How to Write a Farming / Agricultural Business Proposal

Are you in the business of agriculture, or planning to get into it? If you're running a big, established farm operation, you may be selling crops the traditional way, through brokers and middlemen, and see opportunities to pitch new ideas. Or you may be selling or servicing industrial farming equipment.

If you’re a small farmer or a specialty operation, or if you’re looking to start up such an organization, you’ll be searching for new customers, or funding, or both.

The best way to begin your quest is to learn how to write a business proposal. Writing a proposal doesn’t have to be hard. You know the business. You know what you want to do. The next question is: how well do you know your potential customer or funding organization? You need to keep that person or organization in mind at all times while writing your proposal, because (of course) your objective is to persuade them to do business with you.

How do you start off a proposal project? By writing a simple Cover Letter. Just introduce yourself and your proposal, explain what you’d like the recipient to do after reading the proposal, and provide all your contact information. Next, create a Title Page for your proposal. Choose a descriptive title, like “Funding Request to Start a Local Organic Farm,” “Plan to Increase Efficiency in the Smith Farm Operations,” or “Fresh Local Produce Delivery for Your Restaurant Chain.”

The next pages should be a description of what your potential customers or funders need and want. Put yourself in their position, and describe the need, as well as any limitations or deadlines you’re aware of. For example, markets may not be keeping up with the demand for kosher beef in your area; or perhaps there are no Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs in your county, and customers are driving to the next county to buy produce subscriptions.

Pages in this section will have titles like Needs Assessment, Market Demand, Restrictions, Opportunities, Schedule, and so forth.  If you are applying for funding to start or enlarge an operation, you may have received a checklist of items you need to provide, and you can insert that checklist here. Funding topics may include Funding Request, Use of Funds, Repayment Plan, and various financial topics that a lender will want to see.

After you have described the need or opportunity, it’s time to describe the solution by providing all the details about what you propose to do. This section could have any number of pages, based on your plans and ideas. For example, if you want to sell products to restaurants or stores, you’ll want to include pages describing your Products and their Availability, as well as explaining Costs and Distribution or Delivery Details. You might describe different Deals or Options, or tell about your Organic or Environmental practices. If you are starting a farming operation, you might describe your Project Plan and Schedule as well as your existing or needed Real Estate and Equipment. If you propose to provide a service to existing agricultural operations, such as Consulting, Packaging, Transportation, Training, or Services, then you'll want to describe all the tasks you will do.

Proposal Pack Agriculture #1

After you have thoroughly described the need or opportunity and your proposed solution, it’s time to describe why you can be trusted to deliver on your promises. In the final proposal section, you should describe your Company History, your Personnel or Team Members, your Expertise, and your Experience. If you’ve worked on similar Projects, add a page listing them. Include pages about any special Training or Credentials you have, as well as any Referrals or Testimonials that others have given you. If you’ve won Awards or have a list of special Achievements, you’ll want to put those in this final section, too.

Remember that recognition by others is always more credible than bragging about yourself.

That’s it—now you understand that the basic structure of a business proposal is 1) introduce yourself and your plan, 2) explain the needs/opportunities and requirements, then 3) describe the solutions you propose that will meet that need or take advantage of that opportunity, and 4) describe why you can be trusted to carry out your plan.

After you have written the first draft of your proposal, take the time to proofread and polish the wording and the appearance of all the pages. You want your proposal to represent you at your professional business best.

Want more guidance? Making a small investment in a proposal writing product like Proposal Kit could give you a big head start on writing a proposal. Proposal Kit comes with hundreds of professionally designed topic pages, including all those mentioned above, and dozens of sample proposals you can check out for ideas. Two of the sample proposals are agricultural proposals. There are even contracts you can adapt for your own use.  You’ll find that you use Proposal Kit over and over again for all sorts of documents.

How to Write a Legal Services Proposal

Law firms are always looking for new clients. If you’re an attorney practicing family law, you may be able to grow your client list by sending out simple brochures listing your services or by networking at social events.

