LLS FAQ's

Frequently Asked Questions

How thorough will your data research be for our business plan and where do you obtain this data from? Do you subscribe to some sort of database or service? If so what service?

We do not subscribe to services or rely solely on prepackaged reports. Information comes from numerous sources including books, government websites, Dun and Bradstreet, university studies and various other professional reports, journals and industry information.

Your research starts with a lot of reading, searching, and development of a source list. Then sources are read to make notes on everything by hand, analyze all data, check throughout each set of information to ensure accuracy and finally, compile the data into a report for your business plan.

The research and data in prepackaged reports can be incredibly beneficial to the planning process. Research services for larger projects do consist of paid industry reports and these reports can be added to any basic service for appropriate fees.

We require great detail and attention to our financial and sales section of our business plan (i.e. Revenue Estimation), can you tell us how you plan to address this section of the plan? Where will you gather your information from?

Financial Projections, Costs and Sales Forecasts are thoroughly researched.

Revenue: This process first begins with the market and industry research. By analyzing how a company's competitors' revenues look each year and overall industry projections, it can give great insight into what is actually possible in the business.

This sets thresholds for your company's projections. From that point, your marketing budget is taken into account and based on reasonable ratios of marketing budget vs. number of sales (i.e. a company with a $20,000 marketing budget is more likely to sell more product than a company with a $10,000 budget) reasonable thresholds and expectations are set.

Then, taking into account previously determined thresholds, preliminary numbers for the first year are calculated. Usually, first year incomes are very low and most companies will show a loss in the first year and usually up to three years. This begins turning around in the fourth and subsequent years in most instances.

Costs: Most cost line items are researched fully such as office rental rates, average employee costs, sales tax, employment tax, corporate taxes, insurance costs and marketing expenses. Some items actually appear in your projections as a budget, meaning that you can spend up to but no more than the amount listed to achieve the desired results.

This is true for your marketing budget, inventory budgets and other items that are most often based on sales. A company's inventory and/or marketing will correlate directly to sales and given that, if projections are exceeded, the additional income can be utilized in addition to the budget.

Sources: Most of the research information once again comes from resources such as Plunkett's or other industry outlook publications; government databases such as the US Census Bureau, US Dept of Education, US Dept of Labor, IRS or others; Dun and Bradstreet and other sources throughout the internet, newspapers and press releases.

Can I see samples of your work? Can I get references?

Of course! Samples are provided upon request to protect the privacy of clients. Many clients choose to have their work protected by non-disclosure agreements, in which case the work is not publically available as a sample.

We thank you for respecting our clients need for privacy and assure you that you will always receive the same courtesy. References are also provided upon request or you can browse testimonials on our site.

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If the industry in which the business caters is not a specialty to you, what do you do to find proper industry data and information surrounding the specific industry?

This is where doing our own research differs from buying a packaged report. In a business planning consultant doing his or her own research, a lot is learned about the industry as the research portion of the plan is completed.

We can answer most of our own questions about the industry while doing the work. In addition, having experience in market research means that we're familiar with numerous sources for information.

Every industry is different, but the basic data can usually be found in similar places such as trade journals, university studies or through the government.

Most consultants don't know every industry all the time. Each industry we work with will constantly change and the report created last year will not apply this year. It's simply the way of business; industries evolve, grow and create new technologies.

Each industry also has different levels of information availability and insider openness. For example, writing a plan for a technology company planning to sell military technology would prove much more difficult as a research project than a vitamin supplement retailer.

All research is preformed on the basis of industry information availability and your reports are as thorough as your industry will allow.

How many pages do you suggest for a business plan and how long do you foresee it taking to write such a plan?

Length of the business plan depends heavily on who you are presenting it to.

Executive Summary: For customers trying to attain private venture capital, we always suggest a quick five-ten page summary in addition to the full business plan as most investors do not want to take the time to sort through a lot of information.

Really, this idea is great for everyone. Most SBIC companies and banks can tell you whether your funding request is within their scope of lending within a few hours based on the amount you are requesting, the industry you are in and the location of the company.

Business Plan: The actual plan should rarely exceed 50 pages. The key is that the first 5-10 pages should include an Executive Summary portion highlighting the business plan as this helps anyone reading it get a feel your company and determine their interest level.

The remaining page should further detail everything that was in the Executive Summary and include all of your financial projections. Many items are better suited in the appendix portion, especially if your plan is lengthy, such as references, marketing collateral, product images and usually year 3-5 financials.

That being said, ideal length is 25-30 pages, though more detailed plans can go up to 100 pages. Most of our plans have graphics, logos and marketing appeal.

The difference is, by making the plan more visually appealing and easier to read, it does tend to add more actual pages, though your content actually takes up about 80% of the space.