How to Write a Business Proposal in 7 Steps + Free Template

A business proposal is a document that provides information on the company’s products, services, and goals. When you are applying for funding from a bank or other investor, when looking to hire staff or secure agnostic space in an office building, your business plan will be vital. Here we take a deep dive into how to write one.

A business proposal is a sales management document that offers specified items or services to prospects at a set price. B2B enterprises often utilize them to gain new business. An executive overview, crucial project specifics, and a customer signature are all required in effective business proposals.

The greatest business proposals spell out project specifics, timelines, conditions, and costs, and if they contain a signature field for the prospect, they may be considered an agreement between the two organizations. Business proposal templates guarantee that none of these elements are overlooked, making them an essential tool for any small company.

The seven stages to developing a good business proposal are as follows:

1. Gather the Data You’ll Need

When a fresh business opportunity arises, sales managers may feel under pressure to get your proposal out as quickly as feasible. While you’ll want to deliver it as quickly as possible, taking the time to learn more about the customer and project can help you write a proposal that’s more likely to be approved. This can help you choose the critical parts to include in your proposal, resulting in a more accurate and effective document that closes the business.

We highly advise scheduling a discovery meeting before delivering your first sales presentation and creating a proposal to increase your chances of completing any purchase. This meeting should be scheduled before you start writing the proposal to ensure that you and your client are on the same page. Your plan may be rejected or not taken seriously if you do not demonstrate that you grasp their primary pain points and address their probable concerns.

Before you start drafting your proposal, you’ll need to answer the following questions:

• Who exactly are the purchasers? It’s possible that the individual you met isn’t the ultimate decision-maker. Figure out who else could be engaged in the procedure. If at all feasible, inquire about the prospect’s decision-making or approval procedure.
• What is the source of your discomfort? Investigate your competitors to spot any possible flaws or gaps. Inquire about the prospect’s previous experience with comparable goods or services to determine their pain areas and how your products and services might alleviate them.
• Is there a budget in place? Inquire if the prospect has a target price in mind or if the project has a budget. Answering this question will save you time by preventing you from spending time on projects that have little chance of succeeding.
• Is there a time limit? In order to meet production or launch dates, many organizations create internal buying deadlines. They could also be enticed to purchase at certain seasons of the year. To assist narrow the time period, inquire whether they have a deadline.
• What is the best answer to their dilemma that you can think of? Determine which of your services offers the most value depending on who your consumers are, what they need, their pain issues, and their purchase schedule.
• What would your expenses be if your proposal is accepted? Calculate the expenses, such as labor or materials, that your proposal would entail, and estimate your company’s total predicted revenue.

CRM systems are intended to store and manage your leads and contacts, so it’s the perfect location to keep track of your proposals as well. You may even embed your business proposal into the phases of your sales funnel to monitor proposal activity and move prospects through the sales cycle.

Salesforce Essentials, for example, enables you to keep track of client contact information, meeting notes, documents, and emails in one location. This makes managing sales operations, such as proposals, simpler and more efficient. Today is the last day to sign up for a free trial.

2. Define Project Objectives & Scope

Before you start detailing the scope of your project, you should first establish the goal of your business proposal. It’s critical that you adequately express your goal so that you don’t lose sight of why you’re creating the proposal in the first place. This aids in the formation of your outline and business proposal. It’s also a good idea to mention the goal of your proposal, either in the introduction or in the executive summary.

How to Define Your Business Proposal’s Objective

Ask yourself the following questions to help you come up with a proposal goal:

• What is the proposal’s purpose?
• What are your prospect’s or customer’s wants or pain points?
• What issues do your goods and services help to solve?
• What challenges does your solution tackle for your client or prospect?

Create a proposal goal statement that is based on your customer’s or prospect’s requirements once you’ve answered these questions.

An example of a goal statement

The following is an example of how this broad goal might be used in a particular situation:

The goal of this business proposal is to show how Acme Restaurant Group can help Acme Financial Planners solve their problem of high event costs and inconsistent guest experiences by forming a partnership in which we host all of their dinner presentations in major markets where both we and they have locations.