But if you want to land lucrative contracts with companies—providing corporate counsel, outsourced services, negotiating contracts, and handling employment issues, you’ll need to write a more in-depth proposal explaining what your firm can do.

You are probably accustomed to writing legal briefs or contracts, not business proposals to market your services. But writing a business proposal is not the “hard sell” you are probably imagining. That’s because a good proposal should never be all about you. Instead, it’s about your clients, about what they need and want. So the very first step is to put yourself in the position of the executives at the company you want to work with, and remember these are your proposal readers.

There is a definite order to a good proposal. It starts with an introduction, then moves to a section that describes the client’s needs and requirements, progresses into a description of the services you will provide to meet those needs and requirements, and then finally, explains why you are the most trustworthy organization to provide those services.

Let’s work through those sections in order. Start with a Cover Letter explaining who you are and why you’re sending this proposal right now, and providing all your contact information. A Cover Letter should also include a “call to action,” which is a statement of what you would like the proposal reader to do next—come in for a meeting, sign a contract, go to your website, and so forth.

Proposal Pack Justice #1

Then, you need a Title Page for your proposal, something like “Legal Services Proposed by JPK Law Firm for XRQ Corporation.” Next, if you end up with a very long or complex proposal, you may want to come back and insert an Executive Summary (a page with the most important points you want to make) and a Table of Contents here after you’re done writing the first draft. Otherwise, that concludes the introduction section.

The next section is the one that is most obviously all about the potential client. Here, you’ll describe the client’s needs and desires and discuss any requirements or limitations that you are aware of. If the client company has experienced legal problems in the past, describe those in this section. Pages in this section will have titles like Needs Assessment, Background, History, Known Issues, Company History, Requirements, Problems, and so forth. Your aim in this section is to show that you understand the needs and goals of your potential client.

The legal industry generates enormous amounts of paperwork (both paper and digital) which in many cases has laws and regulations that need to be addressed. A legal services proposal may also need to outline Records Management issues and services.

After you’ve described the problem (the need for legal services, or perhaps the need to change legal service providers), you will describe your solution to that problem in the next section. Here you will provide details about the Services Offered by your firm, perhaps details about your Personnel who will provide those services, and a Cost Summary about how much those services will cost. Be sure to include all the topic pages you need to thoroughly explain what you propose to do for your client.

Then, in the final section, it’s time to talk about why you are the best legal firm to provide the services you have described. Here you should include pages that describe your Company History or Personnel, your Training or Credentials, other Clients Served, any Awards or Achievements you have earned, and any Testimonials that you have collected from satisfied clients. Your goal in this section is to convince the reader that you can be trusted to fulfill all the promises you made in the previous section.

That’s the basics of writing a proposal for legal services. Of course, you still need to proofread the proposal to make sure the wording is perfect, and make sure it looks nice, too—potential clients may judge the quality of your future work based on the quality of your proposal.

Most attorneys are accustomed to using a variety of specialized products to do research and billing. You might like to know there’s a specialized product for writing business proposals, too: it’s called Proposal Kit. It comes with hundreds of professionally formatted topic pages and includes sample proposals, too. The topic pages are templates with instructions and examples of the type of information that would typically go on that page, so you don’t have to sit staring at a blank computer screen and wondering what should come next. All of the pages mentioned above are included in Proposal Kit, as well as hundreds of topics that could be used in any sort of proposal, study, or report. If you want to get a jump start on proposal writing, start with Proposal Kit.

How to Write a Safety Proposal

No matter what sort of business you are involved in, you’ll probably need to consider safety issues at some time or other. You might need to assemble a safety report for your management, discussing issues within your company.

If you’re in a heavily regulated industry such as construction, manufacturing, or transportation, you may be required to produce a safety plan before you can begin a new project.

Or perhaps you’re in the business of promoting safety or selling safety equipment to others, in which case you need to pitch your goods or services to potential customers. In all these cases, you need to know how to write a basic safety proposal.

