Tips for Writing a Business Proposal

    May 29, 2002

Business in the nineties means fierce competition, aggressive marketing and strategic alliances. The extent to which a business succeeds or fails often depends upon that business’s ability to be awarded contracts or to attract other businesses into Joint Ventures or strategic alliances. To accomplish either one usually requires two key items: good ideas and the ability to present those good ideas in a superbly developed business proposal.

Business proposals are developed for one of two possible reasons.

(1) A business entity has called for tenders or has invited you to submit a RFP (Request for Proposal). In this case, your goal is to be “short listed,” meaning that you will be one of the three or four bidders who is awarded an interview. Your proposal must stand among possibly dozens of submissions.



1. Clarity. Before you begin to write the proposal, summarize the concept in 2-3 sentences, then show it to a lay person and check for understanding. If they don’t grasp the basic idea, rewrite until they do. Until you can do this, you are not ready to start writing the proposal. How many times have you received a document that you had to read over and over before you comprehended the meaning? When this happens, it may be because your comprehension skills are under- developed, but it’s more likely that the writer substituted clarity of thought and good document structure with sloppy thinking, wordy, rambling explanations, vague descriptions and heavy reliance on buzzwords and jargon. It’s worth saying once again: If you can’t summarize it in 2-3 sentences, you are not ready to start writing.

2. Strive to communicate, not to impress. If you have a good idea and you communicate that idea clearly and effectively, the recipients will be impressed. If you try to baffle them with your brilliance, you’ll lose ground.






8. Be Politically Correct. Whether you support political correctness or whether you don’t, the issue here is to avoid offending the people who will receive your proposal document. Avoid any language that can be construed as offensive to any group of people – including women, men, persons with disabilities, persons belonging to visible minorities, senior citizens, and so on. If you’re not certain of correct terminology, consult with someone knowledgeable before submitting your proposal.


10. Jargon Free: Every industry has its own particular “language” – words, terms and expressions that are common to that industry but foreign to people from other industries. Avoid the use of jargon, or if you must use it, explain it. For example, expressions like “branding,” “turnkey solution,” “E-commerce” are not necessarily understood by everyone who is doing business. Also remember that your proposal may go to a committee that is comprised of people from various walks of life. Make sure they understand what you are talking about.

11. Technology. What was just said about jargon goes double for technology. If your proposed project involves the use of technologies, be very careful with your explanation. The persons reading the document may have little or no technological background. Therefore, in the body of the proposal, it’s usually recommended that you explain your technology in terms of what it will do – i.e. “A data base that members can use to search for information about your products.” There is a place for detailed information about the technology that you are proposing – and that spot is the appendix. In many cases, a non-technically oriented business will engage a technology consultant to review your proposed technology. This person can use the detailed explanations that you include in the appendix while other readers will be able understand the proposal itself.

