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[Updated 2023] How to Write a Five Year Business Plan [Best Templates Included]

Smriti Srivastava

Achieving a set of goals is challenging.

Maintaining the motivation and productivity to achieve business goals is even harder.

In the words of Yogi Berra, a big-league baseball player-turned-manager, “Without a plan, even the most brilliant business can get lost. You need to have goals, create milestones, and have a strategy in place to set yourself up for success.”

This is why everyone in the industry — from an interviewer looking to hire top talent to an entrepreneur who accomplishes goals systematically — splits their business plan into five years. A five-year business plan not only extends a generous period to attain the set targets but at the same time keeps everyone on their toes, removing procrastination.

But writing a five-year business plan can get tedious, messy, and, sometimes, take forever to hit the right spot.

Therefore, this blog will cover the essential steps to help you write a tremendous five-year business plan.

Chronology of writing a spectacular five-year business plan

It is quite simple. You cannot achieve something great when you don’t know your priorities, objectives, ways, and timeframe to achieve those targets. It is essential to build a five-year plan for your business as well as the outcomes and expectations related to it.

But where do you start?

Here are the five sections you must include in your plan:

#1 A clear company introduction

A brief yet effective overview of your business, its market, team structure, roles and responsibilities, company offerings, and value proposition builds the foundation for your future endeavors. You use a company overview to set the right tone at the beginning of your business plan, as it serves as the base and a direction for your audience.

Related read: How to Create an Attention-Grabbing Company Introduction Slide in 10 Minutes

#2 vision and mission statement.

You have to ensure your employees, stakeholders, investors, and potential clients understand what your company is all about and what you stand for. Your vision and mission statement helps you with it. It enlightens the audience about your future plans - where you see your company in five years and the results you will work to achieve.

Related read: Top 10 Mission and Vision Statement Templates to Guide Your Organizational Culture

#3 target market and branding.

State who your company is looking to serve and why. Provide clarity on your target market based on psychographics and demographics. And do not forget to mention the size of your target market. You have to create a framework for making your brand visible exponentially and simultaneously create a lead generation and conversion strategy.

Related read: Top 30 PowerPoint Templates to Analyze Dominant Market Drivers

#4 product overview.

Set clear priorities based on the distinction between your primary and secondary products. You need to connect your branding around the product or service core to your company. This categorization will help you establish the revenue your products generate and the impacts they create. Further, it will help modify your plans accordingly.

Related read: Top 10 One-Page Product Overview PowerPoint Templates to Drive Sales

#5 swot analysis.

Measuring your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in the industry can help you successfully dominate the market. Therefore, your five-year business plan must include regular and timely analysis of all your business operations. There is no better way to meet targets than keeping a check on one’s activities. It will help you focus on the proprietary system of your company.

Related read: Top 50 SWOT Analysis PowerPoint Templates Used by Professionals Worldwide

Templates to nail your business plan.

Often we have countless ideas to plan our way to a successful business. But as the day-to-day grind starts, it is easy to get distracted from the end goal and stray from the path leading to our intent. We look for a north star to point us directly to our mission. So we decided to make your life a bit easier by providing our readymade and editable five-year business plan templates. You can access them below. Dive in!

Template 1: Five Year Business Plan Roadmap Template

Help your team stay on track with your future business ambitions by taking the assistance of our invigorating PowerPoint template. This content-ready template helps you visualize your work plan and present your vision impactfully. You just need to click the download link to start customizing it.

Download this template

Template 2: Key Poniters for Five Year Business Plan

Use this business plan template that includes vital pointers such as setting clear goals and objectives, conducting market research and competitor analysis, developing a comprehensive marketing strategy, creating financial projections, and establishing a system for measuring progress and adjusting your plan accordingly. By following a structured template and considering these essential elements, you can create a plan that sets your organization up for long-term success.

Template 3: Five Year Roadmap Timeline for Business Plan

Employ this professionally curated template to improve the success rate of your business. This template helps you track the progress of all your operational activities without any hassle. Also, our color-coded template makes it easy to comprehend and follow. So download this adaptable template to start adding your data effortlessly.

Template 4: Five-Year Business Plan Roadmap with Operations and Functions

You can utilize this template to articulate the workflow of your organization smoothly. This template allows you to write an attractive executive summary of your business operations and functions. Download the template and start assembling your key milestones immediately. Click the link below!

Template 5: Five Year Milestones Template

Outline the timeline for achieving future goals with the help of this template. Our experts have designed this PowerPoint template to help you summarize your vision, mission, targets, and timeframe in an easily accessible format. Grasp the attention of your employees and stakeholders right away by downloading this template.

Template 6: Five-Year Roadmap for Business Planning

A comprehensive plan of action displays confidence and foresightedness. Therefore, we have curated this content-specific template to help you create a strategic roadmap for your business goals. This template distributes the target phases based on yearly milestones, thereby making it easily understandable. Grab it now!

Template 7: Five Year Business Plan with Roadmap

Take your business to the next level with this five-year business roadmap with checkpoints. It includes sections for sales, product, operations,  and targets set for different team members. It also includes timelines and checkpoints for processes and activities. Download this editable PowerPoint Slide now to streamline your business alignment.

Template 8: Five Year Business Plan With Financial Projection

Make your future financial outcomes expectations loud and clear by using this PowerPoint template. Represent your business planning elements creatively by employing this template. You can even highlight your company’s ongoing functions and practices in a structured way with the assistance of our entirely adaptable PPT template.

Template 9: Five Year Business Plan Implementation Roadmap

The success rate of business plans hugely depends on the plan of action, and this editable five years roadmap of the organization rightly serves the purpose. Encapsulate all the information related to the project in a well-structured manner to obtain maximum efficiency by incorporating this stunning PowerPoint slide. State the critical deliverable, steps involved, time frame, workforce allocation, and lots more in an easy-to-understand manner by utilizing this pre-designed roadmap layout. Download now!

Template 10: Five Year Business Plan with Risk Status

Select this PowerPoint template to predict your future growth. Using this PPT template, you can assess potential risks that can stunt your business development in the coming years. Revamp your venture by utilizing this template as a guiding star. Download it and start with your strategic planning right away!

Having a strategic roadmap for handling your business operations and objectives is the only way to go. You cannot expect high profit and returns on investment without having a clear outline for the next five years of your business. With our stunning business plan ppt templates, you will definitely look confident, assertive, reliable, and foresighted.

FAQs on Five-Year Business Plan

How to write a five year business plan.

Here are some key steps to consider when writing your plan:

Define your mission and vision: Start by articulating your organization's purpose and long-term goals.

Conduct market research : Analyze your industry, identify trends, and understand your target audience.

Evaluate your competition: Analyze your competitors' strengths and weaknesses, and determine how you can differentiate yourself in the marketplace.

Develop a marketing and sales strategy: Outline how you will reach and engage with your target audience and define your pricing strategy.

Create financial projections: Develop a comprehensive financial model that includes revenue and expense projections, as well as cash flow analysis.

Establish a system for measuring progress: Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you track progress towards your goals, and create a plan for reviewing and updating your plan on a regular basis.

What is a good 5-year business plan?

A good 5-year business plan is a comprehensive document that outlines an organization's strategy for achieving its long-term goals. Here are some key elements to include in a good 5-year business plan:

Executive summary: Provide an overview of your organization's mission, vision, and goals, as well as a summary of the key elements of your plan.

Market analysis: Conduct thorough research to understand your industry, target audience, and competition.

Marketing and sales strategy: Outline how you will reach and engage with your target audience, and define your pricing strategy.

Financial projections: Develop a comprehensive financial model that includes revenue and expense projections, as well as cash flow analysis.

Organizational structure: Outline the roles and responsibilities of key personnel, and describe how your organization will be structured to achieve its goals.

Risk management: Identify potential risks and develop strategies to mitigate them.

Performance metrics: Determine key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you track progress towards your goals, and create a plan for reviewing and updating your plan on a regular basis.

Related posts:

5 essential tips to develop a solid 5-year business plan.

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12 Key Elements of a Business Plan (Top Components Explained)

Starting and running a successful business requires proper planning and execution of effective business tactics and strategies .

You need to prepare many essential business documents when starting a business for maximum success; the business plan is one such document.

When creating a business, you want to achieve business objectives and financial goals like productivity, profitability, and business growth. You need an effective business plan to help you get to your desired business destination.

Even if you are already running a business, the proper understanding and review of the key elements of a business plan help you navigate potential crises and obstacles.

This article will teach you why the business document is at the core of any successful business and its key elements you can not avoid.

Let’s get started.

Why Are Business Plans Important?

Business plans are practical steps or guidelines that usually outline what companies need to do to reach their goals. They are essential documents for any business wanting to grow and thrive in a highly-competitive business environment .

1. Proves Your Business Viability

A business plan gives companies an idea of how viable they are and what actions they need to take to grow and reach their financial targets. With a well-written and clearly defined business plan, your business is better positioned to meet its goals.

2. Guides You Throughout the Business Cycle

A business plan is not just important at the start of a business. As a business owner, you must draw up a business plan to remain relevant throughout the business cycle .

During the starting phase of your business, a business plan helps bring your ideas into reality. A solid business plan can secure funding from lenders and investors.

After successfully setting up your business, the next phase is management. Your business plan still has a role to play in this phase, as it assists in communicating your business vision to employees and external partners.

Essentially, your business plan needs to be flexible enough to adapt to changes in the needs of your business.

3. Helps You Make Better Business Decisions

As a business owner, you are involved in an endless decision-making cycle. Your business plan helps you find answers to your most crucial business decisions.

A robust business plan helps you settle your major business components before you launch your product, such as your marketing and sales strategy and competitive advantage.

4. Eliminates Big Mistakes

Many small businesses fail within their first five years for several reasons: lack of financing, stiff competition, low market need, inadequate teams, and inefficient pricing strategy.

Creating an effective plan helps you eliminate these big mistakes that lead to businesses' decline. Every business plan element is crucial for helping you avoid potential mistakes before they happen.

5. Secures Financing and Attracts Top Talents

Having an effective plan increases your chances of securing business loans. One of the essential requirements many lenders ask for to grant your loan request is your business plan.

A business plan helps investors feel confident that your business can attract a significant return on investments ( ROI ).

You can attract and retain top-quality talents with a clear business plan. It inspires your employees and keeps them aligned to achieve your strategic business goals.

Key Elements of Business Plan

Starting and running a successful business requires well-laid actions and supporting documents that better position a company to achieve its business goals and maximize success.

A business plan is a written document with relevant information detailing business objectives and how it intends to achieve its goals.

With an effective business plan, investors, lenders, and potential partners understand your organizational structure and goals, usually around profitability, productivity, and growth.

Every successful business plan is made up of key components that help solidify the efficacy of the business plan in delivering on what it was created to do.

Here are some of the components of an effective business plan.

1. Executive Summary

One of the key elements of a business plan is the executive summary. Write the executive summary as part of the concluding topics in the business plan. Creating an executive summary with all the facts and information available is easier.

In the overall business plan document, the executive summary should be at the forefront of the business plan. It helps set the tone for readers on what to expect from the business plan.

A well-written executive summary includes all vital information about the organization's operations, making it easy for a reader to understand.

The key points that need to be acted upon are highlighted in the executive summary. They should be well spelled out to make decisions easy for the management team.

A good and compelling executive summary points out a company's mission statement and a brief description of its products and services.

An executive summary summarizes a business's expected value proposition to distinct customer segments. It highlights the other key elements to be discussed during the rest of the business plan.

Including your prior experiences as an entrepreneur is a good idea in drawing up an executive summary for your business. A brief but detailed explanation of why you decided to start the business in the first place is essential.

Adding your company's mission statement in your executive summary cannot be overemphasized. It creates a culture that defines how employees and all individuals associated with your company abide when carrying out its related processes and operations.

Your executive summary should be brief and detailed to catch readers' attention and encourage them to learn more about your company.

Components of an Executive Summary

Here are some of the information that makes up an executive summary:

• The name and location of your company
• Products and services offered by your company
• Mission and vision statements
• Success factors of your business plan

2. Business Description

Your business description needs to be exciting and captivating as it is the formal introduction a reader gets about your company.

What your company aims to provide, its products and services, goals and objectives, target audience , and potential customers it plans to serve need to be highlighted in your business description.

A company description helps point out notable qualities that make your company stand out from other businesses in the industry. It details its unique strengths and the competitive advantages that give it an edge to succeed over its direct and indirect competitors.

Spell out how your business aims to deliver on the particular needs and wants of identified customers in your company description, as well as the particular industry and target market of the particular focus of the company.

Include trends and significant competitors within your particular industry in your company description. Your business description should contain what sets your company apart from other businesses and provides it with the needed competitive advantage.

In essence, if there is any area in your business plan where you need to brag about your business, your company description provides that unique opportunity as readers look to get a high-level overview.

Components of a Business Description

Your business description needs to contain these categories of information.

• Business location
• The legal structure of your business
• Summary of your business’s short and long-term goals

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section should be solely based on analytical research as it details trends particular to the market you want to penetrate.

Graphs, spreadsheets, and histograms are handy data and statistical tools you need to utilize in your market analysis. They make it easy to understand the relationship between your current ideas and the future goals you have for the business.

All details about the target customers you plan to sell products or services should be in the market analysis section. It helps readers with a helpful overview of the market.

In your market analysis, you provide the needed data and statistics about industry and market share, the identified strengths in your company description, and compare them against other businesses in the same industry.

The market analysis section aims to define your target audience and estimate how your product or service would fare with these identified audiences.

Market analysis helps visualize a target market by researching and identifying the primary target audience of your company and detailing steps and plans based on your audience location.

Obtaining this information through market research is essential as it helps shape how your business achieves its short-term and long-term goals.

Market Analysis Factors

Here are some of the factors to be included in your market analysis.

• The geographical location of your target market
• Needs of your target market and how your products and services can meet those needs
• Demographics of your target audience

Components of the Market Analysis Section

Here is some of the information to be included in your market analysis.

• Industry description and statistics
• Demographics and profile of target customers
• Marketing data for your products and services
• Detailed evaluation of your competitors

4. Marketing Plan

A marketing plan defines how your business aims to reach its target customers, generate sales leads, and, ultimately, make sales.

Promotion is at the center of any successful marketing plan. It is a series of steps to pitch a product or service to a larger audience to generate engagement. Note that the marketing strategy for a business should not be stagnant and must evolve depending on its outcome.

