Category: Winning Business Proposal

Steps For Writing A Business Proposal

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Steps for Writing a Business Proposal

One of the most important aspects of writing a winning proposal is first understanding the business’s goals and objectives. This will help to define the steps for writing a business proposal that will incorporate a good understanding of the problem that they are facing and the type of solution that they are looking for.
In addition, you need to communicate what your company does, its unique capabilities, experience, and qualifications as well as identify your company’s achievements, milestones, overall vision, and mission or future plans; and why your company is ideal for providing the solution that will solve or mitigate their primary problem.

The next key is to provide your technical approach describing exactly how your company will effectively implement your solution along with proof that you have successfully accomplished this approach in the past with other clients. Your technical approach must also identify the resources you’ll use to implement your solution, which may include a schedule of events and a breakdown of the costs associated with those resources.
Business proposals are different than government agency proposals in that they typically do not have a large number of compliance requirements or provide detailed information about exactly what to include. They may put out a formal solicitation or request for proposal (RFP). In these cases, you need to provide them with the information that they request. They may also ask informally for a proposal so that they can evaluate your company’s capabilities. To respond, you will need to do much more research into their specific issues in order to address them appropriately. Then, your may be interested in providing an unsolicited proposal, which is actually more of a marketing effort where you are primarily interested in gaining their attention and having them contact you about your services. Since you do not have specific knowledge about their pressing issues, the emphasis on your capabilities is key.

In business proposals, it is extremely important that you provide an Executive Summary to introduce your company, demonstrate your company’s achievements, and proposed solutions. Even so, keep the content clear and concise which peaks their interest to investigate the more detailed content in the technical approach itself. This is effectively done by clearly outlining the problem and emphasizing the need and urgency of the issue. The reader now will be interested in reading about your solution to their problem.

When defining the steps for writing a business proposal and presenting the problem, show a clear understanding of their pressing needs as you know them, which demonstrates that you are not just providing a generic pitch. With this approach you have the opportunity to identify problems and issues that they might not even be aware of, implying that you most likely have a solution that they will benefit from.
When presenting your proposed solution, you will identify exactly how you will relieve your prospect of their various pain points. This is often best represented in its own section, which can be referred to again and again. Provide detailed information and include a timeline of events. Of course, this only gets you so far since at this point, they have no idea that you can actually deliver what you are promising.

Following your proposed solution, support your methods and approaches with proofs by referring to past projects/clients where you have successfully implemented similar solutions. Name your past clients, who on your team led the effort, and the results and timelines that were achieved.

These proofs lead us to another key section, which includes references, client testimonials, and project profiles or case studies as well as any industry awards received. This third-party evidence builds trust and creates confidence in your company’s abilities to achieve your stated end results.

The next question will be when can you do this and over what period of time?

Flow charts or Gantt charts work best showing what gets done, when, and by whom. Sometimes, graphic representations of events along a flow chart work great, especially for long-term projects.
In your pricing section, identifying any legal issues is appropriate, but the primary focus is on the fees you will charge, how you schedule receiving payment, and any special terms & conditions. It is also best to keep this a bit open by offering a couple of options. The key is to ensure that your profit over costs is acceptable to you and that your overall price is not cost-prohibitive to your client.

If you are at the point where you are seeking a go, no-go, you will want to include the contract terms and conditions with signature blocks for your client to sign and date. Your company’s signature block can also be filled out, signed, and dated to get things moving forward.
Some things to consider throughout the proposal is to use your company logo and other brand identity graphics and taglines that reiterate your mission, goals, and/or values as a business. Also, links to your website are good when you have quality information that will help your prospects solidify their decision to move forward.

Your Guide To Request For Proposals

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Your Guide to Request for Proposals

An RFP is a solicitation from an organization to attract qualified contractors who have the experience and skills to complete a project under contract in order to compare competitive bids. Government agencies and companies use an RFP to provide details of the scope and goals of the services being sought, identify all of the requirements, identify how the proposal response will be evaluated, provide the contract terms, and inform as to the bidding process. The goal is to receive unbiased competitive bids.

The RFP usually identifies a specific format and exactly what information will be required. Often, government agencies use an RFP template for soliciting proposals that have been used with previous projects which tends to end up with contradictions or incomplete information. This is why there is almost always a question period during which bidders can ask for clarification that will help them provide the correct information and price their bid accordingly.

If you are new to reviewing RFPs, you quickly find out that they can appear to be quite complicated and confusing. Even so, there are usually some basic components that are critical for understanding the proposal requirements. These include the Scope of Work/Services, Instructions to Bidders, Evaluation Criteria, Submission Instructions, and Cost/Pricing. It is extremely important that the person writing the RFP is experienced at navigating these requirements and the type of responses desired.

Typically, vendors assign junior employees to put together the RFP, which is then reviewed by a senior executive before finalizing. Often these employees are not too familiar with the technical aspects of the scope of services being requested which can create some confusing content that later needs clarification.

Major Sections of an RFP

Introduction
This will give you an overview of what the organization is looking for and its expectations for a solution.

