Introduction to Business Plan Guide:
Length of a Plan
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The page length of a business plan depends very much on the purpose
of the plan and the type and status of the business being planned. For
discussion on different types of plans and their lengths, see the white
paper on Insights into
Business Planning.
Plan the Length of Your Plan
The overall length of a (very) comprehensive plan could be anything
between 20 and 50 pages excluding appendices. A more basic plan
might run from 5 pages up to 15 or even 20 pages.
When budgeting a length for your plan, go for the shortest
possible plan consistent with your business's scale, objective of the plan etc. – go
for quality rather than quantity! Between 20 and 30 pages (excluding
appendices) should be adequate for most businesses. If your plan gets
too long, do some ruthless editing and redrafting. If it is any consolation,
it should be much easier to shorten a long plan than to lengthen a
short one!
The following table suggests possible plan lengths
for different situations based on this Guide's structure and that used by Free-Plan a
comprehensive 150-page Business Plan Guide and Template:
Use Appendices
As no major section within your plan should exceed 6-8 pages, use Appendices to present detailed or additional information which is summarized or
referenced in the body of the plan. This reduces the length of the plan.
It also enhances readability and ensures that the reader does not get
sucked into excessive detail.
If the appendices are very lengthy, consider binding them into a separate
volume. This should make the plan appear less intimidating and creates
the opportunity to circulate the plan with or without appendices. If
presenting the appendices as a separate volume, be sure to include
a cover page (complementing that of the main plan) and a detailed
contents list (number all pages in the appendices).
For further guidance, see Planning to Plan, Preparing
a Short/Basic Plan and Table of Contents.
For further discussion on different types of plans and their lengths,
see the white paper on Insights into Business
Planning.
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