Consulting Firm

Business Plan Guide

(Plus template!)
Starting your own business, or scaling up is intimidating.

We’re here to break it down piece by piece so you can

create your very own plan.
 Contents

You’re in the right place if…

○ You have an idea for a consulting

firm, and you’re ready to take the
next step
○ You’ve started a business, and you
need focus and direction ● Why Create a Consulting Firm
○ Your consulting company needs to Business Plan?
bring in partners or funding ● Business Plan Parts
● What is a Business Model Canvas
Starting a consulting business is no
● Productize Your Consulting Business
small task, so setting a clear action
plan is essential. This comprehensive
guide will give you a step-by-step
breakdown on how to create a
consulting business plan, why you need
one, and how a business model canvas
can help you along the way.
Why Create a Consulting Firm Business Plan?
Why Create a Consulting Firm Business Plan?

Starting a business with a clear path forward can set you up to succeed, which is why a
business plan is a critical tool in launching a consulting firm that will eventually reach
profitability.

A business plan will help you:

● Make decisions that move your consulting firm forward
● Communicate motive, mission, and decision-making with stakeholders
● Get funding and take on new partners

Whether you’ve already started a business or you’re ready to make it happen, you’ll know it’s
the right time to create a consulting business plan when you:

● Have narrowed your consulting speciality to a specific field

● Have analyzed your target market and there’s a clear need for your services
● Need more funding
● Need to communicate with key stakeholders or new partners
Business Plan Parts
 What is a Consulting Business Plan?

A consulting business plan is a comprehensive document that gathers important information

about your business, market, and future, and gives readers a clear understanding of your internal
processes, profitability and viability, and future.

We’ve broken a standard business plan into 11 parts that we think every beginning consulting firm
will need. They are:

1. Executive Summary
2. Business Description
3. Market Analysis
4. Competitive Analysis
5. Organizational Structure
6. Services Description
7. Marketing and Sales Strategy
8. Operations Plan
9. Financial Projections
10. Funding Requests
11. Appendix and Exhibits
Executive summary

The executive summary is written for an audience that may only have a few minutes to read.
In this introductory section, you’ll need to condense months of work and research into a
brief business plan overview.

Think of the executive summary like an abstract of a research paper or the back cover
summary of a book. The goal is to give your readers a clear understanding of your business
plan, including who you (the firm) are and key points. If you have the added pressure of
seeking partners or investors, the executive summary will also need to encourage them to
keep reading.

The average executive summary will span 1-2 paragraphs. Unless your business plan (not
including the appendix and exhibits) goes far beyond 20+ pages, you’ll want to keep it to a
single page max.
Executive summary

The average executive summary covers 6 key points:

1. Mission
Begin with your company’s mission statement. This should give readers an indication of your
company’s purpose and goals. Then, in only 1-2 sentences, expand on why the firm exists, its
values, vision, and/or why it believes in its mission.

2. Company History and Structure

If your company already exists, then provide a brief history. If you haven’t yet launched, give some
background on why you’re starting the business. Following the background, provide an overview
of how the company is or will be structured, including key stakeholders, employment structure,
and high-level executives.

3. Services
In this section, you should quickly lay out what services and products your firm will offer.
Executive summary

4. Consulting Market
Directly related to the market and competitive analysis sections you’ll cover later, this section
describes the potential for growth in your niche market and any competitive advantages your
business, services, or products offer.

5. Financial Projections
Provide an overview of your firm’s projected growth for anywhere from 1 to 5 years into the
future. Projections for 1-3 years are considered short-term projections, while 4+ years
projections are considered long-term and will give stakeholders a deeper understanding of your
business’s future.

6. Financing Requirements
This section includes an overview of your business finances, focusing on what it will cost to
launch your business and reach profitability. You’ll also want to include previous funding,
stakeholder investments, your need for future funding, and how you plan to acquire future
funding.
Business Description

While the executive summary may cover a lot of territory, it doesn’t go into great detail.
The company description is your chance to introduce your business to the reader and
give them a greater understanding of why you’re starting a consulting firm.

