Proposal Writing: Everything You Need to Know
Proposal writing is the act of creating a written pitch on a given subject. Good proposal writing requires a lot of forethought, understanding of your audience, and creative writing to persuade the reader. Remember when you had to write a persuasive essay in school? A proposal is a more advanced version, often with the goal of securing a contract or project.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about proposal writing.
What types of proposals exist?
Proposals come in many forms. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on information related to business and grant proposals. We’ve included a few other common types below for reference.
Business proposals
When most people discuss proposal writing, they’re typically in reference to business proposals, also called sales proposals. Business proposals are formal proposals that companies submit to potential clients to pitch their products or services. A business proposal is a physical sales pitch that outlines why they are the best to solve a challenge that the client is facing.
These proposals can be requested and submitted in a few different ways. For smaller projects, a client might simply ask for the company to send over a proposal for review. This is often in the form of a PDF or using a cloud-based platform. Larger projects and contracts often require competitively bid solicitations, which we describe in detail below.
Grant Proposals
In order to acquire grant funding, organizations are frequently required to submit a grant proposal. In this type of proposal, the organization, typically a nonprofit, will outline their mission, the problem they’re solving, and how they plan to use the grant. Grant proposals are often for funding for a specific project.
Investor Proposals
Investor proposals are formal proposals and business plans that companies use to gain investment. This can include startups applying for funding or small businesses applying for a business loan from a bank. In investor proposals, proposals should include the challenge they’re solving, why they’re uniquely qualified to do so, and the potential benefits for the investor (typically in the form of financial returns). It’s also best practice to include projected income targets and growth goals.
Internal Project Proposals
Some organizations require employees to submit a project proposal for new projects. This is different from the proposals outlined above because this type of proposal happens internally. The same ideas still apply, however. For internal project proposals, you should outline the challenge, the solution, and why you are qualified to lead the project. You’ll need to clearly highlight the benefits of this project. Benefits might include increased revenue, better profit margins, streamlined operations, increased customer satisfaction, improved employee satisfaction, etc.
When do companies submit proposals?
Companies create and submit proposals in three main ways: in response to formal RFPs, in response to an informal request, and unsolicited proposals.
Formal Competitive Solicited Proposals (RFP/RFI/RFQ)
The formal RFP process can be very overwhelming and intimidating for beginners. In this process, a company or organization releases an official Request for Proposal (RFP) asking companies to submit proposals for the opportunity. In the case of grants, this is to receive the grant. For for-profit opportunities, this is typically to win a contract for selling the products or services.
When responding to RFPs, there are typically several companies responding and strict requirements for submission and evaluation. Government RFPs are notoriously difficult to respond to, but plenty of other organizations release RFPs with many forms and requirements.
Finding RFPs can be a hard first step depending on what industries you serve. Often RFPs are sent to a few selected bidders, many of whom were a part of the Request for Information phase where companies provided information around their offerings but not an official proposal with pricing.
There are a few places to find RFPs online, especially government RFPs. In general, it’s best to try to speak with a client before they reach the RFP phase so you have a better understanding of their goals and can tailor your proposals accordingly.
Informal Proposals
Informal proposals occur when companies don’t have to go to RFP. These are often smaller projects (less than $100,000) and not necessarily competitive. For example, you might have a sales conversation with a potential client and they ask you to send a proposal for what you can do. They may or may not be evaluating other companies at this point, and since it’s not a full formal RFP process, the requirements will be less strict.
Unsolicited
Unsolicited proposals are proposals sent without request, not in response to a formal RFP or informal request. If your company has an idea or solution that might help the potential client, you could send a proposal for your work with an overview of what you do.
What is proposal writing?
Now that you know when companies create and submit proposals, we can dive into proposal writing. Proposal writing is the process through which companies create their proposals. For formal RFP responses, the Gold Standard for these proposals is to use the Shipley process. This involves everything from business development to official contract award.
When writing a proposal, a proposal professional, either a proposal writer or a proposal manager, will outline the key requirements of the proposal, develop or advise on a strategy to win, and create content to complete all of the components. The proposal writing process involves stakeholders across many departments, such as sales, marketing, legal, product development, and finance. A winning proposal takes input from all of these stakeholders and tells a compelling story that speaks to the customer’s specific challenges and needs.
What industries create proposals?
Almost every B2B company will create a proposal at some point. Nonprofit organizations also create proposals when applying for grant funding. In the B2B space, companies that serve government, healthcare, and education spaces are particularly likely to go to a formal RFP. Private organizations also must release formal RFPs for larger contracts.
If you offer consulting services, administrative services, marketing support, advertising management, construction services, architecture services, technology products or services, legal services, or accounting services, you’ll likely need to respond to a formal RFP for large contracts. This list is not exhaustive, and it’s important to develop a proposal approach before you’re actively responding to an RFP.
Why do companies need proposal writing help?
