Selecting a company to write your business plan is not an easy task.

Complicating this important decision is the fact there are a large number of companies offering these services and differences between them are not always readily apparent. So what should you look for in a provider of high quality business plans? Here are a few suggestions.

• They should be an established company with resources backing them up. While the size of the company isn't necessarily a defining characteristic, the larger and more established providers typically have more experience and better access to critical resources.
  
• They should have knowledge, connections and direct access to a variety of funding sources. Understanding your target audience is one of the fundamental building blocks of good plan writing and if the writer isn't intimately familiar with the investment community, the plan is not going to hit the mark.
  
• The plan writers should have an in depth understanding of financial pro forma statements, cost and cash flow analysis and revenue modeling. Investors are typically numbers people. They know and understand financial statements and they will know very quickly if someone has simply pulled numbers out of the air.
  
• A critical element of a good business plan is the market analysis. A true leading edge provider of business plans will subscribe to a numbers of online market research services such as Profound and Dialog. These services allow the plan researcher to access the most current data available on any market, product or application.
  
• There's no substitute for experience but the type and level of experience should go well beyond writing business plans. The value added benefit of using the services of business planning professional is that they should bring an extensive background in a variety of business disciplines. This real world and hands on experience adds depth, credibility and reality to the business plan.
  

We have assembled an exceptional team of experts who specialize in writing and developing concise, compelling and accurate business plans and financial projections for companies ranging from small startups to large corporations. We also provide expert plan review and analysis services, plan rewrites and editing, marketing plans, virtual consulting, investor presentations and valuations. The company's planning staff brings a tremendous amount of experience and expertise to this process including resident knowledge and expertise in healthcare, biotech, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, education, government, the Internet, retailing and a host of other industries.

The vFinance website (www.vfinance.com) is the nation's leading business portal attracting over 85,000 CEOs, investors and entrepreneurs each month. In addition to providing direct access to the industry's largest database of angel and venture capital investors, vFinance allows users to post their business plan on the site, and access valuable educational material.