Include the budgetary requirement for successfully implementing your marketing plan in this section to make it easy for readers to measure your marketing plan's impact in terms of numbers.

The information to include in your marketing plan includes marketing and promotion strategies, pricing plans and strategies , and sales proposals. You need to include how you intend to get customers to return and make repeat purchases in your business plan.

5. Sales Strategy

Sales strategy defines how you intend to get your product or service to your target customers and works hand in hand with your business marketing strategy.

Your sales strategy approach should not be complex. Break it down into simple and understandable steps to promote your product or service to target customers.

Apart from the steps to promote your product or service, define the budget you need to implement your sales strategies and the number of sales reps needed to help the business assist in direct sales.

Your sales strategy should be specific on what you need and how you intend to deliver on your sales targets, where numbers are reflected to make it easier for readers to understand and relate better.

6. Competitive Analysis

Providing transparent and honest information, even with direct and indirect competitors, defines a good business plan. Provide the reader with a clear picture of your rank against major competitors.

Identifying your competitors' weaknesses and strengths is useful in drawing up a market analysis. It is one information investors look out for when assessing business plans.

The competitive analysis section clearly defines the notable differences between your company and your competitors as measured against their strengths and weaknesses.

This section should define the following:

• Your competitors' identified advantages in the market
• How do you plan to set up your company to challenge your competitors’ advantage and gain grounds from them?
• The standout qualities that distinguish you from other companies
• Potential bottlenecks you have identified that have plagued competitors in the same industry and how you intend to overcome these bottlenecks

In your business plan, you need to prove your industry knowledge to anyone who reads your business plan. The competitive analysis section is designed for that purpose.

7. Management and Organization

Management and organization are key components of a business plan. They define its structure and how it is positioned to run.

Whether you intend to run a sole proprietorship, general or limited partnership, or corporation, the legal structure of your business needs to be clearly defined in your business plan.

Use an organizational chart that illustrates the hierarchy of operations of your company and spells out separate departments and their roles and functions in this business plan section.

The management and organization section includes profiles of advisors, board of directors, and executive team members and their roles and responsibilities in guaranteeing the company's success.

Apparent factors that influence your company's corporate culture, such as human resources requirements and legal structure, should be well defined in the management and organization section.

Defining the business's chain of command if you are not a sole proprietor is necessary. It leaves room for little or no confusion about who is in charge or responsible during business operations.

This section provides relevant information on how the management team intends to help employees maximize their strengths and address their identified weaknesses to help all quarters improve for the business's success.

8. Products and Services

This business plan section describes what a company has to offer regarding products and services to the maximum benefit and satisfaction of its target market.

Boldly spell out pending patents or copyright products and intellectual property in this section alongside costs, expected sales revenue, research and development, and competitors' advantage as an overview.

At this stage of your business plan, the reader needs to know what your business plans to produce and sell and the benefits these products offer in meeting customers' needs.

The supply network of your business product, production costs, and how you intend to sell the products are crucial components of the products and services section.

Investors are always keen on this information to help them reach a balanced assessment of if investing in your business is risky or offer benefits to them.

You need to create a link in this section on how your products or services are designed to meet the market's needs and how you intend to keep those customers and carve out a market share for your company.

Repeat purchases are the backing that a successful business relies on and measure how much customers are into what your company is offering.

This section is more like an expansion of the executive summary section. You need to analyze each product or service under the business.

9. Operating Plan

An operations plan describes how you plan to carry out your business operations and processes.

The operating plan for your business should include:

• Information about how your company plans to carry out its operations.
• The base location from which your company intends to operate.
• The number of employees to be utilized and other information about your company's operations.
• Key business processes.

This section should highlight how your organization is set up to run. You can also introduce your company's management team in this section, alongside their skills, roles, and responsibilities in the company.

The best way to introduce the company team is by drawing up an organizational chart that effectively maps out an organization's rank and chain of command.

What should be spelled out to readers when they come across this business plan section is how the business plans to operate day-in and day-out successfully.

10. Financial Projections and Assumptions

Bringing your great business ideas into reality is why business plans are important. They help create a sustainable and viable business.

The financial section of your business plan offers significant value. A business uses a financial plan to solve all its financial concerns, which usually involves startup costs, labor expenses, financial projections, and funding and investor pitches.

All key assumptions about the business finances need to be listed alongside the business financial projection, and changes to be made on the assumptions side until it balances with the projection for the business.

The financial plan should also include how the business plans to generate income and the capital expenditure budgets that tend to eat into the budget to arrive at an accurate cash flow projection for the business.

Base your financial goals and expectations on extensive market research backed with relevant financial statements for the relevant period.

Examples of financial statements you can include in the financial projections and assumptions section of your business plan include:

• Projected income statements
• Cash flow statements
• Balance sheets
• Income statements

Revealing the financial goals and potentials of the business is what the financial projection and assumption section of your business plan is all about. It needs to be purely based on facts that can be measurable and attainable.

11. Request For Funding

The request for funding section focuses on the amount of money needed to set up your business and underlying plans for raising the money required. This section includes plans for utilizing the funds for your business's operational and manufacturing processes.

When seeking funding, a reasonable timeline is required alongside it. If the need arises for additional funding to complete other business-related projects, you are not left scampering and desperate for funds.

If you do not have the funds to start up your business, then you should devote a whole section of your business plan to explaining the amount of money you need and how you plan to utilize every penny of the funds. You need to explain it in detail for a future funding request.

When an investor picks up your business plan to analyze it, with all your plans for the funds well spelled out, they are motivated to invest as they have gotten a backing guarantee from your funding request section.

Include timelines and plans for how you intend to repay the loans received in your funding request section. This addition keeps investors assured that they could recoup their investment in the business.

12. Exhibits and Appendices

Exhibits and appendices comprise the final section of your business plan and contain all supporting documents for other sections of the business plan.

Some of the documents that comprise the exhibits and appendices section includes:

• Legal documents
• Licenses and permits
• Credit histories
• Customer lists

The choice of what additional document to include in your business plan to support your statements depends mainly on the intended audience of your business plan. Hence, it is better to play it safe and not leave anything out when drawing up the appendix and exhibit section.

Supporting documentation is particularly helpful when you need funding or support for your business. This section provides investors with a clearer understanding of the research that backs the claims made in your business plan.

There are key points to include in the appendix and exhibits section of your business plan.

• The management team and other stakeholders resume
• Marketing research
• Permits and relevant legal documents
• Financial documents

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Martin luenendonk.

Martin loves entrepreneurship and has helped dozens of entrepreneurs by validating the business idea, finding scalable customer acquisition channels, and building a data-driven organization. During his time working in investment banking, tech startups, and industry-leading companies he gained extensive knowledge in using different software tools to optimize business processes.

This insights and his love for researching SaaS products enables him to provide in-depth, fact-based software reviews to enable software buyers make better decisions.

How to Write a Five-Year Business Plan

Noah Parsons

15 min. read

Updated October 27, 2023

Learn why the traditional way of writing a five-year business plan is often a waste of time and how to use a one-page plan instead for smarter, easier strategic planning to establish your long-term vision. 

In business, it can sometimes seem hard enough to predict what’s going to happen next month, let alone three or even five years from now. But, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t plan for the long term. After all, your vision for the future is what gets you out of bed in the morning and motivates your team. It’s those aspirations that drive you to keep innovating and figuring out how to grow.

• What is a long-term plan?

A long-term or long-range business plan looks beyond the traditional 3-year planning window, focusing on what a business might look like 5 or even 10 years from now. A traditional 5-year business plan includes financial projections, business strategy, and roadmaps that stretch far into the future.

I’ll be honest with you, though—for most businesses, long-range business plans that stretch 5 and 10 years into the future are a waste of time. Anyone who’s seriously asking you for one doesn’t know what they’re doing and is wasting your time. Sorry if that offends some people, but it’s true.

However, there is still real value in looking at the long term. Just don’t invest the time in creating a lengthy version of your business plan with overly detailed metrics and milestones for the next five-plus years. No one knows the future and, more than likely, anything you write down now could be obsolete in the next year, next month, or even next week. 

That’s where long-term strategic planning comes in. A long-term business plan like this is different from a traditional business plan in that it’s lighter on the details and more focused on your strategic direction. It has less focus on financial forecasting and a greater focus on the big picture. 

Think of your long-term strategic plan as your aspirational vision for your business. It defines the ideal direction you’re aiming for but it’s not influencing your day-to-day or, potentially, even your monthly decision making. 

• Are long-term business plans a waste of time?

No one knows the future. We’re all just taking the information that we have available today and making our best guesses about the future. Sometimes trends in a market are pretty clear and your guesses will be well-founded. Other times, you’re trying to look around a corner and hoping that your intuition about what comes next is correct.

Now, I’m not saying that thinking about the future is a waste of time. Entrepreneurs are always thinking about the future. They have to have some degree of faith and certainty about what customers are going to want in the future. Successful entrepreneurs do actually predict the future — they know what customers are going to want and when they’re going to want it.

Entrepreneurship is unpredictable 

Successful entrepreneurs are also often wrong. They make mistakes just like the rest of us. The difference between successful entrepreneurs and everyone else is that they don’t let mistakes slow them down. They learn from mistakes, adjust and try again. And again. And again. It’s not about being right all the time; it’s about having the perseverance to keep trying until you get it right. For example, James Dyson, inventor of the iconic vacuum cleaner, tried out 5,126 prototypes of his invention before he found a design that worked.

So, if thinking about the future isn’t a waste of time, why are 5-year business plans a waste of time? They’re a waste of time because they typically follow the same format as a traditional business plan, where you are asked to project sales, expenses, and cash flow 5 and 10 years into the future. 

Let’s be real. Sales and expense projections that far into the future are just wild guesses, especially for startups and new businesses. They’re guaranteed to be wrong and can’t be used for anything. You can’t (and shouldn’t) make decisions based on these guesses. They’re just fantasy. You hope you achieve massive year-over-year growth in sales, but there’s no guarantee that’s going to happen. And, you shouldn’t make significant spending decisions today based on the hope of massive sales 10 years from now.

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• Why write a long-term business plan?

So, what is the purpose of outlining a long-term plan? Here are a few key reasons why it’s still valuable to consider the future of your business without getting bogged down by the details.

Showcase your vision for investors

First, and especially important if you are raising money from investors, is your vision. Investors will want to know not only where you plan on being in a year, but where the business will be in five years. Do you anticipate launching new products or services? Will you expand internationally? Or will you find new markets to grow into? 

Set long-term goals for your business

Second, you’ll want to establish goals for yourself and your team. What kinds of high-level sales targets do you hope to achieve? How big is your company going to get overtime? These goals can be used to motivate your team and even help in the hiring process as you get up and running.

That said, you don’t want to overinvest in fleshing out all the details of a long-range plan. You don’t need to figure out exactly how your expansion will work years from now or exactly how much you’ll spend on office supplies five years from now. That’s really just a waste of time.

Instead, for long-range planning, think in broad terms. A good planning process means that you’re constantly revising and refining your business plan. You’ll add more specifics as you go, creating a detailed plan for the next 6-12 months and a broader, vague plan for the long term.

You have a long development time

Businesses with extremely long research and development timelines do make spending decisions now based on the hope of results years from now. For example, the pharmaceutical industry and medical device industry have to make these bets all the time. The R&D required to take a concept from idea to proven product with regulatory approval can take years for these industries, so long-range planning in these cases is a must. A handful of other industries also have similar development timelines, but these are the exceptions, not the rule.

Your business is well-established and predictable 

Long-term, detailed planning can make more sense for businesses that are extremely well established and have long histories of consistent sales and expenses with predictable growth. But, even for those businesses, predictability means quite the opposite of stability. The chances that you’ll be disrupted in the marketplace by a new company, or the changing needs and desires of your customers, is extremely high. So, most likely, those long-range predictions of sales and profits are pretty useless.

• What a 5-year plan should look like

With the exception of R&D-heavy businesses, most 5-year business plans should be more like vision statements than traditional business plans. They should explain your vision for the future, but skip the details of detailed sales projections and expense budgets. 

Your vision for your business should explain the types of products and services that you hope to offer in the future and the types of customers that you hope to serve. Your plan should outline who you plan to serve now and how you plan to expand if you are successful.

This kind of future vision creates a strategic roadmap. It’s not a fully detailed plan with sales forecasts and expense budgets, but a plan for getting started and then growing over time to reach your final destination.

For example, here’s a short-form version of what a long-term plan for Nike might have looked like if one had been written in the 1960s:

Nike will start by developing high-end track shoes for elite athletes. We’ll start with a focus on the North West of the US, but expand nationally as we develop brand recognition among track and field athletes. We will use sponsored athletes to spread the word about the quality and performance of our shoes. Once we have success in the track & field market segment, we believe that we will be able to successfully expand both beyond the US market and also branch out into other sports, with an initial focus on basketball.

Leadership and brand awareness in a sport such as basketball will enable us to cross over from the athlete market into the consumer market. This will lead to significant business growth in the consumer segment and allow for expansion into additional sports, fashion, and casual markets in addition to building a strong apparel brand.

Interestingly enough, Nike (to my knowledge) never wrote out a long-range business plan. They developed their plans as they grew, building the proverbial airplane as it took off.

But, if you have this kind of vision for your business, it’s useful to articulate it. Your employees will want to know what your vision is and your investors will want to know as well. They want to know that you, as an entrepreneur, are looking beyond tomorrow and into the future months and years ahead.

• How to write a five-year business plan

Writing out your long-term vision for your business is a useful exercise. It can bring a sense of stability and solidify key performance indicators and broad milestones that drive your business. 

Developing a long-range business plan is really just an extension of your regular business planning process. A typical business plan covers the next one to three years, documenting your target market, marketing strategy, and product or service offerings for that time period. 

A five-year plan expands off of that initial strategy and discusses what your business might do in the years to come. However, as I’ve mentioned before, creating a fully detailed five-year business plan will be a waste of time. 

Here’s a quick guide to writing a business plan that looks further into the future without wasting your time:

1. Develop your one-page plan

As with all business planning, we recommend that you start with a one-page business plan. It provides a snapshot of what you’re hoping to achieve in the immediate term by outlining your core business strategy, target market, and business model.