What is the Best Way to Outline the Project’s Scope?

The project’s scope is a description of its deliverables that should take into consideration features, functionalities, tasks, expenses, and timelines. In terms of your proposal and financial expenses, this stage will outline the statement of work (or “who, what, where, when, how, and why”). While you can answer these questions in your mind, it’s a good idea to write them down on a separate piece of paper or enter the answers into your CRM before beginning your proposal.

Answer the following questions to define the project’s scope:

• Who will conduct the job, who will supervise the work, and who will the client contact if a problem arises?
• What: What solutions must be supplied, what resources will be necessary, what can the client anticipate, and how much will it cost?
• Where will the job be completed, as well as where will it be delivered?
• When will you start, when will major milestones be set, when will the project be finished, and when will payment be due?
• How will work be done, how will it be deployed, managed, and how will quality assurance and customer satisfaction be achieved?
• Why: Why did you choose the techniques and options you did, and why should the consumer choose you?

Because these responses will make up the majority of the business proposal, writing them down will give you a head start. It also confirms that you have all of the resources you need to finish the project—or it will bring up any big problems before you devote too much time and effort.

3. Calculate Your Labor & Costs

You should think about how much the project will cost—and how much to charge the client—from the beginning. Many companies use the following formula to estimate labor costs: Make a mental checklist of the project and write down the number of hours it will take to complete each job. Multiply this by 1.5 to get the total.

If you anticipate a project would take 10 hours, put it out in your proposal as 15 hours (10 * 1.5 = 15). Why would you want to overestimate? This is because projects often take unexpected turns, and allowing for additional time will allow you to account for any possible setbacks and prepare for a contingency budget.

Plus, if everything goes well and you end up working fewer hours than expected, you may simply provide extra labor or charge your customer less. Customers will be delighted in both cases.

4. Get started on your business proposal

Now it’s time to get down to business with the proposal itself. Proposals usually follow a formula. They begin with an introduction that highlights your company and the project, then go on to the body of the document, which has all of the specifics (including a price table, images, and charts), and finally, a conclusion that advises the client how to continue.

A decent business proposal should include between six and seven components, including the signing page. It might take a long time to get into this area of your proposal. We have, however, created a business proposal template that you may use to get started.

In your business proposal, you should cover the following six sections:

• Start by explaining your organization and goal in a manner that corresponds to the demands of your prospective customer. Highlight what makes your organization unique, as well as your achievements, qualifications, and any awards. Make this part as short as possible.
• The executive summary is where you make the case for why you are the best firm for the task and convey the proposal’s main point to the reader. Concentrate on the outcomes you want the reader to come to after reading it.
• Table of Contents (optional): For lengthy proposals with a lot of specifics, a table of contents might be handy. Each part should be listed with the page number that corresponds to it. In general, we encourage that you make your proposal as brief as possible—most ideas won’t need this additional component.
• The body is where you may answer the questions “who, what, where, when, how, and why.” Include scheduling, logistics, and price information. You may add testimonials from previous customers and a link to your website, as well as statistics graphics, to demonstrate key themes.
• Finally, include a call to action that urges the reader to contact you or visit your website for further information. You want your customer to do something right away, even if it’s something little.
• Appendix: This optional part may be used to incorporate material that doesn’t fit well in the main body of your proposal. You may, for example, include resumes from employees as well as extra graphs, predictions, and client comments.

Pro tip: You’ll definitely be going back to earlier emails and notes while you write your proposal to figure out the “who, what, where, when, how, and why.” A CRM is an excellent location to keep track of these vital details. Custom fields, in particular, serve as a reminder to you and your staff to gather this information and make it accessible in the future.

An IT business, for example, has to keep track of pre-sale owners in order to add pre-sale engineers by name to bids and pay their commissions. When it comes time to submit a formal proposal and pay commissions, they may quickly access this information by adding these fields to the opportunity in their CRM.

The amount of custom fields you may create is determined by the CRM you use.

5. Make changes to your business proposal

First and foremost, check your proposal before delivering it to a potential client. Send it to someone else to read if at all feasible. The second pair of eyes may spot mistakes that you might miss. Many word processing programs let you keep track of changes to shared projects, allowing you to keep track of peer comments and proposed edits.

