5 TIPS FOR WRITING BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Business proposal

A business proposal is a written offer from a seller to a prospective buyer. Business proposals are often a key step in the complex sales process i.e., whenever a buyer considers more than price in a purchase.
A proposal puts the buyer's requirements in a context that favors the sellers products and services, and educates the buyer about the capabilities of the seller in satisfying their needs. A successful proposal results in a sale, where both parties get what they want, a win-win situation

If you want to know how to write a business proposal, the best person to ask is your current customers, or makes a research about the company you are submitting your proposal. When writing a business proposal, your goal should be to answer your customer's questions and persuade them to select you. To do this, you need to discover what the customer needs to read in order to select you, and then present your proposal from the customer's perspective. A business proposal should be about what matters to the customer, and not just what you want to tell them. That is why winning a business proposal depends on what you know about the customer, opportunity, and competitive environment just as much (if not more than) as how you write, format, and present your proposal. below can help you learn how to write business proposals that win.

1.      Keep It Short. In sales letters and advertising, there is an age old debate between the merits of long copy versus short copy. That debate does not apply to proposals. Nobody wants to read more in a proposal than they have to. Keep your writing style short to the point of being terse. Don't pad it out to make it "sound better." Say what you need to say and then end it. If you can deliver a proposal that is only one page long, don't add another page to make it "look more substantial." If you are worried that your proposal is too short, put your fears at rest. The issue is not whether your proposal is long enough, it's whether you have answered all of the questions that the customer is going to have. You need to do that, but you don't need it to be one page longer than is necessary to do it.

2.      Put It In An Appendix. If you must provide supporting documentation, put it in an appendix. Especially if they didn't ask for it. If you want to include resumes and they didn't' ask for it, put it in an appendix. If you want to provide commendation letters, put them in an appendix. If you want to provide data sheets, put them in an appendix. If you want to provide proof of insurance, financing, samples, or documents, put them in an appendix. Take everything that is not part of your story and put it in an appendix. That way those who want to read (or do due diligence) will have all the content they desire, and those who don't want to read will be more likely to get through your story before they start skipping pages.

3.      Don't Forget Your Website. Anything that could go into an appendix, could go on your website instead. Just give them the links. Any proposal that includes a software component, should include a link to a demo on your website. Even if it is just a collection of prototype screen shots, you should invite them to come see it. If the proposal is important to you, make it interactive. Make them login so you can look up in a log file that they came (and better yet, what they looked at). If you are early in the process you can invite them to a slide show, and on each page ask them if a feature is "Very Important, Moderately Important, or Not Important" to go to the next page. A website gives you the opportunity to exchange information in ways that can't be done with a paper brochure or PowerPoint presentation. Take advantage of it.

4.      Don't Bind It Like a School Report. How you bind your proposal isn't that important. Just don't make it look like a school report. A three-ring binder or GBC binding is fine. But a report cover that looks like a school report sends the wrong impression. A staple is better.

5.      Black-and-White or Color? Unless your pictures are important to the delivery of your message, it does not matter whether you print in black-and-white or color. Some people have color laser printers, some people don't. These days nobody is sufficiently impressed to select one vendor over another because of it. You can look professional with a black-and-white proposal when your competitor has color. You just have to work harder at it. - See more at: http://www.captureplanning.com/articles/92163.cfm#sthash.i3FnMVyT.dpuf