This section typically includes:

● Your Mission Statement

● Your Vision Statement
● How your business is structured
● Where you’ll operate
● Scope of products and services
● An overview of the market and Your competitive advantage
● When your business will reach its goals
Market Analysis

Now that you’ve given an overview of your consulting business plan in the executive summary and an
overview of your business in the business description, it’s time to dive into the meat of your plan,
starting with a thorough analysis of the consulting market.

An IT consulting business plan will need to address its market differently than a management
consulting business plan, so it can be helpful for you and the reader to start with your consulting
subfield or specialty.

● Information Technology (IT)

● Management
● Human Resources
● Engineering
● Finance
● Healthcare
● Politics
● Operations
Market Analysis

Your specific market will influence each section of your market analysis, which typically includes
4 sections:

1. A description of your industry, industry outlook, and trends: Share the size of your
industry, growth rate, and trends.
2. A description of your target market: Who is your target client? If your consulting business
is in the B2B market, include a brief description of your target business client. If your firm is
in the B2C market, include the demographics of your target customer, like age or income.
3. Why the market needs, or will need, your business: Describe the market demand for the
products or services you'll bring to market. Do you offer something your competitors don’t?
Will you be targeting a clientele that isn’t currently targeted?
4. Any barriers to entry: barriers to entry can span a wide range of challenges. Lack of
geographical access to your target market, legal policies and regulations that may slow your
growth, or the reputation of an existing firm in your market are all barriers to entry.
Organizational Structure

This section of your consulting business plan should provide details on the overall structure
of your firm. Potential partners, investors, and even potential employees will want to see
who’s in charge, who’s making day-to-day decisions, and how the organization will work
toward its goals. Typically, this section will cover two main concepts:

● The hierarchy of your business structure

● Stakeholders and key employees

1. Hierarchical Structure
This section should describe the firm’s organizational structure, including levels of
management, job descriptions for key roles, how decisions are made, how roles and
departments interact, and how tasks are distributed within the firm to achieve its goals. To
make sure your structure is clear, use a chart to portray the firm’s hierarchical structure
visually.
Organizational Structure

2. Stakeholders and Key Employees

Next, you’ll want to list key employees. These people have a large say in day-to-day
operations and thus greatly impact the firm’s success. Key employees may include C-class
executives, department heads, consultants and advisors, and even personal assistants.

The roles of each employee should be clearly defined in this section, including details like
individual responsibilities, decision-making authority, and reporting lines. You’ll also want
to include relevant experience and accomplishments for the people in key roles.
Products and Services

The products and services section is the centerpiece of your entire consulting company
business plan. The products and services you offer are what drive revenue, attract
customers, and lead to your eventual success.

This section should detail specific services and products you offer and the cost (for the
customer) of each. To keep things concise, we recommend using a bulleted list for each.

In addition to those 2 bulleted lists, you can also use this section to include:

● How you’ll process and deliver your products or services.

● Why your service or product is needed.
● What intellectual property rights you have over your products or services, including
trademarks, copyrights, and patents.
● Relevant expertise you have that will help you deliver your products or services.
● Products or services you’re currently developing for future implementation.
 Products and Services Example

The U.S. Small Business Administration offers two examples of the products and services
section, and as luck has it, one of them is for a consulting business plan. Here it is:

Product/Service Pricing Structure

Services Include: We Can Do It Consulting will offer
● Business Process Reengineering Analysis its services at an hourly rate using
● Office Management Analysis the following labor categories and
● On-Site Office Management Services rates:
● Business Process Reengineering Facilitation ● Principal, $150
● Analytics ● Account Executive, $140
● Change Management ● Project Manager, $135
● Customer Relationship Management ● Project Coordinator, $100
● Financial Performance ● Business Analyst, $90
● Operations Improvement ● Process Analyst, $90
● Risk Management ● Financial Analyst, $85
● Technologist, $75
 Marketing and Sales Strategy

You could have the best service in the world, but without a proper marketing and sales strategy, you’ll
struggle to get your services and products in front of your customer. Partners and investors know this.
So in this section, you’ll need to explain how you plan to market and sell your consulting services and
products.

