Are you responsible for writing business proposals for your company in order to win new contracts? Are you finding your proposals are not closing enough deals, or are not winning the funding you want? If so, the following tips will show you how to write persuasive business proposals:
1. Show a Clear Understanding of Your Client’s Problem
Ensure your proposal very quickly gets to the crux of the problem, which your client is facing. This will show you have an understanding of the challenges and needs faced by your customer.
2. Emphasise Any Existing Relationship
If you’ve already done work with the client for whom you’re writing a proposal, and the project went well, it can be useful to mention that you already have a good working relationship with the organisation. This can help to reinforce the message that you truly understand your client.
3. Describe What Your Solution Is
It is better to introduce your solution in your proposal sooner rather than later. Describe what you solution is in a way, that demonstrates how it is a perfect fit for the problem being faced by your client.
4. Describe How Your Solution Will Work
After you’ve explained what your solution is, remember to describe how your solution will work. A great way to do this is to give a typical scenario, which explains a common task which your client would carry out using your system. This will allow your client to visualise using your solution.
5. Quantify the Return on Investment
Whatever your proposal is, be it a tender to win a contract, or an application for funding, you’ll be most likely asking for money. Therefore, remember to emphasis the return on investment your client would get from investing in your solution.
For example, if your solution will enable your client’s employees to carry out a task quicker, then attempt to quantify what this saving of time would mean for your client in terms of money.
6. Talk Up Your Team
Your people are your most valuable asset. Hence, really describe the background of your project team and explain how they are best placed to complete the work for your client, effectively. Give examples of how your team has completed similar projects before and have done so successfully.
7. Have a Realistic Project Plan
Include a project plan in your proposal as a Gantt chart. A Gantt chart can clearly illustrate the key phases in the project you are proposing to your client, along with estimates of how long tasks will take and what key deliverables will result from the tasks.
You can also include milestones to demonstrate key points in your project that will be reached before other phases can begin.
8. Have Contingencies in Place
Every project has potential risks associated with it. Ensure you write down all the potential problems that may occur in your project, the estimated likelihood of them occurring, and their impact on the project. Also, state what methods you will use to minimise the risks from occurring, and what back up you will use if a particular risk does manifest.
Image credit: IvanWalsh.com on flickr and reproduced under Creative Commons 2.0[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]https://writingtipsoasis.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/hv1.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Hiten Vyas is the Founder and Managing Editor of e-Booksindia.com. He is also a prolific eBook writer with over 25 titles to his name.[/author_info] [/author]