Work smarter and not harder. Hard work does pay off but not all the time. Sometimes what a business needs to succeed is a compelling proposal that stands out.

Working hard and diligently doesn’t always guarantee a successful business. The art of conveying your message and vision to others plays a critical role in achieving business success. In most cases, a client will read your writing before meeting you. Your writing, whether good or bad, creates that first impression, not only on your credibility and competence but also on your company.

Acquiring a once in a lifetime client or project starts from a well-written proposal and more often, the success of your business depends on getting these projects. Therefore, writing a compelling proposal that stands out can increase your chances of winning the next big project.

Tips to help you land that upcoming project:

Ask Questions

Some think that asking many questions indicates ignorance and lack of expertise. On the contrary, asking the right questions helps you craft the right proposal and create a good impression on your clients. Clients will appreciate your enthusiasm and attention to detail and will be more interested in your proposal.

Design Matters

Humans are naturally more drawn to visual presentation compared to plain and dull data. Information that is presented with good visual design compared to plain text has a higher chance to be read and understood by clients. A creative but professional cover page alone can increase the chances of your proposal being approved. As the saying goes, “First impression is the last impression”.

The Shorter, The Better

Yours is not the only proposal that the client will be receiving. Chances are, they would have received dozens and hundreds of proposals. You may want to look competent and eligible by submitting a proposal thick with details, however, the client will only get frustrated by trying to find the core point of your proposal. The best practice would be to make it as short and concise as possible without leaving out important details.

Allow Penalty of White Space

If you are presented with a document that looks like the example below, do you feel overwhelmed and just close it and put it aside?

Now, look at the next example. Do you now feel like you can easily breeze through this document?

The white space in a document allows that breathing space for both the reviewer and the reader. It makes the document easy to skim through. Use the following features to ensure white space in your document:

• Headings
• Short paragraphs
• Bullet points
• Graphics and visuals

Making your proposal easy to read will increase the chances of an over-busy CEO reading it as compared to being overwhelmed by huge blocks of text.

Provide an Executive Summary

Speaking of busy CEOs, they do not always have the time to read proposals completely so providing an executive summary that covers all the essential details should never be omitted. You need to provide a short but enticing summary that clearly explains why your proposal is worth their time.

Research to Demonstrate Credibility

Researching your client and their business before securing the project will demonstrate to your client the extent of your commitment and interest to work with their company. Providing a brief analysis of the upcoming project as well as any related current projects will help improve your credibility.

Review and Proofread

With short deadlines and a hectic schedule, you may not always have sufficient time to review and proofread your proposal. Unfortunately, nothing frustrates a reader more than misspelled words and incorrect grammar. You may get tempted to save time, money, and effort by using online or system-built-in proofing tools to review your document, but you cannot rely on the accuracy of these tools all the time. We even tend to miss our mistakes due to familiarity with our work so having a reviewer who can go through your document and see things in a different light will help you greatly by highlighting the mistakes you might have missed.

Writing is an integral part of any business – be it emails, reports, memos, or proposals. Proposals play an important role in the success or failure of a business. A well-written proposal that is concise, clear, accurate, and yet fun and pleasing to read is a skill that all businesspeople need.

Having a team that is good at writing professionally can be a valuable asset for any company. Constant learning and striving to get better, however, are virtues that are desirable in every individual. Polish your business writing skills by taking the EPiC Business Writing courses. Enroll now