Tips To Create A Winning Business Plan In PowerPoint

Whether you’re an entrepreneur preparing to give an official business plan PowerPoint presentation, or you’re getting ready to deliver a proposal to a prospective client, one thing’s for sure: You’ve got a lot riding on these slides.

The business plan admits the entrepreneur to the investment process. Without a plan furnished in advance, many investor groups won’t even grant an interview. And the plan must be outstanding if it is to win investment funds.

Investors want to put their money into market-driven rather than technology-driven or service-driven companies. The potential of the product’s markets, sales, and profit is far more important than its attractiveness or technical features. Calculating the user’s benefit is only the first step. An entrepreneur must also give evidence that customers are intrigued with the user’s benefit claims and that they like the product or service.

1. Your first slide is your title slide, which provides the name of the business, your name, title and contact information, plus a slogan if you have one. During the presentation, you can read the slide and add in a sentence that describes what it is you do.

2. The next slide should introduce a problem that persists and is relatable to your target market. Statistics can help you support your comments, but cite only a couple at best. You want the audience to relate to the problem or at least understand how it affects others.

3. The third slide should get to your solution. Briefly describe in simple terms how your business has figured out how to alleviate the problem you mentioned in slide 2. Make sure the audience understands that you have a unique approach. You might also add a few words to support your overall value proposition.

4. Next, you want to explain how you’ll make money. What are your revenue sources? Who are your customers? What is your pricing structure? Then talk briefly about how you expect to profit.

5. Now it’s time to present your marketing plan in a few short words. After all, if you’re going to create dynamic advertising and promotional campaigns, what better way to start than briefly explaining how you plan to market the business? Give some specifics, rather than saying “on the Internet” or “on TV.” Let your audience know you have a plan for marketing and can keep it within a reasonable budget.

6. Mention your key competitors—but be nice. Then explain what gives you the competitive edge.

7. Finally, show them where you are at present. What have you done thus far, and how are you looking to move forward sooner rather than later? Present a positive call to action based on what you’ve accomplished to date and what you’ll accomplish in the future

8. Talk about your team. Remember, people invest in other people. This is where you introduce your team, with a few very brief highlights (one line) of each member’s background that relates to the business at hand.

Photo by Teemu Paananen on Unsplash (free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://unsplash.com/photos/bzdhc5b3Bxs