Tips for Project Proposal Writing

The project proposal is a document that you prepare for the prospective client to convince them that your project services are a perfect fit for their business. In today’s competitive world, it’s important to have a project proposal that grabs the attention at first glance and differentiates itself from the others  

Your proposal should help the prospective client to make the decision in your favor, it should influence the customer and convince him/her to invite you for the further process.

There are two very important things you must know and apply to your project proposal template for obvious benefits.

1. The prospective client is only concerned about his/her own needs.
2. The customer has very little time to get through all the proposals, s/he may reconsider a given proposal only if it makes a good first impression (here’s a project proposal creation checklist you must follow to create that best first impression with your proposal)

Now let’s get rolling and look at a general structure your project proposal template should have.

1. Proposal cover: You only get one chance to make a first impression. The cover page of your project proposal is the first thing your prospect/sales lead is going to see hence you better make it impressive (it is unquestionably a big challenge faced when developing a project proposal). A cover page of your business proposal template should look neat and should be easy to read. A good cover page typically includes,

• Name of applying organization and logo
• Project title
• Date
• Contact Information (personal contact name, address, country, phone, email, website)
• Name of the client you are applying to

Here’s an example of the project proposal’s front cover 

 

2. Cover Letter: The cover letter in your proposal sets the tone for the rest. So ensure you don’t make any common project proposal writing mistakes which cost the business tremendously. It outlines why the solution you are proposing is the most suitable and your company is well prepared to deliver it. The cover letter of your project proposal has to be highly convincing with a focus on what benefits clients can have using your services. If you can’t get this section right, chances are high that the rest of the content in your proposal will be skipped. Your cover letter should include,

• Opening paragraph
• Reason for the pitch
• Showing you understand the problem
• Baseline metrics ( before and after)
• Goals

See Related Article: How to use visuals in your project proposal 

3. Scope of Services: This section should include the details about your approach. However, the details should only be about the approach and not about the solution.

• The key here is to give a rough sketch of the method you will use for the execution.
• Include the list of the specific services that are being offered.
• You should be ultra-careful about not going into detail.

4. Implementation Plan: You must break down all the key steps and the timeline for your client. Providing an accurate timeline with deliverables allows you to set the client’s expectations early. That means how and when you will be able to implement your solution. The timeline of an ideal project proposal template includes the following elements

• List of deliverable
• Important Milestones
• Items in scope and not in scope
• A detailed timeline showing responsibilities

Here are the factors that will help you choose the right type of project proposal template.

5. Your Investment: This is a crucial section because it is about money. Everything else falls in place/as expected, prospective clients will certainly want to know, how much it will cost him/her to accept your offer. Keep things short and to the point and use a pricing table with a range of options that let your prospect or customer edit the quantities, select the services that best fit their needs, and allow them to customize your solution.

• Standard package (includes all the services mentioned)
• Less expensive package (where a client can choose the services)
• Deluxe package (with extra services)

Here’s how a customizable pricing table should look,

6. About Us: You can fill out this section with the expertise you have, who will be working with him/her, are you a known vendor in the market, whether for all good reasons, etc., the awards you won, the big list of your happy clients.

• Introduction 
• Name, faces, and credentials of the people who will be working on the campaign
• Client benefits

Do not forget to add vision and values because these two aspects have a long-lasting impact beyond the proposal. Clients would pay extra for the reliability factor once they realize you have principles, values, vision; and you stick to those values in all weathers.

Sample “about us” section,

7. Case Studies To Make Your Point: In this section, you can make your clients visualize themselves working with you by telling the past clients success stories with similar issues with case studies or client testimonials.

• Project goal
• Solution
• Result

8. Terms of Services: Always keep the contract and your terms and conditions part of your proposal and get them signed together to avoid future conflict.

• Payment
• Warranty
• Termination 
• Agreement