A business proposal is an indispensable document for many businesses. With this document, you can offer goods or services to potential customers and set the price and terms for each item or service.
In this post, we will concentrate on how to write an appropriate business proposal.
At the end of this business proposal writing course, you should be able to discover ideas for a business proposal and write a winning proposal.
What are business proposals?
A business proposal describes the services you provide and why you are the ideal bidder for a certain contract or business. Business proposals are frequently used to assist companies in acquiring projects and clients.
A term of a business proposal is a written offer from a seller to a prospective sponsor.
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Steps to writing a business proposal
- The elements of a business proposal
- The presentation should be short and straight to the point
- Summary of the proposal: the general framework
- Contents of the commercial proposal: get to the point
- The main proposal: who does what and when
- Costs: This is the page customers look at first
The elements of a Business Proposal
To be effective, a business proposal must contain a series of elements that allow the recipient to get a clear idea of the merchant and what is being offered.
For this, an adequate presentation, a summary of the project, the most important details, and of course the costs must not be missing.
However, Before preparing to write it, it is advisable to inquire about who will receive it. Different customers can respond positively to different proposals.
Depending on the type of service that is provided, in fact, a certain level of customization may be required. If possible, customers should always be presented with a proposal tailored to their needs, rather than a pre-printed one that is the same for everyone.
The presentation should be short and straight to the point
A key part of any business proposal is how you describe your company or business.
This brief introductory paragraph is not only useful for those who have never heard of your company, but it is also essential for those who have known you for a while but are not informed about the particular services you are interested in selling at that moment.
Depending on the purpose of the proposal, therefore, it will be appropriate to emphasize a particular aspect of your work or a particular success achieved.
However, do not take it too far. Those who receive a business proposal want to get to the point and know as soon as possible what they can buy and at what price.
Avoid dwelling on the presentation for more than half a page. It is also advisable to add a photo to this section. If you are a freelancer, post a photo of yourself, For companies, a photo of the team or CEO is recommended, For a small business, your logo will do the trick but avoid adding multiple photos, one or two is sufficient.
Summary of the proposal: the general framework
In this part, you can give the customer an overview of the services you plan to offer. Don’t go into detail, but illustrate all the important aspects of your job.
Does your offer have a time limit? Is it linked to a particular circumstance? What kind of service or product do you offer and in what context?
What sets your company or business apart from competitors? This is not a pitch: it is not in this paragraph that you have to “sell”.
However, it is important to include in the description, the elements of your professional identity that are best suited to attract the customer you are interested in. Imagine this section of the proposal like the profile on a dating site.
Depending on the type of person you want to attract, you can highlight your sporting achievements, your intellectual achievements, or your professional profile.
Try to do the same when introducing your business to potential customers. This section should not exceed half a page in length: the customer is willing to tolerate an introductory page overall, but no more.
Contents of the commercial proposal: get to the point
Don’t just state facts, try writing in the POV format, which is the second person point of view; in other words, write like you’re having a conversation with a second person.
The purpose of this way of writing is to “involve the reader in the narrative,” and create an emotional relationship, in order to make a positive acceptance of the final call to action more likely.
And of course, creating a human relationship with the reader is fundamental, but this cannot be done by inserting five pages of introduction.
The emotional connection you need should have been created in the previous two paragraphs.
If the presentation of the company or business and the summary of the proposal have not sparked the interest of the potential customer, it means that the copy is not of good quality (or the customer is not in your target).
It is advisable to go straight to the point and list exactly the services you intend to provide, in a practical summary of contents that allows the customer to have a clear overview of what he can expect from you at once.
The main proposal: who does what and when
After you tell the client what you intend to do for him, it’s time to tell him how you are going to proceed.
This is the space that you can dedicate to explaining how your team will work, what it is composed for, what your roles are, what tasks will be carried out, who will be assigned and when they will have to start and finish. This section is very important to protect your work.
Especially if you provide services, and it will be complex and time-consuming, this part of the proposal will help you to make it clear, in black and white, how much time it takes, from the beginning of the work, to complete each phase.
Take your time to calculate the duration of each step, this will be helpful if a customer should express the desire to shorten the deadline after the project has already started, you can always refer to this document, approved by both, to remind him that the processing times for each phase have already been established. This way you will avoid unpleasant discussions.
Costs: This is the page customers look at first
This is the last page of your business proposal, but you can bet that the customer will look at it first. It’s normal, we all do it: if a service is out of our budget, we don’t want to waste time discussing it.
For this reason, it is important that this page is particularly accurate, with precise indications of all the items of expenditure, well documented and justified, and the possible addition of VAT, if applicable.
Try to specify everything that can contribute to the final cost – nobody likes to discover hidden fees.
If your service includes optional elements, which can be added or subtracted by changing the final cost, prepare more tables, on the model of the subscription offers that you find for many online services.
A sample of a business proposal
Follow these simple steps or simply download a sample business proposal in the link below
- Begin with a title page
- Create a table of contents
- Explain your why with an executive summary
- State the problem or need
- Propose a solution
- Share your qualifications
- Include pricing options
- Clarify your terms and conditions
With all this information, you can now proceed to start writing a winning business proposal
Conclusion
A business proposal has been misunderstood to be a business plan. This is the greatest misconception, but they might be similar to chapters like “executive summary “.
However, some information can be extracted from your business plan while writing your business proposal, In fact, it is the best approach.
A business plan includes a comprehensive report of how your business operates, scales, and earns income. On the other hand, a business proposal is a pitch to clients or prospects selling your products or services.
You want to write a business proposal to sell your product or service to a prospective client, not to your business itself. You can actually read about how to write a business plan here.
Thanks a million for taking my business proposal writing course!
