| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
Ten Tips for Creating a Winning Proposal - Part 1
If you want your business to grow and attract new clients, you'll have to start creating meaningful proposals. The goal of a proposal is obviously to be awarded new work. It accomplishes this goal by providing answers to the questions of who, what, where, why, how and when. But many small or home-based business owners have neither the time, knowledge or resources necessary to create proposals that properly relay the pertinent information about the company and its ability to provide the requested services. If the mere thought of having to create a proposal is keeping you from bidding on jobs you know your business can handle, stop worrying! There are several proposal-building software products available that will help with this task. Many are template-driven. All you have to do is select the templates that are appropriate to include in the proposal, use your word processor to add text that is specific to your type of business, then sit back and watch a professional-looking proposal emerge from your printer. Read the following tips for an idea of the components that will help your proposals get the attention they need. Tip #1 - Identify the Problem A proposal must show that the person or company submitting it clearly understands the problem that the prospective client is attempting to remedy. If the proposal cannot show right away, in the Executive Summary section, that you have a clear understanding of the problem, those reviewing it won't feel confident that your company will be capable of properly and effectively dealing with it. They'll see no reason to read beyond the Executive Summary section. Tip #2 - Identify the Proposed Solution The proposal must also clearly outline the manner in which the bidder will address this problem. Include here the personnel you will assign to the project and their resumes. Mention here the estimated timeline for completing the work outlined in the bid. Also show the anticipated costs and how they will be allocated. Don't provide too much information about the proposed solution. You don't want to give the proposed solution away for free! Tip #3 - Make the Proposal Easy to Read If the proposal itself is difficult to comprehend, contains grammar or spelling mistakes or is carelessly prepared, the chance of it being selected are greatly diminished. It will be difficult to convince the reviewers that the proposed work will get done properly if the proposal itself appears thrown together. Remember, the proposal is oftentimes the only chance a business has of making a first impression. Don't waste this valuable opportunity. Tip #4 - Prove You Understand the Market The proposed solution must not be generic. It must take into consideration the nature of the company requesting the proposal. It's important to show in the proposal that you have analyzed the market, the competition, the opportunities that the business is missing by not implementing your proposed solution and the current trends in that market. Tip #5 - Prove Your Company is The Best Choice This is really what a proposal is all about. Before you can expect the clients to award the job to your company, they need to be convinced that your company is the best choice. Here you have the opportunity to boast about your company. Briefly describe the company's history including the number of years in business. Explain past projects where you applied similar methods of getting the job done and your results. Include resumes, certificates and other credentials of those who will handle the job. Read on for five more valuable tips for creating winning proposals! Copyright © 2004 Cavyl Stewart. Get more software tips, strategies and recommendations to help you create winning proposals by signing up for my Exclusive 100% free, 100% original content ecourse: "The Secrets To Unlocking The Power In Your Proposals"! To sign up please visit: http://www.find-small-business-software.com/proposal-ecourse.html
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How Price Gouging Can Hurt Your Business "Price gouging" is an emotional, inflammatory term. Everyone is against it, but only buyers, angry over excessive profit-taking, proclaim it. The Beginners Mail Order Opportunity Guide The "Mail Order" business is not a business of itself, but isanother way of DOING business. Mail Order is nothing more or lessthan selling a product or service via advertising and the offersyou send out by mail. Small Business Bonzai Marketing Do you own a small business? Do you wish to increase sales? Do you wish to draw more customers into your store or find more customers for your service business? You can do this for a relatively low cost by building as small sales team of high-energy people. Direct Sales marketing will help increase your business, future referrals and image in the community. Good News Travels Fast This newsletter is full of opportunities staring you in the face. If you don't believe me, write and tell me so--and by doing that you'd be proving me right. Inform vs. Excite excite v. 1 a: to call to activity b: to arouse to feeling 2 a: ENERGIZE b: to produce a magnetic field in 3: to increase the activity of 4: to raise to a higher energy level syn see PROVOKEA lot of marketing doesn't do the whole job. Dont Think Like A Package Designer - Think Like A Customer Some of the most successful package introductions have come from people who knew nothing about package design. How can that make sense? Designers are creative. Niche And Grow Rich Unless you've been living under an Internet rock, you'veprobably heard the buzz about Niche Marketing. Right nowit's the hottest marketing topic online. Produce More Sales from your Email Promotions - Part 2 Do sales come from your ezine regularly? How many well-written articles do you submit per week to Online ezines? How often do you send thank you's and follow up messages to your different email groups? If you answered not many, then you need to re-evaluate. The answer to online success is the same as traditional success--promotion, promotion, promotion. Are You Playing Checkers or Chess? When you think about how to attract more clients for your professional services, are you playing checkers or chess?You're playing checkers when you.. The Death of Product Packaging as We Know It. It used to be you that if you had a great product you put it in a package and voila! . . Differentiate or Die Sounds pretty harsh, doesn't it? Well, I can tell you from personal experience with both my own business and with my clients, "differentiate or die" is not an exaggeration. Whether you're a small one-person shop or a large government agency, solvency and the future of your business rely on you standing out in a competitive marketplace. Know Thy Competition BREAK FROM HO-HUM MARKETING ? IT'S TOO BORING!Once you break from ho-hum marketing, and learn to put your deeper beliefs and values into your promotion, a remarkable thing will happen: You will beat your competitors at every turn, attract precisely those clients who really need and appreciate the products or services your company provides, and have a really good time in your business. In other words ? once you know what your clients really value, and how you are different from your competitors then it's an incredibly simple process to promote your company's products or services. Basic Marketing Dope Sometimes the simplest data is the best. Marketing is not complex if you know the basics - that's true with anything by the way. Marketing Strategies: What Choices Do You Have? Most business people want to see improvements in sales and profits. But how do you get there? What choices do you have?To build your business there are four strategic options that must be considered:1) Sell existing products to existing customers. Creative Online Marketing For Salespeople and Business Professionals New to a sales career? Want to market yourself but don't have the money to do so? Tired of cold calling and prospecting? Wish there were an easier way to get the word out about your services?Does this sound like you? This was what I felt like when I got my first sales job selling copiers ten years ago. My sales manager back then was into the traditional methods of getting new business; that is, prospecting, cold calling, booking appointments, doing product demonstrations, and closing sales. Painless Marketing for People Who Hate to Market Face it?you know you've got to do something to keep a steady stream of clients coming to your professional service firm. But when it comes to the m-word (marketing), you'd rather not. Business Cards and Business Etiquette One of the very basic conditions of being a successful businessman is to get people (your existing or prospective customers) to like you and a very basic requirement for being liked by people is to have proper business etiquette. We all like to be in companionship of well-cultured people and etiquette is one of the most important components of culture. Identify The Ideal Target Audience With These 5 Tips Narrowing your focus to one primary group of people is often difficult for small business owners. They want to help everyone - and very often their product or service CAN help a variety of people. Five Marketing Tips to Double Profits It's a startling fact: almost all entrepreneurs aren't marketing their businesses effectively. Marketing goes much deeper than advertising. Free Sample Sales Letter: Example of How to Write a Persuasive Business Marketing Letter Here is an example of a business-to-business sales letter mailed to auto dealers by a firm that markets gift cards that replace paper gift certificates. Anything in brackets [like this] did not appear in the letter but simply appears to describe the mechanics of the letterAuthor: Alan SharpeTarget audience: General managers of auto dealershipsMailer: Sharpe AutoCards [a fictional company for the purposes of this sample letter]Purpose: Generate appointments for salespeople[MAILING ENVELOPE][Is 5 x 9 inches in dimension and has a window, through which appears a portion of a gift card, personalized with the prospect's name.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
Comment by George C. Leef, Director of Research