Who is your target market?

Start off by sharing what info you’ve gathered on your target market. Who are they? Include relevant
trends, market data, and demographics.

What’s your competitive advantage?

From there, dive into how your firm will compete in the marketplace. What does your firm offer that the
others don’t? This could be anything from cost or speed of service to expertise and unique offerings.
 Marketing and Sales Strategy

When it comes to actually selling your service or product, there are almost infinite possibilities,
so every marketing and sales section will look different. Here are some additional questions to
consider when constructing your marketing and sales strategy section:

● How will you engage with your potential customers? Will you find them at tradeshows, on
social media, or through a referral program?
● What platforms will you market on? For example, will you use Instagram, LinkedIn, or
something else?
● Who will be in charge of your marketing and sales? For example, do you have dedicated
departments for each? Or is one person in charge of both marketing and sales right now?
● What is the budget for implementing specific marketing campaigns? If you can, include
numbers for your plans, so your readers will understand the risks and size of your plans.

Depending on what’s relevant to your firm’s offerings, you may include as little as one or as many
as all of these points in your marketing and sales section.
 Operations Plan

This section will detail everything you need to run your business, and will vary from business to
business. A firm that exclusively provides services will have a much different operations plan
compared to a firm offering services and digital products.

Critical components for your operations plan include:

● Location - Where is your business operating from?

● Facilities - Will the firm need to lease office space?
● Technology - What tools will your firm need to function? This will include things like
computers and software.
● Human resources - This could include the size of your teams and employment cost. Or the
cost of special consultants you need to get your business running.

The operations plan section is also an excellent opportunity to detail what you’ve put into the
business so far and showcase the work you’ve done to get day-to-day operations underway.
 Financial Projections

This section aims to show investors and partners how profitable your firm is projected to be and to
demonstrate its viability. The typical financial projects section will include three main parts:

● Balance Sheet - This gives a snapshot of your company’s assets, liabilities, and equity, helping
stakeholders to understand the reality of your business finances and how money is being handled.
○ Shareholder equity - This is a statement of the value of your company’s shares and how many
shares are owned by shareholders. This is a critical statement, and is part of the balance sheet.

● Income Statement - This shows your revenue, expenses, and the resulting profit for a set period
(monthly or quarterly, depending on the age of your business).

● Cash Flow Statement (or Cash Flow Projection) - This shows the expected amount of cash entering and
leaving your business in a set period and will help readers understand your ability to return on
investments.

In addition to these three parts, you may also share where your funding is sourced, how it is/was used, risk
mitigation strategies, or any tax planning strategies. To build a thriving consulting business, you need to
handle finances properly. This section gives you the chance to prove that you can do that.
 Funding Requests

Funding requests are often considered a part of the financial projections section. However, funding
requests are only needed when sending your business plan to a lender or investor. Everything you
include in your financial projections will help answer questions potential investors or lenders have. Still,
you’ll need to share a little more info when you’re asking for money.

● Amount - Make sure you clearly state how much money you are asking for. Don’t be afraid to ask
for what you need. After all, you are trying to build a business. On the flip side, don’t ask for way
more than you need either.

● Terms - This is your firm’s precise plan to repay what you’re given.

● Factors that Affect Repayment - These are anything that could affect your terms, which include
things that may positively and negatively affect your ability to repay.

