It should also address 6 questions of selling:

"Who, What, When, Why, Where and How"

.. or more specifically:

What products and services do you sell?

Who is your target market?

Why do they need your product and your company?

How can you prove that your product or service fulfil their needs?

When do they need to make a decision?

Where can they get it? What's next step?

When creating your "template" document, answer each of these questions in detail.

1. The products and services you sell

List each product. The easiest way to do that is to (in first instance) create a table like one below and list following elements against each product or service. List as many as you can think of.

Also list things like:

How does it compare with competing products

If selling services, what process do you go through to ensure client receives results?

Once you've done that, then turn this information into sentences within block of text that talk about product, and list various benefits in order of importance.

This information can either be used in whole or you can create programmable functions that enable you to select benefits that are most important to a particular client. (If you're working with MS Word, we can help you do that in an effective manner.)

Create a table with following headings:

Product

Feature

Advantage

Benefit

Investment (price)

What do they receive for their money

2. Who is your target market?

Some businesses sell one product to different target markets with different sets of needs. Others sell a range of products with one target market for each type of product. Then others still have a broad range of products and services with a variety of target markets buying a variety of their products.

By articulating which target markets you sell various products and services to, you can then match various benefits of your products to best suit unique needs of your various buyers.

For instance, let's say you're a business forms printer and you provide an in-house design and film preparation service, short turnaround times, precision quality and a great price. Some types of clients are more likely to be interested in precision quality than price and viceversa.

3. Why do they need your product and your company?

What are their buying needs? ....

ANGEL INVESTORS

Angel investors are good souls with a healthy sense of self- interest. Figuring they can get a higher return if they’re prepared to take a bit of a risk, they’re also often successful entrepreneurs themselves and want to give their fellow travellers a hand up.

Think of funding from an angel investor as a bridge or gap-filler between being a start-up and qualifying for venture capital. The kinds of dollars we’re talking about here are between about $150,000 and $1.5 million. Beyond that point you’re in low venture-capital territory.

The SBA estimates that there are around 250,000 angels in U.S., funding about 30,000 companies a year. So, how do you hook up with one? Not an easy task, unfortunately. It comes down to networking. Start by talking to professional and business associates - they will often know someone who knows someone etc.. Also, check out ACE-net if you’re prepared to sell a security interest in your company. It’s an internet-based listing service for securities offerings of small, growing companies. The website is at https://ace-net.sr.unh.edu/pub/.

VENTURE CAPITAL

You’re in big leagues now. Generally you’re in ballpark of millions (of dollars that is) rather than thousands. Venture capital firms look for their return on investment from capital appreciation rather than interest (unlike banks, for example). They’re generally looking for a return of 500-1,000% on exit.

It won’t surprise you to learn that venture capitalists are particularly leery of internet-based businesses right about now and not without good cause. It also serves them right. But if you have a solid business plan and strong growth potential, this could be an option for you longer term.

One of common concerns about this form of financing, however, is that you may have to part with an unacceptable amount of control over your own business. In return for their risk, venture capital firms will usually want some control over how business is run and a say in business decisions. A venture capitalist will expect a seat on board, for example.

It’s important to remember, though, that it’s in venture capitalist’s best interests for your business to succeed, so giving up some control in exchange for outside expertise may well be something worth thinking about.

To find venture capitalists, get a hold of “Pratt’s Guide to Venture Capital Sources” for a listing of 1,500 or so including names, contact details and areas of interest. Of course, you'll find no shortage of information online as well.

For most readers of this article, your best bet would be to start out by investigating various loan programs offered via SBA (or your country’s local equivalent). But don’t overlook more obvious, close to home sources first. For example, if you have family funds at your disposal and you’re confident that your business will succeed, better to start out slow and ease into outside sources of financing as your business cashflow can support it. After all, Uncle Jack is much more likely to be understanding about occasional cashflow crunch than your bank manager. Of course, if you're NOT confident that your business will succeed, don't get into debt with *anyone*, let alone family members.

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Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com

Elena Fawkner is editor of A Home-Based Business Online ... practical business ideas, opportunities and solutions for the work-from-home entrepreneur. http://www.ahbbo.com