A one-page plan is the foundation of all other planning because it’s the document that you’ll keep the most current. It’s also the easiest to update and share with business partners. You will typically highlight up to three years of revenue and profit goals as well as milestones that you hope to achieve in the near term.

Check out our guide to building your one-page plan and download a free template to get started.

2. Determine if you need a traditional business plan

Unlike a one-page business plan, a traditional business plan is more detailed and is typically written in long-form prose. A traditional business plan is usually 10-20 pages long and contains details about your product or service, summaries of the market research that you’ve conducted, and details about your competition. Read our complete guide to writing a business plan .

Companies that write traditional business plans typically have a “business plan event” where a complete business plan is required. Business plan events are usually part of the fundraising process. During fundraising, lenders and investors may ask to see a detailed plan and it’s important to be ready if that request comes up. 

But there are other good reasons to write a detailed business plan. A detailed plan forces you to think through the details of your business and how, exactly, you’re going to build your business. Detailed plans encourage you to think through your business strategy, your target market, and your competition carefully. A good business plan ensures that your strategy is complete and fleshed out, not just a collection of vague ideas.

A traditional business plan is also a good foundation for a long-term business plan and I recommend that you expand your lean business plan into a complete business plan if you intend to create plans for more than three years into the future.

3. Develop long-term goals and growth targets

As you work on your business plan, you’ll need to think about where you want to be in 5+ years. A good exercise is to envision what your business will look like. How many employees will you have? How many locations will you serve? Will you introduce new products and services? 

When you’ve envisioned where you want your business to be, it’s time to turn that vision into a set of goals that you’ll document in your business plan. Each section of your business plan will be expanded to highlight where you want to be in the future. For example, in your target market section, you will start by describing your initial target market. Then you’ll proceed to describe the markets that you hope to reach in 3-5 years.

To accompany your long-term goals, you’ll also need to establish revenue targets that you think you’ll need to meet to achieve your goals. It’s important to also think about the expenses you’re going to incur in order to grow your business. 

For long-range planning, I recommend thinking about your expenses in broad buckets such as “marketing” and “product development” without getting bogged down in too much detail. Think about what percentage of your sales you’ll spend on each of these broad buckets. For example, marketing spending might be 20% of sales. 

4. Develop a 3-5 year strategic plan

Your goals and growth targets are “what” you want to achieve. Your strategy is “how” you’re going to achieve it.

Use your business plan to document your strategy for growth. You might be expanding your product offering, expanding your market, or some combination of the two. You’ll need to think about exactly how this process will happen over the next 3-5 years. 

A good way to document your strategy is to use milestones. These are interim goals that you’ll set to mark your progress along the way to your larger goal. For example, you may have a goal to expand your business nationally from your initial regional presence. You probably won’t expand across the country all at once, though. Most likely, you’ll expand into certain regions one at a time and grow to have a national presence over time. Your strategy will be the order of the regions that you plan on expanding into and why you pick certain regions over others.

Your 3-5 year strategy may also include what’s called an “exit strategy”. This part of a business plan is often required if you’re raising money from investors. They’ll want to know how they’ll eventually get their money back. An “exit” can be the sale of your business or potentially going public. A typical exit strategy will identify potential acquirers for your business and will show that you’ve thought about how your business might be an attractive purchase.

5. Tie your long-term plan to your one-page plan

As your business grows, you can use your long-term business plan as your north star. Your guide for where you want to end up. Use those goals to steer your business in the right direction, making small course corrections as you need to. 

You’ll reflect those smaller course corrections in your one-page plan. Because it is a simple document and looks at the shorter term, it’s easier to update. The best way to do this is to set aside a small amount of time to review your plan once a month. You’ll review your financial forecast, your milestones, and your overall strategy. If things need to change, you can make those adjustments. Nothing ever goes exactly to plan, so it’s OK to make corrections as you go.

You may find that your long-term plan may also need corrections as you grow your business. You may learn things about your market that change your initial assumptions and impacts your long-range plan. This is perfectly normal. Once a quarter or so, zoom out and review your long-range plan. If you need to make corrections to your strategy and goals, that’s fine. Just keep your plan alive so that it gives you the guidance that you need over time. 

• Vision setting is the purpose of long-term planning

Part of what makes entrepreneurs special is that they have a vision. They have dreams for where they want their business to go. A 5-year business plan should be about documenting that vision for the future and how your business will capitalize on that vision.

So, if someone asks you for your 5-year business plan. Don’t scramble to put together a sales forecast and budget for 5 years from now. Your best guess today will be obsolete tomorrow. Instead, focus on your vision and communicate that. 

Explain where you think your business is going and what you think the market is going to be like 5 years from now. Explain what you think customers are going to want and where trends are headed and how you’re going to be there to sell the solution to the problems that exist in 5 and 10 years. Just skip the invented forecasts and fantasy budgets.

See why 1.2 million entrepreneurs have written their business plans with LivePlan

Noah is the COO at Palo Alto Software, makers of the online business plan app LivePlan. He started his career at Yahoo! and then helped start the user review site Epinions.com. From there he started a software distribution business in the UK before coming to Palo Alto Software to run the marketing and product teams.

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How to write a 5-year business plan faster with the right tool

Did you know that 70% of firms still in business after five years, have a strategic plan in place?

A business plan helps outline your goals and explains how you plan to achieve them.

A well-written business plan is crucial if you want to raise financing and plan your outlook for both the short and long-term future.

In this guide, we'll cover what a five-year business plan is, why you need to write one, what tool you should use and the content that should be included!

Ready? Let's get started!

In this guide:

What is a 5-year business plan?

How does a 5-year business plan differ from a 3-year business plan, is a 5-year business plan right for you, what tool should i use to write a 5-year business plan efficiently, 5-year business plan templates and examples.

• Why you shouldn't be using Excel and Word to write a 5-year business plan

How do I write a 5-year business plan in practice?

How to make sure your 5-year business plan stays relevant.

It follows the same structure as most other business plans. It contains all of the key sections from the executive summary to the financial statements.

The key difference is that those financials are projected for a period of 5 years instead of 3 years. This means that the business is providing a long(er) term outlook.

It also means that sections detailing the actions planned - such as business strategy, sales & marketing plan and milestones - have to be written in greater depth because a lot more will be implemented in a 5-year business plan (vs. a 3-year business plan).

Business plans can be highly volatile tools, especially for startups. If a business plan turns out to be inaccurate at the end of year one, it is likely that the following years will follow suit.

In essence, the further you plan into the future, the less certainty you have. This means that 5-year business plans tend to be higher level than 3-years business plans given that it’s difficult to accurately predict what might happen after year 3.

Create your 5-year business plan online!

Plan your business' growth, profits and cash flows over the next 5 years with our software.

Because of the uncertainty regarding long term projections we just explained in the section above, 5-year business plans tend to be quite rare.

As a rule of thumb, they are mostly useful in the following situations:

• When the business is highly predictable
• When the business is in transition

Highly predictable businesses

Some businesses are predictable with a high level of certainty and can therefore afford to take a long(er) term view.

This usually applies to businesses with the following characteristics:

• They have limited competition: monopolies or oligopolies
• They sell products or services with limited substitution options

Infrastructure companies are the perfect example of this. If you are the only water provider or train operator in the region and have been given a 10 years concession, you can comfortably project your financials over longer periods.

Businesses in transition

5-year business plans are also useful for businesses that want to model a transition from one state to another.

Good examples of this are when there is a one-off important change in the business, or a high level of inertia:

• The business is expected to go through a phase of reorganization or restructuring, after acquiring another business, or because it needs to shut down a division which is no longer competitive, for example
• The business is investing in a capital intensive project that will take time before yielding a return on investment. If constructing a new factory takes two years before the business can benefit from the increased production capacity, for example
• There is inertia in the sales cycle. If the business is launching a new product marketed to big corporations with an expected 12-18 months sales cycle, for example

As you can see from above, 5-year business plans are often overkill for startups or small “brick and mortar” businesses such as retail shops and restaurants.

Writing a business plan can be both tedious and difficult if you start from scratch. Luckily for you, online business plan software can help you write a professional plan in no time!

There are several advantages to using specialised software like The Business Plan Shop:

• You are guided through the writing process by detailed instructions and examples for each part of the plan
• You can be inspired by already written business plan templates
• You can easily make your financial forecast by letting the software take care of the financial calculations for you
• You get a professional document, formatted and ready to be sent to your bank
• You can easily compare your forecast against actuals from your accounting system to ensure you are on track to deliver your plan, and adjust your forecast to keep it up to date as time goes by

If you are interested in this type of solution, you can try our software for free by signing up to The Business Plan Shop today .

Most of the business plan templates offered by The Business Plan Shop are examples of three-year business plans.

However, since there isn't any fundamental difference between a three-year and five-year business plan, you can use one of our templates to help structure your own plan (simply increase the number of years to 5 in the settings and adjust your forecast accordingly).

Why you shouldn't be using Excel and Word to write a 5-year business plan?

When considering using a tool like Word or Excel to craft a 5-year business plan, it is important to be aware of the drawbacks.

Though both programs may offer some basic formatting and calculations, they are not tailored for creating business plans.

Using Excel can be risky due to potential errors in data entry as a consequence of inputting data manually. A single mistake could lead to financial statements being inaccurate and with hundreds of lines of data, you might struggle to locate where the mistake was made.

Investors are likely to frown upon the use of Excel when creating a forecast for this reason, and it's unlikely that they would trust your numbers unless you have a background in accounting or finance.

Even if you do have a background in finance. With Excel, you'll need to compute key formulas yourself, which means that modelling complex elements is likely to be frustrating. Modelling D&A tables, advanced payment terms, or variable interest rate loans in the financial forecast are good examples of this.

If you're using Word to write up your business plan, you might find yourself overwhelmed by all the details that must be included. And unlike The Business Plan Shop, which offers you structured templates for each section of your plan, with Word there are no examples or instructions to guide you either.

Following a set structure makes it much easier to write a five-year business plan - which is why we've broken it down into simple questions and sections for you to follow!

How do you set 5-year business (growth) goals?

When writing a 5-year business plan, it's important to set achievable goals within that timeframe. Looking back at previous business performance can offer indications as to what your team can achieve with the resources they have at their disposal.

Be sure to set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) objectives: there's no point in saying that you want to open 10 new stores within the next five years, if you know that's virtually impossible.

Similarly, an increase in customer satisfaction by itself is not a measurable goal and would need to lead to greater customer retention and repeat purchases for it to be quantified in numerical terms.

Remember that your goals are likely to shift as time goes by and you might want to make small changes to them. Whilst it's good to be specific, there's no need to mention every single aspect of your strategy in the business plan. You are trying to impress stakeholders such as investors, not bore them with the details!

What is the content of a 5-year business plan?

A 5-year business plan is composed of 7 main sections, let's have a look at each of them.

Executive Summary

The executive summary is arguably the most important part of your business plan. It provides readers (such as banks and investors) a rundown of your business as a whole.

You should explain what type of business you are, what goods or services you sell and to whom, forecasted revenues and profitability in the next five years, as well as the amount of financing that is required (if any).

Remember that this is the first section of your business plan. Keep it short and snappy with the aim of persuading stakeholders such as investors to continue reading.

Company Overview

The company overview section of a five-year business plan usually covers three key areas:

• Structure and Ownership
• Business Location
• Management team

You should start by summarising how your business is funded to date and who owns it (be sure to state shareholder names and percentage ownership if it is equity funded). Plus, you should declare what type of legal structure you've chosen (sole trader, limited company, partnership, etc.).

Then give an overview of the location(s) of your business Simply explain where you chose to set up your business(es) and why you chose those particular area(s) - strong transport links and parking facilities, large footfall of potential customers nearby are two such examples.

Finally, you should introduce the management team. This part is particularly important to demonstrate to investors that your management team has the necessary skills and experience to run the business successfully.

Market analysis

This is likely to be the lengthiest section of your 5-year business plan. In general, market analysis should include the following sections:

• Demographics and segmentation
• Target market
• Competition
• Barriers at entry

Demographics are essential for understanding who is likely to be interested in purchasing your products or services. Segmenting demographics further can also provide insight into what types of goods customers prefer and the price that they are willing to pay for them.

This section can also help you understand any upcoming trends in the market that are likely to affect your strategy within the next five years.

Then comes the target market part, where you will explain which segments are targeted by your business and how you meet their needs.

For example, if you were running a wellness spa, your target market could be women aged between 20 and 45 that work full-time and are looking to relax and de-stress after their workday and on the weekends. They might be drawn to your salon because of your high-quality customer service and convenient opening times.

It's also important to explain who your business will be competing against in the local market. Think about direct and indirect competition so that you can devise strategies to gain an edge over them. 

The next part of your market analysis will be to detail potential barriers to entry. Barriers to entry are best defined as any hurdles that prevent competing firms from entering the market and stealing your hard earned market shares. A large investment in R&D or production capacities would be good examples.

Finally, you should state what regulations are already in place in the market and how you plan to abide by them. Examples of such regulations include The Data Protection Act (prominent for businesses with a website) and health and safety regulations.

Products and services

The products and services section of your 5-year business plan should include detailed descriptions of all the products and/or services that your business offers.

For example, if you run a coffee shop, you should detail the ingredients used, such as the type of milk, flavourings, and toppings available. The reader will want to understand what makes your coffee unique from other businesses in this competitive market.

You could also list any offers that customers can obtain (coffee and cake deals for example). You might also have delivery options available or loyalty programmes for customers who purchase multiple drinks over time.

It may also be useful to explain how you intend to keep up with current trends by introducing new flavours and seasonal beverages throughout the year (pumpkin flavour during Halloween for example).

Including these details in your 5-year business plan helps paint a clear picture for potential investors about what they can expect now and in the future.

Strategy Section

This section should outline the pricing strategy, marketing plan, milestones to be achieved, as well as any risks and mitigants associated with your venture.

You should explain how you charge for your goods and services, why you chose to price them at that level, and how they compare with prices charged by your competition.

In your marketing plan, you could outline how you plan to implement a set strategy to attract and retain customers.

Your business milestones are important because they summarise what your goals are and where you want to be in five years time. For an exisiting business, it might look like this:

• In year one: open a second store in the region
• In year two: go national with another 5 new stores in major cities
• From year three to five: open 10 new stores each year to reach a network of 37 stores

Finally, talk about the risks and mitigants that could affect your business within the next five years. Try to cover major risks such as changes in the competitive environment, new regulations, key staff leaving, etc.

