How to make a good executive summary?
These days, some of the Masters in which I teach Digital Marketing are coming to an end and students must present their Master's final projects. These projects can be in the form of research, in the form of a Marketing Plan or in the form of a Business Plan. Most of my students choose the latter option. So the tutorials of these last weeks are to finish finalizing their projects, prepare the executive summaries (which, although they are included at the beginning of a business plan, are written at the end) and to prepare the presentations that must be made before a university tribunal.
During this week's tutorials I realized that for many of these students, doing a executive summary It's not as easy as it seems to me. So for them, I have written this post.
What is an executive summary?
A executive summary It is a document that is delivered as an appendix to a business plan and whose objective is to summarize our business plan in about two pages.
This document is the one we will give to our potential investors at the first meeting. We will never give our business plan directly, for two reasons:
- Because our potential investor does not yet know whether or not he is interested in our business, and therefore, he will not want to read a document that can be more than 100 pages long (he will want to spend at most 5 minutes listening to us).
- Because we don't know our future investor (...it could be a future competitor) and we don't just hand over our business plan to anyone.
How to make an executive summary easily?
The simplest and most effective way (or at least this is my opinion based on my experience) to make a good executive summary is to pose it in the form of FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), that is, in the form of questions that our potential investors may ask themselves and that we will try to answer in three lines maximum per question.
What questions does a potential investor ask?
These are some of the questions that our executive summaryAt a minimum, you should answer:
- What problem have you detected?
- What is the project about? (How are you going to fix the problem?)
- Where is the business? (How will you make money?)
- How much money does it take to create it?
- How long will it take to reach your break-even point (or your dead point, or your break even,.. depending on where the investor is from)? and what economic results will be obtained?
- What team carries it out?
- Why do we think it will be successful?
These are the same questions that the committee that will hear our Master's final thesis will surely ask themselves, so it is worthwhile for students to be well prepared and able to answer them without hesitation.
In this video I explain how to do it.
To see an example of Executive Summary with the questions included, click here: Executive summary example
To see an example of Executive Summary drafted without the questions included, click here: Executive summary example 2
Both examples are perfectly valid for presenting to a project tribunal or to potential investors.
Come on, cheer up! Here I leave you with this article from Technova, the business incubator of the La Salle Technology Park in which they interview some entrepreneurs. It is titled An entrepreneur always keeps fighting.
I hope I have been helpful.
We talk to each other.
186 responses
Montserrat, greetings and thanks for the help, it helped me to make my first executive summary, which was well received by my listeners. Now I need to make a summary on the monitoring of objectives and strategic projects in general, applicable to the case of a company X. If you can help me… Thanks and greetings again.
Francisco, what you need is called a “dashboard.” I’ll send you one by email. Best wishes.
Thank you for the information you provided, it was very useful to me.
Gawww I found what I was looking for, thanks and greetings!
Montserrat, I hope you can help. I need to make an executive report about the benefits vs. costs (income statement) of a freight transportation system. I hope you can give me a structure to follow. Regards.
I would like you to help me make an executive summary of the work report of my office for a year.
Well, Carmen, make a document and explain what you do in the office during a year. Since I don't know what the business is about, I'll explain it to you in general terms. Indicate how many phone calls you answer, how many people you physically attend to, how many new clients you get after the calls, how many orders have been processed, how many packages have been sent, how many emails have been sent. It would be ideal if you could know what part of the company's turnover corresponds to actions generated in your office... I don't know... I mean, if you want to explain a little more about what you do, I can guide you better.
May everything go well.
A hug.
Thank you very much =)
Hi there.
I wanted to ask you a question, to present an executive summary of a thesis, what is the most appropriate verb tense? Greetings and thank you.
Arnold, I would write it impersonally but I would explain it in the first person singular if you are carrying out the project alone or in the first person plural if you are part of a group... but as I said, to write it better it is impersonal: "the competitive opportunity offered by... has been analyzed and it has been agreed that the best way to approach..."
A hug.
Montse.
Good afternoon, Montse. What would you recommend for writing an executive summary for a company that is about to launch a new project selling jewelry online?
Greetings!
Well, the truth is that I found the topic interesting. Montse, I need to make an executive summary for the topic of “new governance mechanisms for the new Busan Global Partnership” it is a topic of Development and International Cooperation…. Any ideas on how to prepare this executive summary?
Ricardo, I would do it like the example, but exceptionally include some photos since in matters of cooperation they reach the heart more.
like it….thank you very much Montse!!!
How to make a presentation of three quotes for an environmental impact study
Montse, this article has been a reference for me, thank you very much from Mexico
Hello Montse...regards...could you give me your opinion on how I can make an executive summary...on an environmental impact assessment?
Francisco… you ask me more and more complicated questions 🙂
Let's see... I would use the question and answer model, and write down the questions that your audience will have in mind + the questions that refer to the variables that measure the environmental impact on which you present the executive summary.
A big hug
Montse.
I have to make an executive summary about a campaign against the invasion of exotic species in the native fauna. The campaign tries to make citizens aware of the danger that this represents and the serious consequences that it would have on the biodiversity of the place. Could you guide me a little? I'm a little lost, thanks.
Carlos, when you say “an executive summary of a campaign” do you mean an advertising campaign? If it is an advertising campaign, search on Google “how to make a campaign briefing”, if it is not an advertising campaign, the question and answer model will work.
A hug.
Montse.
Hello!!!!
I work for a foundation and they want us to show the most important educational achievements over the last 10 years on 1 or 2 pages. What do you suggest?
Hi Chicachaya, I suggest you take a power point template and put together a presentation with all the achievements ordered in time or by importance. You will find free templates here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/templates/CT010152732.aspx?av=zpp
or get inspired by the paid templates here http://slideshop.com/powerpoint-business
May everything go well
A hug
Montse
Greetings, if you could help me how I can prepare an executive summary to present a research project related to law
Cristian, research projects do not come with an executive summary, they come with an “abstract”. Search online for “How to write an abstract” (I don’t have any article that explains it), I don’t think you will have any trouble finding it.
I would like to know how to prepare an executive summary of a conference or convention.
Thank you
Hello Jesus, good morning.
What you're asking is a complicated one. I've written executive summaries for a business plan a lot of times, but I've never written an executive summary for a conference, so my advice is not going to be based on practice but on theory. I would do the following:
– I would describe the event.
– I would describe the political/scientific/cultural context (depending on what the conference is about) in which it was held.
– Describe the 10 points that you think are the most important and that have been discussed at the conference.
– I would end by describing the historical context of the congress (how many times it has been held, how the number of congressmen has evolved, the number of presentations, etc.)
And that would be all.
What I would be clear about is that it should not exceed 2 pages (or it would not be a summary).
I hope I have been of help to you.
May everything go well.
A hug.
Montse.
Thank you, Montse, you have clarified many of my doubts, it seems very easy.
Good luck with the presentation, Juan.
A hug.
Hello Montse,
Thank you very much for the comments, they are very useful and we will surely use them in our summary, until next time!