PROPOSAL WRITING

PROPOSAL WRITING
 An outline for a proposal
you would like to make
for a product or service
of your choice – for
consideration to a
prospective buyer…
LET US WRITE …
PROPOSAL…but why ?
 Contracts do not arrive at a company’s doorstep or,
come marching out of nowhere…
 Contracts are usually earned through words…most
often cast in the form of a ‘Business Proposal’ – which
describes ideas in ways that appear to fulfill the
client’s needs.
 Sometimes, the clients don’t have a clear idea of their
needs. In that case, the proposal must not only
provide solutions, but also describe the problem.
 “Give them the answer…but first, make
sure that they know the question.”
PROPOSAL…
 The power of your proposal ideas
depends on a powerful ‘need’ being felt
by your client.
 A proposal for a miracle cure can bring
yawns and shrugs to an audience
unconcerned about the disease in
question !
 Business proposals can be almost any
length, from a single typed page to
several bound volumes…
 A proposal must be long enough to do the
work it is supposed to do…no more and
no less !
WHAT IS A PROPOSAL ?
 A proposal is a persuasive presentation for consideration of
something. Generally a business proposal is a written offer
from a seller to a prospective buyer.
 When Tata Motors thought of a merger/acquisition with Hispano
Carrocera, Spain and Jaguar & Land Rover Brands, UK, a
proposal for the same was sent for consideration…
 West Bengal Government sent proposals inviting IT Companies to
set base in Kolkata for their businesses…
SALIENT PARTS OF A PROPOSAL
 An Overview
 A problem analysis
 Problem specifics
 A budget
 Conclusion
 The central purpose is to persuade
the audience to act. All parts of the
proposal must be arranged to
achieve this purpose.
YOUR PROPOSAL MUST ANSWER THESE…
 What problem are you going to
solve and how are you going to
solve it ?
 What exactly will you provide us
with ?
 Can you deliver what you
promise ?
 What benefits can you offer ?
 When will you complete the
work ?
 How much will you charge ?
THREE KEYS TO PERSUASIVE PROPOSALS…
 Three powerful forces
to persuade your
readers to act on your
proposal are:
 Logical Order
 Psychological Order
 Solid Evidence
LOGICAL ORDER…
 Parts of a proposal must be arranged
in such a way as to appeal to the
reader’s sense of reason.
 Readers who can follow an argument
point-by-point feel confident that the
writer has thought through the
material with care. Such readers are
much more likely to say ‘yes’ to the
ideas proposed in the document
 To install brighter street lights in
a residential neighbourhood…
LOGICAL ORDER…
 Point 1: residents care most about
safety and property values
 Point 2: brighter street lights
discourage crime – thereby making the
neighbourhood safer
 Point 3: brighter street lights increase
property values as safer areas have
higher property values
 Point 4: residents can be expected to
support the proposal as it gives them
what they want…safety and higher
property values…
PSYCHOLOGICAL ORDER…
 Skilled proposal writers
influence feelings as well as
thoughts !
 They want readers to ‘want’ to
agree with the ideas of the
proposal…
 One technique used by such
proposal writers is the careful
placement and timing of ‘good’
news and ‘bad’ news in
proposals…
PLACEMENT OF BAD NEWS…
 Bad news can be defined as a message that
threatens our welfare, stability or reputation.
A manager may hear the bad news that his or
her division is being reduced in size and
influence. A company may hear the bad news
that it faces a major lawsuit.
 Proposal writers don’t shy away from bad
news. Instead, they recognise bad news as the
‘stage’ – the necessary precondition – for good
news.
 Bad news forms the question – in a sense- that
good news (the proposed idea) attempts to
answer.
PLACEMENT OF BAD NEWS…
 A major proposal for road improvements on
a mountain pass highway…
 The bad news is that several accidents have
occurred because of poor road conditions,
particularly during bad weather.
 The proposal writer explains the causes of
the accidents, in detail – all in preparation
for the proposed solution of repaving,
posting better signs, and setting speed
limitations.
PLACEMENT OF GOOD NEWS…
 Good news may be welcomed
by every reader, but that does
not mean that it will be
believed by every reader !
 Good news must be presented
in such a way as to not only
‘possible’ but ‘probable’
 This entails careful analysis
of what the reader may resist
in the good news being
presented.
PROPOSAL FOR LAND DEVELOPMENT…
 Good news can be… ???
