Tips for Writing a Business Proposal
Business in the nineties
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 favourable 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:
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. Strive
to communicate, not to impress.
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 understand the
proposal itself.
Keep these guidelines in mind and
you will be off to a good start with your next business proposal!
by June Campbell
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