Business Proposal: 11 Tips for Writing a Business Proposal

Business in the new millennium means fierce competition, aggressive marketing and strategic alliances. The extent to which a business succeeds or fails often depends upon that business's ability to be awarded contracts or to attract other businesses into Joint Ventures or strategic alliances. To accomplish either one usually requires two key items: good ideas and the ability to present those good ideas in a superbly developed business proposal.Business proposals are developed for one of two possible reasons.(1) A business entity has called for tenders or has invited you to submit a RFP (Request for Proposal). In this case, your goal is to be "short listed," meaning that you will be one of the three or four bidders who is awarded an interview. Your proposal must stand among possibly dozens of submissions.(2) You have an idea, concept or project that you want to propose to someone with the goal of gaining support, funding or an alliance. In this case, there is no competitive bidding process. However, your proposal must make a favorable impression and must explain all aspects of your proposed concept clearly and quickly. A document that is vaguely written, difficult to understand or that presents more questions than answers will likely be discarded promptly.The following eleven tips are guidelines that I keep in mind when I develop a business proposal for a client of my writing service:ClarityBefore 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 repeatedly 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 again: If you can't summarize it in 2-3 sentences, you are not ready to start writing.Strive to communicate, not to impressIf 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.Error FreeYour 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.Print and BindPrint 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.LayoutWhen 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.Visual ElementsInclude 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.Title PageBegin 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.Be Politically CorrectWhether 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.Write for Global AudiencesEmerging 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.Jargon FreeEvery 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.TechnologyWhat 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 understand the proposal itself.Keep these guidelines in mind and you will be off to a good start with your next business proposal! [EXTRACT] Business in the new millennium means fierce competition, aggressive marketing and strategic alliances. The degree to which a company succeeds or fails often depends on the ability of companies awarded contracts or to attract other companies in joint ventures or strategic alliances. To carry out any of them usually requires two key elements. Good ideas and the ability to present good ideas into superbly developed business proposals proposal.Business are developed by one of two reasons (1) A business entity has called for tenders or has invited to submit an RFP (Request for Proposal). In this case, your goal is to be "preselected", which means it will be one of the three or four bidders who is granted an interview. Your proposal should be among the possibly dozens of submissions. (2) You have an idea, concept or project you propose to someone in order to get support, funding or an alliance. In this case, there is no tendering process. However, your proposal must make a favorable impression and must explain all aspects of your proposed concept clearly and quickly. A document that is vaguely written, difficult to understand or that presents more questions than answers will likely be discarded following eleven promptly.The tips are guidelines that must be taken into account when preparing a business proposal for a client of my writing service: ClarityBefore to start writing the proposal, summary of the concept of 2-3 sentences, then show the average person and check for understanding. If they do not understand the basic idea, rewrite until they do. Until you can do this, you're not ready to start writing the proposal. How many times have you received a document that I had to read several times before they understood the meaning? When this happens, it may be because your comprehension skills are not developed enough, but is more likely that the writer substituted clarity of thought and good document structure with disordered thinking, a lot of words, explanations, hiking, and vague descriptions heavy reliance on buzzwords and jargon. It's worth saying again: If you can summarize in 2-3 sentences, which is not ready to start communicating writing.Strive not impressIf you have a good idea and the idea is communicated clearly and effectively, the recipients will be impressed. If you try to baffle with his brilliance, you'll lose FreeYour ground.Error proposal will be competing with proposals prepared by professional writers, graphic designers and desktop publishers. You may not have the resources at their disposal, but can be demanding with checking writing, spelling and grammatical errors. Spell checkers can only go so far, the rest is up to you. Ask someone else to check the document for errors before sending, or wait a few days before rereading it. If you have worked hard on a document, which will "learn" to interpret the error is correct. We need a new perspective to see the typos.Print BindPrint and good quality paper, high bond paper using a laser or bubble jet quality. Take it to a service bureau and union support. For under $ 10, you can produce a well-made, professionally presented package.LayoutWhen trace the document format for the body of the text appears in the upper two-thirds of the page. The third part of the page on the left contains titles and white space. The blank space to the left allows the reader to take notes. This sounds like a trivial matter, but positive reactions resulting visuals ElementsInclude recipients.Visual sporadically throughout your document. Logos, clip art, graphics, charts, tables and other elements greatly enhance the visual appeal of the document and make it easier for many people to read and understand. Pages of pure text are tiring to the eye and challenge the attention span. Also, many people are visually oriented, ie, the preferred method of learning is through imagery and PageBegin text.Title with a cover includes images (graphics, images, etc), the name of the recipient of the proposal, the project name, company name and address, date, author and symbol. Be Politically CorrectWhether I support political correctness, or if not, the question here is to avoid offending people who receive the bid document. Avoid any language that can be interpreted as offensive to any group of people - including women, men, people with disabilities, visible minority people, the elderly, and so on. If you are unsure of the correct terminology, consult with someone knowledgeable before submitting your proposal.Write for Global AudiencesEmerging technologies immigration policies, and agreements such as NAFTA has been a global market. Documents nowadays should be written on the understanding that can be evaluated by people living in other countries or by people for whom English is their second language. Even if you are submitting your proposal for a local company may well have joint ventures with international companies and these companies may be asked to carefully read the document. Unless your proposal is local to a specific geographic area, avoid references that do not understand the people who live in other areas (or explain these references if you must use.) Also, avoid using jargon or expressions of pop culture. When people from other cultures study the English language are taught to speak formal English, right. They are familiar with the use of industry jargon FreeEvery terms.Jargon has its own "language" - words, terms and expressions that are common to the industry, but foreign to people from other industries. Avoid using jargon, or if you have to use it, explain. For example, expressions like "branding," "turnkey solution", "E-commerce" are not necessarily understood by everyone in business. Also, remember that your proposal may go to a committee that is composed of people from various walks of life. Make sure they understand what you're talking about.TechnologyWhat has been said about the jargon is duplicated by technology. If the proposed project involves the use of technologies, be very careful with your explanation. The person reading the document may have little or no technological background. Therefore, in the body of the proposal, it is generally recommended that you explain your technology in terms of what to do - that is, "A database that members can use to find information about their products." There is a place for detailed information about the technology you are proposing - and that is in the appendix. In many cases, a technically oriented business will not hire a technology consultant to review your proposed technology. This person can use the detailed explanations are included in the appendix, while other readers will understand the proposal itself.Keep these guidelines in mind and is off to a good start with your next business proposal!