A business proposal is critical in the expansion and growth of any small business. However, if you’re a beginner you might be wondering where to start.
It’s critical to note that business plans differ from business proposals. To be clear, a business plan functions as an overall plan for the business itself.
A business proposal, on the other hand, is intended to invite new business into the company. To that end, a business proposal must have a professional appearance. It also needs to provide for easy collaboration. It must be well protected. These things you can accomplish with PDFelement as shown below.
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1. Internalize the Proposal’s Requirements
Read the client’s requests and internalize them. Study the information they provide. Then you’ll understand what’s needed. The client’s information will help you to know how best to satisfy their needs.
Ask yourself who will be managing the entire project. Where and when will the proposal need to be delivered? At what location will the project be worked from? How will customer satisfaction and quality assurance be determined?
State the project’s start and end dates. Set the dates for milestone reporting. Explain your reasoning for the approaches you propose.
Finally, plan for how you will describe the qualities that make you the best candidate.
2. Calculate the Cost
It’s also critical to consider the full cost of the business proposal. Only in this way will you know what to charge.
To do this, go through the entire project in your mind. Come up with a realistic estimate of the number of hours each task will require. Total these hours, then multiply your total by 1.5.
For instance, if you estimate that the work in your proposal will take you 20 hours, multiply 20 by 1.5. This gives a total of 30 hours. Therefore, in the proposal, your estimated total time will be 30 hours.
Overestimation mitigates against the unexpected. If you complete before that time you can discount the final invoice and make your client happy.
3. Follow This Systematic Process
Once you have your estimates, begin writing.
Start with introduction. In the introduction, present your business and its goals in relation to the needs of the client. The introduction shouldn’t be longer than one page. Next, include an executive summary. In the executive summary clearly explain why you’re the perfect business or person for the job. State your case objectively but persuasively.
In the main body of your business proposal, take a deeper look into the specifics you indicated in the executive summary. Provide all details here, including:
- Scheduling
- Costs
- Logistics
- Data
- Charts
- Images
- Illustrations of main concepts
- Your website URL
- Disclaimers and caveats
Conclude the main section by inviting the reader either to visit your site or give you a call.
You can include an optional table of contents for easier navigation. Additionally, if you have details such as customer testimonials, projections, or photographs, create optional appendices for them.
4. Revise the Business Proposal
Once you have finished with the first draft, put it aside for a while. After a few days, review it. Rectify typos and other errors. Ensure that all the numbers you have included are accurate.
Reread the client’s call for proposal. Ensure that your business proposal includes everything client has requested.
Where possible, make the proposal as short as possible. You want to ensure that the client can read it in less than 10 minutes. You can move charts, graphs, and images to the appendix. This will shorten the time it takes to read through the body.
5. Protect the Proposal and Give It a Professional Appearance
Next, give your business proposal a professional shine. You want the client to have a collaborative, professional proposal. Additionally, you want the proposal to be secure, especially given the information you’ve included.
Whether you’re an expert or a beginner, save your proposal in PDF format. This is essential. However, don’t settle for just any PDF. Instead, use a feature-rich tool such as PDFelement.
PDFelement allows you to collaborate efficiently and seamlessly. In this way, you can complete group work with your partners. It also makes version control and group collaboration super easy in real time, especially if you’re writing a shared proposal. Just create and split a single PDF draft into several parts. Once each group member has completed their individual section, PDFelement makes it easy and fast to merge the separate PDF’s into a single document again.
Also, the editing functions make correcting your business proposal quick and simple. The tool allows you to proofread the merged PDF. Then you can either make changes directly to the essay text, or you can circle questionable areas. Plus, you can leave notes for each other right inside the file.
Safety is key. This is a great reason to use PDFelement for your business proposal. Ensure that only authorized group members can edit the essay. Do this by using PDFelement’s protection functions. These include password protection of the document as well as user permissions set up for different levels of access.
6. Submit the Proposal and Follow Up
Once you’ve given your business proposal these professional touches and added protective safeguards you can now hit send and deliver it to the client.
However, your work is not yet complete. After a short time, follow up with your prospective client. Use tracking tools for email to know when the recipient has opened the email.
The following morning or a few days later, ask your prospective client whether they have any questions or require any clarification. However, don’t wait too long to follow up. In other words, you want your business proposal to still be fresh in their mind.
Best of Luck with Your Business Proposal
Not every business proposal will bring new business into your company. However, you can increase your odds of winning new clients by carefully crafting your proposals. Then polish each of your business proposals to a professional shine with PDFelement. You’ll soon be winning new business like never before!