As you draft your funding request, keep in mind that each investor or lender will have their own
requirements, questions, and concerns, so your request should be highly customized. Unlike a balance
sheet or mission statement, your funding requests should change each time you send your plan out.
 Appendix and Exhibits

Finally, the appendix and exhibits are Legal Documents

your business plan’s last section! This ● Licenses
is where you can include any final ● Permits
documents or visual aids that don’t fit ● Patents
into the main sections. Examples of ● Trademarks
what you might have here are: ● Copyrights
● Contracts
Supplemental Information ● Leases
● Marketing Material ● Vendor Agreements
● Market Research ● Incorporation Papers
● Competitor Information
● Product or Property visuals Financial Documents
● Media and Press Coverage ● Tax Returns
● Credit History
● Additional Financial Projects
What is a Business Model Canvas
 What is a Business Model Canvas?

The Business Model Canvas is a great tool that founders and entrepreneurs can use to
outline their business's most essential components quickly. This will help you communicate
your business concept and create your consulting business plan more efficiently.

The concept of the Business Model Canvas was developed in 2005 by Alexander
Osterwalder (and a team of 470 co-creators). He described the framework at length in his
book Business Model Generation, and it consists of 4 main sections: infrastructure,
offering, customers, and finances.

By breaking large concepts into more manageable sections and then dividing them even
further into the 9 total building blocks, the model helps you to understand how different
elements in your business model work together and quickly spot strengths or weaknesses
in your plan.
What is a Business Model Canvas?

The four sections of the Business Model Canvas are:

1) Infrastructure (key activities, key resources, key partners)
2) Offering (value proposition)
3) Customers (customer segments, channels, customer relationships)
4) Finances (cost structure, revenue streams)
 Breakdown of Canvas Key Components
Here we have outlined the key components of the
Business Model Canvas.
Key partners: These are the critical and strategic
relationships your firm builds with other firms,
consultants, businesses, or people.
Key activities: These are the activities your firm
must do to deliver on your mission and your value
proposition and remain in business.
Key resources: Things you need to deliver on your
value proposition. They’ll likely include some or all
of the items you would also list under your
operations plan.
Value Propositions: Your value proposition is the
fundamental need your company is trying to fulfill
in the market and for your customers. This is the
value your company delivers and why the firm
exists.
Customer relationships: How you’ll get new
customers, retain them, and how you’ll increase
their value over time.
Channels: This is how you intend to reach your
target audience and manage your relationship with
them. It can include social media, customer service
solutions, and marketing campaigns.
Customer Segments: This is your target customer.
A zoomed-out view of your key segment can be as
broad as your consulting niche. For example, IT
consulting. A zoomed-in look at your key audiences
can be as specific as your buyer personas, a
detailed and precise description of your target
customer.
Cost structure: This describes what your firm has
to spend money on to operate. It can include
salaries, leasing costs, one-time consultations, and
more.
Revenue streams: These are your firm’s source of
cash flow or where you make your money. As a
consulting firm, this will be through the delivery of
your products and services.
Empty Canvas Template
 Your Business is Living

…so your business plan should be too.

“Living document. This means it can be changed as needed.”

- Law Insider

Your company’s business plan should be revisited and revised regularly. In other words,
treat it like a living document. Doing so will allow you to stay up-to-date with your
ever-changing business environment and market trends. It will also ensure that key
employees always have quick access to current information when making decisions, and
you always have a near-finished business plan on standby for urgent investor calls or
stakeholder meetings. Over time, you’ll also be able to use your former business plans to
track growth.

So as your business changes and grows, make sure to change your business plan along with
it.
Start Productizing Your Consulting Business

You only have so many hours in a day for one-to-one consulting.

Eventually, you want to get to a point where most of your revenue comes from services
that you don’t have to actively participate in every time.

Online courses and digital products are perfect ways to build passive income from your
consulting practice.

Create your own online course, resource hub, or client community using Thinkific
today and see how easy it is to turn your knowledge into profit.

So challenge yourself to do something new that will pay dividends in the long run.

Starting with Thinkific is fast and free. And yes, our baseline set of tools is completely
free.

GET STARTED FREE