Operations Section

In your five-year business plan operations section, you should outline any staff that you've recruited (or plan to recruit), the qualifications & experience they hold and their responsibilities.

Your business might employ more staff as time goes on (perhaps as you obtain a stronger cash flow position in year 3 of the business plan). Be sure to state any future recruitment plans.

Talk about the suppliers that you've chosen to work with and the reason for picking them over others.

Finally, you should state any key assets required for the business to operate such as leases, patents, or specialized equipment.

For any business plan, the financial section is crucial. Your five-year business plan should contain a full set of financial statements: a balance sheet, a profit & loss statement and a cash flow statement.

Obtaining inputs from key stakeholders before writing your 5-year business plan

To help ensure that your business plan is accurate, it should ideally be written by your management team (one or more managers who are responsible for overall strategy and the day-to-day running of the business).

It's also important to obtain input from key staff members. For example, the head of sales should help build the sales forecast because they are the one responsible for executing the sales strategy.

How many pages does a 5-year business plan have?

Like most business plans, there's no specific number of pages that yours must have. A good rule of thumb, however, is to keep it between 15 and 35 pages.

As long as you've covered all of the key sections, ranging from the executive summary to the financial projections, your five-year business plan should be good to go!

Remember, quality is more important than quantity.

Writing a comprehensive business plan takes time, to get a return on investment on this time you need to actually use and maintain your plan.

To do so, you will want to regularly compare your actuals (actual data from your accounting software) with your financial projections to check you are on track to deliver the plan.

Then you will want to adjust your forecast and plan as time goes by so that your plan stays current and your business can maintain clear visibility of it's future cash flows.

If you used The Business Plan Shop to create your forecast, this is easy to do as actuals vs. forecast tracking is built-in our solution:

That's it for now, we hope this article has helped you better understand how to write a 5-year business plan.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions related to business planning or our solution.

Also on The Business Plan Shop

• How to do a market analysis for a business plan?
• Business plan vs budget: what's the difference?
• How to choose the best business plan software for you?

Founder & CEO at The Business Plan Shop Ltd

Guillaume Le Brouster is a seasoned entrepreneur and financier.

Guillaume has been an entrepreneur for more than a decade and has first-hand experience of starting, running, and growing a successful business.

Prior to being a business owner, Guillaume worked in investment banking and private equity, where he spent most of his time creating complex financial forecasts, writing business plans, and analysing financial statements to make financing and investment decisions.

Guillaume holds a Master's Degree in Finance from ESCP Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business & Management from Paris Dauphine University.

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How to Create a 5-Year Business Plan in 8 Easy Steps

• March 11, 2024

12 Min Read

As an entrepreneur or a business owner, you know it can be challenging enough to predict business growth for the long term. And the business decisions you make today will shape your company’s future.

Well, having a strategic plan for the next three or even five years will guide you toward long-term business goals and increase the potential for success.

So, why take a chance? Keep a solid five-year business plan with you!

Need help writing a business plan from scratch? Don’t worry;  we’re here to support you with our 5-year business plan template .

This will help you learn more about the business plan for 5 years and what components you should include in it. Also, it allows you to organize ideas, set realistic growth targets, and refine your business strategy that will attract investors.

Sounds good, right? Let’s get started.

What is a 5 Year Business Plan?

A 5-year business plan is a professional document that serves as a strategic roadmap for your company’s future. It outlines business goals, strategies, financial projections, and growth plans for the next five years. 

It helps you set clear objectives, define target customers, allocate resources effectively, mitigate risks, adapt to changing market conditions, and make informed decisions.

Ultimately, a well-developed 5-year plan keeps you on track and drives sustainable growth and profitability over the specified timeframe.

Why do you need a 5 year business plan?

Writing a solid business plan is one of the most important aspects of your entrepreneurial journey.

A 5-year business plan gives you a structural framework to think strategically about your company’s plans over the next few years. It helps you organize your business idea and guide your strategic decision-making.

The following are a few key reasons why it’s valuable to have a 5-year business plan:

Highlight your long-term vision

A 5-year plan helps you articulate your long-term vision and define a set of strategic goals for your business over the next five years. This will allow you to stay focused on your objectives and make smart decisions to navigate the complexities of your business environment.

Build investor confidence

If you’re looking for investors or stakeholders to fund your business expansion, a well-written 5-year plan is necessary. It demonstrates your commitment to long-term growth and assures investors that your business will make profits. So, this will increase their confidence and belief in your long-term strategy.

Mitigate potential risks

Analyzing and identifying potential risks is the key aspect of any business. So, an actionable plan helps you develop strategies to mitigate those risks and ensure your business continuity. If there is economic volatility, regulatory transitions, or technical disruptions, a 5-year business plan helps you anticipate and prepare for business challenges.

Promote strategic planning

A good 5-year business plan enables you to think about the business and how to attain sustainable growth and success over the next few years. It also helps you make strategic hiring decisions and anticipate future staffing needs. By identifying market trends, competitors, and internal capabilities, you can enhance strategies to capitalize on opportunities and reduce potential risks.

Now that you know why a business plan is necessary, it’s time to understand what to include in a detailed 5-year plan.

What to include in your detailed five-year business plan

1. executive summary.

An executive summary is a brief introduction to your 5-year business plan and summarizes each component you mentioned in the document.

Though it is the first section, it is written in the last, since it provides a high-level overview of the complete business plan.

The executive summary is the introductory section of the plan, so its primary goal is to quickly attract readers and convince them to delve further into the rest of the plan.

Here are a few details you may consider including in your executive summary:

• A quick overview of your business idea and objectives
• Your company’s mission and vision statements
• Industry analysis and market research
• Sales and marketing plan
• Key performance indicators
• Introduction of your management team
• Financial forecasts for the next five years

Remember that you keep your summary simple, concise, and compelling enough to build investors or readers trust.

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2. Business Overview

As its name indicates, the business overview section provides a detailed description of your company. It covers all the essential information, from a business idea to its long-term goals.

Since you’ll give a brief company description in the executive summary, this chapter would be an expansion on it, providing an in-depth understanding of your business.

So, this section makes it easier for readers or potential business partners to quickly understand and confirm the nature of your business, such as what your company does, who the potential customers are, and how you plan to reach your objectives.

You may include all the following crucial elements in this section:

• The type of small business you operate
• A brief history or background details of your business
• Achievements or milestones you’ve achieved
• Business legal structure(s-corp, LLC, sole proprietorship, etc.)
• Mission statement
• Short-term goals and long-term objectives

3. Market Analysis

Industry analysis and market research is a detailed breakdown of the external business environment. It provides a thorough understanding of the specific industry or sector in which your business will operate.

This section helps your readers or potential investors to easily understand the broader industry, target customers, emerging trends, and market demands.

Apart from that, it helps you and your team to analyze and identify the untapped key areas in the market and develop strategies to stand out from the competitors.

Here are some specific details you may include:

• Market size and growth potential
• Target market
• Ideal customers, along with their preferences and buying habits
• Competitors’ research and SWOT analysis
• Industry trends
• Regulatory environment

4. Product and Services

In the product and services section, you may provide details of your product or service range, main features, pricing, and more. It helps you demonstrate the current capabilities of your business and highlight the USPs.

So, you may consider adding the below points in this section:

• Product/service description
• Pricing details
• Quality standards
• Future product development plan

While you’re planning how to start your own business, you have to explore the market and determine how your offerings will encounter customer problems and satisfy their needs better than competitors.

5. Sales and Marketing Strategies

Your sales and marketing plan outlines the strategies you’ll use to reach the target audience and how you’ll bring more customers by promoting your products/services to them.

A well-written marketing plan will encourage you to create effective campaigns and simplify your marketing efforts while maintaining the marketing budget and maximizing return on investment.

Thus, you may describe a list of sales strategies and promotional tactics to attract new customers and retain existing ones.

Here’s a list of key components you may include in this section:

• Target audience
• Marketing strategy
• Sales approach
• Sales and marketing goals
• Customer retention program

6. Operations Plan

As you’ve mentioned your business goals in the previous sections, now it’s time to define how you’ll meet those goals.

In your operations plan, you’ll need to outline all the details of everyday business operations and activities. This will help you and your team to define responsibilities, daily tasks, and short-term goals you plan to achieve, keeping track of your future goals.

Well, here is some distinct information you should include in the operations plan:

• Staffing and training
• Operational process
• Supply chain & Inventory management
• Facilities and equipment

Note that your operations plan is a living document, you may adjust and update it as needed.

7. Management Team

A well-trained and experienced management team is crucial for driving your business ahead.

So, highlight your business owners and key executives in this section, along with their roles & responsibilities, educational qualifications, industry experience, and how you plan to compensate them.

It allows readers to easily understand your management team’s background, skills, and expertise that help you grow your company and make informed business decisions.

The following information you may consider including in the management team section:

• Company owner profile
• Resume-styled summary of key members
• Organizational structure
• Compensation plan
• Advisory board members

8. 5-year Financial Projections

A financial plan is the most crucial aspect of your five-year business plan, as potential investors or lenders want to know more about your business profit margins.

It provides a detailed blueprint of your business’s 5-year financial reports broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year of operation and then annually.

While creating an in-depth financial plan for the next 5-years, you’ll need to highlight all the below factors:

• Revenue forecast
• Cost estimates
• Profitability analysis
• Cash flow projections
• Break-even analysis
• Business ratios

In addition to that, if you’re seeking funding or investors, you will need to summarize exactly how much money you need, how you plan to use these funds, and how you pay it back.

Well, having realistic financial forecasts at your hand can help you evaluate your business’s financial health and growth potential in the long run.

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Tips for creating a five-year business plan

Now that you understand what to include in a business plan, it’s time to consider how you’ll actually create the document. Here are some tips for drafting a comprehensive five-year business plan.

This will help you prepare a business plan that serves its purpose and can be an easy reference for the years ahead.

Conduct thorough analysis

Conduct a thorough analysis of the market, competition, internal capabilities, and the current financial situation of your business before you finalize your five-year plan. Also, identify your strengths and address weaknesses. This helps you pinpoint potential risks and opportunities that impact your business and strategic decisions for the next few years.

Set realistic financial goals

While setting your business objectives, it’s important to define specific, measurable, and achievable goals that you can accomplish in the years ahead. Try to consider a few factors, such as marker conditions, emerging trends, and your business capabilities when setting revenue targets, profit margins, and other financial milestones. This will help you stay focused and motivated.

Demonstrate the potential for ROI

A 5-year plan should effectively show the investors and stakeholders that your business has the potential for return on investment(ROI). It will help you outline how your strategic initiatives will generate revenue and profitability over the next five years. So you can provide a clear opportunity for investment and support.

Develop contingency plans

Developing a contingency plan is crucial for the potential challenges that may arise over the next few years. You can consider several factors like economic downturns, supply chain disruptions, regulatory changes, or other unforeseen events. This will mitigate the impact of these risks and ensure that your business runs smoothly even in challenging circumstances.

Ensure clear communicate

A detailed five-year plan allows entrepreneurs and business owners to clearly communicate their business goals, milestones, and strategies. So this will be easy to understand for all the stakeholders, including potential partners, investors, and employees. You can also use charts, graphs, and visuals to share intricate details and make your plan more compelling.

Review and update regularly

Once you have crafted your entire business plan, you should regularly schedule reviews to assess progress, update assumptions, and update strategies as needed. Since the business plan is a living document, it evolves over time based on new facts or varying business environments. By revising and updating your plan, you make sure that it will remain relevant and effective.

So, try to keep in mind these few factors while creating a 5-year plan. Now, let’s move forward and explore several types of business plan templates.

Examples of 5-year business plan templates

As there are several types of 5-year business plan templates available, no two business owners build the same 5-year plans.

This is so because the business plan template that works best for your company depends on the age of your business, objectives, and the purpose behind using the plan.

Here are a few examples that are tailored to different aspects of business planning:

Traditional 5-year business plan template

This kind of business plan template follows the standard format as you establish a new business or startup, define the target audience, and market your products/services. It includes lengthy sections about company overview, market analysis, marketing and sales strategies, or financial forecasting. So, this will provide a detailed plan for your business over the next 5 years.

Strategic plan for growth and expansion

When you’ve been running the business for a few years and thinking about expansion or growth, a strategic growth plan might be your choice. It will help you approach your growth strategically and provide the best opportunities to identify risks and techniques to mitigate them. So, this type of template helps align your business activities with long-term objectives.

Simple one-page plan

As the name suggests, it is a single-page business plan that helps you provide a high-level overview of your business to the partners, investors, or suppliers. Since it is shorter in length, it highlights the most crucial points, and even writing a one-page business plan can be much simpler and quicker compared to the traditional business plan.

Start preparing your business plan

Finally, with the help of details and resources provided in this guide, you’re well-equipped to start an exciting journey of preparing a successful 5-year business plan.

Whether you’re an experienced entrepreneur or a new business owner, you can consider using a business plan app like Upmetrics to streamline your business planning approach.

Upmetrics is a user-friendly platform that provides easy-to-follow guides, 400+ business plan examples, and AI support to create an actionable plan in manageable steps. It also helps you develop realistic financial projections if needed or when you feel stuck with a financial plan.

So, start writing your plan today and bring your vision to life!

Make your plan in half the time & twice the impact with Upmetrics

Fill-in-the-blanks, AI-assistance, and automatic financials make it easy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it good to make a 5 year plan.

Creating a 5-year or long-term plan is highly beneficial for your businesses. It helps you set clear goals, anticipate potential risks & challenges, develop realistic financial outlook, demonstrate growth potential to investors, and build their confidence. So, it guides you in the right direction to attain sustainable growth and success over the long term. 

How much detail should I include in the financial projections?

The following are a few key elements that you need to include in your financial projections:

• Sales forecast
• Expenses budget
• Cash flow statement
• Profit and loss statement (Income statement)
• Balance sheet

How long should my 5-year business plan be?

The length of a 5-year business plan typically ranges from 15-35 pages and beyond as it depends on your purpose, business concept, objectives, resources you plan to use, and the strategies you will need to achieve your business goals.

Can I write a business plan myself?

Of course, you can write your business plan by yourself. If you are new to the planning process, you may get help from various resources available. You may consider including business plan software, online guides, templates, strategic planning sessions, and professional writers.

