Anyone making a business proposal for the first time is plagued with this question. What is a business proposal? And why is it so important? The answer is fairly simple. A business proposal is a document that is sent by a seller or service provider to a potential client. The document contains information about the seller’s company and the services or products they are offering.
The importance of business proposals is not because it helps in securing a project from the client. Business proposals can help secure funding and keep both; the seller and client on the same page. While preparing the proposal several times, an organizer identifies the strength, weakness, structure, or direction that was hidden or unclear yet. It means that he/she will get a clear vision about what a project is on which they are working.
A business proposal consists of many different parts, including executive summary, pricing, terms, and more. Yet, the focus is simple, i.e., offering your products or services to clients in the form of a solution. Show them their benefit, draft terms that will be acceptable to both parties, and tell them about your company, whilst establishing your credibility.
10 Tips To Write A KickAss Business Proposal
Writing a kickass business proposal is no piece of cake. A lot of work and consideration goes into it because it has the power to seal the deal. Therefore, you have to put your possible efforts for establishing an impressive project proposal. You need to pay heed to the tips stated below:
1. Get Inside Your Audience’s Head
Study your client’s business, values, aspirations, and previous dealings to understand them in depth. Use your understanding to offer the client exactly while also considering your own constraints:
- What might they want?
- How do they demand?
- When do they need it?
- For what price they desire?
If you are not aware of your client’s nature, their work ethics, and other pertinent facts, the offer won’t work for you. Spend some quality time with observant eyes and a sharp mind to predict what your customer desires to get. This is actually your homework while having a cup of tea with your target.
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2. Set Your Tone
A business proposal needs to be in an extremely professional tone, with impeccable grammar, necessary jargon, and correct usage of all business and legal terms. Make sure that your proposal isn’t salesy or exaggerated.
Promise what you can deliver, give them solutions, and evidence-based information (facts, stats, examples, etc.). Don’t blemish anything. If you promise the client something that you know you can’t or might not be able to deliver, then not only could this lead to a dispute, but they can sue you for miscommitment. Furthermore, it can tear your reputation to shreds, causing you to lose a number of existing and future clients, who will develop mistrust towards you.
When it comes down to briefing them about your company, explain them in such a way that develops trust and credibility in their eyes. Hence, you look to be a worthy contender. Explain the ways you maintain the high standards of your business, the uniqueness of your product or service, and more.
3. Define Your Purpose
While sending a proposal, it makes your intention clear enough that you want to seal that deal or project. There are a few more things the potential client wishes to aware of in the beginning. Explain everything you are offering and information about how you plan to deliver it.
Moreover, you need to state what incentive is in it for you if the proposal gets accepted (both monetary and intangible). Along with this, the proposal needs to showcase your intention of benefiting the other business, too, and how you plan to make it happen. Leaving things vague can raise a lot of questions and concerns. In fact, it can lead to the development of certain expectations that won’t work in your favor.
4. Put Together The Content
Structuring the content is an essential part of a business proposal. Not only do you need to create the outline such that it fits with the generally acceptable format, but you also need to know what content to add and where. The business proposal cannot be as long as a book. It needs to be:
- Reasonable length
- Enough information
- Attracts the customer
- Address the client’s desire
- More advantageous for the customer
Also, knowing what should go where a necessary consideration is. However, perhaps the most important amongst these is the addition of essential facts and information scattered across the pages. For that, if you are not capable, take assistance from the dissertation proposal service, or intelligent friend.
5. Quote Mutually Favorable Prices
Quoting a price for your product or service is tricky. You need to find a price point that is mutually acceptable to both you and the potential client. In other words, none of you will get what you want but will be going enough distance that it doesn’t lead to bankruptcy or losses.
There might be another seller who would be offering a much lower price than you. In such a case, you have to believe that your breakdown, executive summary, and proposal seem reasonable if not favorable to the client.
6. Make A Rough Draft
Before starting, make a draft to know how you will structure the content and what information needs to be added. Starting out without a plan can cause you to forget some pertinent details, especially if you are on a strict deadline. Therefore, it is imperative that you create a rough draft or outline to know exactly how to structure content and what areas you need to fill up with relevant information.
7. Ensure Readability
The proposal you create should have high readability, so it is easier to navigate through the pages full of content. Also, optimizing for maximum readability will ensure that all-important content is highlighted. This is possible by breaking down the material into sections, paragraphs, and subheadings. While essential data, such as the analytics, numbers, and facts, should be broken down into bullets and tables. All the breakdown of the information and formatting will ensure high readability. Formatting includes font size, color, underline, italics, and bold.
8. Add Supporting Elements
Add some variety to your drab content by integrating graphical elements that support your content. This can include charts and graphs to highlight the statistical data added to the proposal. Make sure that it should be in such a way that makes it appear more visually appealing. Other graphical elements that can be added to a business proposal include photographs to exhibit the company’s leadership. Also, pictures can be added to the content to highlight the manufacture processes that will be employed to provide clients with the final consignment.
9. Sell The Solution/Benefit
A big part of a business proposal is to sell the solution to the client. This entails explaining to the client what dilemma they are in or what they need, and how you can fix it. And more importantly, this entails showing the client how your proposal can benefit them. However, this needs to be done in a subtle and professional way without taking things overboard.
10. Recheck & Edit
Never send the proposal directly or any other professional document for that matter. Always proofread the content, recheck all numerical and statistical data, and make the necessary edits. Proofread the entire content again after editing and then forward it to the client. Forwarding content that is filled with errors, typos, and mistakes is something that can tarnish a company’s image in front of the client. Clients who receive an error-ridden business proposal would get the impression that the sellers are non-serious, careless, and unprofessional. Upon receiving this impression, they won’t accept your bid, and will instead opt for the services of a firm that they think will provide them with impeccable work.
Conclusion
The right project can make the future of a company. It can help a firm rise above the rest to become an industry leader with a stronghold on the market and low chances of failing. However, with so many firms contending for the same deal, it becomes harder for any firm to get the project. Especially since some of them are willing to do it for pennies thanks to their low production costs due to them experiencing economies of scale. Every business aims to maximize their profits, including your client, so the only way left to get the project or even to get considered for it, is to deliver a kickass business proposal that is created with one goal in mind – to impress the client.