PLACEMENT OF GOOD NEWS…
 In a proposal for land development, the
proposal writer might point to three items
of potential good news for those interested
in investing in the venture:
 Housing prices are higher than ever before
 The exclusive area in question has only a
few remaining tracts for development
 The architect has worked up creative
initial renderings of the kinds of homes
that can be built
RESISTANCE OF GOOD NEWS…
 The proposal writer has to take into account the
resistance that may be felt by the readers:
 Housing prices are higher than ever before … will there
be a market for finished homes then ???
 The exclusive area in question has only a few remaining
tracts for development…have they remained
undeveloped for reasons such as permit problems,
drainage, or so forth ???
 The architect has worked up creative initial renderings
of the kinds of homes that can be built…will the
architects creative plans prove economically feasible ????
DELIVERING GOOD NEWS REQUIRES…
 Timing and sensitivity
to surrounding issues.
 Bright and desirable
ideas must face and
overcome whatever
obstacles are present in
the reader’s mind
before they become
influential ideas.
SOLID EVIDENCE…
 Readers are swayed to accept ideas by the skilled use of
evidence in the form of examples, illustrations, statistics
and details.
 Such evidence can be ‘general’ or ‘specific’ in nature
 ‘General Evidence’ is made up of a great number of
specific examples gathered together or generalised…”The
air in metros is 16% cleaner this year due to pollution
legislation”….
 ‘Specific Evidence’ treats precise details in a single
case…”Air quality measurements during the month of
July in Delhi showed a 16% improvement in overall air
quality.”
SOLID EVIDENCE…
 Specific evidence, specially when supported by reputable
and knowledgeable sources helps to convince the reader
that the proposal writer’s major ideas are sound.
 Too much of general evidence will make the proposal
sound vague and unfocused.
 Too much of specific evidence will make the proposal
sound narrow and local in its concerns.
 Successful proposal writers mix both general and specific
evidence to create a case for their ideas. When balanced,
however, general and specific evidence can earn the
reader’s acceptance of ideas within a proposal
PROPOSAL WRITING STRATEGIES…
 Use this 4 step-by-step guide to construct
practical and successful proposals in
your career to :
 Attract contracts
 Obtain research money
 Change In-house procedures
 Fund new facilities
 Argue for product or policy revisions and
many more…
1. DETERMINE REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUR
PROPOSAL…
 Specific guidelines may already exist for
developing your proposal.
 For instance, several government agencies have
strict requirements for the way the topics are
described, the order in which they should be
treated, the length of the proposal, and so forth…
 Some of these requirements may strike you as
unnecessary.
 However, you should never purposely break the
assigned guidelines issued by a granting agency
or client without written permission – which if
granted, should be attached to the proposal.
2. DETERMINE WHO WILL EVALUATE YOUR
PROPOSAL…
 Find out whether
your work will be
read by content
specialists or by a
more general
audience.
 Choose language
designed to
communicate clearly
to your readers for
maximum impact.
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 I. OVERVIEW
 Provide the background information your reader will
need to grasp the significance of your proposed idea.
 Define your approach…what are your objectives…how
does your approach differ from other approaches ?
 You should probably explain these briefly:
 Why is the proposal needed ?
 Who needs the proposal ?
 Why should the proposal be accepted ?
 When should the readers act on the proposal ?
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 II. PROBLEM ANALSIS
 To make the reader value your proposed idea as
necessary and timely – set the stage by analysing
the problem with care…
 What caused the problem ?
 Who suffers from its effects ?
 What measures have failed in an effort to
deal with it ?
 What is the current scale of the problem ?
 What will be its future scale ?
 Use both general & specific evidence to let bad
news influence your reader…
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 III. PROPOSAL SPECIFICS
 Describe in detail your proposed plan:
 Are your methods proven ? If so, by whom ?
 What personnel will be involved ?
 What is their training ?
 What are the time schedules you have
established for your work ?
 What are the major checkpoints in that
schedule ?
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 III. PROPOSAL SPECIFICS
 Describe in detail your proposed plan
 How do you plan to evaluate your
proposed plan ?
 What significant indications of progress
will you look for ? When ?
 How will you measure success ?
 Will your research results be observable ?
Preservable ? Repeatable ?
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 III. PROPOSAL SPECIFICS
 Conclude this section with a ‘summary estimation’ –
a convincing statement of the likelihood that your
plans will produce the desired results.
