The first step in obtaining the funds your firm requires from a bank is to prepare an effective, well-documented commercial loan proposal. A banker’s first encounter with your company is likely to be your business loan proposal. As a result, you must create a paper that portrays your company in the best possible light.

The goal is to persuade the banker that you are prepared and capable of making your business a success and repaying the loan.

The business plan is the most important component of proposals for small company loans. Take the time necessary to thoroughly prepare it, ensuring that it covers the following topics.

1. Cover Page and Table of Contents

Your business plan for a loan application is a professional document, so be sure it looks professional. The cover page should contain the name of your business and your contact information. If you have a logo, it should go on the cover.

Both lenders and you will appreciate a table of contents and page numbers in the business plan for a loan application, so they can quickly find specific sections. If you are delivering your plan digitally and not physically, be sure your table of content is clickable and links readers to the correct sections.

2. Executive Summary

It’s common for business documents to carry executive summaries at the beginning so that busy people have the key takeaways from a larger document immediately at hand. Your reader shouldn’t feel they have to wade through a large document for crucial information.

Briefly summarize the entire business plan on a page. Describe the company, your product, and why you started the company. Include your chief competitors and why your product will succeed against them. If relevant, discuss the economic climate vis-à-vis your customers and products.

3. Company Description

The company description should include a mission statement, the company principles, any strategic partners, and your corporate structure. It will be relatively short.

4. Market Analysis

After you’ve told the lender what your company does and who does it, you’ll want to provide a competitive analysis of your market. Let’s be clear: the market analysis is not a full marketing plan. That will come later. The market analysis focuses on the qualities of the market, not a detailed plan of how you’ll capture it. Identify the existing gaps that your business will fill. A business plan’s market analysis should include:

• An industry overview and outlook
• Any differentiation in sector and niche
• Information on your target market
• The company’s marketing strategy and how it will make your company stand out

The market analysis should also specify the effect of outside sources on your company. For example, if the industry is subject to regulation, include information indicating your knowledge of the regulation and your past compliance with it (if your business is already up and running). Will you require raw materials? If so, how do you guarantee you’ll have them at costs that support your financials? Are there any risks to price points changing?

What about your competitors? How do they differentiate themselves? What is their pricing strategy?

5. Organization and Management

The organization and management section should itemize your company’s management structure. Many business plans provide an organizational chart, a structure description, and salary forecasts.

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The description should include each management position, the person in the position, their responsibilities, and their qualifications. If you have a Board of Directors, list them on a separate page, along with any experience relevant to your business’s success.

6. Service or Product

Now it’s time to describe your company’s product or service in detail. What do you sell, and who do you sell to? What exactly is your business model? What need are you fulfilling for the customer base? Business plans often itemize their entire product line with the planned or current pricing structure.

The service or product section should also include your product/service’s estimated lifecycle, and any research and development completed, in progress, or planned. Naturally, this section will vary greatly depending on your type of business. It should also include a description of any trademarks, patents, or other intellectual property rights, if applicable.

7. Marketing and Sales

The marketing and sales section includes three vital pieces of information:

• How will customers find out about your products?
• What will your sales channels and methods be?
• What is your growth strategy?

If you plan for customers to discover your products or services through informational methods like industry meetings, specify what your plan for that method is. If you plan to advertise or develop a public relations campaign, specify what your efforts will be. Will you be on social media channels? Which ones, and why? Are these efforts designed to appeal to specific demographics or types of customers? Which ones, and why? Will sales be accomplished via a targeted sales team? Will management call upon relevant prospective clients or stores? Will you have an online presence?

If you have a growth strategy, outline it. If you plan expansions to other geographic areas or other types of potential customers, discuss it in this section.

8. Financial Analysis

The financial analysis section is key for lenders. The financial analysis must include financial projections for three to five years out. The further out into the future forecasts run, of course, the more difficult it is to predict with certainty. One solution is to prepare a business plan with three-year forecasts, but have a five-year forecast ready if the investors want them.

9. Funding Request

Now it’s time for your funding request! You need to clearly itemize why you need business financing, what amount you’re requesting (both current and prospective for the next five years), and what you will use the amounts for.

Here’s one way you can structure your funding request:

1. Your current funding needs.
2. Any future funding requirements over the next five years.
3. How you intend to use the funds you receive.
4. Any strategic future financial plans.

You should bolster your commercial loan proposal by including documents that support, explain and boost the credibility of your plan, including:

• market studies or other research supporting your conclusions and forecasts;
• documents to support financial data (e.g. copies of leases, subcontractor estimates, letters of credit);
• client testimonials; and
• media reports about your company.

The purpose of the supporting documents is to show your proposal is based on facts.

Below are some additional tips that can help you write a small business loan that will be approved without any issues.

• Use simple, plain language. Avoid technical terms and acronyms. You proposal should be clear, well-structured and easy to read.
• Don’t forget that your proposal’s purpose is to show your company at its best. Sell yourself!
• Throughout the proposal, focus on showing why your venture will succeed. Demonstrate that you’ve thought of multiple possible scenarios and that you have contingency plans.
• Image counts. Consider working with a professional to help you to lay out the document. If writing isn’t your strength, ask for the help of a professional copywriter or editor.