You are most likely a manager or a salesperson, not a writer. But don’t worry. It’s not as hard to write a proposal as you might think. Every business proposal has a basic structure: introduction, a section that discusses needs, followed by a section that describes the proposed solution (usually goods and/or services) to those needs, and finally, a section that describes the supplier of those goods or services. In the case of an in-house proposal, the final section might also describe the background of the proposal writer.

Notice that the section about you comes last. That’s because a good proposal should be focused on what the client needs or what the situation calls for. After you prove you understand those needs and have proposed solutions to meet those needs, then it’s time to tell the reader why you are worth listening to.

You could start off with any blank word processing file and create your proposal from scratch. But if you want to make your life easier, and especially if you have a need to write multiple proposals or reports, it might be wise to invest in a product like Proposal Kit. Like the name implies, Proposal Kit is designed for writing proposals (as well as other business documents). The product includes templates, instructions, samples, and simple assembly software that will make the process of writing proposals and reports quick and painless.

Proposal Pack Security #3

Let’s work through a basic safety proposal from start to finish. First, the introduction section: simply write a brief cover letter explaining who you are, why you’re writing, and what you’d like the reader to do after considering your proposal (this last bit is commonly known as a “call to action”). Be sure to provide contact information so the reader can easily find you to get additional details. After the cover letter, you’ll want a title page, which is exactly what it sounds like: just a name for your proposal, like “Safety Plan for QRS Company” or “Safety Supply Services Proposed for FGH Company.” If your proposal is reasonably simple, that’s all you need in the way of an introduction section. If your proposal is long or complex, you might want to include a Table of Contents followed by an Executive Summary (a list of the major points you make in the proposal).

Next comes the needs section. Here you should prove that you understand your potential client and/or the situation in question. Simply put yourself in the shoes of the proposal readers. What questions will they have? They want to understand your reasoning, so research the company or situation and describe any pertinent history or background. Have there been accidents in the past that must be prevented in the future? Is your company retrofitting your corporate campus to prevent potential earthquake or hurricane damage? Does a client need new safety equipment or workplace safety training? Are new regulations in place that must be followed? What limitations might the decision makers have (like budget or time)? Describe all these needs and requirements.

Following the needs section is the solution section. Explain how you plan to meet the needs you just described. The pages in this solution section may vary greatly, depending on what you are proposing. For example, you might be asking management to institute an in-house training program for the company’s truck drivers. Or you might be selling safety equipment such as hard hats, hazardous materials suits, and fall restraint systems to mining companies or construction supervisors. You could be explaining the changes your manufacturing company must make to meet new government regulations. You may be proposing a new, safer system for packaging and transporting chemicals across the country. In any case, describe exactly what it is that you are offering or proposing to do. You also need to explain the costs, as well as any options and scheduling issues associated with your proposal.

Finally, it’s time to explain why you are writing this proposal. Describe your experience, your training, any awards you’ve won or certifications you have, and list past clients, referrals, or testimonials—in short, tell the reader why you are the best person to do the job or make these recommendations. Finally, repeat your “call to action,” asking readers to take the next step—call you to set up a meeting, sign the contract, fund the program, whatever you want them to do next.

Proofread your proposal, making sure spelling and grammar are correct, and check each page to make sure it looks appealing. Remember that your proposal represents you; you want it to look and sound professional. Then print your proposal or package it as a PDF file, and deliver it to your readers.

That’s it! Not so intimidating, is it? You know your business, you know the ideas you need to pitch to your readers, and now you know how to structure a proposal. Time is money, and you want to present the best proposal you can, so consider giving yourself a big head start with a professional product like Proposal Kit. It includes templates for almost every topic you can imagine, and each template page has instructions and examples to remind you of the information that belongs on that page. Proposal Kit has a variety of graphic designs, so you can be sure your proposal will look as professional as it sounds. There are all kinds of sample proposals and reports, too, for a wide variety of businesses and projects. You might purchase the package to write your first safety proposal, but you’ll find that you use Proposal Kit over and over again.

