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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Ideas For Using Sample Business Proposals As Templates

By Morgan Stewart

There's not a business on the planet that couldn't use a new customer. Particularly in the moody economics of this day and age, learn-as-you-go business proposals simply aren't going to cut it. Forget about improvising and pick up a sample business proposal and use it as a template to create a great business proposal to secure new customers.

First, never underestimate the power of pre-writing. Since this is your first draft and you're not submitting it to potential customers at this time, relax and try to have fun. Do your pre-writing and figure out what exactly you are going to pitch in this proposal, what goals you have and what will differentiate your services from the other distractions your clients have to weed through every day.

Try organizing your thoughts. Break down any goals you may have into simple steps and take notes on what is needed to make each step safely. Be certain to write each of these steps in such a way as to lead the reader to the inevitable goal you stated during your pre-writing.

Start off the writing process with a simple cover letter. Make sure to use two or three paragraphs to summarize your goals -- for instance, you could write: "Our company will help you by doing x, y, and z. X number of businesses in this region do regular business with us." There's nothing wrong with elaborating on your successes. Don't ruin your chances with an exaggerating cover letter.

Next up: write the business proposal proper. Typically, proposals are sectioned into five parts: first stating what you do and who you are in an executive summary, a declaration of work stating the services you actually plan on providing, steps to take to reach this goal, reasons why you are more qualified than the next business, and finally the payment arrangements and terms of your contract.

Keep in mind that this is still just a first draft, so don't freak out -- stay calm and write what you want your client to know. Imagine potential customers sitting across from you right now. What would you say to them that would make them want to invest in your services?

Since this is the first draft, quality is not overly crucial at this stage. Realistically, the only thing you need to worry about here is finishing your proposal and fitting your information into the well defined structure of a proposal. If there's anything you want to change -- spelling, grammar, anything else -- it can be done later.

Next, consider your pricing and your contract. Keep your prices competitive by doing a little footwork to find out what similar companies are charging. Now's the time to find out you're overpriced -- you don't want to be sitting down at the table with your client when you realize your prices are less than stellar.

With that first draft in the can, it's time to rewrite your business proposal as is necessary. Try asking a friend to look over your proposal to catch any typo's you may have passed. If you would like to fix, change, or add, do it now, and then re-read your work.

Before your meeting, try out some role-playing. Try putting on your client's shoes for a minute and figure out how they would react to your proposal as it is now. Are there any complaints they could voice? Will something in the proposal make them hesitate? Think up as many reasons for them to say no as you can, and then come up with answers to soothe their concerns.

Building a business proposal on your own might seem like hard work, and it is -- but if you find a sample business proposal to use as a template, the pieces will fall into place faster than you might think. Use the above suggestions and you'll be able to churn out intriguing business proposals that will lead clients to you over the long haul. - 23217

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