 Often successful proposal writers describe their
ultimate goals as a series of ‘achievement plateaus’,
any one of which justifies the work proposed
 In this way, writers allow funding agencies to feel
that even if the highest predictions of their proposals
bear no fruit, important results can nonetheless be
accomplished at plateaus along the way…
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 IV. THE BUDGET
 Outline the costs of your proposed work,
including the following items, if
applicable:
 Equipment acquisition
 Facility rental
 Salary and wages, with benefit
allowances, if applicable
 Travel expenses
 Research expenses & Contingency
funds
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 IV. THE BUDGET
 Earlier, proposal writers
padded their budgets as a
hedge against inevitable
slashes during the approval
process.
 The ‘Two for One’ rule applied:
determine what is really
needed, ask for twice as much
and hope to end up with what
was needed in the first place !
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 IV. THE BUDGET
 The game now being played is
‘Less and Less’
 One reason being – a
dramatically padded budget
simply does not slip by the
shrewd evaluators now
reviewing important proposals
in business, science and
government
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 IV. THE BUDGET
 You should also avoid under-budgeting your
proposal with the false hope of presenting a real
bargain to evaluators. An under-budgeted proposal
makes promises it cannot keep, and no evaluator
chooses to approve something that will not happen..
 State to the best of your ability what you will need
to spend if your proposal is approved.
 Manipulative efforts to distort budgets are unwise.
 “Well there is always the truth” is a good adage to
go by !
3. CREATE AN OUTLINE FOR YOUR PROPOSAL…
 V. CONCLUSION
 A proposal should never begin or end
with financials !
 Conclude your proposal by expressing
your willingness to help your readers:
 Offer to answer questions and to provide
further information, to meet with or
speak over phone with the evaluators,
referees or others, even to consider
reshaping your proposal as necessary to
meet the needs of the client or agency
4. REVISE & POLISH YOUR PROPOSAL TO MAKE
IT ATTRACTIVE…
 As proposals are often judged
competitively, they must win
attention and respect by how
they ‘look’ as well as what they
‘say’.
 Wandering margins, bleary
type and smudged graphics all
say you are ‘amateurish’ and
‘unreliable’ to an evaluator
trying to get value for money
invested.
4. REVISE & POLISH YOUR PROPOSAL TO MAKE
IT ATTRACTIVE…
5 ways to give your proposal a crisp,
professional appearance:
 Use your word processor’s most
attractive, proportionally spaced fonts
 Use heavy-bond white paper; beware of
pastel shades, specially if you plan to
photocopy the work
 Use strict margins on all sides of the
page. If you cannot do so without
creating oddly spaced lines, use your
word processor to right-justify your
margins
4. REVISE & POLISH YOUR PROPOSAL TO MAKE
IT ATTRACTIVE…
5 ways to give your proposal a crisp,
professional appearance:
 Decide whether your proposal will have a
more powerful effect in bound form, with
a vinyl or heavy paper cover in
conservative colour. Proposals of just a
page or two, of course, are not bound.
 Make sure that the photocopied versions
of your proposal are comparable to your
original in clarity and crispness. Copy
machines in most photocopy businesses
produce clean copies, at times, almost
indistinguishable from the original.
LET US NOW REDO OUR INITIAL PROPOSAL…
 What problem are you going to solve
and how are you going to solve it ?
 What exactly will you provide the
recipient with ?
 Can you deliver what you promise ?
 What benefits can you offer ?
 When will you complete the work ?
 How much will you charge ?
 McGraw-Hill Irwin – MANAGERIAL COMMUNICATION –
Strategies & Applications
 McGraw-Hill – BUSINESS COMMUNICATION- Making
Connections in a Digital World
 Pearson – BUSINESS COMMUNICATION TODAY
 Tata McGraw-Hill – COMMUNICATION WORKS
 Pearson – BUSINESS COMMUNICATION FOR MANAGERS
 WSE-Wiley – MANAGEMENT COMMUNICATION
THE TEN MOST ‘UNWANTEDS’…
 Circular Reasoning: what was supposed to be an
explanation, turns out to be a mere restatement: “All
employees are encouraged to participate in after office
hours company recreation programs because such
programs are especially for the use of employees after
the workday has ended.”
 Hasty Generalisation: the conclusion reached is based
on too little evidence: “This political party cannot win
the election because of its stand on animal rights.”
