An effective business proposal efficiently informs and persuades. While it features many of the common elements of a report, its emphasis on persuasion guides the overall presentation.

Let’s say you work in a healthcare setting. What types of products or services might be put out to bid? If your organization is going to expand and needs to construct a new wing, it will probably be put out to bid. Everything from office furniture to bedpans could be put out to bid, specifying the quantity, quality, and delivery time required. Janitorial services may also be bid on each year, as well as food services and even maintenance. Using the power of bidding to lower contract costs for goods and services is common practice.

To be successful in business and industry, you should be familiar with business proposals. Similar to a report with several common elements and a persuasive speech, a business proposal makes the case for your product or service. They are documents designed to persuade the audience to achieve a defined outcome, often proposing a solution to a problem.

Common Proposal Elements

Idea

Effective business proposals are built around a great idea or solution. While you may be able to present your normal product, service, or solution in an interesting way, you want your document and its solution to stand out against the background of competing proposals. What makes your idea different or unique? How can you better meet the needs of the company than other vendors? What makes you so special? If the purchase decision is made solely on price, it may leave you little room to underscore the value of service, but the sale follow-through has value. For example, don’t consider just the cost of the unit but also its maintenance. How can maintenance be a part of your solution, distinct from the rest? In addition, your proposal may focus on a common product where you can anticipate several vendors at similar prices. How can you differentiate yourself from the rest by underscoring long-term relationships, demonstrated ability to deliver, or the ability to anticipate the company’s needs? Business proposals need to have an attractive idea or solution to be effective.

Traditional Categories

You can be creative in many aspects of the business proposal but follow the traditional categories. Businesses expect to see information in a specific order, like a resume or a letter. Each aspect of your proposal has its place, and it is to your advantage to respect that tradition and use the categories effectively to highlight your product or service. Every category is an opportunity to sell and should reinforce your credibility, passion, and why your solution is simply the best.

Ethos, Pathos, and Logos

Ethos refers to credibility, pathos to passion and enthusiasm, and logos to logic or reason. All three elements are integral to your business proposal and require your attention. Who are you, and why should we do business with you? Your credibility may be unknown to the potential client, and it is your job to reference previous clients, demonstrate order fulfillment, and clearly show that your product or service is offered by a credible organization. By association, the product or service is often thought to be more credible if your organization is credible.

In the same way, if you are not enthusiastic about the product or service, why should the potential client get excited? How does your solution stand out in the marketplace? Why should they consider you? Why should they continue reading? Passion and enthusiasm are not only communicated through “!” exclamation points. Your thorough understanding and your demonstration of that understanding communicate dedication and interest.

Each assertion requires substantiation, and each point has clear support. It is not enough to make baseless claims about your product or service—you have to show why your claims are true and relevant and support your central assertion that your product or service is right for this client. Ensure you cite sources and indicate “according to” when supporting your points. Be detailed and specific.

Professional

A professional document is a base requirement. You can count on its prompt dismissal if it is less than professional. There should be no errors in spelling or grammar, and all information should be concise, accurate, and clearly referenced when appropriate. Information that pertains to credibility should be easy to find and clearly relevant, including contact information. The document should be printed on a letterhead if it exists in a hard copy form. If the document is submitted electronically, it should be in a file format that presents your document as you intended. Word processing files may have their formatting changed or adjusted based on factors you cannot control—like screen size—and information can shift out of place, making it difficult to understand. In this case, a portable document format (PDF) for electronic documents may be used to preserve content location and avoid any inadvertent format changes when it is displayed.

Effective, persuasive proposals are often brief, even limited to one page. “The one-page proposal has been one of the keys to my business success, and it can be invaluable to you too. Few decision-makers can ever afford to read more than one page when deciding whether they are interested in a deal. This is even more true for people of a different culture or language,” said Adnan Khashoggi, a successful multi-billionaire (Riley, 2002). Clear and concise proposals serve the audience well and limit the range of information to prevent confusion.

Two Types of Business Proposals

Solicited

It is considered solicited if you have been asked to submit a proposal. The solicitation may come as a direct verbal or written request, but normally, solicitations are indirect, open-bid to the public, and formally published for everyone to see. A request for proposal (RFP), request for quotation (RFQ), and invitation for bid (IFB) are common ways to solicit business proposals for business, industry, and the government.

RFPs typically specify the product or service, submission guidelines, and evaluation criteria. RFQs emphasize cost, though service and maintenance may be part of the solicitation. IRBs are often job-specific, encompassing a project that requires a timeline, labor, and materials. For example, if a local school district announces the construction of a new elementary school, it normally has the architect and engineering plans on file but needs a licensed contractor to build it.

Unsolicited

Unsolicited proposals are the “cold calls” of business writing. They require a thorough understanding of the market, product, and/or service, and their presentation is typically general rather than customer-specific. They can, however, be tailored to specific businesses with time and effort, and the demonstrated knowledge of specific needs or requirements can transform an otherwise generic, brochure-like proposal into an effective sales message. However, getting your tailored message to your target audience is often a significant challenge if it has not been directly or indirectly solicited. Unsolicited proposals are often regarded as marketing materials intended to stimulate interest for a follow-up contact rather than to make direct sales. Sue Baugh and Robert Hamper encourage you to resist the temptation to “shoot at every target and hope you hit at least one” (Baugh, L. S., and Hamper, R. J., 1995). A targeted proposal is your most effective approach, but recognize the importance of gaining company, service, or brand awareness and its limitations.

Sample Business Proposal

Microsoft Create offers free and clear examples of a business proposal here:

Microsoft Create 

Key Takeaway

Business proposals need to target a specific audience.

Baugh, L. S., & Hamper, R. J. (1995). Handbook for writing proposals (p. 3). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Riley, P. G. (2002). The one-page proposal: How to get your business pitch onto one persuasive page (p. 2). New York, NY: HarperCollins.

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