You may also need to extend out your projections if more than twelve months of data is required to show financial viability for your business.
• Appendix: Your appendix will include all of the information that you reference but that may be too detailed to include in the body of your plan. Examples of appendix reference items could include industry statistics, sketches or drawings, copies of legal documents, market research, etc.

Rather than come up with a business plan from scratch, it is often beneficial to use business planning software tools. These software packages will provide you with your consulting services business plan outline, and walk you through the process of putting your business plan together. Since a business plan is such an important step in your business start-up process, you should use all the tools available to you, to assist you in creating a professional and well organized plan that you can confidently provide to lenders and potential future investors or partners in your consulting services business.