 Non Sequitur: a conclusion is reached that does not
follow from the evidence presented: “Mr. Das owns two
homes, a fancy sports car and has two children; so I
trust his investment advice.”
THE TEN MOST ‘UNWANTEDS’…
 Bias : personal opinions and viewpoints become the
standard for evaluating objective arguments: “Mrs
Chandran has every right to apply for the new
position, but she won’t get it. I just don’t want to
work with a woman.”
 Either/or Thinking: two alternatives are presented
as the only alternatives when others should be
considered: “Either he apologises or I quit.”
 False Cause: an earlier occurrence is incorrectly
presented as the cause of a later event: “We switched
to leased cars instead of company-owned cars in
2006. No wonder we have so many auto repair bills
each month !”
THE TEN MOST ‘UNWANTEDS’…
 Straw Man: a false target is set up for the
main thrust of an argument. Knocking over
the straw man creates the illusion that the
argument has succeeded: “This company’s
problems can be blamed on poor benefits.
How can anyone expect workers to concentrate
on their jobs when they have doubts about
their medical and dental coverage ?”
 Faulty Syllogism: a flawed pattern of thought
leads to an unjustifiable conclusion: “All
managers drive their own cars in this
company. I own a car. I will soon be made a
manager.”
THE TEN MOST ‘UNWANTEDS’…
 Stacking the Argument: presenting evidence on behalf of
one side of the argument while ignoring evidence on the
other side: “Undersea mining operations are dangerous,
expensive, time-consuming and unreliable. We should not
consider undersea mining in deciding how and where to
mine for gold.”
 False Elimination: from an array of possible alternatives,
one by one is eliminated until only one alternative
remains. The illusion is thereby created that the final
alternative is the best: “In reviewing cities for our
company move, we have seen why Dhanbad, Hazaribagh,
Deoghar, and Ranchi won’t meet our needs. That leaves
only Chaibasa as our new company home.”
COMPONENTS OF A FORMAL PROPOSAL…
 PREFACTORY PARTS: These
are front-end materials that
provide key preliminary
information so that the reader
can decide when and how to
read the proposal, such as the
cover, title fly, title page,
request for proposal, Letter of
Transmittal, table of contents,
list of the illustrations, copy of
the RFP & synopsis or
Executive Summary.
 TEXT PARTS:
Introduction, Body
& Summary
 SUPPLEMENTARY
PARTS:
Appendixes
PREFATORY PARTS…
 Cover : standard covers made of heavy paper and imprinted
with the company’s name and logo. Print the title, writer’s
name & submission date (optional)
 Title Fly: a single sheet of paper with only the title on it.
 Title Page: four blocks of information, namely:
 The title of the proposal
 The name, title and address of the person, group or
organisation that authorised it
 The name, title and address of the person, group or
organisation that prepared it
 The date on which it was submitted
 List of Illustrations
PREFATORY PARTS…
 Copy of the RFP: RFPs usually have specific instructions
for referring to the RFP itself in your proposal, as the
organisations that issue RFPs need a methodical way to
track all of their active RFPs and the incoming responses.
Some require you include a copy of the entire RFP in your
proposal; others simply want you to refer to the RFP by
name or number or the introductory section of the RFP.
 Just ensure that you follow the instructions in every detail
 If there are no specific instructions, use your best
judgement based on the length of the RFP. In any case,
ensure that your proposal refers to the RFP in some way, so
that the audience can associate your proposal with the
correct RFP.
SYNOPSIS OR EXECUTIVE SUMMARY…
 Although you may include a synopsis or an executive
summary for your reader’s convenience when your
proposal is quite long, these components are often less
useful in a formal proposal than they are in a formal
report.
 If your proposal is unsolicited, your transmittal letter
will already have caught the reader’s interest making a
synopsis redundant.
 It may also be less important if your proposal is
solicited, as the reader is already committed to studying
it to find out how you intend to satisfy the terms of a
contract. The introduction of a solicited proposal would
provide an adequate preview of the contents.
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL…(LOT)
 If the proposal is solicited,
approach the LOT as a positive
message, highlighting those
aspects of your proposal that
will give you a competitive edge.
 If the proposal is unsolicited,
approach the LOT as a
persuasive message.
 The letter must persuade the
reader that you have something
worthwhile to offer, something
that justifies the time required
to read the entire proposal.