How to Write an Invention or Patent Proposal

Have you or your work team invented a new technology that should be patented by your company? Or do you already have a patent that you want to license to another company?

It’s vital to document all the aspects for a patent and follow through on all the legal steps to register and license patented technologies. Whether you want to convince your management to apply for a patent or want to persuade a potential client of the benefits of licensing your patent, you will need to write a proposal.

You are most likely a designer or an engineer, not a writer, so writing a proposal might sound a bit intimidating. You’ll soon see that doesn’t need to be, though, because all proposals should follow a certain four-part structure: 1) introduction, 2) reader-focused section, 3) a section describing your ideas and plans, and 4) the all-about-you section.

Let’s work through those sections from the beginning down. The very first item in a proposal package should be a Cover Letter or, in the case of an internal company document, perhaps a Memo page. This page should be concise: simply state who you are and why you are submitting this proposal, state the action you’d like the reader to take after considering the proposal information, and provide all the contact information the reader needs to easily find you.

Next, the topmost page of the proposal should be a Title Page, which is exactly what it sounds like. Just name your proposal in a descriptive fashion, like “Proposal to Patent the QRX Screening Technology” or “Offer of Patent License to Davidson Manufacturing.” If your proposal is reasonably simple, that’s all you need in the way of an Introduction section. If your proposal is more complex, you may need to include a Table of Contents and an Executive Summary, which is simply a list of the most important points you want every reader to understand.

Proposal Pack Science #2

Now for the reader-focused section. Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. What will they want to know? What are their requirements or concerns? How will your proposal benefit them? This section should include pages describing Needs or Requirements and Benefits, at the very least. This is where you describe why your management or your potential client should consider your proposal, how it will fulfill their needs and help them reach their goals, and how your plan will benefit them. This section is all about the reader.

In the next section, the description of ideas and plans, you include as many topics as necessary to describe your proposal. If you are proposing to patent an invention, you probably need to describe the aspects of the technology that should be patented, as well as the steps in the process and who should be responsible for following through.

If you are proposing to license your existing patent, then you should explain any details the readers need to know about the patented technology, as well as the licensing terms you are offering and what it will cost. Here you might need pages like Nondisclosure, Restrictions, Procedures, Costs, Limitations, Competition, Innovativeness, and so forth.

In the final all-about-you section, your goal is to convince the proposal reader that you are a trustworthy expert. Include all the information about your Education, Experience, Expertise, and Certifications. You might want to include a Resume or Biography, a list of Patents that you hold, a Company History or About Us page, any Testimonials you have about the patented technology, and so forth. Again, put yourself in your readers’ position. Supply the information needed to persuade them that you are professional and dependable.

After you have inserted all the information you need in your proposal, take a little time to proofread and format it—you want your proposal to represent you at your professional best.

The first proposal you write may take you some time. But you will find that each subsequent one is easier to write, because although you need to customize each proposal to the specific readers, all your proposals will contain a lot of the same information.

You don’t have to start your proposal writing project with a blank word processing screen, unless you prefer that challenge. Using a dedicated product like Proposal Kit will save you a lot of time and confusion. Proposal Kit includes all the topic templates you’ll need, including all those mentioned above. Each template has suggestions and examples of information to put on that page, so you’ll never feel lost.

There are well over a hundred sample proposals for you to check out, too, including a couple of samples focused on patents and licensing. Need nondisclosure forms or other basic contracts? They’re in Proposal Kit, too; you can simply modify them to suit your own needs. Proposal Kit was designed for writing business proposals, but you can use it for reports, studies, and information packets, too. It’s a great product for general business use.

