Every good business plan consists of certain elements. But there’s also a list of things that should be avoided when creating a plan:

Inaccuracies will kill any plan. People won’t give money to companies that can’t count. It should go without saying that you need to be absolutely accurate in everything from addition to spelling. (Yes, even spelling, because some people may believe that inattention to accuracy in spelling might be symptomatic of inattention to accuracy elsewhere.)

More is not always better! Plans must be complete but succinct. Plans that run on for pages, with attachments from every financial document generated, generally turn off people who don’t have the time to read them—and today that’s most of us. Answer the questions that likely will be asked, clearly and succinctly. Good move!

Don’t underplay management team skills. The number one reason investors walk away from companies is concern over management. Plans should showcase the strengths of your managers and tie their skills directly to both the needs and solutions for the company. After all, the success of a company cannot be predicted from figures alone. Who is behind those figures? Who will be leading the company toward its goals?

Don’t editorialize. Or, as a colleague liked to put it, “Tell, don’t sell.” Keep the tone of the plan factual and professional. As soon as the plan becomes familiar or promo tional in its flavor, investors are likely to smell a sales pitch and walk.

Don’t just write your plan and shelve it. Use your annual plan to improve company per formance and involve as many of the appropriate staff as possible in developing it.