Purpose
Typically, this will, at a minimum, provide some background as to how they came to require the services sought. It often describes the goals and objectives of the organization and the project and the problems that they are looking to solve. When knowledgeable, they will also provide some insight as to their expectations for the solution sought.

Scope of Work/Services
The Scope of Work or Services identifies their expectations and what they are looking for once the project is completed.

Milestones & Schedules
Sometimes a timetable is provided and the methods for measuring the results. This gives you a good idea as to when project tasks are expected to be completed during the project period.

Cost/Price Proposal or Budget
This usually provides the exact price information required, but sometimes only requests an overall project total. Hourly rates are usually fully loaded rates where details are required: hourly pay rates, G&A, Benefits, Profit, etc. to achieve fully loaded rates.
Price is often just a part of the evaluation while other times they specifically state that the lowest price proposal will be reviewed first and if technically acceptable, then it becomes the winning bid. Payment details may also be provided as well as any discounts for early payments.

Past Performance
Be sure when providing details of past contracts to include everything that they are asking for. This usually includes a contact person and their phone number and email. If they require you to submit a Past Performance Questionnaire to your past clients, do this early in the process so that they are received prior to the due date.

Submission Instructions
The due date and time are critical, so try and prepare your final version the day before it’s due. If they request hard copies, then give yourself a day or more to overnight the proposal documents with proof that it was delivered. Since 2020, hard copies have been on the decline and most proposals are either emailed or uploaded to a website. Be careful when reviewing an RFP Proposal Template-looking solicitation as there may be different delivery instructions presented in the document. It is also common to have to submit hard copies and an electronic version on a flash drive or emailed.

How to Write an Effective RFP
Your main goal is to mitigate the risk of the agency choosing your firm over other competitors. Three key areas are paramount: 1) Proof that your company has successfully performed similar services in the past; 2) you have the key personnel/project team with the required experience and expertise working on similar projects; and 3) that you have the financial capacity to manage the contract, pay your people, and purchase supplies/services without running out of finances before receiving payment for providing those services. When presenting this information, provide proof throughout to gain confidence that what you are saying is true and reliable. Also, when reviewing the RFP, be sure to get a grasp of the agency’s key criteria, i.e., what is important to them, and address those issues.
Be sure to be clear and concise in your copy. Include all of the information requested, but don’t provide a lot of additional content or documents that are not asked for. Be right to the point and use the same language or keywords used in the RFP so that you are speaking the same language. Your headers and sub-headers should reflect the RFP keywords for those related sections. Use bullets whenever you can to enable easy readability.

Be sure you provide the following basic information:
Title – Take this from the RFP.
Understanding of the Requirements – This is a summary to explain the project and the solution that the agency is looking for.
Company Background – Explain what your company does from the perspective of the RFP requirements and provide a brief history.
Contact Information – Include details for your company’s point-of-contact who is in charge of the proposal.
Other important issues to keep in mind when writing your proposal response: Answer the question, why should I choose your company, and what unique qualities do you bring that others don’t?

Conclusion
If you can mitigate the risk of choosing your company over the competition, your proposal will rise to the top of the list. If you can differentiate your company from the competition by identifying benefits that the agency will receive that only you can provide, you’ll gain extra points. If you can prove that you have successfully provided similar services to other agencies, you’ll gain their confidence and mitigate the risk of choosing your company in a competitive bidding process. And, if your pricing is not too high or too low, but in a competitive range, it will be obvious that you know what it will take to successfully take on the project.

Know The Different Types Of Proposals

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Know the Different Types of Proposals

THERE IS A BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREPARING PROPOSALS FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES VS BUSINESSES
The biggest difference is that with government proposals, you must provide the exact information being requested in the exact format while being 100% in compliance with all major and minor details mentioned in the RFP documents. If you miss one small item, it can get thrown out as non-compliant. With most business proposals, you can provide exactly what you want to present regarding your product or service and sell them on how your firm can save them money, make them money, or whatever it is that rocks their boat. The following provides a few more details that differentiate government proposals from business proposals.

Preparing a Government Proposal

When companies are interested in gaining experience working on government contracts, the most common method is to respond to a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) that has been issued by a government agency. When entering the field for the first time, depending on the services requested, gaining experience as a subcontractor can gain you documented credible government contract experience which can be leveraged as past performance. The federal government’s process for acquiring contractors can be quite complex and often confusing. Understanding the proposal writing format is key to submitting a successful bid. You will run into all kinds of regulations that need to be complied with, various terms and conditions to acknowledge, and certain policies and procedures that must be followed precisely.

Often large companies will hire both proposal writing firms and subject matter experts, who together help to prepare a comprehensive proposal. A small business typically cannot afford the fees charged by those firms, yet does not have the time or experience to prepare the proposal themselves. Hiring a firm that specializes in developing proposals for small businesses can be a savior. The RFP Firm is one such company, working 100% with small businesses and leveraging its expertise to position those businesses as the ideal contractor.

The fact is that even if your company has performed on many government contracts, each RFP has different requirements and procedures. This is true of federal, state, and local government agencies. For the federal government, the process is regulated by the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR). Even many state governments now follow the FAR requirements for preparing their RFPs.

