What is an Executive Summary? (Plus Example)

An executive summary can be a winning ticket or a dead end - depending on whether or not you succeed in getting stakeholders interested in your project. And that strongly depends on how you write your executive summary. Read on to find out how you can give your executive summaries the best chance at success.

Credit: Pixabay

What is an executive summary?

An executive summary is a 1-2 page document that summarizes the most important points of a project plan. In other words, it is the tl;dr of a longer project plan.

Executive summaries are used to give stakeholders a broad idea of a project’s main goals without taking too much time to read.        

What to include in an executive summary:

Introduction: Explain the purpose of your proposed project in a few sentences.

Company description: Give a few reasons why your company is ideal for this project.

Problem/need: What problem will your project address, or what need will it fill?

Value proposition: What unique solution can you provide for your client?

Proof: What evidence do you have to show your client that you can do what you say you can do?

Resources: What resources will you need for this project?

Budget: Based on your resourcing requirements, decide on a budget to present to stakeholders.

Timeline: Briefly outline how long the project will take and when you hope to complete key milestones.

Project team: Who will be working on this project? Include the experience of team members to show why they are qualified to run this project and why they are likely to succeed.

Conclusion: Summarise project goals and what they will achieve.

What is an executive summary example?

Here is an example of an executive summary involving a fictitious creative agency called ‘One Up’ and their executive summary to a potential client offering to revamp their website:

Introduction: 

Keeping your web design up to date is vital to keeping clients interested and outdoing the competition. By working with us, you will gain a complete website refresh that will attract clients and effectively show why you are at the top of your niche.                                                                                                                                                                             

Company description:

One Up is a creative agency specializing in web design. We have five years of experience working with clients just like you, helping companies grow their business with attractive, on-target web design.

Problem: 

Clients looking for your services find your website online but are put off by the outdated design. They move on with their search, choosing your competitors instead.

Value proposition:

At One Up, we pride ourselves on thoroughly understanding our clients' businesses and delivering accordingly. Unlike other web design firms that deliver generic web design, we do deep research into our clients' spaces, learn about their demographics, and then produce very targeted designs that will attract your ideal client. 

Proof: 

We have statistics to show that our web design services have increased web traffic and sales for our clients. Please follow these links to view case studies that prove this.

Resources: 

To successfully redesign your website, we will require approximately 75 hours of employee time.

Budget:

Based on the above, we will require a budget of $1000.

Timeline: 

• The project begins September 1st and ends September 30th.

• Sep 1st - kick-off meeting

• Sep 2nd- project overview complete

• Sep 3rd- stakeholder meeting to approve overview

• Sep 10th- home page complete

• Sep 20th- web design complete

• Sep 21st- meeting to approve design/discuss changes

• September 30th- final design complete

Project team:

James Attkins, our lead designer, and Stephanie Coles, our Senior Project Manager will lead your web design project. James has 15 years of experience in web design and a proven record of helping clients reach business goals. Stephanie has managed over 35 successful projects and has a perfect record of delivering on time and under budget. 

The following employees will work under James and Stephanie’s direction:

• Laura White - Graphic Designer

• Timothy McEdwards - UX Designer

• Daniel Peters - SEO specialist

• Louisa Snow - Web programmer

Conclusion: 

We hope that you will give us the opportunity to grow your unique business. We look forward to learning about you and how we can help you reach your clients faster and easier by giving your website a captivating redesign.

Executive summary best practices

Now that you have a good idea of what goes into an executive summary, let’s discuss some best practices.

• Keep it short: As we mentioned at the beginning, people have very short attention spans and busy CEOs don’t have time to peruse long, flowery executive summaries. Keep your executive summary 1-2 pages long.
  
  
• Make it highly readable: Ensure there is plenty of white space and use bullet points where you can rather than long paragraphs.
  
  
• Keep it positive: As this is the first project document, you want to avoid anything that could put your client off. Keep it focused on the gains and save risk assessments for when your client has already signed on to the project.
  
  
• Get into your client’s mind: Try to imagine that you are your client - what would capture your interest? What sort of tone would you relate to? Focus on what matters to your client and write in the kind of tone they would most appreciate.

Credit: Pixabay

• Thoroughly proofread: Check and recheck for grammar and spelling mistakes. You want your client to perceive you as 100% professional.

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