What's the best way to format my 5-year plan?

The best way to format your 5-year plan depends on your specific needs, target market, and business strategy. You may follow the below guidelines to create a professional-looking business plan:

• Write a compelling executive summary
• Provide a detailed company overview
• Conduct thorough market and industry analysis
• Describe the products and services
• Outline sales and marketing strategy
• Summarize operations plan
• Introduce your management team
• Present 5-year financial forecast

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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How to Write a 5-Year Business Plan: A Guide to Creating a Good Business Future

Learning how to write an effective five-year business plan helps you manage, and optimize your business operations for the better.

Jenna Bunnell

Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted multi line phone system for small business that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives.

To run and grow a successful business, planning is crucial. 

A typical business plan covers the next one to three years and details your target audience, marketing strategy, and products or services for that time period. A five-year business plan expands on this premise, and predicts what your business might do in the next five years. 

Learning how to write an effective five-year business plan helps you manage, and optimize your business operations for the better. Without a firm business plan, you risk straying from your intended course. 

Establishing a long-term plan determines your business’s priorities and aspirations, including several important milestones. A long-term business ensures you are improving business time management skills. 

To get cracking with developing your ideal five-year business plan, follow this simple guide to success.  ​​​​​​​

Why Create a 5-Year Business Plan?

Suppose you implement a robust five-year business plan at some point in your business’s lifetime. In that case, it will provide valuable insight into how your business is likely to fare over the coming years. 

In addition to long-term business insights, your business plan helps with:

An important part of your business plan is thorough market research, and measuring what your competitors are doing. Conducting this analysis allows you to make strategic decisions about moving your business forward. 

Strategic Planning

The creation of your five-year business plan solidifies the ideas you have for your business, and what you need in place to see those ideas come to fruition. 

Partnerships

If you can envision future collaboration opportunities, your five-year business plan is a great resource for other companies to learn about your business, and decide if they want to go into partnership with you. 

A strategic five-year business plan helps you encourage data-driven business growth in the long-term, and assists with decisions about the company’s future. Businesses that create long-term business plans are good at strategic thinking and prepared for potential obstacles their companies may face. 

What Should a 5-Year Business Plan Include?

A traditional five-year business plan should include business strategies, financial projections, competitive analysis, SWOT analysis, and future roadmaps. In essence, your five-year business plan should detail your business's direction, what you think your industry will look like in five years, trend predictions, and how your business will solve your target audience’s problems.   

Your five-year business plan will probably include the following aspects; however, it may vary slightly from this outline:

• Executive Summary. A brief description of your business, and its goals. 
• Business Description. Where does your business operate, and what does it do?
• Management Team. The people who run your business.
• Products and Services. A description of your business’s offerings.  
• SWOT Analysis. Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats concerning your business. 
• Target Audience. Who buys from your business, and are there potential new audiences you want to reach?
• Competitive Analysis. Who are your competitors, and how does your business compare to them?
• Market Analysis. How does your business meet the needs of its customers?
• Marketing and Sales Plan. Plans for brand awareness, and increasing sales. 
• Financials. Profit and loss statements, and future financial projections. 
• Conclusion. An overall summary of your five-year business plan. 

How to Write a 5-Year Business Plan

Let’s look at the outline above in detail, to uncover what to include in each section. 

Executive Summary 

Write your executive summary with your business’s overview, and mission statement. Concise mission statements that reflect your business’s goals and objectives are ideal, such as these from famous brands:

“To connect the world’s professionals to make them more productive, and successful.” LinkedIn “To help people worldwide plan and have the perfect trip.” Trip Advisor 

Consider writing your business’s executive summary after completing the other sections, as this element of your plan should be a complete rundown of your business. 

Business Description

This section contains all the essential information about your business, including your goals, target customers, business structure, and future restructuring plans to align with objectives. Consider why your business exists, your hopes for your business’s future, and its values to fill out this section. 

Management Team

Include a brief description of your management team’s job responsibilities, skills, and how they fit into your business. Your team can act as your business’s USP, especially if they bring unique talents to the table. 

Products and Services

A detailed description of your business’s products and services, including benefits, features, and supplier information if relevant. List potential new services or products in the early planning stages, how much revenue you plan to make from them, and how they will serve your target audience. 

SWOT Analysis

Focus on your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and potential threats. For example, strengths may include your business’s exemplary customer service. A weakness might be that you need to optimize resource scheduling . Opportunities are areas your business can explore to scale up, and threats can include opposition problems or changes in your industry. 

Target Audience

Describe your current target audience, and any potential new audiences your business plans to expand to reach. Segment your customers into demographics, behavior patterns, values, and level of education if appropriate to your business. Doing this helps readers of your five-year business plan further understand how your business plans to grow.  

Competitive Analysis

Your business plan should include information about who your competitors are, and, where your business sits compared to them. For example, SaaS businesses would conduct cloud call center software comparison research to understand the competitive landscape. Finish off with details about your competitors’ strengths, and weaknesses in this section. Competitive analysis helps you understand areas your business can win over your competitors. If their social media platforms show that their overall customer service is underperforming, you can make strides to elevate your customer service efforts, and overtake them in this area. 

Market Analysis

Research your market and write your findings, incorporating statistics, and relevant data. This area of your business plan should focus on where your business is positioned currently in the market, and your predictions for future market changes regarding your business’s strategies. Think about how big the current market is for your products or services, and this should create ideas for future product developments. 

Marketing and Sales Plan 

You need an overall plan for marketing your business’s offerings to your target audience. Include information about digital marketing plans, and opportunities to increase your brand’s reach. If you plan to explore the benefits of local phone numbers to level up your sales team’s capabilities, add this information as part of your marketing plan. 

Include details about your sales strategy, involving future staff required to meet your business’s goals. Information about sales targets is helpful in this section of your business plan.  

Financials 

Prepare a financial report demonstrating your business’s financial projections over the next five years. Your report must include anticipated revenue based on market, and competitor research. 

Conclusion 

Illustrate the key points within your five-year business plan in a neat summary. This section should reassure potential investors that your business is viable, and has solid plans for growth. 

Develop Long-term Growth Targets

While creating your five-year business plan, always have in mind where you envision your business in five years.

When writing your long-term business plan, the following questions are helpful:

• How many customers do you predict to gain in the next five years?
• What do you need to put in place to achieve that customer number?
• Do you need to consider shopify alternatives ?
• How much does your business need to earn in year three to be on track?
• Do you need to hire new staff members? If so, how many?
• Will you change your business location?
• Will you need to open up different locations for your business operations?
• Will you introduce new products or services?

Consider setting milestones for the course of your five-year business plan, as this approach is often easier to manage. 

Say your business plans to dabble in the affiliate marketing world. Investigate drop shipping vs affiliate marketing approaches to ascertain which marketing method is most beneficial for your business. Then set a milestone to join a set number of affiliate marketing programs by a specific date, review your results, and move upwards from there.  

Making a Good Business Future 

Your five-year business plan will require amendments over time. And that’s perfectly normal. As your business grows and changes, you’ll learn new things about your business’s industry, and need to alter your roadmap accordingly. 

An effective five-year business plan serves to convince investors that your business is worth investing in. It also ensures that your business moves in the right, and planned direction. 

By creating a five-year business plan now, your business stands the best chance of success for the next five years, and the future. 

About the author

Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted multi line phone system for small business that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Jenna Bunnell also published articles for domains such as Attention Insight and Traffit . Check out her LinkedIn profile.

Related articles

5 Year Business Plan Template

The following detailed overview of a five-year business plan is designed to assist your efforts in creating the structure your business requires. In the business plan template outlined below, you’ll find the essential components of every 5 year business plan template – a company overview, analyses of competitors, industry data and target market demographics. Also included are a financial plan, a marketing plan and an operations plan. The 5 year business plan will provide the strategic roadmap required for ultimate success. Let’s get your five-year business plan started.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

Five Year Business Plan Template

Executive summary.

The first step to creating a business plan is, oddly, the ending of it. An executive summary is placed in the front of the business plan; however, it cannot be completed until the fully detailed business plan is in place. At that time, it is used as a specific overview of the business plan. The executive summary allows busy executives to quickly grasp the main ideas and make informed decisions about the business concepts and plans; as such, present succinct, clear details in readable sentences that are defined and positive in tone.

Although placed in the business plan at the end of the process, the executive summary helps drive the project forward. Within the executive summary, an overview of the business, including its mission, goals, and the problem it solves will be highlighted. The competitive advantage, target market, and financial projections will be detailed, as well.

Company Overview

After the executive summary, a full company overview is added into the business plan. Include the basic information about the company, detailing the location, name, mission statement, and the legal structure for the business. Outline the jurisdiction in which the company is registered and add the names of the founders and management team. List the founders and key members of the management team again, highlighting their backgrounds, expertise, and roles within the company. Their background information adds depth of experience to that of yours and reflects well with interested lenders or investors. These facts also offer an informed decision base for those considering working for the business. Finally, the unique selling proposition and competitive advantage of the products or services produced by the business will be detailed.

Industry Analysis

In the next segment of the business plan, an industry analysis is compiled, provided as market research data and analyzed in relation to the business. The outcome of the analysis is included in the business plan. It offers a detailed look at the current state and future prospects of the industry sector, market trends, competitive targets, customer preferences and regulatory influences. The analysis within the business plan is suggestive of positive growth, flexibility, and data-driven outcomes that serve the business. The industry analysis also helps identify growth potential, possible risks, and key challenges that may lie ahead. If needed after reading the industry analysis, a business executive may choose to pivot and reposition plans to make informed choices with better outcomes.

Customer Analysis

In the customer analysis section of the business plan, the vital component of the business strategy is revealed: that of the customers who drive the profit margins. The demographics of customers is highly valuable, as the more an understanding of customers’ preferences, likes, dislikes, habits, purchasing choices, and delivery of products is understood and used in business decisions, the better and stronger the positive outcomes. With all of the input and market research data, an important, deeper understanding of the target market is gained, which enables the business to better tailor products, services and the initial marketing efforts accordingly. The market analysis is not only valuable; it is dependable.

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Competitive Analysis

At this juncture, the competitive analysis and data-driven results are obtained to round out the analyses sections of the business plan. The competitive analysis provides valuable insights into the strengths and weaknesses of key competitors operating in the same market. By evaluating and understanding the competitive landscape, businesses can identify opportunities for differentiation to gain that much-desired competitive edge over competitors. The competitive analysis should also reveal everything available about competitors, including brand reputation, customer loyalty, distribution channels and the financial resources they hold. Because the goal of the business is to capitalize on market opportunities, take note of the environment of every competitor directly in competition with the business and make changes where needed in the unique value propositions offered to customers.

Marketing Plan

Strategic marketing naturally follows the analyses of the business landscape and those who compete within it. Use tools to create a dynamic and strategic marketing plan in this section of the business plan. A strategic marketing analysis is one that utilizes every scrap of data available to form the best message for the target audience. Gathered and pressed into service, the data will inform best practices for marketing methods, and best means of sending those messages to the target audience. Marketing plans will naturally follow well-designed and specific data analysis. Use a variety of means to deliver the marketing messages, according to the strengths of the business and the consumer preferences involved. In short, your marketing strategy will encompass various elements, such as branding, advertising, digital marketing, public relations, and social media to create a cohesive and impactful marketing campaign. The ultimate objective of the marketing plan is to achieve your desired business outcomes. As it should.

Operations Plan

A business plan is not complete without a detailed operations plan. A five-year plan will typically outline the first year and then follow with successively more speculative plans for organization as the years progress; however, some facts relating to manufacturing processes will remain stable and the same throughout. These types of operations can always be included in trend discussions and help stabilize the business overall. Plan the operations functions to align the activities of the various departments or teams with broader organizational objectives. Processes and procedures are the highlights of the operations plan, along with the timelines and scheduling of the implementation of those objectives. Knowing how well the business will actually conduct business five years in the future is the perfect starting place for success right now.

Management Team

Comprised of experienced professionals, the management team is highlighted in detail as the operations plans are revealed. The present key leaders understand the collaboration and strong leadership skills needed to effectively manage and operate the entire team and they will be guided by a customer-centric approach. A detailed description of the skills of team leaders, business partners and executives, along with the relevant professional backgrounds will complete this section of the business plan. You should also detail the operational structure of the company here.

Financial Plan

In the final portion of the business plan, the financial plan is fully extended and specifically detailed to offer an informed snapshot of the health of the business in the present, as well as in the five-year period of sustained growth that is anticipated ahead. It is the overlook of the financial goals, along with the strategies and actions needed to achieve them. The five-year financial projections outlines the financial stability, growth, and long-term sustainability of the business.

The 5 year plan encompasses various key areas that are crucial for success, including revenue generation, expense management, investment strategies, risk assessment, and financial performance monitoring for the business during the years ahead. It also outlines key aspects, such as budgeting, savings, investment plans, and debt management that can adapt to changing circumstances and it maximizes the financial stability and growth projections of the five-year plan. Ultimately, the financial plan serves as a roadmap for informed decision-making and the long-term financial success that extends well beyond the five-year period under discussion.

Crafting a well-thought-out, traditional business plan is the first step in the business planning process and it is vital for any business owner. With our 5 year business plan pdf provided here, a vital and simply inviting business plan can be created for your own purposes and those potential stakeholders who will want to review them. We trust the creation of your business plan will lead to new beginnings, exciting and fulfilling directions and sustained long-term growth in successful years of business ahead.

How to Write a Five-Year Business Plan

by Craig Berman

Published on 26 Sep 2017

A five-year business plan can be written for a number of purposes. A general plan looks at the entire business holistically and projects it into the future, while a more targeted plan might be used by individual departments to develop strategies. Regardless of purpose, business plans share similar best practices guidelines -- identify your business goals, provide background of your business and what it does and describe financial projections that show your business is sustainable. Make sure the plan meets the needs of its target audience.

Identify Your Goals

Look ahead five years and envision what your business will look like. This strategic vision will determine much of what follows, because your plan basically states how you'll get from your current state to that end goal. As you write the rest of the business plan, keep the distance between your business today and your desired future in mind , and be prepared to show the step-by-step path that will take your business there. On some level, everything in your plan will let the audience know how your business will make that leap in a way that makes it seem like a foregone conclusion and not just a fantasy.

