The Practical Guidelines for
Building a Business Plan in
Five Pages
T
his chapter explains the five major elements that make up the
business plan, defines the critical terms used in business plan-
ning, demonstrates how the components of a business plan fit as an
integrated model, defines logical steps in writing a business plan,
and describes the complete business planning cycle. You will learn
the activities required to implement a correct planning cycle and
the methods to develop a 5-Page Business Plan model.
25
CHAPTER
2
This chapter sets the stage for the development of the actual
business plan document. Five major elements of the business plan
are defined in specific terms. While the five are discussed as sepa-
rate elements, the information for each is developed during a sin-
gle planning session. Do not hold separate sessions to build strate-
gic plans then operational plans. The efforts would be redundant
and overlapping. Over a long period of time I tested the methods
described here with clients and found the single session to be the
most cost-effective and efficient way to manage the process. As
information is completed at the one session, it is grouped into the
five subordinate plans.
D
EFINING
Y
OUR
B
USINESS

progress along the way. Because the plan is well defined,
employees can measure their success.
■ The blueprint feature of the business plan provides employ-
ees an overall design for the company’s actions. It shows
how the parts and pieces fit together, defines the relation-
ships, and explains the master schema of the future.
■ The template provides models for business units and teams
to build their own local action plans. If the company has
a plan, then a work team must have a plan.
Business plans should meet certain criteria. They need to be
user-friendly; therefore I present a simplified, workable document
for a complex topic. The document needs to encourage rather than
discourage its use. It needs to reflect the same goals and objectives
that people pursue each day in their work. A plan fails when its
goals are different from the work requirement. Another use of a
business plan is to provide guidance when you don’t know what to
do. This becomes the direction and benchmark for your actions.
H
OW THE
5-P
AGE
B
USINESS
P
LAN
W
ORKS
One of the main reasons resistance to business planning happens is
because of the paperwork it produces. When we think of planning
we automatically envision reams of papers, three-ring binders, and

your strategic plan are:
■ Assumptions
■ Guidance
■ Vision Statement
■ Mission Statement
■ Strategic Goals
■ Objectives
Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan
28
■ Strategies
■ Strategic Intent
■ Philosophy
■ Focus
■ Values
■ Principles
The Operational Plan—Bringing Your Plan to Life
The operational plan is the dynamic component that brings the
strategic plan to life (see Figure 2-2). It is the first of ten years of the
complete business plan and is developed simultaneously with the
other four components. It defines how the company accomplishes
its strategic intent on a daily or annual basis. It breaks down the
Building a Business Plan in Five Pages
29
Figure 2-1. The strategic plan sets the direction of your company.
strategic goals into objectives and tasks to make them more under-
standable and manageable. The operational plan also provides
information to executives on how well the staff carries out its func-
tional activities. Along with the execution of functional activities
comes the requirement for staff coordination. Work cannot be
effective unless it is closely coordinated across staffs or functions.

the plan.
■ A chart showing reporting relationships
■ A clear definition of responsibilities
■ A clear definition of authorities
A template for the organizational plan is found in Appendix D:
The 1-Page Organizational Plan.
The Resources Plan—Analyzing the Support You
Need to Put Your Plan Into Action
The fourth of the five types of planning is the resources plan that
can be seen in Figure 2-4. It defines the resources you must have to
support the business plan found in Appendix E: The 1-Page
Resources Plan. This plan begins with an analysis of the annual tar-
gets and the goals from the strategic plan. Normally you can devel-
op the resources plan in conjunction with the operations plan since
the two are so closely connected.
Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan
32
Figure 2-4. The resources plan matches requirements to the overall plan.
The resources plan provides a great deal of information to the
reader because it examines specific support requirements. It con-
tains, at minimum, information on ten categories:
1.
Staffing Levels. What are your short-term and long-term
staffing requirements? What kinds of skills will be needed
at each level, now and in the future?
2.
Information Requirements. What is the volume and quality
of your information?
3.
Technology. Do you have the most effective technology to

investment requirements? Do the financial numbers make
good business sense?
Building a Business Plan in Five Pages
33
The Contingency Plan—Taking Evasive Action in
a Crisis Situation
The contingency plan is the last of the five types of plan (see Figure
2-5). It is important but is often the most frequently ignored type
of plan.
Seven Steps to a Successful Business Plan
34
Figure 2-5. The contingency plan builds cases for alternatives.
There are three types of contingency planning you must con-
sider. The first is when your goals are not accomplished or are
blocked somewhere in the execution. You must have alternatives
developed to eliminate the blockage. It is a fallback position.
Normally you develop several courses of action to get you to the
goal. Multiple routes or alternatives permit you choices when the
goal path becomes blocked. You don’t change your goals, just the
actions to get you to the goals.
Another type of contingency planning is a big picture issue.
This is a disaster plan for a business-created crisis that could shut
down your company—for example, a labor strike in a plant that was
not expected or anticipated that catches management unprepared.
A contingency plan should address such occurrences.
Natural disasters are a primary contingency that companies
plan for. Like manmade situations, these occurrences can be pre-
dicted and planned for. What would happen to a business depend-
ent on landline telephone communications if a flood wiped out the
line? Remember the huge area of Quebec, Canada, that was para-

Appendix F: The 1-Page Contingency Plan.
T
IPS ON
C
APTURING
I
NFORMATION AND
M
INIMIZING
P
APERWORK
A company-level business plan is usually written in a three- to five-
day period with all members of the executive team participating.
The end product is a business plan of five single pages as outlined
in Appendices B–F. Over the past years I have helped a number of
teams accomplish this seemingly difficult task within these time
parameters. To do that successfully requires certain preconditions
and specific actions at the planning session.
One problem at a planning conference is the capturing of
information and the paperwork that follows. The only efficient way
to record information and complete the final document is to have
on-site computers and printers for the session. This allows you to
pace the discussion by producing final written documents at the
end of the session. Too much time is lost in translation if newsprint
or handwritten notes are relied upon to capture the information.
Computer support eliminates the lag time normally associated with
the planning process. At the end of the session each participant is
given a diskette with the plan and a printed copy of the plan if they
desire. Another alternative is to e-mail the final copy to all partici-
pants.