An executive summary is used in businesses as it helps in various ways. For instance, when a business proposal, including the executive summary, will help give a quick overview of the lengthy proposal to the readers.
So, if you are a professional who often has to pitch ideas to their superiors and investors, then it is important for you to get familiar with executive summary.
For that, we have come up with this guide. It will explain everything you need to know about the executive summary and how you can write it.
Table of Contents
Definition of Executive Summary
An executive summary is a concise version of the business document. It serves as a “quick overview” for executives who don’t have much time to read lengthy proposals.
It basically provides readers with the essential information they need to make a business decision without having to read the entire document.
An executive summary is used in the following documents:
- Business proposal
- Business plan
- Research document
The Significance of Writing an Executive Summary
Some professionals ignore executive summaries, but it can bring them more investors and partners for their business. So, here we are going to explore the key benefits of writing an executive summary.
1. Saves Time
Businesspersons or investors value their time, and they don’t have much time to read lengthy proposals.
So, in such a case, if you are writing a business proposal or research document, you must create a short summary of it and place it at the start of the paper. This will indicate that you value their time and have created a short and concise summary of the whole proposal.
2. Aids in Making a Decision
When you include a summary in business documents, it helps organizations and investors make a final decision quickly. By highlighting key information, you are providing readers with enough information that they need to quickly make a decision.
Key Elements of an Effective Executive Summary
When writing an effective executive summary, there are some key elements to consider. Below, we are going to explain them briefly so that you can get a better understanding.
1. Clear Title
The title of your executive summary is one that grabs readers’ attention and persuades them to read it entirely. The title should be very brief and accurate.
Here’s an example of a clear and engaging title that you can include in your summary.
Accelerate Growth Together: A Win-Win Partnership for [Your Company] and [Partner Company] Greater Success.
This type of title will grab readers’ attention and force them to take action.
2. Introduction
An executive summary also includes an introduction whose purpose is to hook the readers. For instance, you don’t have to start the executive summary like:
We welcome you to Goldman Sachs and appreciate your time.
Instead, you have to start it with the key information or achievements that your company achieved last year.
Last year, Goldman Sachs doubled its initial sales projection by achieving $972 million, surpassing its target milestone.
This will have a positive impact on the readers or investors and convince them to invest more. You have to be very precise in this section, and clearly give a brief overview of your summary. If you find it difficult, you can always utilize an online text summarizer as it could be the best option for you. In fact, you can even use such a tool to generate the entire summary if you’d like.
3. Objectives or Purpose
After the introduction is done, comes the important part, which is the objective or purpose of writing the business proposal. In this section, you have to clearly state the sole purpose of why you have written this proposal.
- For example, if you want funding for your organization, then you have to mention that in this section. On the other hand, if you want a B2B partnership, then you have to highlight it here.
Wrapping Up
Executive summary plays a very important role when writing a business document like a proposal or plan. It provides readers with a concise overview of a document, allowing them to grasp its key points quickly. In this post, we have explained the importance and key elements of an effective executive summary. By understanding them, you will be able to craft an attention-capturing summary and achieve your objective.