It's helpful to think of this as five one-year snapshots. Before you start constructing the plan, write down how you expect your business to look in each of the next five years, and what will have to happen for it to take each step along the path. This will help you present a cohesive path forward, rather than simply providing a stretch goal with not enough detail to back it up.

Introduction and Basic Information

Start your five-year plan by introducing what it hopes to accomplish and how it will do so. For a larger business or organization, this may take the form of a letter to stakeholders. An introductory section then can be used to describe the business in letter to stakeholders -- what it does, who it serves and what it values. Detail your management team and organizational structure.

You'll also need to describe what you're selling, who your target market is and how you'll market to that audience . Discuss how that market will change over time. For example, you may plan on only marketing locally in your first couple of years to prove that your concept works on a small scale and iron out any problems. By year three, you may plan to build on that with a regional or national campaign, and by year five you'll be selling overseas. Your five-year plan should make that growth plan clear.

Include a market analysis that takes into account both the current and projected future state of your industry. If you're aware of any challenges your company faces, or that the industry or marketplace holds, state these as risks and note how your product and strategy mitigate them effectively.

Clearly define what your business does and what makes it unique. The Small Business Administration recommends that you divide your products and services into a recognized market niche, and then detail how your wares service that niche. This lets readers know you have a strong vision for the company.

Ask for Funding

If part of the purpose of your five-year business plan is to solicit funding, be specific in saying what you want . Note both your current needs and what you're projecting you'll require over the next five years -- both from the investor you're pitching and a total amount. State how the funds will used -- for example, a capital improvement or expansion overseas -- and how you want to structure the arrangement as a funding source. For example, you might announce the intent to grant equity in the company, issue bonds, or go public and have your stock traded in the marketplace..

Financial Data

Financial projections are critical, particularly for companies that hope to use the plan to solicit funds from investors. Often the process is as important as the results -- nobody expects you to have a crystal ball and get the numbers correct down to the penny, but the information you've stated up to this point should make sense with the prose detailed earlier, as well as the historical data. Among the information the readers will be expecting includes:

• Income statements, balance sheets and cash flow statements for the previous 3 to 5 years
• Forecasted income statements for each of the next five years
• Forecasted balance sheets for each of the next five years
• Cash flow statements for each of the next five years
• Capital expenditure budgets for each of the next five years
• Ratio and trend analysis that track both historical and projected numbers over time.

Make sure your data matches your funding requests , and summarize how you came up with the information, particularly regarding the projections that shows growth over time. Note any assumptions you've made, such as the growth rate of the local economy or the benefits gained from bringing on new staff. You might, for example, have slow growth for two years if you plan opening a new storefront, based on the costs of opening the facility, but expanded growth after that because of the revenue.

Graphs and charts help make your financial records stand out, and are easy to understand for readers. Include these in your five-year business plan.

The Executive Summary

When you're done coming up with the details of your plan, write the executive summary. This goes at the front of the business plan and gives the reader insight into what the rest of the document will tell them. This can be accomplished in a plan summary as well, useful for larger, more complex companies, or businesses going through a transitional period.

The 5 Key Elements Of A Good Business Plan

22 January 2020

Although some Founders are sceptical about planning too far ahead for their businesses, preparing a solid business plan is necessary for many purposes.

As any founder knows, the only sure thing about running a growing company is change.

In fact, your business plan is perhaps the thing that will change most often throughout your entrepreneurial journey.

Although some Founders are sceptical about planning too far ahead for their businesses, preparing a solid business plan is necessary for many purposes, including, but not limited to:

• Raising finance through investment;
• Applying for a business loan;
• Budgeting for the long and short term;
• Gaining a deeper understanding of how your business works.

Perhaps even more important than preparing a business plan, is making sure that this is updated for each of the small and big changes that your company will go through as it grows and evolves.

Different companies require different types of business plan. Depending on your business model, your revenue structure and many other factors.

However, there are 5 elements of a business plan that are absolutely key to making sure that the reader understands how your company works and plans on growing.

Download our editable Business Plan Template

It includes a complete structure , detailed instructions on how to write each section and tips on how to tweak it for each specific use .

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1. Executive Summary

The Executive Summary represents the reader’s first impression of your business

The Executive Summary is the first section of your business plan, and also the last one you should write. It represents the reader’s first impression of your business . As a result, it will likely define their opinion as they continue reading the business plan.

A good Executive Summary includes key facts about your business such as:

• Business & product description;
• Current positioning & targeting;
• Financial outlook & requirements;
• Past and future achievements & goals.

However, the most important function that a great Executive Summary serves is communicating to the reader why they should read the rest of the business plan , and why you want them to.

2. Business Overview

After the Executive Summary, a business plan starts with a comprehensive explanation of what your business proposition is and how it relates to the market where your company operates.

In this section of the business plan, you should explain precisely:

• what your company does;
• what are its products or services;
• in which market it operates;
• who are its customers.

When describing your business, you should make sure to that the reader knows what kind of market environment your business operates in, but also how it can thrive in such an environment from a competitive point of view.

For some very niche or particularly innovative sectors, this may mean that you need to inform the readers about specific market dynamics .

In these cases, make sure that you clarify what is considered ‘the industry standard ‘ in your sector, the selling points that current players are competing on and how your business is positioned relative to them.

Make sure to include:

• Your mission statement;
• The philosophy, vision and goals of your company;
• Your industry and target audience;
• The structure of your business, detailing your customers, suppliers, partners and competitors;
• Your products and services and the problem they solve;
• Unique Selling Point(s).

If the company already has a well-defined product or service, this section can be divided into Company Description and Products & Services .

3. Sales & Marketing Strategy

This section of the business plan requires a deep understanding of your market space and how your business positions itself within its niche and competes with existing players .

Within your Sales & Marketing strategy, you should outline:

• A definition of your target market – include its size, existing and emerging trends and your projected market share;
• An assessment of your market – this should summarise how attractive your target market is to your company and why, Porter’s Five Forces or the more recent Six Forces Model are useful tools to define this;
• Threats & Opportunities – you can use a SWOT Analysis to present these;
• Product/Service Features – once you have thoroughly described your product/service, make sure to highlight its Unique Selling Points, as well as any complementary offerings and after-sale services;
• Target Consumers – whether you’re a B2B or B2C company, it’s a good idea to include an ideal customer profile to describe exactly what niche(s) you are going to target;
• Key Competitors – research and analyse any other players inside or outside your market whose offering might compete with you directly or indirectly;
• Positioning – explain in a short paragraph how your company differentiates from your competitors and how it presents itself to your target niche;
• Marketing Plan & Budget – outline the marketing and advertising tactics you will use to promote your business, giving an overview of your brand and of the communication elements that support it;
• Pricing – explain how your pricing strategy fits within the competition and how it relates to your positioning;

A very common mistake that should be avoided is writing that you have no competition. Instead, you should show your efforts in researching your competitors and assessing how they could threaten your business .

4. Operations & Management

This section gives you the opportunity to explain to the reader how your company does things differently .

The people and processes that are allow your business to operate on a daily basis are the key to your competitive advantage . In fact, they help you build a better product, deliver it more efficiently or at a lower costs. Your Operations & Management must be able to successfully realise what you ‘promised’ in the previous sections.

Here, you must demonstrate how much you know about your business, so don’t leave out any relevant detail. Be concise but thorough, focus on two main points:

• Production or Service Delivery;
• Quality Control;
• Credit policies;
• Legal environment;
• Organisational Structure – this is an overview of all the people involved in your business and their position in relation to each other. You should detail the experience of the existing team, as well as the roles that haven’t been filled yet. Include advisors and non-executive directors . Investors and banks will also look at this section to get an idea of salary costs. As these are normally a significant cost centre, don’t overestimate your staff needs.

5. Financial Plan

Your Financial Plan is possibly the most important element of your business plan . This is especially true if the business plan is aimed at investors or lenders.

This section includes projections, budgets and goals that are unique to each business. In particular, you should focus on explaining the assumptions on which you based your forecasts , more than on the forecasts themselves. Every good Financial Plan will include:

• 12-month Profit & Loss Projection – A month-by-month forecast of sales, operating costs, tax and profits for the following year. Sometimes three years.
• Cash Flow Statement & Forecast – This financial statement tracks the amount of cash that leaves or enters the business at any given time.
• Breakeven Analysis – This is a cornerstone of your business plan. Here you should show what level of projected sales allows the business to cover its costs.
• Capital Requirements – This point is fundamental as it shows investors what their money will be spent on. It should contain a summary of all the expenses for big purchases and day-to-day running costs.

The Financial Plan is usually followed by the Appendices. Here you should include detailed spreadsheets and calculations used to prepare the financial statements.

We help Founders write a solid business plan by supporting them with financial planning and forecasting .

Request a call to find out how we can help you.

The information available on this page is of a general nature and is not intended to provide specific advice to any individuals or entities. We work hard to ensure this information is accurate at the time of publishing, although there is no guarantee that such information is accurate at the time you read this. We recommend individuals and companies seek professional advice on their circumstances and matters.

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How to Write a Five-Year Business Plan

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What Are the Key Elements of a Business Plan?

How to write a business synopsis, how to write a business plan for a bakery.

• How to Conclude a Business Plan
• How to Write a Data Report

A business plan is the document organization leaders use to describe the existing state of the organization and where it wants to be at various future points of time. According to the Small Business Administration, there are three basic purposes to a business plan: communicating ideas, management guidelines and strategic planning. A five-year business plan is often used by start-up companies as part of the documents provided to potential investors or bankers. Successful plans explain the company strengths, industry trends and offers financial projections in a way that generates excitement and confidence in readers.

Draft the executive summary section. The executive summary should have pertinent information given succinctly, including the most scintillating information. It is the overview, summing up the main points and needs to be effective to be convincing to investors. Many people find finalizing the executive summary much easier after the rest of the business plan is written.

Write the company overview, which introduces your products or services. Explain your products in detail and include any pictures you have. Keep this detailed but be weary of giving out proprietary information--trademark and copyright everything prior to publicly distributing anything that could potentially be copied.

Include industry and consumer trends in a section about the marketplace. Demographic studies and professional industry statistics should be included in this section. Review the past five years to create a template of possible expectations for the next five years, and integrate those with professional industry projections.

Develop a marketing plan section that explains to readers how you plan on achieving consumer penetration. This should include price points, target marketing, print and media campaigns. Include content already created or used including ad copy, sales literature or a website.

Analyze your competition in the next section. Include who the main competitors are, how your company is different and how you plan on capturing market share from competitors. Perhaps your products are better quality at a lower price. Emphasize these types of details.

Design the standard operations section. This includes any factories that will be owned or where the products will be made--include plans to expand over the the next five years, including adding production and personnel to meet expanding needs. If you are outsourcing things, explain what the benefits are including lower payroll costs and liability.

Write the management section. This should explain the key people in your organization, who they are and why these people will take the company to new heights.

Create the financial data for the company on a spreadsheet covering the past five years and projecting into the next five years. New companies will not have previous data but will use pro forma projections instead--pro forma makes assumptions based on your estimated costs of doing business and the revenues generated. The spreadsheet should include all costs including salary, cost of goods and operations as well as all plausible revenue streams.

Revise the executive summary now. After creating the entire body of the plan, make sure the executive summary summarizes each section concisely. This is the first thing investors or potential partners read, and it should be polished several times.

Add any resources and supporting documentation the end of the business plan. Supporting documents might be major sales contracts already in place or proof of revenues over a period of time.

• Microsoft: Building a Five Year Business Plan
• Small Business Administration: Write a Business Plan

With more than 15 years of professional writing experience, Kimberlee finds it fun to take technical mumbo-jumbo and make it fun! Her first career was in financial services and insurance.

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How To Make A 5 Year Business Plan

Whether you’re running a multi-million corporation or a small home-based company, planning your business is one of the most important things you need to think about.  You should have a business plan for your company. This guide will show you how to make a 5 year business plan.

Failing to plan is like setting out on a journey towards unchartered territories.

Without a roadmap, you’ll only end up losing your way and diverting your focus from your original destination.

As a business owner, it can be tempting to ignore the planning stage altogether.

After all, if you’re already earning some decent profit anyway, what’s the point of pouring your time and effort on creating a business plan forecast?

According to business experts, here are 3 reasons why you should have a business plan.

3 Reasons Why You Should Have A Business Plan

It gives you a point of reference.

A business plan allows you to clearly define what your business is and what you hope for it to be in the future.

Having this point of reference to look back to whenever you encounter trouble is a great way to motivate yourself and your team into action.

Going back to your business plan should inspire you to press on as you work towards reaching the business goals that you’ve set.

It Helps You Analyze Your Business Operations

Writing a business plan involves analytic thinking so having one will help you manage your operations better, even on a day to day basis.

It helps you recognize opportunities within your industry that you can take to increase your profit margin in the long run.

When you write down your goals and action plan on paper, it becomes much easier for you to come up with decisions that will allow your business to thrive.

It Shows You Which Direction To Take

And since businesses need to adapt to the changing times, developing a business plan helps you keep your operations relevant.

It allows you to plan for changes brought by industry innovations and market trends.

A business plan doesn’t just show you where you started, it also offers you a vision into the future.

Simply put, having a business plan helps you manage your business better, which is not only beneficial for your team, but also for your customers, investors, and potential partners.

But not all business plans are created equal.

Some companies are quite content with a 1-year business plan, and there are others that choose to have a 5-year business plan.

As a business owner, it’s up to you to know how to structure a business plan that best represents your organization.

Whichever time frame you choose, here are 10 components of a business plan that you definitely need to keep in mind.

10 Components Of A Business Plan

Executive summary.

The first thing that people will see on a business plan.

It’s a compelling summary of what you hope to accomplish with your business.

It highlights all the strong points of your business – your mission statement, products and services, and a brief explanation of how you started your business.

Most business experts suggest that you write this part last.

Description Of The Company

This part includes all the vital information about your company.

This is where you specify your goals (short term and long term), your target customers, and what factors differentiate your company in the specific industry that you’re a part of.

Description Of The Organization

This is where you outline your business organization and specify the details on the kind of business structure that you already have.

You can also include details on how you plan to restructure the company once you reach a certain milestone.

Don’t forget to introduce your upper management and give a brief description of their job responsibilities and skills.

You can also include a diagram of your company’s chain of command if you have it available.

Description Of Your Products And/Or Services

You can’t have a company without having products or services that you’re selling.