How to Write an Energy / Resources Business Proposal

These days the topic of energy is always in the news. As emerging economies expand and new technologies develop, everyone’s looking for more fuel to power devices and motors, whether that fuel comes in the form of electricity, petroleum products, or another type. There’s a lot of buzz about government energy policies, energy efficiency, alternative energy products, and wise use of natural resources to create energy for the future. It’s an exciting time to be in the energy business.

But there’s also a lot of competition. If you’re heading a startup company, marketing a new product, or seeking a grant to do energy research, it can be hard to get noticed among the crowd. Sooner or later, you will need to write a proposal to pitch your ideas and products to the right audience.

If you are an entrepreneur or a technical expert, the thought of writing a proposal might make you anxious. The odds are that you feel more comfortable with equations or equipment than with words. You could always hire a professional writer to create a business proposal for you, but you will still have to supply the information, so consider creating at least the rough draft on your own. It’s not as difficult as it might seem. All good business proposals follow a basic structure, and you don’t have to start off with a blank page, either. Focused products like Proposal Kit can give you a great head start with templates, sample proposals, and professional graphic designs.

Before you start any proposal, you need to gather information about three topics:

• Your audience—your potential client, customer, or supporter. In other words, who will read your proposal? What do you know about your readers, and what do they know about you? It’s never a good idea to send the same proposal out to multiple parties in the hopes that it will appeal to someone. You need to customize each proposal and target it to the specific readers who will receive it. Researching your potential clients and readers can take time and effort, but that effort makes your proposal much more likely to succeed. And winning the contract or the funding is your goal, isn’t it?
• Your proposed goods, services, or project. What are you pitching? Are you selling solar panels, offering to retrofit a building for energy efficiency, or seeking funding for a new gas well or coal mine? What benefits will your proposal bring to the reader? What will it cost?
• Your credibility. What makes you better than your competitors? Why should the readers believe that you can fulfill all your promises?

After you’ve gathered your thoughts and data about the above, it’s time to sit down and write. A Cover Letter should come first, of course. Keep it simple. Include only a statement of who you are and what you want the reader to do, and be sure to provide all your contact information so they can easily locate you to get details or to accept your proposal. If there are time constraints or deadlines, be sure to mention those, too. And it’s always a good idea to include a “call to action” statement, urging the readers to take the next step—call you for a meeting, sign the contract, vote for your proposal—whatever you want them to do after reading your proposal.

Proposal Pack Energy #1

Next, create a Title Page for your proposal. Simply name it clearly: some examples might be “Proposal to Reduce Electricity Consumption through Retrofitting the XGR Campus” or “Proposed Wind Turbine Farm in Rust County.”

If your proposal is long or complex, the next pages should be a Table of Contents and an Executive Summary, which is basically a list of the most important points you want to make. You’ll need to produce a Table of Contents after you’re done writing your proposal, but this is where it should go.

Now for the body of your proposal. In the first section, you should demonstrate what you know about your reader—your potential client, customer, or supporter. Show that you understand their goals and that their organization or constituency has a need for your proposed goods or services. In other words, why are you sending this proposal to them? If you’re aware of their constraints and requirements, be sure to include those, too. Don’t brag about yourself or your ideas yet—this section should be all about your readers.

After you’ve proven that you understand the current situation and the need that you propose to fill, it’s time to move on to the next section. Here, you will explain exactly what you are proposing, how it will benefit the proposal reader, and what it will cost. The topics that make up this section will vary greatly, according to your business and your offerings. For example, a company selling on-demand water heaters might include a comparison of traditional tanks and on-demand systems to show energy savings per year, while a company proposing to drill for natural gas might include descriptions of the technologies they will use and the environmental protections they will put into effect. A proposal to research the capture of methanol in dairy farms would need to explain how the research would be conducted. This section would also typically include pages like Costs and Benefits and Schedule.

The final section of the proposal should be all about you. Explain why you can be trusted to deliver on your promises. You’ll need pages like Company History, Clients, Testimonials, Projects, Certifications, Awards, Expertise, Training, etc.—in short, anything that shows you know what you’re doing or are the best in your field.