Once you have reviewed the contract requirements and made sure that you can meet the minimum requirements, nothing is stopping you from developing and submitting a proposal. The Scope of Services/Work will describe the contract requirements. There are often instructions to bidders that provide the details of what must be included in the proposal and the format in which it should be presented. You want to be 100% compliant, so following the instructions in detail is extremely important. Typically, there will be a period where you are allowed to submit questions for clarification followed by an amendment to answer those questions to ensure that your proposal writing format is consistent.
If done properly, bidders will more easily be able to be compared and rated as to their capability and experience to provide the required services. Pricing is of course the most tangible component for measuring proposer responses.

Types of Government Contracts

There are several different kinds of contacts. These include:

  1. Fixed-Price Contracts: Your pricing must be a pre-determined price as a set fee for the services provided without the option for adjustment, although sometimes they can be renegotiated if unexpected circumstances arise.
  2. Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) Contracts: These might have the same requirements as one of the other types of contracts, but it is intended to be ongoing on an as-needed basis.
  3. Cost-Plus Contracts: With a focus on the final quality of the project, potential costs are defined, along with various possible supplementary costs required as things progress.
  4. Cost Reimbursement Contracts: A base amount is identified for incurred costs as a cost ceiling. These types of proposals often cannot be accurately estimated upfront.
  5. Time and Materials Contracts (T&M): While there will be various fixed costs, often the timeline and number of materials required are difficult to estimate.

Preparing a Business Proposal

When preparing a business proposal for a private company, it is typically, wide open allowing you to prepare your proposal in a manner that emphasizes the benefits you bring, the financial rationale, and how your experience creates a situation where choosing your company is low risk. Without the formalities of government proposals, you can provide a more sales and marketing-oriented submission.

That being said, the requirements of a business proposal may not be specific enough to price it properly or may include some confusing information. Requesting clarification can be important so that you have a good understanding of exactly how they want the work to be performed or, if they are leaving that decision up to you, then you can propose how you will perform the services and why that is the best approach. This is where you can differentiate your services from the competition. You can also develop your presentation in a manner that is interesting, professional, and engaging, which is more difficult with a government proposal.

8 Easy Steps to Writing a Winning Business Proposal

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What is the hardest part about winning new clients? Some might say it’s lead generation, while others will say it’s prospecting. However, there is one part of the sales process that very few people like to do: write and send out sales proposals. Instead of being happy about having a new client that’s about to sign on, a lot of people stress for hours trying to write a compelling offer suited for a particular client.

Since we know how difficult writing a good business proposal can be, we have come up with tips on how to write proposals that will convert and turn prospects into customers. These insights are based on real facts we have gathered from researching how to write a business proposal, based on more than 189,000 signed proposals.

1. Don’t write from scratch every time

If it’s taking you hours to write a single business proposal because you approach it like you would be writing an essay, thinking each word and section through, you’ve made your first rookie mistake. While this may be a nice, thorough approach, it’s far from practical.

Instead, focus on creating a template that you can simply edit each time you pitch a new client. The template should contain all of the most important elements, along with a few sections (type of service, pricing, terms, etc.) that you would edit and personalize for each client. Instead of spending six hours on a proposal, you can spend half an hour editing a proposal template and sending it out. Easy work.

2. Get the most important details, then write an introduction

The reason why most proposals fail to get signed is not that they are poorly written (although that happens), it’s because the salesperson does not know the client well enough and their pain points. Before sitting down and writing your proposal, have a meeting or a call with the client. Find out what makes them tick and use that knowledge to write an introduction. Here you should state who you are, what you do, and how you will solve the client’s problem. The introduction is the first and most important part of the proposal, so make sure to spend enough time on it to make it compelling.

3. Get into the details

The second part of your proposal contains detailed specifications. This is where you get into the nuts and bolts of how you will solve the client’s problem. Presumably, the introduction got them hooked, and this is where you will show them you really know how to solve their pain point.

Next, your third section should contain timelines. Too many business owners get this part wrong and end up losing the deal or fighting deadlines they can’t manage, simply because they failed to include a timeline in the proposal. Be sure to clearly state what you will be able to do and by when. This also can be beneficial later in case there are disagreements.

4. Show them you can really get the job done

What’s the best way to demonstrate to a client you can create and design a great website for their restaurant? Show them examples of restaurant websites you’ve done before. And this should be your fourth section. In your template insert examples of work you’ve done before that are similar to what you’re proposing.

5. Ask for the money (and make an offer they can’t refuse)

Pricing is the fifth section of any good proposal, and it’s the part of the proposal that gets the second most attention. Pay attention to how you name this section. While calling it “price” is nice and straightforward, it will get your clients thinking of paying, instead of investing. To avoid this, call this section “investment” or “return on investment.”

While your price is dependent on the product or service you’re selling, according to our research, upselling and options aren’t good for conversions. To reduce friction and make it easier for clients to sign, your pricing and offers should be simple and straightforward. Offering just one option is enough, and the client will have an easier time making a decision.