While you may have already briefly mentioned what you have on offer in the executive summary, this is the part where you give a more detailed description.

Always include features, benefits, and other relevant details that you think your readers would like to know. If you have suppliers, mention them as well.

Competitive Analysis

You should also give the lowdown on the competitors that you’re up against.

A good business plan will give information on where the business is positioned in comparison to their direct and indirection competitors.

By knowing their strengths and weaknesses, you give readers, especially investors, the impression that you know exactly how your business stacks up in your industry.

Market Analysis

This part shows that you’re aware of the ins and outs of your industry.

By using data and statistics you’ve gathered in your market research, you can have a better understanding of where the market has been and where it’s anticipated to go.

You can then show in your business plan how your company will fit in the current market.

Marketing Plan

The marketing plan is one of the most important parts of a business plan because it lets readers know how you intend to get your products and services to your target market.

In this part, you can give a background on your target market and include opportunities you would like to take to get more people to recognize your brand.

Sales Strategy

In any business, marketing can only do so much.

You also need dedicated sales reps to turn brand awareness into actual sales.

When writing down your sales strategy, be sure to be as specific as you can with the numbers.

Like how many sales reps do you plan to hire over a period of time and what are their sales targets.

Funding Request

If you’re writing a business proposal to get more funding, this part should clearly let investors know how much you need.

When writing this part down, make sure to be specific on how you plan to use the additional capital.

You should also disclose if you’ll need your capital replenished in the next couple of years.

Financial Goals

Don’t forget to write your financial projections over the next couple of years.

In order to show that you’re a viable business, you need to create a report on your anticipated revenue based on market research.

Since you’re writing a 5-year business plan, you should disclose your projected earnings for the second to the fifth year of business.

Not all business plans will look the same so don’t get discouraged if your business plan looks nothing like that of another company’s.

As long as you have the key components that were mentioned above, this important business document should keep you on the right track.

But what if you’re still in the early stages of operating a new business?

Is it practical to create a 5-year business plan if you have no idea what could happen to your business 5 years from now?

Well, if you want your business to be growing in 5 years, then the answer is yes.

It may be hard to envision where your business is headed that far out, but that’s what a strategic business plan is for.

It gives you the opportunity to plan for different scenarios that could affect your business.

Whether it’s a sudden drop in the stock market or a product’s failure to launch, having a business plan can help you prepare for any challenges that you might encounter along the way.

Here are 7 steps to creating a business plan forecast.

7 Steps To Developing A Business Plan

Do your research.

In order to know how to write a business plan for your company, you need to do your research.

Investors aren’t going to put their money into an idea that isn’t backed up by top-notch information.

Aside from ironing out the details of your internal operations, you need to immerse yourself in the industry so that you know every single topic that is related to the business.

As much as you would like to include every single detail into your plan, you need to keep in mind that you’re writing material that you’ll be using in your presentations and pitches.

Since you’ll be presenting your business plan to busy people, your business plan needs to be concise.

Avoid turning it into a brain dump of everything and anything that’s related to your industry.

Know The Purpose Of Your Business Plan

Once you have your information, the next thing that you need to do is to know the purpose of your business plan.

Are you going to use it to get more funding?

Is it going to serve as a historical document? Whatever your reasons are, make sure to define your purpose for your business plan clearly.

Part of knowing how to write a business plan is to understand your own personal motives in creating it.

Tell Your Story

Stories sell, so if you want to know how to come up with a 5-year business plan, you need to give the reader a clear picture of what your company is about.

In the business world, this is what people call a company profile. It tells people how a company started and what it does in just a few paragraphs.

It’s designed to stick to a reader’s mind quickly so you have to be strategic with how you tell your story.

If there’s one thing that you want readers to remember about your company, what would you like it to be?

That’s all you need to think of when creating your company story or snapshot.

You don’t have to write this from scratch because if you already have one on your business website, you can just work with that.

Understand Your Audience

Not everyone reading your business plan is going to be an investor.

A company employee, for example, doesn’t need to know the exact figures of your expansion project.

If you want to get the most impact out of your work, you need to write different versions of your business plan for different audiences.

Part of planning your 5-year business plan is knowing the different people that you’ll be working with.

You can’t expect everyone to get on board with you with just one version of your business plan.

It’s just like applying for a job.

If you want to increase your chances of getting hired, you need to write different versions of your resume for different prospective employers.

Try To Be As Specific As You Can

Some business owners prefer to only highlight the selling points of their operations in the hopes that it will make their business seem more viable.

While it can be tempting to leave out the not-so-ideal details of your business, investors will wonder where the company is in the bigger picture.

Investors are aware that every venture has its pros and cons so it’s better that you just come out in the open with it.

You need to detail the status of your company in full.

The good, the bad, and the ugly. It’s also highly recommended that you also include your weaknesses, complete with strategies on how you plan to address them.

A complete and specific business plan is guaranteed to get you more support.

Plus, your investors will appreciate the transparency.

Make Sure That Your Business Plan And Your Marketing Plan Are Cohesive

One of the biggest mistakes that most rookie business owners make is developing a business plan without knowing how their product or service is going to be sold.

While a business plan often includes a segment on marketing efforts, you need to have a separate document that describes in detail how you’re going to sell your products and services to consumers.

Your separate marketing plan document will show how you plan to communicate the value of the products and services, as well as how they’re going to be sold to your target market.

It should also include details like price, promos, and marketing platforms.

Highlight Your Motivation

Lastly, you need to include your motivation in your business plan.

Whether you’re writing a 1-year business plan or a 5-year business plan, you should include a part about your aspirations for your business.

It’s the part where you share your passions without sounding too melodramatic about it.

Where exactly do you write your motivation in your business plan?

Most business owners include it in the mission /vision part of the document.

The motivation needs to convince people that the venture will succeed.

For many entrepreneurs, a well-written business plan is more than just a document, it’s often a requirement for getting additional funding for their companies.

It doesn’t just help convince investors that the business is viable,  it also provides them with a set of benchmarks that they can hold the business partner accountable to.

It may be too idealistic to say that a business plan can help you in your fundraising efforts, but the reality is, you can’t get an investor interested in your idea if you don’t have anything to show for it.

Before you can write a business plan for investors, you need to think about 2 things.

How much money do you need exactly and what are you going to spend it on?

It’s unlikely for an investor to simply write you a check without showing the slightest interest on where the money is going.

With that said, here are some things you need to keep in mind when writing a business plan for your investors.

How To Write A Business Plan For Investors

Work on your executive summary.

Here’s the hard truth.

Investors, especially those who have been doing it for years, receive so many business plans that they all start to look the same over the course of time.

If you want to create a 5-year business plan that will get noticed, you need to spend some time crafting your executive summary.

Write your executive summary the same way you would craft your elevator pitch.

To seize the interest of your readers.

Always Backup Your Claims With Facts And Figures

Investors more often than not are more focused on the numbers than the words so it’s important that you always backup your claims with research.

Sure, your business plan might answer all the obvious questions but you also need to prepare yourself with studies and statistics – just in case.

Always try to cover all your bases.

Make Sure That Your Document Is Complete

Always double and triple check your business plan before sending it out.

Investors are usually very busy people so they tend to skip sections when going over business plans.

Since you only get one chance to make an impression, make sure that you give a complete and well-written document.

This will give you better odds of getting the financing that you’re applying for.

As a business owner and an industry leader, it’s up to you to decide the path that you want your company to take.

This is why it’s important that you drive the writing of your company’s business plan yourself.

If there’s anyone who should have ownership over the plan, it’s you.

Now, if you simply don’t know how to come up with a business plan, you can ask your management team to work on this with you.

Once you’re done, turn it over to a freelance editor who can proofread and polish the document for you.

Are you working on a business plan for your company? How is this going?

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What is strategic planning? A 5-step guide

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. In this article, we'll guide you through the strategic planning process, including why it's important, the benefits and best practices, and five steps to get you from beginning to end.

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. The strategic planning process informs your organization’s decisions, growth, and goals.

Strategic planning helps you clearly define your company’s long-term objectives—and maps how your short-term goals and work will help you achieve them. This, in turn, gives you a clear sense of where your organization is going and allows you to ensure your teams are working on projects that make the most impact. Think of it this way—if your goals and objectives are your destination on a map, your strategic plan is your navigation system.

In this article, we walk you through the 5-step strategic planning process and show you how to get started developing your own strategic plan.

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What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a business process that helps you define and share the direction your company will take in the next three to five years. During the strategic planning process, stakeholders review and define the organization’s mission and goals, conduct competitive assessments, and identify company goals and objectives. The product of the planning cycle is a strategic plan, which is shared throughout the company.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is the end result of the strategic planning process. At its most basic, it’s a tool used to define your organization’s goals and what actions you’ll take to achieve them.

Typically, your strategic plan should include: 

Your company’s mission statement

Your organizational goals, including your long-term goals and short-term, yearly objectives

Any plan of action, tactics, or approaches you plan to take to meet those goals

What are the benefits of strategic planning?

Strategic planning can help with goal setting and decision-making by allowing you to map out how your company will move toward your organization’s vision and mission statements in the next three to five years. Let’s circle back to our map metaphor. If you think of your company trajectory as a line on a map, a strategic plan can help you better quantify how you’ll get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be in a few years).

When you create and share a clear strategic plan with your team, you can:

Build a strong organizational culture by clearly defining and aligning on your organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

Align everyone around a shared purpose and ensure all departments and teams are working toward a common objective.

Proactively set objectives to help you get where you want to go and achieve desired outcomes.

Promote a long-term vision for your company rather than focusing primarily on short-term gains.

Ensure resources are allocated around the most high-impact priorities.

Define long-term goals and set shorter-term goals to support them.

Assess your current situation and identify any opportunities—or threats—allowing your organization to mitigate potential risks.

Create a proactive business culture that enables your organization to respond more swiftly to emerging market changes and opportunities.

What are the 5 steps in strategic planning?

The strategic planning process involves a structured methodology that guides the organization from vision to implementation. The strategic planning process starts with assembling a small, dedicated team of key strategic planners—typically five to 10 members—who will form the strategic planning, or management, committee. This team is responsible for gathering crucial information, guiding the development of the plan, and overseeing strategy execution.

Once you’ve established your management committee, you can get to work on the planning process. 

Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment

Before you can define where you’re going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.

To do this, your management committee should collect a variety of information from additional stakeholders, like employees and customers. In particular, plan to gather:

Relevant industry and market data to inform any market opportunities, as well as any potential upcoming threats in the near future.

Customer insights to understand what your customers want from your company—like product improvements or additional services.

Employee feedback that needs to be addressed—whether about the product, business practices, or the day-to-day company culture.

Consider different types of strategic planning tools and analytical techniques to gather this information, such as:

A balanced scorecard to help you evaluate four major elements of a business: learning and growth, business processes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

A SWOT analysis to help you assess both current and future potential for the business (you’ll return to this analysis periodically during the strategic planning process). 

To fill out each letter in the SWOT acronym, your management committee will answer a series of questions:

What does your organization currently do well?

What separates you from your competitors?

What are your most valuable internal resources?

What tangible assets do you have?

What is your biggest strength? 

Weaknesses:

What does your organization do poorly?

What do you currently lack (whether that’s a product, resource, or process)?

What do your competitors do better than you?

What, if any, limitations are holding your organization back?

What processes or products need improvement? 

Opportunities:

What opportunities does your organization have?

How can you leverage your unique company strengths?

Are there any trends that you can take advantage of?

How can you capitalize on marketing or press opportunities?

Is there an emerging need for your product or service? 

What emerging competitors should you keep an eye on?

Are there any weaknesses that expose your organization to risk?

Have you or could you experience negative press that could reduce market share?

Is there a chance of changing customer attitudes towards your company? 

Step 2: Identify your company’s goals and objectives

To begin strategy development, take into account your current position, which is where you are now. Then, draw inspiration from your vision, mission, and current position to identify and define your goals—these are your final destination. 

To develop your strategy, you’re essentially pulling out your compass and asking, “Where are we going next?” “What’s the ideal future state of this company?” This can help you figure out which path you need to take to get there.

During this phase of the planning process, take inspiration from important company documents, such as:

Your mission statement, to understand how you can continue moving towards your organization’s core purpose.

Your vision statement, to clarify how your strategic plan fits into your long-term vision.

Your company values, to guide you towards what matters most towards your company.

Your competitive advantages, to understand what unique benefit you offer to the market.

Your long-term goals, to track where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Your financial forecast and projection, to understand where you expect your financials to be in the next three years, what your expected cash flow is, and what new opportunities you will likely be able to invest in.

Step 3: Develop your strategic plan and determine performance metrics

Now that you understand where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to put pen to paper. Take your current business position and strategy into account, as well as your organization’s goals and objectives, and build out a strategic plan for the next three to five years. Keep in mind that even though you’re creating a long-term plan, parts of your plan should be created or revisited as the quarters and years go on.

As you build your strategic plan, you should define:

Company priorities for the next three to five years, based on your SWOT analysis and strategy.

Yearly objectives for the first year. You don’t need to define your objectives for every year of the strategic plan. As the years go on, create new yearly objectives that connect back to your overall strategic goals . 

Related key results and KPIs. Some of these should be set by the management committee, and some should be set by specific teams that are closer to the work. Make sure your key results and KPIs are measurable and actionable. These KPIs will help you track progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction.

Budget for the next year or few years. This should be based on your financial forecast as well as your direction. Do you need to spend aggressively to develop your product? Build your team? Make a dent with marketing? Clarify your most important initiatives and how you’ll budget for those.

A high-level project roadmap . A project roadmap is a tool in project management that helps you visualize the timeline of a complex initiative, but you can also create a very high-level project roadmap for your strategic plan. Outline what you expect to be working on in certain quarters or years to make the plan more actionable and understandable.

Step 4: Implement and share your plan

Now it’s time to put your plan into action. Strategy implementation involves clear communication across your entire organization to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and how to measure the plan’s success. 

Make sure your team (especially senior leadership) has access to the strategic plan, so they can understand how their work contributes to company priorities and the overall strategy map. We recommend sharing your plan in the same tool you use to manage and track work, so you can more easily connect high-level objectives to daily work. If you don’t already, consider using a work management platform .  

A few tips to make sure your plan will be executed without a hitch: 

Communicate clearly to your entire organization throughout the implementation process, to ensure all team members understand the strategic plan and how to implement it effectively. 