Second, pay attention to your proposal’s tone and length. Make sure your proposal is brief enough to read in one sitting and includes professional yet understandable language.

Use the Appendix to your advantage

Any additional material, such as testimonials, graphs, or charts, should be transferred to the Appendix. Keep an eye out for duplication in terms of duration. Rather than repeating your value proposition, use a single example to illustrate your point: “How much do we care about our customers?” Our phone line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and we answer all emails within 30 minutes or less.”

Watch for Business Proposal Tone & Language

Avoid industrial jargon and technical phrases by using straightforward, succinct, and basic language. Simultaneously, avoid employing exaggeration that exaggerates your business or service (“Our revolutionary product quadruples sales”), since this may erode the confidence you’re seeking to build with your prospective customer. Additionally, employ the same casual-meets-formal tone you would in a meeting at their office.

6. Make a business proposal and send it out.

Send your business proposal to your main point of contact and principal decision-maker after it’s finished. Don’t be scared to inquire if you’re not sure who should get it. This ensures that all essential players have access to the information and are able to give input or get buy-in. It also avoids delays later in the process caused by the lack of information needed to make a decision by the proper persons.

In the vast majority of circumstances, your proposal may be sent as an email attachment. To decrease the chance of essential facts being lost in a lengthy message chain or being cut off when printed or forwarded, send it as an attachment rather than in the body of the email. Some firms, on the other hand, demand you to connect to their site and input your proposal specifics or submit the costs of your proposal on their offered forms.

Pro tip: If you submit business proposals by email on a frequent basis, email monitoring software is an excellent idea to explore. This will assist you in ensuring that your email was sent to its intended recipient and will notify you when the recipient opens your message. After that, you may schedule a follow-up to see if they have any other questions.

7. Keep in touch

If you’ve ever prepared a proposal, you know that the effort doesn’t end when you hit “submit.” A crucial element of the proposal process is following up with a customer to remind them of a deadline and to answer inquiries.

Waiting for the ideal moment to follow up on a proposal should be a simple, yet important, aspect of your proposal approach. When your proposal is fresh in their mind—whether they read it thoroughly or just glanced at it—a prospect will be more amenable to a follow-up discussion.

CRMs are essential for salespeople because of this. They may be a useful tool for staying on top of open bids as well as keeping track of your customer’s contact information.

When You Have Won the Contract

While you may believe the struggle is over after a contract is signed, this is not the case. As every small company owner will confirm, deployment and continuing maintenance need the same amount of structure. This entails responding to inquiries as they arise and completing the deliverables mentioned in your proposal.

While this may be the conclusion of your new customer sales process, it is also the start of a new client relationship. You may also mail them a welcome package or contact them to greet them as your newest customer and answer any questions they may have.

Tips for Business Proposals

Depending on the demands of your unique firm, you may construct a business proposal in a variety of styles. The format you use should be intended to grab a buyer’s attention and assist your proposal stand out from the crowd.

Here are some formatting suggestions for business proposals:

• Pay a designer or use professional templates: When you utilize custom-designed templates or hire a designer to build them for you, your business proposals will seem more professional.
• Use callouts to emphasize essential points: This may be done by highlighting how your product addresses your customer’s pain points using callouts.
• Use line items and bullet points: Using line items and bullet points reduces the density of your business proposals, making them simpler to read. Making your business proposal simpler to read enhances the likelihood that it will be read and viewed favorably.

Conclusion

The most essential thing to remember while writing a business proposal is to think like your customer. You’ll be better prepared to explain why your organization is the greatest fit for the task and anticipate all of their inquiries if you can put yourself in their position.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you write a simple business proposal?

A: The best way to write a business proposal is to follow the standard format for a proposal. This can be found on many websites and we would recommend using those examples as your first step, especially if you are new to writing proposals of this kind.

What is the format of a proposal?

A: A proposal is a written document in which an individual formally outlines the scope, objectives, and terms of negotiations with another party to form an agreement.