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A business proposal is a document that outlines the terms of a deal, including the price, scope of work, and more. It's typically sent to prospects after you've discovered their needs and you want to start the closing process. It can serve as a contract by adding a signature field, or you can send a separate contract with or after discussing the proposal. To write an effective proposal, most salespeople start with a template and customize the required sections for the specific deal terms.
For the most effective and reusable proposal, we recommend hiring an expert to custom-design a business proposal template. Hire a designer on Fiverr, a gig-based marketplace with professional designers offering proposal designs you can customize for each prospect and send as a PDF. Gigs start as low as five dollars; check out your top options below:
Business proposals tend to be several pages long and include the key sections that will help your prospect understand your offer and how it will solve their pain points. You can also choose to send your proposal with a letter to introduce and summarize it. Quality business proposals follow a standard format that includes the following elements:
To help you write your own proposal, we created a free template for you following the above format, which we break down in our business proposal template article. To receive the template, simply click the button below and customize the key sections for your business and prospect. We'll incorporate the template into the steps below.
Regardless of your specific business type or client, there is an effective process to follow when writing your business proposal. It includes the following eight steps:
The first four steps help you identify the necessary data for your proposal. The next two represent the act of drafting your proposal based on the info you collected, and the last two help with sending and follow-up. Let’s now look at each step in depth so you know exactly how to create your own.
It’s best to personalize your business proposal to your prospect’s unique situation, needs, and pain points. When the proposal demonstrates to the prospect that you fully understand their needs, they’re more likely to approve it. But, to personalize it, you need to gather information about the prospect, like the problems they want solved, their budget, and their desired timeline.
You’ll accumulate much of this information throughout the sales process during lead generation, discovery, presenting, and any other impromptu conversations with the prospect. Typically, the bulk of it will come during a discovery call that takes place before you present your solution. On this discovery phone call, you’ll ask the prospect questions; you’ll then use their answers in your business proposal later on.
Some people use discovery call frameworks that act as checklists for the information they need to collect, and therefore the questions they need to ask. For example, the BANT framework prompts reps to ask about a prospect’s budget, authority to buy, needs, and timeline. Using a framework like BANT or CHAMP (challenges, authority, money, priority) adds structure to your discovery process. We talk about the different frameworks and who should use each in our discovery call article.
Now, here are the critical questions you need answered before creating a proposal:
As you ask your prospect these questions, write or type their answers. After the call, it’s best to transfer that information into a CRM system under the prospect’s account, where you can access it as you craft your proposal.
A proposal mission statement is a written paragraph to yourself that explains why you’re writing this business proposal in the first place. It’s covering the prospect’s problem, how you’re going to solve it, and what you’ll personally gain from it. The prospect will never see it, but it will act as your North Star. Whenever you’re stuck on what to write in your proposal, or simply demotivated, read your mission statement for direction and inspiration.
Here’s an example of a proposal mission statement:
The mission of this proposal is to show {Client Name} how they can solve the problem of generating too many unqualified leads that waste their sales team’s time. We will solve it using our lead scoring software, which will automatically assign points to leads, track their scores, and ensure that only leads above a certain score are passed to sales. This will increase {Client Name}’s close rate, job satisfaction amongst their salespeople, and revenue.
We’re perfectly equipped to do this because unlike our competitors, we use AI predictive analytics. If I close this deal, I’ll earn $X.
Writing a full business proposal can sometimes be a bit of a slog. Writer’s block comes in, and you might forget the “why” behind this endeavor. So you need those jolting reminders that you in fact are the perfect business to help this particular prospect, and that you’re close to getting a nice commission after closing the deal.
Your project’s scope refers to the work and deliverables required to satisfy your prospect’s needs and includes things like tasks, costs, timelines, and more. While your mission statement can be thought of as the why of the project, the project’s scope can be thought of as the who, what, when, where, and how of the project. Write this all out. Knowing the scope of the project will help you determine the price of your project as well as the time commitment on your end.
The outline of your project’s scope answers the following questions:
These answers will make up a lot of the content in your business proposal. So refer to this bulleted outline as you write. In the actual proposal, though, it won’t directly match this list. Some of the answers you’ve found like “where you’ll be working” or “what materials are needed” will help you determine a price. Others will be present in the proposal, typically falling under sections like timeline, deliverables, or terms and conditions.
For example, a business might use a projected timeline table to express when the main deliverables (e.g., SEO audit, physical product) will be received or the main milestones (e.g., first class, full access to SaaS solution) will be hit, as done in this table below from our free template. This helps the prospect visualize and understand the timeframe of the project, and allows them to assess whether it works for them.
Meanwhile, a terms and conditions section that deals with the legal aspects of the project is often used to outline exactly what you’ll provide the prospect, how you’ll be paid, and by when. This agreement, which should also be in the contract, ensures you don’t fall into scope creep — when your prospect asks you to do something out of the scope of agreed work. If during your relationship they ever ask for a task that feels out of scope, refer them to this document.
