How do you price your business plan writing services?

When pricing business plan writing services, I offer two distinct approaches to cater to varying client needs: Product-Based and Service-Based.

• Product-Based Approach: This is ideal for business plans that require a quick turnaround time, often suited for compliance or regulatory purposes. The product-based option provides a structured, streamlined plan that includes all essential elements, focusing on clarity and completeness. This approach is efficient and well-suited for clients needing a straightforward plan that satisfies regulatory requirements or internal documentation needs.
• Service-Based Approach: For more complex business requirements—such as raising seed funding, pursuing strategic partnerships, or navigating intricate market environments—the service-based approach is better suited. This option is highly customized and involves deeper collaboration. It includes detailed industry research, bespoke financial modeling, strategic insights, and iterative feedback sessions to craft a plan that aligns with broader strategic goals. The service-based approach ensures comprehensive, investor-ready plans that maximize your chances of success.

These approaches are designed to provide flexibility while ensuring that each business plan delivers value proportional to its purpose—whether it's a quick compliance need or an intricate roadmap for securing funding and growth.

Well, the best answer is - it depends on the client's needs.  But I do offer a tiered plan.

Tiered Packages: Offering tiered packages allows you to cater to a variety of clients, from startups needing a basic framework to established businesses seeking a more detailed and in-depth plan. Also, some want it as a power point presentation others want more of a pitch deck with music and stock images, graphics etc.

Packages start at $1500 with:

Executive summary

Company description

Basic market analysis

Product or service overview

Simple financial projections (e.g., 1-year profit/loss forecast)

Actionable goals and milestones

Business plans are time consuming and require a lot of give and take with the client. You must have an engaged customer, or this process will not be successful.  Definitely create a very nuanced questionnaire to get every bit of information you need.

I price my services based on the complexity and scope of the project.

For startups or new businesses, the focus is often on building the foundational strategy, so the cost depends on how much market research and competitive analysis are required.

If the business is more established, with significant financials and data that need to be analyzed and visualized, the pricing will be higher. This involves creating detailed graphs, charts, and financial projections to highlight key insights, which adds to the time and expertise needed.

I also consider whether the business plan will be used to attract investors or secure funding, as those require a higher level of detail, structure, and presentation.

My goal is to ensure that each plan is tailored to the client’s specific needs and stage of growth while reflecting the effort and value delivered.
 

Generally, a basic plan for a new business without complex financials or extensive research would range between $200 to $600. This covers essential components like the executive summary, business description, product or service offering, and a basic market overview.

For more complex plans—such as those for established businesses needing detailed market analysis, in-depth financial projections, and visualizations like graphs and charts—the cost can increase to 900 to $3,000, depending on the amount of work involved. The higher the level of customization and financial analysis, the more time and expertise required, which reflects in the pricing.

This is a very interesting question. The pricing will ultimately depend on:

• the level of expertise and experience the business plan writer commands e.g. how much industry experience they have, what countries or jurisdictions have they worked in
• the starting point i.e. is there a draft that needs to be uplifted or critiqued? or does the business plan need to be created from scratch?
• the information made available to the writer e.g. the financial projections, market research, competitor analysis 
• the target audience / purpose the business plan will be used for e.g. is it for a funding loan application or is it for internal purposes?
• the timeline by which the business plan is required

In my practice, I will assess each of the above factors prior to providing a quote. 

I would start by understanding the level of detail needed. A one-pager for a bank loan application can be priced significantly lower than a startup's long business plan created for potential investors.

Think about scenarios, details, and potential content, and calculate how much time you need to create them. For your first clients, the best approach is to price according to the project length. Think about an hourly rate and multiply it according to the calculated length for each scenario.

The usual price I've found online starts from $2,000, which includes the description of the business, the team, the offering and used technologies, and also a financial plan.