5 Reasons Not to Use a Business Plan Template

Looking for a business plan template? Stop! We know that searching for a ready-made template seems the most convenient and easiest approach. But trust us when we say: it’s usually not a good idea. Can you remember the last time you looked at a website and thought: “Oh, what a beautiful template! Great, they used the same image as the Huffington Post. I love how all articles use the same image.” Probably not.

If you’d rather not put together your business plan and numbers alone, we support you in Strategy Consulting.

First Impressions Matter! Don’t Use a Generic Business Plan Template!

One of the most powerful functions of our brain is filtering information in a moment. When we see someone, we typically respond to that person within thousands of milliseconds. This unconscious response ability is a great feature of our brain, but in some situations it can also be disadvantageous. Just imagine how investors and banks feel when they see thousands of business plans in a single day. “Ah, another template. Let’s set this aside and have our interns take a look at it tomorrow.” Not a good reaction, right?

When it comes to taking responsibility for your success, you should ensure you’re in the strongest position possible. Stand out from the crowd. Be unique. Make a better impression than others. A good headline is memorable and makes one pause—exactly what’s happening with you right now. A terrible headline, on the other hand, discourages you from reading any further. And all of this happens unconsciously.

Strategy First!

The greatest strength, but also the greatest weakness of templates is their generic nature. As a rule, there isn’t one perfect business plan template, but rather a few reasonably acceptable ones. Often we compare which one fits our situation best and stick with it. But here’s the catch with templates.

On one hand, you’re making compromises because you’re willing to invest time and money; on the other hand, you’re showing others that your work doesn’t need to be appreciated because it lacks a sense of extraordinary quality.

In the world of project management, we call this phenomenon the “quality triangle.” It shows a specific correlation between three factors: cost, time, and quality. We can interpret this correlation as a simple trade-off approach: “Take two, leave one out.”

Here are the key interpretations of the quality triangle:

• If you want it fast and cheap, you’ll get inferior results.
• If you want it cheap but aim for high-quality results, you’ll need more time.
• If you want it done quickly and can afford to pay more (higher costs), you’ll get high-quality results.
• If you want it done quickly and quality can be low, you can keep costs lower.

In short, the quality triangle suggests that everything involves a certain trade-off. You can apply this to anything you do. Sometimes it might be okay not to have the highest possible quality. But when it comes to things like a business plan, where you want to convince others to invest in your product, brand, or company, you should really focus on delivering the highest possible quality.

Quality doesn’t mean having the most appealing graphics. It means having the most effective strategy.

But how can you optimize making an impressive impression? And why isn’t a template effective enough?

The Agony of Information Overload

Business plan templates try to appeal to a broad audience. To achieve this, they attempt to include as much information and fancy graphics as possible. Even if you don’t need some of these sections, you’ll think: “Oh, that’s nice! Look at this template; it even shows my target audience as a demographic map with four different color codes!” Fancy sells well, but it isn’t necessarily convincing.

The persistent attitude—more is better—now feels like an old rumor. In today’s world, we’re overwhelmed by all this information.

Nowadays, it seems more attractive to have less, but better. Less, but more precise. Less, but consistently better.

It’s about quality versus quantity. And when quantity increases, you can only stand out from the crowd through better, more precise quality.

Social media proves this. We’ve moved from Facebook to Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, and reduced video duration from unlimited to 15 seconds. And we choose to skip these videos within the first two seconds.

We no longer read books; we read summaries. Sometimes we don’t even read summaries; we watch animated summary videos. If the video is longer than 7 minutes, we prefer to save it for later.

You might be thinking now: “Hey, I just want a business plan template. Why are you telling me about social media?”

Good point. Counter-question: If we don’t even bother watching 7-minute summaries of books with over 1000 pages, why should investors read your generic business plan template that contains too much unnecessary information?

The Beloved Conversation About Target Audiences

You can download beautifully designed business plan templates, but they may not fit your situation or might not be well thought out.

When we talk about strategy and quality, we also need to take a look at beloved target audiences.

But don’t worry. While finding a target audience for your business can be quite difficult, finding a target audience for your business plan is relatively easy.

Due to the niche nature of business plans, our target audiences are already quite precisely defined. Just think about it: who generally reads business plans? You’ll probably find two potential target audiences: banks and investors!

Even though the target audiences are relatively small, there’s still room for optimization. Depending on the niche, type of brand, and type of investor or bank you’re addressing, you can get different answers to the following questions:

• Will your brand be associated with modernity or conservatism?
• Are the banks you’re addressing modern or conservative?
• Are the investors you’re addressing modern or conservative?

All your simple answers lead to important decisions in your business plan:

• Is your text written in a modern or conservative way?
• Does your layout convey a modern or conservative language?
• Does your design convey a modern or conservative language?
• Are your colors consistent with these decisions?
• Do your structures and hierarchies communicate these decisions?

Questions like these are exactly why a business plan template might not fit your situation. If it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t convey the message you want to convey, and that leads to your application being rejected.

It’s a Numbers Game

Let’s get to what is probably the biggest mistake in business plan templates—all that information about numbers.

While templates generally offer a great way to present numbers through graphics, they lack the precision of the data being presented.

In our experience, this particularly affects the area of financial planning and projections. You might think: “That’s good enough, isn’t it?” And for some people, it might be. But investors want to see your drive, your potential. And that’s directly related to the level of quality and precision you demand for your products.

An example of this is that many founders looking for investment calculate their salaries well above market standards, which leads to direct rejection by the recipient. Expertise in financial and business plans is necessary to make a good first impression and increase interest.

The worst that can happen is your application gets rejected—simply because you didn’t put enough effort into doing it right. It could be that your numbers aren’t precise enough, or even important numbers are missing because the templates don’t cover everything. And that’s simply not good enough, because it immediately damages your reputation.

Reputation is a fragile concept. It may take a long time to build it, but it takes only fractions of a second to destroy it again. Investors will recognize your lack of qualifications as an entrepreneur if these numbers are missing.

Most importantly, the depth of information and numbers required can vary depending on the niche, the investors and bank you’re approaching, and other external factors. With the wealth of details to consider, it only makes sense that a generic template can’t cover it.

Conveying the Right Message

All these points are important. At least if you want to be taken seriously as an entrepreneur with all your dreams and wishes. As you probably know, most of our communication is based on unconscious behaviors. These include posture, expression, charisma, facial expressions, and gestures.

But all these factors get lost in written texts. So it becomes even more difficult to convey the right message. Especially since you have no influence on the mood of the reader. You can’t lighten the subject with small talk. It’s still just a pure, data-driven document.

It’s not just about having a clear, compelling USP.

All the information you present can speak for or against you. Business plan templates speak a specific language: suitable for everyone, so not precise.

To ensure that your language use is on point, you can ask yourself the following question while reading each sentence in your business plan:

Does this sentence promote the perception that my business is a worthwhile investment?

Yes, some wording is pure data and absolutely needs to be included. Nevertheless, the way it’s written and presented can speak for or against you.

There’s a reason this is the last point on our list. It’s often the most problematic area, not just with business plan templates, but also with self-written ones. As someone involved in a project, it’s incredibly difficult to view it from an outstanding perspective. Even if you’ve understood the first four points correctly, you might not be able to optimize the last point on your own.

If you need someone to write your business plan for you or give you honest feedback, we’re here for you!

Book your free initial consultation now.