PROPOSALS
WRITING WINNING

NEED
 Today ,finding the right proposals getting the desired
project, or getting new customers has become very
competitive.
 Hence the need has arised to developed the
Proposals to be sent to our clients, but its not
important to write just proposals but the key word is
“WINNING "proposals.
 Only then can you succeed in winning more and more
clients for yourself, as the company’s survival is
completely based on this.
 The writing needs lots of preparation and work.
 The main mistake that is made is not understanding
the client’s industry, needs, work, requirements

DEFINATION
 A Business Proposal is an “Offer Letter” as the
main intention of preparing it is to persuade the
client to buy the product/services or accept your
offer.
 It can also be defined as “a written document sent
to a prospective client to win a specific proposal.”
 They are the lifelines for many small organizations
 The main objective is to provide a solution to the
challenges faced by our client.
 In includes the work to be conducted and
sufficient information to the reader to affect his
purchases.

ADVANTAGES OF A
PROPOSAL
 It looks professional.
 It creates a good impression
about a company.
 Its easily accessible for future references by the
buyer.
 We are not the only ones writing proposals.
Hence the buyer can compare the proposal
received by him to finalise the proposal.
 Thus when we give an outline ,the buyer can
easily and quickly go through the main factors to
be considered as it is in writing instead o f
mentioning orally.

TYPES
 There are 2 types of proposals:
1) Solicited Business Proposals: here the
companies bid for winning the proposals made by
companies(Client) to complete a task. An open
bid takes place and the candidate who satisfies
the companies parameters, wins.
2) Unsolicited: Here its important to address the
target company. Unlike the previous one where
the objective is clear, here you have to find out
that need and how can you help the company to
fulfil the need by your expertise.

COMPONENTS
 Content: The proposal should be sent in an envelop
with the company’s name , name of the contact
person, the email address contact numbers, and the
address.
 Executive Summary: Where you give company
details, what will you provide the client to benefit him
,etc.
 Plan: As to how will you proceed with the work, the
challenges met, who will look after and supervise the
important matters.
 Technical Info: usually the product descriptions or
any specifications required by clients.
 Staff Details: who are working of projects. Sometimes
if client requires, the staff's resumes also need to be
sent.

COMPONENTS
 Budget: The price for the project usually with a
justification.Incase there are more products used,
the approximate costs of the same.
 Company History: To highlight the previous
achievements, the client base, and company
qualifications,etc
 If the proposal is to be submitted to the federal
Government, the regulations are based on
Federal acquisition regulation.
 And if it to the government body, then the layout
may have to meet regulatory requirements.

FORMULA
 Review the proposal with
 - “Who”- Who will do the work,
who will be responsible,etc.
 - “Where”- Where is the project to be submitted.
 - “ What”- What is the cost, what will be delivered.
 - “When”- When will you start and end.
 -”Why”- Why should the prospect choose you.
 - “How” – how will the risks be managed, how will
the customer be benefitted.

PRIOR TO PREPARATION
Before actually starting writing and preparing the proposal,
you can go through the following steps
1) Advertising: I.e. marketing the product. It helps to
persuade the potential buyer ,build confidence in him and to
attract him towards you proposal. This is the main step, as to
sell your product you need the prospective customers know
that it exists and with what qualities. Thus you should mention
how are you better than other competitors and what extra are
you giving which others cant give. Also mention as to how will
your proposal benefit the potential client, here if you can find
out their needs in advance you can customise your proposal
as per each client as when you write in the same words, what
the client’s expects, you win .
“As per the marketing experts "it takes 8 contacts before a
potential customer becomes an actual client and 3 contacts
with the existing ones to retain them.”

PRIOR TO PREPARATION
2) Competition review: To win the proposal it
very important to have the knowledge of the
competitors, their offers, expertise, budgets, and
any specialities they deal with. As this helps you
decide what and how to offer the prospective
client.
3) Interact: Do not stop at marketing, checking
with the client, contacting them, finding their views
at this point only is important so that you can
develop your writing accordingly.
- Create a Sales Pitch
- Give a call back
- Send them a “Thank You “letter

PRIOR TO PREPARATION
4) Understanding: what the potential client wants is
important. As once that is understood, you can then convince
them about your company’s ability to meet their needs
accurately. Sometimes a manager might ask you certain
queries and ask you to revert them to his superiors. In this
case, you can customise your proposal in such a way that his
superiors gets all his answers and doubts cleared.
5) Planning: We need to plan the resources available, their
use to the client, and the value of the entire project to the
organisation ,w.r.t profitability and branding.
Its vital to plan before writing the proposal. As a company’s
executive who might be in charge of reading different
company’s proposals ,get refreshed after reading yours as he
doesn't like the monotonous flow of other proposals.

PRIOR TO PREPARATION
Hence plan in such a way that it should be very different,
unique and outstanding from other’s proposals.
Thus Planning in advance will save you from your proposal’s
poor performance.
6) Design: It includes the layout, images , sketches,
prototypes,etc. It should be attractive looking and prove to be
important. Also avoid too much sketches and see to it that all
these do not look too messy. so space them out.
7) Decide Budget: It is an important step as clients also
sometimes accept or reject basis your budget estimates.
It should include your admin cost, material cost, man hours,
time involved in the project and other relevant costs. Again at
the time of the actual project, the expenses could be few
more, which you cannot anticipate at this stage. Hence here
you just concentrate on the obvious ones.

