A project proposal is a document you create with one objective in mind: to convince the client that you and your company is the right organization to do the job. When you get into this bidding process, you’ll find yourself up against some stiff competition, competition against other groups with similar skills and experience. If you’re not able to make yours stand out in your proposal, you could miss out on a great business opportunity.
Here are some terrific tips on writing winning proposals, many of which have been culled from the expertise of proposal management consultants and seasoned writers who have extended bid assistance to several groups:
1. Where to begin: The first thing you’ll need to do is go through the project closely and with utmost care. Make sure you understand it before deciding to make a bid. You then match your talents and skills and company resources to the needs of the project.
2. Come in strong: The first paragraph of your project proposal should be your strong sales pitch. This is what will make the client decide to continue reading your proposal or shelve it. If client had required a specific response to show you’ve read the project in its entirety, make sure it’s there. The client needs to see it. He may otherwise, decide not to go on reading your work, even though it might look like it came from a submission expert.
3. Sell your most marketable strengths that will serve the project well. Place this underneath any responses required by client. You may want to vary this strength depending on the nature of the project’s requirements. Should it need a specific skill set, highlight your related and most extensive experience. If they need to have the job completed in a specific time frame, put in a date of your expected completion, ideally a few days before their deadline. If there are other qualities your organization has which will make it a good fit for the project, put them in one paragraph for support.
4. Make sure you answer clients’ questions: Sometimes, these are answered throughout your text or content, or you may just set these up in their own paragraph.
5. Provide time and cost estimates: When you’re done laying down the facts and reasons why your group is the best to handle the project, set up your time and cost estimates. Be accurate. Where you cannot, explain why giving specific figures would not make any sense.
6. Finally, say Thank you: Try and make a good impression so that even if you’re not selected for the project, your charming manners will make client remember you for other future projects. If your company does get selected, then you’d be off starting on the project on the right foot.
When you’ve finished all your writing, review it and ask yourself “Does my company come out as the right choice for this project?” If you can confidently say YES, then you’ve got half the battle won!