Should A Business Plan Be Written In The Third Person?

There are many techniques you can use to tell a story, but writing in the third person allows the individual to gain control. The third person has an omniscient feel, as it gives the sensation of being all-knowing and wise. 

These elements are also relevant when creating a business plan or proposal.

Several corporate and company guidance advises using the third person when writing. First and second-person writing can feel less official, but the third-person maintains an air of formality. 

We’ll cover more about why business plans should be written in the third person below, going over the pros and cons of doing so. We’ve also included some helpful tips on writing in the third person, which may help make your proposal stronger. 

Why Should Business Plans Be Written In the Third Person?

In most cases, formal records and documentation, like business plans, are written in the third person. 

Here are some of the pros and cons of creating business documents in the third person:

Advantages Of Third Person

• The third-person point of view can help set the writer further away from current circumstances. This provides an air of objectivity, which can make the author seem impartial and persuasive to the reader. 

• Third-person narratives increase impartiality. This point-of-view style reminds the writer to remain unbiased. This can help form a detached view of information and data.

• Formal establishments and audiences, such as banks and investors, usually prefer the third person. This point of view comes across as more serious and corporate-appropriate.

• Third-person viewpoints make it seem like there is more than one agent and author behind a business plan. 

• Using the third person to write business documents won’t appear condemnatory. For instance, “The team did not meet the yearly target” sounds a lot better than “You did not meet the yearly target.”

Disadvantages Of Third Person

Business environments aren’t the same as they were a few decades ago. Several company environments are less formal in regulation, dress, and corporation style. This may support the use of using second or first person in a business plan.

Business employees also communicate with each other on a first-name basis, which is a lot more informal than at the start of the century. If a company acts like this normally, using a formal, third-person point of view in a business plan may appear contradictory.

Additionally, if a business plan involves passionate segments, a more formal style may not deliver the plans with the intensity or emotion that’s needed.

Using The Third Person

Even though businesses are less formal than they used to be, it’s better to use a third-person viewpoint when creating a business plan. Investors and banks remain official establishments, so it’s important to stick to formal communication styles when dealing with them. 

If you are writing, you’ll usually be writing in one of three styles (though there are four points of view). 

• The first person mentions the individual speaking or yourself. 

• The second person points to someone you’re speaking to. 

• The third person involves somebody looking in, who isn’t the individual talking or someone being spoken to. 

The third person has the benefit of delivering detachment, impartiality, and formality. Examples of third-person pronouns are she, he, hers, his their, they, and its. 

For instance, a phrase that’s in the third person is ‘She provides computer support’, instead of “You provide computer support.”

Helpful Tips For Writing Business Plans In Third Person

If you are creating a business plan, here are some things you can do to strengthen your third-person accounts.

Switching Viewpoints

Remain consistent with third-person pronouns. Don’t switch to a different viewpoint or deviate from the prose. Don’t use pronouns like ‘I’, ‘you’, or ‘yours’. Do use ones like ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘them’, or ‘it’.

This doesn’t mean that you have to keep using one viewpoint, particularly when using an omniscient perspective. You can cover all the necessary viewpoints without deviating from character, which will keep any readers interested in the material.

However, you should avoid switching between first and third person. It’s easy to start using a first-person narrative when creating a business plan, without even realizing it’s happening. 

You can prevent this from happening by checking your work regularly. Look out for certain pronouns, like ‘us’, ‘I’, ‘mine’, or ‘our’. This issue is normally solved while you edit your plan. Remember that using one voice style will help avoid confusing your readers. 

Different Third-Person Perspectives

Think about which outlook would be best for the things you’re trying to display in your business plan. Third-person perspectives are limited, objective, or omniscient.

Omniscient

If you’re in the omniscient perspective, you will know all there is to know, but will slowly let your audience in. If the writing is objective, you should only detail facts while remaining objective and impartial. 

Limited

When you use the ‘limited’ perspective, your readers only know the things that you do. Never give your audience more knowledge than they know. Surmise that you perceive as much as the audience can, ensuring that you don’t slip into the future by mistake. 

If you are using a limited perspective, edit your document to check that you haven’t given your audience more knowledge than they should.

This will ruin the suspense and affect your business plan. This can be disastrous when you need to maintain your investor’s interest. 

Objective

If you are detailing information to your readers without using feelings, you should consider using the objective perspective. You won’t be influencing anybody’s emotions, but will just be drawing findings related to facts. 

For instance, rather than this:

“The issue with using the first system to milk cows is that it is very distressing for the animal. Unfortunately, the cow produces a certain amount of milk. This system influences the poor animal by making it produce bloody milk, which needs more time to process.”

You can remain objective by saying:

“Employing the first system to milk a cow is distressing for the animal. The elements used in this system make it produce bloody milk. This milk needs more time to process due to the separation procedures.”

General Advice

Writing in the third person is a good technique to seem more distant. This can be useful when covering negative events in the corporate world, as it doesn’t seem like you’re accusing somebody. 

Remain commanding and confident. The aim is for your audience to trust that you understand what you are speaking about, so they start to believe your words.

If you use the third person, you appear knowledgeable without participating. Aim to write business documents with as much power and command as possible. 

Keep using business language to give your document an official feel. Omit any long phrases or words that aren’t relevant, ensuring that your sentences are short. Cut down any sentences that are over 20 words long. 

Final Thoughts

Business culture may be a lot more informal today, but the objectivity of the third-person voice is usually preferred when communicating in these industries. 

Remember that shareholders and banks are still official institutions, so they will expect formal communication approaches. 

You can use the third-person voice to strengthen your business plan, which will hopefully get your message across to the right investors. 

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