Define what “success” looks like by mapping your strategic plan to key performance indicators.

Ensure that the actions outlined in the strategic plan are integrated into the daily operations of the organization, so that every team member's daily activities are aligned with the broader strategic objectives.

Utilize tools and software—like a work management platform—that can aid in implementing and tracking the progress of your plan.

Regularly monitor and share the progress of the strategic plan with the entire organization, to keep everyone informed and reinforce the importance of the plan.

Establish regular check-ins to monitor the progress of your strategic plan and make adjustments as needed. 

Step 5: Revise and restructure as needed

Once you’ve created and implemented your new strategic framework, the final step of the planning process is to monitor and manage your plan.

Remember, your strategic plan isn’t set in stone. You’ll need to revisit and update the plan if your company changes directions or makes new investments. As new market opportunities and threats come up, you’ll likely want to tweak your strategic plan. Make sure to review your plan regularly—meaning quarterly and annually—to ensure it’s still aligned with your organization’s vision and goals.

Keep in mind that your plan won’t last forever, even if you do update it frequently. A successful strategic plan evolves with your company’s long-term goals. When you’ve achieved most of your strategic goals, or if your strategy has evolved significantly since you first made your plan, it might be time to create a new one.

Build a smarter strategic plan with a work management platform

To turn your company strategy into a plan—and ultimately, impact—make sure you’re proactively connecting company objectives to daily work. When you can clarify this connection, you’re giving your team members the context they need to get their best work done. 

A work management platform plays a pivotal role in this process. It acts as a central hub for your strategic plan, ensuring that every task and project is directly tied to your broader company goals. This alignment is crucial for visibility and coordination, allowing team members to see how their individual efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

By leveraging such a platform, you not only streamline workflow and enhance team productivity but also align every action with your strategic objectives—allowing teams to drive greater impact and helping your company move toward goals more effectively. 

Strategic planning FAQs

Still have questions about strategic planning? We have answers.

Why do I need a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is one of many tools you can use to plan and hit your goals. It helps map out strategic objectives and growth metrics that will help your company be successful.

When should I create a strategic plan?

You should aim to create a strategic plan every three to five years, depending on your organization’s growth speed.

Since the point of a strategic plan is to map out your long-term goals and how you’ll get there, you should create a strategic plan when you’ve met most or all of them. You should also create a strategic plan any time you’re going to make a large pivot in your organization’s mission or enter new markets. 

What is a strategic planning template?

A strategic planning template is a tool organizations can use to map out their strategic plan and track progress. Typically, a strategic planning template houses all the components needed to build out a strategic plan, including your company’s vision and mission statements, information from any competitive analyses or SWOT assessments, and relevant KPIs.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. business plan?

A business plan can help you document your strategy as you’re getting started so every team member is on the same page about your core business priorities and goals. This tool can help you document and share your strategy with key investors or stakeholders as you get your business up and running.

You should create a business plan when you’re: 

Just starting your business

Significantly restructuring your business

If your business is already established, you should create a strategic plan instead of a business plan. Even if you’re working at a relatively young company, your strategic plan can build on your business plan to help you move in the right direction. During the strategic planning process, you’ll draw from a lot of the fundamental business elements you built early on to establish your strategy for the next three to five years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. mission and vision statements?

Your strategic plan, mission statement, and vision statements are all closely connected. In fact, during the strategic planning process, you will take inspiration from your mission and vision statements in order to build out your strategic plan.

Simply put: 

A mission statement summarizes your company’s purpose.

A vision statement broadly explains how you’ll reach your company’s purpose.

A strategic plan pulls in inspiration from your mission and vision statements and outlines what actions you’re going to take to move in the right direction. 

For example, if your company produces pet safety equipment, here’s how your mission statement, vision statement, and strategic plan might shake out:

Mission statement: “To ensure the safety of the world’s animals.” 

Vision statement: “To create pet safety and tracking products that are effortless to use.” 

Your strategic plan would outline the steps you’re going to take in the next few years to bring your company closer to your mission and vision. For example, you develop a new pet tracking smart collar or improve the microchipping experience for pet owners. 

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. company objectives?

Company objectives are broad goals. You should set these on a yearly or quarterly basis (if your organization moves quickly). These objectives give your team a clear sense of what you intend to accomplish for a set period of time. 

Your strategic plan is more forward-thinking than your company goals, and it should cover more than one year of work. Think of it this way: your company objectives will move the needle towards your overall strategy—but your strategic plan should be bigger than company objectives because it spans multiple years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business case?

A business case is a document to help you pitch a significant investment or initiative for your company. When you create a business case, you’re outlining why this investment is a good idea, and how this large-scale project will positively impact the business. 

You might end up building business cases for things on your strategic plan’s roadmap—but your strategic plan should be bigger than that. This tool should encompass multiple years of your roadmap, across your entire company—not just one initiative.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a project plan?

A strategic plan is a company-wide, multi-year plan of what you want to accomplish in the next three to five years and how you plan to accomplish that. A project plan, on the other hand, outlines how you’re going to accomplish a specific project. This project could be one of many initiatives that contribute to a specific company objective which, in turn, is one of many objectives that contribute to your strategic plan. 

What’s the difference between strategic management vs. strategic planning?

A strategic plan is a tool to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take to achieve those goals. Strategic planning is the process of creating a plan in order to hit your strategic objectives.

Strategic management includes the strategic planning process, but also goes beyond it. In addition to planning how you will achieve your big-picture goals, strategic management also helps you organize your resources and figure out the best action plans for success. 

Related resources

9 steps to craft a successful go-to-market (GTM) strategy

Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to effectively manage goals

Beat thrash for good: 4 organizational planning challenges and solutions

5 Year Business Plan

Where do you see your business five years from now? This is often the question that is asked when you want to assess how good your business is now and how well it will be in the next five years. It is a common question among companies and business owners, to see to it that their business or company will be a success within the allotted time. Looking from the outside in, it will look impossible without a plan. This is where a 5-year business plan comes to play. Check out the example templates of a 5-year business plan now.

10+ 5 Year Business Plan Examples

1. 5 year business plan template.

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2. 5 Year Business Plan and Budget

3. 5 Year Business Plan in PDF

Size: 26 MB

4. Vision for 5 Year Business Plan

Size: 167 KB

5. 5 Year Business Strategic Plan

Size: 449 KB

6. 5 Year Business Plan Overview and Progress

Size: 432 KB

7. Printable 5 Year Business Plan

Size: 405 KB

8. Draft 5 Year Business Plan

9. Standard 5 Year Business Plan

Size: 102 KB

10. General 5 Year Business Plan

11. 5 Year Strategic Business Plan

Size: 696 KB

What Is a 5-Year Business Plan?

A five-year business plan is a plan that focuses on the future of your business. This strategic action plan is catered to how you want your business to succeed more positively. In addition, a five-year business plan shows companies or businesses the better path or road to take to avoid any roadblocks or risks that could harm the growth of the company. In addition, the factors that make a five-year business plan a success is also how and what you add to it. Strategies that you will use for your business plan should suffice a five-year route.

How to Write a Five-Year Business Plan

To make an effective five-year business plan, it needs to have a complete set of strategies and important details that helps your business plan. A goal and an executive summary are the most common things in a business plan . Here are four simple steps to follow to make an effective five-year business plan.

Step 1: Create Your Executive Summary

A brief executive summary should be about the basics of your business. It includes the current status of your business. What to expect within the five-year time. In addition, the basic strategies you plan to make to reach the mark or your goal for the business plan.

Step 2: Add a SWOT Analysis

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. Add  a SWOT analysis  to your business plan.  The SWOT analysis  gives you a better view of the strengths and opportunities you can grasp to make your business grow and the weaknesses and threats you can address.

Step 3: Include Strategies That Benefit Your Business Plan

Strategies must benefit your business plan and help make your business or the company grow. It is best to seek out solutions that will solve all roadblocks and help avoid any risks. In addition, avoid writing a single strategy , rather, have as much as three to five. As every strategy works differently in areas of your business.

Step 4: Get To Know Your Target Clients

To get the best out of your business plan, get to know your target clients for your company or your business. How you run your business or your company will also matter as to who your target clients are. This is the kind of marketing strategy you need to add and think about.

What is a business plan?

A business plan is a strategic action plan that caters to and focuses on the strategies made for a business. Business plans vary from the type of business or company you plan to set up, to the strategies you need to avoid risks and roadblocks. Companies and businesses use business plans to help them grow their business and to gain a fruitful outcome from it.

What are the types of business plans?

There are a lot of types of business plans. The ones listed below are just the common types of business plans that you should be interested in knowing.

• Vending machine business plan
• Event planning business plan
• Solid business plan
• Start-up business plan
• Clothing business plan

What are the elements of a business plan?

The elements of a business plan can range on the kind of business plan you will make. But the most common elements of a business plan are as follows:

• Executive summary
• Goals and objectives
• Vision and Mission statements

Where do you see your business within five years from now? Do you see a successful company that competes with the biggest brands in business or do you see yourself struggling to make it to the top? The answer to this question will depend on one thing. A business plan. To make sure that you end on a successful note, don’t forget to make a five-year business plan. Download any of the example templates you found above and follow the simple steps to creating your business plan.

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I get $500 monthly from a basic income program. The money helped me get through my husband's cancer diagnosis.

• Lira Campbell is getting $500 a month for 5 years from HudsonUP , a basic income program in New York.
• She was selected for the basic income pilot after learning her husband had cancer.
• She said the no-strings-attached money gave her room to breathe.

This is an as-told-to essay based on a conversation with Lira Campbell, a 62-year-old widow in Hudson, New York who is receiving $500 monthly for five years from the town's basic income program. It has been edited for length and clarity.

Before Hudson's basic income program, I was — like most Americans — living paycheck to paycheck, doing the best you can. I had a little bit extra, but not enough to save, not enough to do anything. I'm a retired educator, and my husband was retired, so we were OK.

Then, in August 2020, my husband came home and told me that he was diagnosed with cancer. I know the journey of somebody being diagnosed like that can be long, and it's going to take a lot. It's going to take a lot of emotions. It's going to take a lot mentally. It's going to just take a lot out of you as a human being. And then I said, "Oh my God, the bills."

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Later, I saw an announcement about "$500 a month for five years." I thought it had to be a scam. And even if it was real, they would probably be asking 20 questions. Ain't nobody got time for that. So I didn't pay it no mind.

A couple of days later, I saw it was the last day to apply and I asked myself if I should do it. My mind said, "Why not? Just look." It was three or four questions, nothing too personal.

So, when I got the phone call that I was accepted to the program, the first thing I thought was, "God, thank you." I was so grateful. And then I got that sense of relief because I knew financially that was one area I didn't have to focus on, and I could take that energy and put it on my husband. I would be able to sleep at night. I had this sort of peace knowing that I wouldn't have to worry about paying for his medical care and not having enough to pay for something else.

That's pretty much where the journey began, and I was just so grateful. It came at a time when it was so needed. You know how sometimes you don't know you need help until you need help? That's how it was for me. I had no clue that I needed this help until I got it. What a blessing. I don't have to ask anybody for anything. I don't have to play a pitiful person to get what I need. I am a strong Black woman who was dealing with her spouse who was terminally ill.

We have to put everybody on a fair playing field. Everybody should be able to go to bed at night knowing that they can pay their rent, they can put food on the table, they can put gas in their car, they can pay whatever bills they have, and still have a little bit left over if they want to go to the movies.

One of the things that was amazing to me about the program is that the money is no strings attached. Because in this country, if the government gives you anything, they want to know where it's going and how you spend it. I do whatever I want. It sustains me. It helps me keep food on the table and pay rent. I don't do anything big or fancy. If I want to invest or save, I have options and choices, and that's freedom. Everyone should have that.

Watch: Supreme Court strikes down Biden's student-debt relief plan

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Synlait plunges into deep half-year loss, wins debt payment extension

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Synlait Milk says it has won an extension for a $130 million debt repayment. Photo / NZME

Cash-strapped dairy company Synlait Milk says it has won an extension for a $130 million debt repayment after asset impairments plunged the company into a $96.2m loss for the first half to January 31.

The loss compared with a $4.8m profit in the previous corresponding period.

The company, whose shares went into a trading halt last week pending this morning’s announcements, traded at 65c, down 10c or 13 per cent, when trading resumed.

Synlait, which has extensive facilities at Pōkeno, said a strategic review of its North Island assets was under way.

It also said it had a letter of support from 39 per cent shareholder Bright Dairy, and banking amendments, including an extension to the $130m “prepayment” which fell due on March 28.

The company also raised the possibility of a capital raise.

Synlait recorded an impairment charge of $50.3m, driven by under-utilisation of its North Island manufacturing facilities.

There was also a $31.1m adjustment recorded to write down the net assets of its consumer goods unit Dairyworks - which it has up for sale - to fair value less costs of disposal to reflect the value of non-binding offers received.

The company’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (ebitda) were $19.9m for the half.

The result was driven by softening demand and margins across all business units, foreign exchange adjustments and increased operating expenses.

Synlait’s adjusted net loss after tax was $17.4m - near the bottom of a previously advised guidance range.

Net debt was up 8 per cent to $559.0m.

Chief executive Grant Watson said it was a challenging half-year for Synlait as the company worked to cut debt.

“Bright Dairy’s support, coupled with the banking syndicate’s support, offers Synlait additional stability and confirms that our largest shareholder and banking syndicate remains very supportive.”

He said Synlait had a clear plan to deleverage its balance sheet and reduce total debt to a sustainable level.

It had five elements:

- The banking syndicate staying supportive, with amendments confirmed

- Extension of the $130m prepayment from March 28 to no later than July 15

- An additional $30m of short-term funding from March 28 to June 27

- Amendment of the shareholders’ funds covenant from $600m to $400m

- Amendment of the interest cover ratio from 2.25 times to 1.75 times for 2024

In terms of capital raise, Synlait said that given Synlait’s share price was trading at a significant discount to its net tangible asset value, the board believed asset sales “should be progressed” to produce maximum value for shareholders.

“Equity raising remains an option under consideration by the board in parallel to achieve deleveraging of Synlait’s balance sheet,” it said.

Jamie Gray is an Auckland-based journalist, covering the financial markets and the primary sector. He joined the Herald in 2011.

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