PRIOR TO PREPARATION
It cannot be too high as you may then loose to competitors;
nor too low as you may be viewed as a new-born company.
8) Expertise: Every business requires certain skills,
knowledge about the filed,etc. So before proceeding check if
your company come in the categorize. if you specialise in
engineering filed, and get a proposal form financial filed,
check if are ready with the requirements.
9) Set a restriction: Hence if the client’s file doesn't match
with your target skills and target market decide to withdraw
fro it, as once promised and not delivered what was promised
turns to be more hazardous.
10) Time commitment: Have an overall view of the project
and the approximate time required for completion. Do not
over-commit

HOW TO WRITE
Simple: keep it simple and in a language which is easy to
understand . Proposals with short and simple write up and clear
objectives are a win-win.
Errors: be careful of the language and grammatical errors, and also
of spelling mistakes.
Jargons: Avoid use of jargons and always write the full forms and
never in abbreviations.
Proofread: Have someone do this as sometimes because you are
tired of the same things, you do not tend to find faults. A rash reader
can do that for you.
Format: Many companies are very strict when it comes to format
and also rejects your proposals in case they are not as per the
required format.

HOW TO WRITE
Selling: The main thing in writing a proposal is to
have a direct meeting/chatting with the client. Wherein
he gives his requirement and you give your inputs. But
be careful to do more of listening and less of talking.
Research: Its important to research on the
prospective client, so that you can understand the
client better. And serve him better.
Listing: Create a list of questions before the meeting,
to be asked to client. Writing down the list would help
you not skip some of the main questions.
Body of proposal: Divide the topic in form of subject
and sub-topic so that these main things can be seen
at a glance.

HOW TO WRITE
Also mention your company profile, the years it
has been in existence, your main forte, past
projects handled and client list and the
achievements.
Message to be in Detail: Make sure the
message that has to be conveyed is done so in a
clear, precise and detailed manner so that there is
no/very less scope for the client to have any
doubts. As if he gets another proposal with perfect
details, he wouldn't even get back to you for
clarification, thus you resulting in loosing it.
Proposal Reason: make sure to mention the
reason for writing the proposal

HOW TO WRITE
Language: try to understand the client’s needs or
requirements and when writing the proposal, try and write the
words that the client has used while mentioning you the
details. This creates a personalized effect, as the client thinks
that you are providing him exactly the same things that he
needs. Also depending on from which field he is from , use
the appropriate jargons.
Solutions: The main element is to provide solutions to the
challenges that the client is facing. See to it the only those
solutions be provided that can be met later, as you cant
promise a thing at a stage and later deny it.
Information to someone: see to it that you have complete
knowledge and information on the proposal that you are
forwarding . As this creates a positive impression on your
client. You should be should be able to answer all his needs
and questions.

HOW TO WRITE
Use Graphics: Using the animations, graphics, and
examples, creates an impressions that you are updated with
the latest technology and have a class, as no one would want
to give their project to someone who is still backward in these
areas.
Edit: After writing the proposal its important to check it
specific to the grammar and spell checks, As also to the
correct language used. The length also matters as the client
might be too busy to read a lengthy on. Choose the font,
heading, layout and other formats correctly .Hence the editing
part comes in picture.
Advantages: mention the benefits you can offer during the
project. The main things to remember are: meeting the
deadlines and maintaining confidentiality.
Samples: Your previous client’s feedback, or samples of
earlier projects is very important .A small sample given would
go a long way to confirm your abilities and capabilities

HOW TO WRITE
 Conclusion: Every proposal should be
concluded accurately. You can mention few
follow-up activities that you will conduct after
winning the proposal. It also acts like an
effective after-sales service and helps to lure
and attract the client towards your company.
You can also make a final appeal.
 Also mention in brief as to what your company
intends to do and why is it important for your
company.

DELIVERY
 See to it that the delivery is done on time and
there is no time lapse.
 If you are mailing the proposal, remember to
check the delivery schedules.
 Label the proposals and seal them. never give
them without a seal as this shows that you car
for the privacy of the proposals.
 If you send through a courier, then get a
signature receipt.

COMPANY SPECIALITY
 To win a proposal foll.are the things that you
must have:
 - An easy-to-navigate proposal document.
 - Clear reasons as to why should you be
selected.
 -Acceptable contract terms.
 - Visualisation techniques.
 - Experience and samples or examples
 A superior and excellent solution.
 -pricing accurately structured..

COMPANY SPECIALITY
 Sufficient Staffing.
 Budget which is competitive, not over or under
rated.
 Relevant references
 Contract terms clearly mentioned.
 Best Compliance
 Sufficient Resources

CONCLUSION
 Hence by following the mentioned steps and
by keeping in mind the points to be mentioned
in the proposals, you can develop a good and
winning proposal.
 Developing not just a proposal but a winning
proposal is the need of the hour today as the
competition has increased to such an extent
that you cannot afford to miss on any single
proposal.

THANK YOU