What Investors Want to Know… (Cont’d)

When you’re writing your business plan, you want to make sure to highlight what sets you apart from other businesses.  A good way to do this was put forward by Scott Miller, co-founder of Core Strategy Group, small business coach and co-author of the books ‘The Underdog Advantage’ and ‘Building Brandwidth.’  When writing your plan,…

What Investors Want to Know…

by Burke Franklin, Founder and CEO, Business Power Tools For a moment, put yourself in an investor’s position (actually, do this throughout the plan writing process). What would YOU want to know about a business before you invested in it? Think about investing money in a friend’s business to get the mental, physical, emotional and…

What is a Business Plan?

A business plan is a written document used to describe your business. The sections of a business plan are fairly standard, so you can find lots of help from those that have gone before you. Each section in a business plan has a specific purpose.  Certain sections can be as short as one page.  For…

Sales Leadership: Selling the Truth? Part 1

Excerpted from the book, Business Black Belt We’ve all been watching TV pretty much since it came into being. We’ve all watched commercials as they’ve evolved. We’ve all seen and heard a variety of sales pitches, scams, and rip-offs, to the point that we are fine-tuned to fending them off. Now, a clean, straightforward sales…

Business planning: Tips for Writing a Mission Statement for your Business Plan

A while back I was shopping for a new car. In the show room one dealer had a plaque over their door that read,”Our mission is to become the most profitable [brand] dealer in Northern California.”  Uh oh! What does that tell you? ( I wonder if they are charging too much.)  That ‘mission statement’…