Writing a Business Proposal
Writing a successful proposal can be made easier through the development of a proposal checklist that contains the necessary standardized information that is typically contained in 80%of all of sales proposals.This makes it much easier for the proposal writer to build a shell and then research the roughly missing 20%.For example the Company Name,Mission Statement,History,Qualifications should remain the same for most proposals leaving the Pricing section and specific Product and Service options specific to the customer to be customized for the current target customer.
3.1 Steps to a Winning Business Proposal
In today's competitive business environment,your ability to write powerful proposals could mean the life,or death,of your business.When government agencies and large corporations need to buy products or services from an outside source,they often release what is called a Request for Proposal（RFP),a formal document outlining their needs.To bid for the job,you must submit a proposal,which will explain how your company would meet the client's needs and should convince the client to hire your company,instead of a competitor.
Charles Wakefield's company,Tectonics International Inc.,is a Scottsdale, Arizona consulting firm that helps organizations change their business processes, systems,and other internal structures.Wakefield says that getting their first service contract was not a matter of luck.“We provided a very professional proposal that was well thought through,”explains Wakefield.“And we had people with the specific total quality management and participative management experience this Texas-based transit organization was looking for.”Don't leave your business's success up to chance.Follow these seven steps to write winning proposals:
Step 1 Studying the Requirements
Writing a winning proposal begins with a clear understanding of the client's requirements.Read the RFP thoroughly.As you're reading,ask yourself,what are this company's goals?What is my role in achieving these goals?Are the time frame,budget and scope of work reasonable?And if we're awarded the contract, does my company have the time,expertise and resources to complete the project? Next,decide whether you want to proceed.Preparing this proposal will require a lot of time and effort in research,analysis of the client's needs and writing,and you may decide to wait for a better opportunity.Wakefield examines every RFP carefully. “We don't send everybody a proposal who asks for one,because researching and writing a proposal is a fairly expensive process,”admits Wakefield.“First,we decide if we can design a good program for them.Then,we look for projects that have some potential for us strategically,contracts that offer continuing relationships and good networking possibilities.”
Step 2 Understanding the Client
“If you don't understand the client's problem,you certainly can't propose a methodology that is going to solve the problem,”says Shervin Freed,coauthor of Writing Winning Business Proposals（McGraw-Hill).Many times a client or potential client will say,“This is what we're looking for.But when you start researching,you find out that isn't what they're looking for at all.”
The best way to understand what the client really needs is to talk with them. Ask people in the organization about their concerns,their operating policies and their management philosophy.Discover if any previous attempts have been made to reach the goals outlined in the RFP and why those earlier solutions didn't work.Ask what they like and dislike about dealing with consultants like yourself and what criteria they'll be using to evaluate your proposal.
You'll also want to get some general information about the organization and the industry it's in.Ask questions like these:How long has the company been in business?Who are their major decision makers?What are their main products or services?How is this company better or worse than its competitors?What is the company's financial position?
To prepare their proposal,Wakefield's company interviewed the senior managers in the client's quality and training&development departments,as well as a purchasing agent.“We learned that our client's goal was to reach a higher level of customer service,”explains Wakefield.“And they wanted to do that by changing the management process.”
If you're not able to speak with the organization's employees,do some secondary research.Visit the library or check with colleagues who may have worked for the same organization;it's worth the effort.This research may save you from proposing a tack that has already been tried or is unacceptable to the client for some other reason.You may also discover some underlying issues that weren't addressed in the RFP and need to be considered.
Step 3 Developing a Methodology
Once your client's goals are clearly identified,it's time to develop the steps,or methodology,necessary to reach them.If you're having difficulty with it,use Wakefield's suggestion of brainstorming sessions.
“My partner and I get together and discuss what kinds of things our clients need and in what order，”Wakefield says.“It's going to be different for each of our clients，depending on whether they focus more on customer service or on cost savings.We then custom-design an intervention that is specific to their organization.”
To ensure that your methodology is practical,analyze its costs and benefits,as well as the time and resources it will require.
Step 4 Evaluating the Solution
You may have developed a brilliant methodology,but if it's unacceptable to your client,you'll need to find an alternative solution.“You have to understand the decision maker's orientation,”explains Freed.“You have to know precisely what their background is，and how they look upon this particular project.For example，find out whether the person is financially oriented or operations oriented.”You should then describe the benefits of your solution in a way that will receive the most favorable evaluation from the decision maker.
You should also evaluate your solution according to criteria outlined in the RFP. For example,if your proposal is being evaluated on price and completion time,a lengthy,expensive solution is unlikely to win your company the contract.
Step 5 Outshining Your Competitors
Don't forget that a proposal is a sales document,designed to persuade the client to hire your company instead of a competitor.So make certain your proposal reinforces your company's strengths and addresses any potential reservations the client may have about hiring you.
“If your competition is a company that is much larger than yours，then you've got to show your strengths，”Freed says.“Maybe you specialize in the client's field or can focus intensely on solving their problem.”