TEXT OF THE PROPOSAL…
 Three main parts:
 The Introduction: presents & summarises the problem you intend to
solve and your solution to that problem, including any benefits the
reader will receive from your solution.
 Body: includes complete details of the solution: how the job will be
done, how it will be broken into tasks, what method will be used to do
it (including the required equipment, material, & personnel), when
the work will begin and end, how much the entire job will cost
(including a detailed breakdown, if required or requested) and why
your company is qualified.
 Close: this section emphasises the benefits that readers will realise
from your solution and it urges readers to act.
PROOFREADING THE PROPOSAL…
 Once you have assembled all the components
of your proposal, have revised the entire
document’s content for clarity & conciseness,
and have designed the document to ensure
readability and a positive impression on your
readers, you have essentially produced your
document in its final form.
 Now you need to review it thoroughly one last
time, looking for inconsistencies, errors and
missing components. For instance, if you have
changed a heading in the text part, make sure
it is also changed in the table of contents.
PROOFREADING THE PROPOSAL…
 Proof reading the textual part of your proposal is essentially the
same as proofreading any business message – you check for typos,
spelling errors, and mistakes in punctuation. However, proof your
visuals thoroughly and position them correctly.
 If possible, arrange for someone with ‘fresh eyes’ to proofread the
proposal, someone who has not be associated with the text so far, as
you are so familiar with the content that your mind will fill in
missing words, fix misspelled words and subconsciously
compensate other flaws without you even being aware of it.
 Ideally two people should review it, one who is an SME – and one
who is not. The first one will ensure the technical accuracy and the
second that a wide range of readers will understand it !
SOLICITED PROPOSALS…
 Solicited proposals are generally prepared at
the request of external parties that require a
product or service, but may also be requested
by such internal sources as management or
the board of directors.
 When organisations require complex
products, services or systems, they often
prepare a formal invitation to bid on the
contract, called a Request for Proposal
(RFP) which includes instructions that
specify the exact type of work to be performed
or products to be delivered along with
budgets, deadlines and other requirements.
SOLICITED PROPOSALS…
 For example when NASA (National Aeronautics &
Space Administration) wants to develop a new
satellite, it prepares an RFP that specifies exactly
what the satellite should accomplish and sends the
RFP to several aerospace companies, inviting them to
bid on the job.
 You respond to RFPs by preparing a proposal that
shows how you would meet the potential customer’s
needs – responding to RFPs is a significant task !
 To attract a large pool of qualified bidders,
organisations send RFPs to firms with good
performance records in the field, print them in trade
publications, or post them on the web.
SOLICITED PROPOSALS…
 Regardless, of how you obtain an RFP, you and your company
must decide whether you are interested in the contract and
whether you have a reasonable chance of winning it – because
responding to each RFP can take weeks or months of work.
 When the proposal effort actually begins, you review the
requirements, define the scope of the deliverables, determine the
methods and procedures to be used; and estimate time &
personnel requirements, and costs.
 Then you put it all in writing – exactly as specified in the RFP,
following the exact format it requires and responding
meticulously to every point it raises.
 RFPs can be surprisingly picky specifying the paper size to use
and number of copies to send…but, you must follow every detail.
UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS…
 These are created by organisations attempting to
obtain business or funding without a specific
invitation from a potential client. Such proposals
may also be initiated by employees or managers
who want to convince company insiders to adopt a
program, policy, or idea.
 With an unsolicited proposal, the writer makes the
first move. Even so, this should be a summation of
a conversation that has been going on with the
recipient – not a bolt out of the blue !
 This approach helps you to explore the recipient’s
needs and craft your proposal around them.
UNSOLICITED PROPOSALS…
 In this case, your audience may not be aware of the
problem you are addressing, so your proposal must
first convince readers that a problem or
opportunity exists – before convincing them that
you can address it.
 Thus, unsolicited proposals spend considerable
time explaining why readers should take action
and convince them of the benefits of doing so.
 For example, a university seeking funding for a
specific research project might submit an
unsolicited proposal to a large local corporation.
In which it would show its resources and expertise
to conduct the research.
SOLICITED OR UNSOLICITED…
 Whether solicited or unsolicited, with
virtually any proposal – whether for
internal or external audiences, keep in
mind that you are always competing for
something – money, time, management
attention, and so on…
 Even if yours is the only proposal on the
table, you are still competing with all
the other choices your audience
members could make with their time,
money and attention.