In smaller companies, proposal writing is often handled by the sales team. This is likely the CEO or partners who are responsible for bringing in clients. Depending on the needs of the business, it might make sense to bring in a proposal expert to help with proposal writing to free up time or advise on strategy. The two options for proposal writing help are to hire an employee or work with a company that offers proposal writing services.
Proposal writing employees
If you respond to a lot of proposals (more than 2 per month), it might make sense to hire a full-time proposal manager or writer.
Proposal managers oversee the creation of the proposal and act as the project manager throughout the proposal process. They lead strategy discussions and have a detailed understanding of how to respond to RFPs and what each specific RFP requires. Sometimes proposal managers also write the proposals.
Proposal writers, on the other hand, focus solely on writing the proposal content rather than managing the proposal. In most cases, a proposal manager leads the process and delegates proposal sections to the writers. Sometimes a salesperson might be managing the proposal and the writer providing content for specific sections.
Each company has their own unique approach to proposal writing, and it’s important to outline how you want your employee to support your proposals before hiring. If you’re hiring a proposal manager, make sure they have strong communication and project management skills. If you’re hiring a writer, of course, they need to be able to write technical content well.
Proposal writing services
If you don’t respond to RFPs too often, but you want to make sure you’re incorporating a strategy or you want to save time by not writing a 50 page document yourself, then it might be time to work with a proposal writing company. Companies that write proposals should have certified proposal writers through APMP and experience submitting at least 50 proposals (ideally 100). You can work with proposal writing companies to develop your proposal strategy, create the actual proposal, and conduct a review of past proposals you lost to see how you can improve in the future.
Proposal Writing Tips
Follow the Recommended Format.
Many times, RFPs will tell you the exact format you should follow for your proposal. It’s important to thoroughly review an RFP and all related documents to know exactly what you need to include. It may be tempting to rearrange the format to match your template, but it’s best practice to adhere closely to the required format. If a specific format isn’t listed and you aren’t sure how to format your proposal, at a minimum include an overview of your company, offering, pricing, and qualifications.
Focus on Your Audience.
Yes, you should include information on your company, but always include content around why your audience should care about that information. Instead of listing out your services, highlight the benefits your services will provide. The more clearly you outline the benefits, the more likely they are to choose you for award.
Tell a Story.
The best proposals tell a story and strike an emotional cord with the audience. To craft a compelling story, you need to intimately understand what is motivating your audience to solicit proposals. Incorporate the key themes of the pain points they’re experiencing and how those will be alleviated if they work with you.
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Proposal Writing: What to Avoid
Technical Jargon.
It’s important to speak the language of your audience, and many times, proposals are evaluated by a diverse audience. This means that including technical jargon within your proposal can make it difficult for some of the evaluators to understand what you’re offering. If you are including technical language that isn’t common knowledge, make sure to provide a brief explanation and why it matters.
Large Blocks of Content.
One of the hardest things to do when trying to win a big contract is to cut out information. It’s natural to want to include every last detail so they have no questions. When you do this, however, it’s very easy for your audience to miss your key points. To avoid any confusion, make use of headings, callouts, graphics, and a clean format so it’s easy to skim your proposal and understand why they should choose you.
Common Proposal Writing Questions
Isn’t an RFP just a pricing exercise?
The short answer is no, all RFPs aren’t just trying to lower the price of their ideal vendor. This may be true in some cases, but oftentimes organizations are trying to find the best overall value, not just the lowest price. There have been many cases where the incumbent or other organization was positioned to win going into the RFP, but a different company made a compelling case and won the contract. Don’t give up hope before you’ve even tried!
Should I send out as many proposals as possible?
If you’re qualified and believe you can uniquely solve the customer’s solution, then definitely submit a proposal. However, if you treat every proposal the same, then you may be missing out on the chance to win the contracts that you find most valuable. Instead of taking this approach, qualify each opportunity to determine how valuable it is to your organization and how likely you are to win. Spend more time developing a story and strategy for the proposals that score high and use more boilerplate on those that score lower.
What is the most important section in a proposal?
This varies for each proposal. If the RFP outlined evaluation criteria, then you’ll know where to focus your time. If evaluation criteria is missing, then focus on creating a truly compelling executive summary, since that’s the one section almost everyone reads. After that, spend extra time on your offerings and any points of differentiation, and make sure your pricing is crystal clear.
What is a good win rate?
This also varies for each company, but it’s important to keep your approach in mind. If you’re responding to a lot of opportunities that score low (see the second question above), then you’ll probably have a lower win rate. If your win rate is 80% or higher, then you aren’t taking enough chances on opportunities that could grow your business. It’s much easier to win an RFP if you’re the incumbent, which means it’s harder to win new contracts. Win rates vary based on companies and industries, and you get to decide what rate is ideal for you.
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Next Steps for Proposal Writing
Now that you know more about proposal writing, it’s time to establish your strategy and determine how much time and resources you want to invest in proposals. If you’re responding to a lot of government and public RFPs, it’s worth investing in hiring an employee dedicated to proposals. If you respond occasionally, then developing a strategy for when you do respond and contacting a proposal company can help position you to win those coveted contracts.