Now that you know the full scope of work (including any materials or labor), begin calculating the price you’ll charge the prospect. Businesses usually have their own methods of doing this. How you charge depends largely on the type of solution you offer. A freelance writer will have different pricing methods than a B2B seller. But, generally, you can break up the costs of your project into categories.
Here are some different costs to consider when pricing your project:
Typically, the category that’ll be the majority of your total cost is the labor hours (first bullet above) needed to complete the work. So, it’s important to get this estimate right. The last thing you want to do is underestimate how long a job will take and then end up losing money. To avoid this, multiply your first estimate by 1.5 to account for any mishaps or roadblocks that pop up during the project.
Lastly, if applicable, determine your fee and add it to the final price or bake it into the line item costs. The finished pricing should go into a pricing table in your business proposal like the one below from our template:
Now that you have all the required information, it’s time to write your first draft in either document or slideshow form. Typically, different businesses’ proposals will follow their own unique structures. However, all of them should clearly outline the main problem you’ll solve, how you’ll do it, and the pricing, timeline, and terms of the project.
Follow along in our free template as we go over the key sections of a business proposal, some of which you should be familiar with from the screenshots above. Here are some of the most important sections to include in your business proposal:
As for length, Proposify did an audit of over 260k sales proposals to find the answer. The average page count across all proposals was 13, while the average of all winning proposals was 11. This reveals that shorter sales proposals on average do better. This trend was true for the number of sections, as well (an average of eight, or seven for winners). Keep in mind that some sections take up more than one page.
How long your proposal is depends on the information your prospect needs to make their buying decision. More complex products and services generally require more words and sections to get key points across. But, as a rule, try to convey your information as concisely as possible. A shorter read means less room for the prospect to become overwhelmed or confused. In some cases, even a one-page proposal is best.
To make your business proposal as succinct, clear, and pleasurable to read as possible, you must go over it and check for any errors, problems with flow, or disorder. Make use of plugins like Grammarly that can automatically spell- and grammar-check your work. Also, check out Paul Graham’s advice on writing simply.
Here are some other things to do when editing your writing in your proposal:
A well-written proposal will also act as an expression of the future work you’ll provide for the prospect. If they see that you took the time to write a clear and professional proposal, they’ll expect that the product or service they’re considering buying will be of a similar quality.
Usually, you’ll send your finished business proposal as an email attachment to your main point of contact and decision maker. The body of the email on which it’s attached is known as a proposal letter. This letter summarizes the proposal and tells the prospect why they should open and accept it, like in the example below.
Here are the steps involved in writing a business proposal letter:
Sometimes, your prospect will have a formal proposal submission process that they outline in their request for proposal (RFP). If this is the case, follow the instructions exactly as stated. Some buyers will ask you to follow specific guidelines as a test of your attention to detail and diligence. If you’re unsure of who should be the recipient, ask your main point of contact.
After the prospect receives your proposal, they might tell you how long they’ll take to discuss it internally. If this is the case, give them that time plus two more business days before you follow up on the proposal via email.
If they didn’t tell you when they’d have an answer, follow up after the third business day. This is so the proposal is still fresh on their minds. Reach out in a friendly and noninvasive manner. By no means rush them. Simply send them a short email asking if they had a chance to read the proposal and if they had any questions that you could answer for them. This will serve as a little reminder as well as a chance for them to pose questions they need to ask you before buying.
Here’s an example of a good follow-up email:
Depending on the proposed solution and your relationship with the prospect, your proposal can sometimes double as a contract or you can send a separate contract along with the proposal. In this case, your follow-up will involve encouraging them to sign. Consider using electronic signature software to make this easier for them and/or contract management software to see whether they've reviewed the contract so you can understand how and when to ping them again.
When following up with your prospect, also make sure you're managing and tracking your business proposal in a powerful CRM. Freshsales is our top-rated proposal software offering business proposal and CRM functionality great for salespeople wanting to stay on top of their proposals and how their prospects are interacting with them. Check out their free version or take advantage of their 21-day trial for their premium tiers below:
Sometimes it helps to look at business proposal examples from which you can take ideas and tactics. You can also see how they use images and icons to get their points across, as well as the language they use. Below are four of the top business proposal examples for selling products or services.
These are examples that also serve as templates, so when you download the one that fits best with your business, you can either replace the provided verbiage with your own details or simply reference the example as you create your proposal from scratch or using our template.
For inspiration, check out these four tips and ideas related to using a template, videos, images, and software as you craft your proposals. They’ll level up your business proposal regardless of your business type or industry.
The tips above will save you time and energy, help you keep your proposals enticing and brief, and support you to track your success and make adjustments as needed. Keep these best practices in mind as you go through the steps to create your own proposal, and you'll increase your success rates.
Business proposals are often your final chance of the lead nurturing phase to explain how your solution adds value to your prospect. They also show the prospect what the business relationship will look like if they decide to sign the contract. Therefore, it’s crucial that you make this document as clear, convincing, and engaging as possible. So follow the eight steps above and watch those proposal acceptances and contract signatures roll in.