SIMPLE STEPS ON HOW TO WRITE PROPOSAL FOR YOUR BUSINESS

Throughout last year, I received a lot of mails and comments asking me to teach them how to write detail proposal for barbering business. In the spirit of sharing, I decided to share the secret behind writing of comprehensive proposal that can woo your potential investor or sponsors. Before we get down for main discussion, let me tell you that, there is no format or writing style that guarantee proposal acceptance, but this simple guidelines can help you in writing comprehensive and acceptable business plan.

Company Name : choosing any name for your salon is simple but given right name is very very important. Whether you are using your own name or adopting another name, ensure that you observe the following hint
The name must be simple, sweetening to hear and easy to remember. I would suggest you make it one or two syllable word.For instance OPTIONS, STYLE ME.You can register the name with corporate affair commission. It makes your business looks professional.
Company logo : company logo is not compulsory but it helps in building your brand. There is no specific logo or type that performs wonder. All you need is to make your logo visible and speaks everything about your salon. Your logo must be true representation of what your company.In later write up, I will explain how to build a successful brand logo

Table of content: highlight all the content of your proposal in this page. Ensure that the content is arranged in a chronological order. It tells your reader a quick in-depth of your study about your salon.

Preamble: under this section, you will give general brief overview of salon business. it must contain every bit of what the entire proposal represent. The essence is that, sometimes your reader may not have time or impatient in reading everything at once. At this point, preamble speech comes to rescue.

Mission and vision statement: most people are confuse at this point, and difficult to draw line between the two. In a simple word, vision statement means “where am I going” while mission statement simply mean “how to get there”. Both statement must be clearly stated, well articulated and comprise both short and long term objectives.


Executive summary: you need to explain brief about the ownership of the business. is your salon is own solely by you or in partnership with others. In case of partnership, you must state clearly the individual equity percentage, partnership contract and deeds. After ownership structure, your next paragraph should be on management structure. How the salon is going to be operated, either by yourself as stylist and manger or you are employing people to manage each task


Product/services summary: tell your reader or investor the various services your salon will be rendering. Barbering salon, unisex salon, or salon with spa session, Each line of product must be well spell out.


Market summary and analysis: this section must be carried out with the assistance of professional barber or business consultant. The market summary explain the size of the market, the attractiveness of the market and how favourable for you to enter. For the analysis aspect, you will need sample data that can be process. The result must show the category of market segmentation, the income and spending pattern of each. This information will help you in setting standard of your salon as well as appropriate market price.


Demographic study: the study deal with population of the state or district in which you intend to open your salon. The data must contain present population figure and future projection according to reliable population commission or other agencies or companies that involve in data collection.


Location evaluation: in every business, location is a very key factor that must be seriously considered. For salon, look for a place that is densely populated around 5mile perimeter. The place should be easy to describe and locate.
Interior decoration: the interior of your salon must reflect the standard of your salon. From client’s seat to washing section, every interior material should represent your standard and professionalism. Ensure the place is well lightening with white bulb and wall paint should be reflective colour.

Salon layout: no matter the size of your shop, you need to do proper layout. Every section must be well position. The layout should enhance easy movement from one operation to another.
Competitive analysis and strategy: you must know your competitor and shouldn’t see them as enemy, rather as parameter to measure your own performance. Map out all salons in the 5 mile perimeter of your shop location. Shops that offer almost the same services as your salon are your real competitors. Your final research analysis should tell how you can survive the competitive threat. One of the strategic tool you can use is SWOT Analysis.


Marketing strategy and strategic toolkit: your proposal should explain the nature of the market, market attractiveness, market trend and growth. Once you determine all these, you can easily design strategic tools to enter the market and be successful.

Purchases and financial analysis: this section document the list of material inventory you purchase for your salon, as well as balance sheet.

Future projection: you should document your future projection. Where you want to see your salon in the next 5 years.

This simple steps will guides you in writing comprehensive and acceptable proposal for your business.