How to write a business proposal
A business proposal is incredibly important for any company. You will make it up at almost every step of your work - when you set up the business, build a team or search for financing. Finally you are bound to run into someone – a potential client or employee - who is going to ask you: “What's your business plan?” You need a sophisticated document that fully maps out your business vision.
Sometimes people overestimate the financial projections and margins and forget to tell their success story. So, let's discuss how you can convey your passion.
Every good plan is like a three-decked ship. But at school you were taught to write a composition following such a concept as “introduction – support – conclusion”. Now your task is absolutely different – put this scheme backwards.
First of all, think of what problem you are solving. Your potential sponsors have to understand: you are the unique one who is able to execute the task. Then decide who except you needs your proposal – define your market niche. And finally, write down how you are going to make money.
If you want to make an impression on your partners, you have to tell them an exciting story about your skills, plans and opportunities. So, tell what your approach will do for them, what the benefit is, and only after that explain the approach.
You should catch your partner's attention from the very beginning of your letter; that means from the headline. Two headlines are considered better than one. Use a short, descriptive heading and a theme statement. Another issue is the volume of the plan. The quantity of pages varies with both the complexity of the idea and the industry. But be terse. If you can tell everything in one page, do not add a second page to make it look more substantial. The third idea is that if you want to receive feedback, make your proposal interactive. Give links so that your potential partners could go on your website or invite them to see a slide show.
The narration should be like an opinion article. Your task is to draw a picture, so use facts, statistics, numbers and examples to prove your idea. The best way to persuade is not to tell about your uniqueness directly but to give examples from the life of your company.
Don't forget about your mood. If you love the projects you do, your business proposal will show it. We wish you good partnership and success.