To properly present your strengths,you must know how you stack up against the competition.If you're lucky,the client will divulge your competitors'names, describe what they're likely to work with and offer an opinion of your competitor's abilities.
Step 6 Writing the Proposal
Now that you've completed the first five steps,most of the work is done.All that's left is assembling the information into a proposal format.
To make sure that the completed proposal looks as professional as possible, print it on quality paper and have the final copy professionally bound.Then get ready to put your proposed solution into action.
3.2 Tips for Writing a Business Proposal
Business proposals are developed for one of two possible reasons.The following eleven tips are guidelines that I keep in mind when I develop a business proposal for a client of my writing service:
（1)Clarity
Before you begin to write the proposal,summarize the concept in 2~3 sentences,then show it to a lay person and check for understanding.If they don't grasp the basic idea,rewrite until they do.Until you can do this,you are not ready to start writing the proposal.How many times have you received a document that you had to read over and over before you comprehended the meaning?When this happens,it may be because your comprehension skills are under-developed,but it's more likely that the writer substituted clarity of thought and good document structure with sloppy thinking,wordy,rambling explanations,vague descriptions and heavy reliance on buzzwords and jargon.It's worth saying once again:If you can't summarize it in 2~3 sentences,you are not ready to start writing.
（2)Striving to communicate
If you have a good idea and you communicate that idea clearly and effectively, the recipients will be impressed.If you try to baffle them with your brilliance,you'll lose ground.
（3)Error Free
Your proposal will be competing with proposals prepared by professional writers,graphic designers and desktop publishers.You may not have those resources at your disposal,but you can be fastidious about checking for typing,spelling and grammatical errors.Spell checkers can only go so far;the rest is up to you.Ask someone else to check your document for errors before you submit it,or wait a few days before rereading it.If you have worked on a document intensely,you will “learn”to interpret errors as being correct.It takes a fresh eye to spot the typos.
（4)Print and Bind
Print your document on good quality,heavy-bond paper,using either a laser printer or a good-quality bubble jet.Take it to an office service for backing and binding.For less than＄10,you can produce a nicely done,professionally presented package.
（5)Layout
When laying out your document,format it so the body of the text appears in the right two-thirds of the page.The one-third of the page to the left contains titles and white space.The white space to the left allows the reader to make notes.This sounds like a trivial matter,but it elicits positive reactions from recipients.
（6)Visual Elements
Include visual elements sporadically throughout your document.Logos,clip art, graphs,charts,tables and other elements greatly enhance the visual appeal of your document and make it easier for many people to read and comprehend.Pages of pure text are tiring to the eye and a challenge to the attention span.Additionally, many people are visually oriented,meaning the preferred method of learning is through imagery and not text.
（7)Title Page
Begin with a Title Page that includes images（graphics,pictures,etc.),the name of the proposal recipient,the name of the project,your company name and address,the date,and your copyright symbol.
（8)Be Politically Correct
Whether you support political correctness or whether you don't,the issue here is to avoid offending the people who will receive your proposal document.Avoid any language that can be construed as offensive to any group of people-including women, men,persons with disabilities,persons belonging to visible minorities,senior citizens,and so on.If you're not certain of correct terminology,consult with someone knowledgeable before submitting your proposal.
（9)Write for Global Audiences
Emerging technologies,immigration policies and agreements like NAFTA have produced a global marketplace.Documents nowadays should be written with the understanding that they may be evaluated by persons living in other countries or by persons for whom English is a second language.Even if you are submitting your proposal to a local business,they may well have joint ventures with international companies,and these companies may be asked to peruse your document.Unless your proposal is local to a specific geographic area,avoid references that would not be understood by persons living in other areas（or explain these references if you must use them).Also,avoid the use of slang or expressions from pop culture.When persons from other cultures study the English language,they are taught to speak formal,correct English.They are often unfamiliar with the use of slang terms.
（10)Jargon Free
Every industry has its own particular“language”—words,terms and expressions that are common to that industry but foreign to people from other industries.Avoid the use of jargon,or if you must use it,explain it.For example, expressions like“branding，”“turnkey solution，”“E-commerce”are not necessarily understood by everyone who is doing business.Also remember that your proposal may go to a committee that is comprised of people from various walks of life.Make sure they understand what you are talking about.
（11)Technology
What was just said about jargon goes double for technology.If your proposed project involves the use of technologies,be very careful with your explanation.The persons reading the document may have little or no technological background. Therefore,in the body of the proposal,it's usually recommended that you explain your technology in terms of what it will do—i.e.“A data base that members can use to search for information about your products.”There is a place for detailed information about the technology that you are proposing-and that spot is the appendix.In many cases,a non-technically oriented business will engage a technology consultant to review your proposed technology.This person can use the detailed explanations that you include in the appendix while other readers will be able to understand the proposal itself.
In today's economy,sales people have to write more proposals,and better proposals,than ever before.As the industry has become more competitive and complex,customers have become both more confused and more demanding.As a result,they are likely to listen to a presentation,nod their heads,and mutter those dreaded words,“Sounds good!Why don't you put that in writing for me?”