The last page of your proposal should be a Call to Action, where you simply ask your reader to take the next step. In other words, now that they’ve read your proposal, what do you want them to do next? Be specific, and provide any details they might need, such as contact information or important dates that must be considered. This might repeat information in your cover letter, but that’s a good thing; you’re reminding them what you want them to do.

That’s it for the basic draft of your proposal. Now, make sure to get someone with a good editorial eye to analyze and proofread each page, because if there are a lot of mistakes in your proposal, the reader may conclude that you are sloppy in your business practices. Spend some time making sure that your proposal looks professional, too. A product like Proposal Kit can help with this step by offering a variety of professionally designed graphic themes to choose from.

That’s it! Now deliver your proposal by the method that makes the most sense and is most likely to impress your readers. If you don’t hear from them within a few days, follow up with a friendly phone call to make sure they received it and know you’re available to answer questions. Good luck!

How to Write an Insurance Business Proposal

If you are in the business of selling insurance, then you know that many clients are looking for customized insurance packages. Mass-mailing brochures that list every product and service you have to offer might seem like an efficient way to go about attracting new clients, but it’s not an effective way to close the deal. Sure, you might want to use a strategy like a mass mailing or an advertisement to get people to call you for more information. However, after you’ve identified potential customers, the best way to secure them as new clients is to identify their needs and then write a business proposal that describes how you can meet those needs and why you are the best choice to buy insurance from.

The field of insurance covers a wide range of offerings and customer types. You might specialize in insurance for realtors or for building contractors, homeowners and auto insurance for families, or in insurance offerings for corporations, which could include life insurance, liability insurance, bonding, health care coverage, and disability insurance, as well as insurance for all corporate assets such as buildings, vehicles, and equipment. But no matter what sort of insurance services and packages you offer, the basics of writing an insurance business proposal remain the same.

How do you get started writing a proposal? First of all, you will research your potential clients, most likely by chatting with them on the phone or in person. It’s vital to be able to put yourself in their position, to understand what their needs and wants and concerns are, because, for best success, you want to write a proposal that is customized for each client. Of course you’ll use a lot of the same information in all your proposals, but each proposal should be specific enough to show that you are responding to the particular needs of that client. The key to winning new contracts is proving that you understand your customers as well you know as your business.

After you have a good grasp of your customer’s situation, you’re ready to sit down and write the proposal. All business proposals follow a basic structure: introduction, description of needs, explanation of how you will meet those needs, and then a description of why you can be trusted to do the job. That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? You know your business, and after you’ve researched your potential client, it shouldn’t be difficult to write a proposal. You can also make the process easier and faster by using a product like Proposal Kit, which is designed especially for writing proposals and other business documents. The templates in Proposal Kit provide instructions and examples to help you get the right information on each page. The page names that are capitalized in the following paragraphs are all templates included in Proposal Kit.

Let’s get started, working from the top page of a proposal to the last. Naturally, the first page you’ll need is a Cover Letter that briefly explains who you are, why you are writing, and provides all your contact information. Following the Cover Letter, you should create a Title page, which is simply a name for your proposal, like “Proposed Insurance Package for PQR Corporation” or “Homeowners and Automobile Insurance for the Martinez Family.” If you are creating a complex document that many people are likely to read (as for a corporation), then you might want to insert an Executive Summary or Client Summary page next—this is simply a list of the major points you want to make. A page like this may be scanned by top-level readers, who are likely to pass your proposal on to lower-level decision makers for a complete evaluation. This completes the introduction section of the proposal.

Next comes the client-centered portion, or the description of needs. Here you will prove that you understand your potential customer, by including pages like Needs Analysis, Client Background, Risk Assessment, Considerations, Requirements, and so forth. Depending on the type of insurance you’re proposing, you may also need to include pages that describe the items—Assets or Personnel to be insured—so you can be sure that you and your potential client agree on the range of coverage you are discussing.

After you have described your understanding of your client’s needs and concerns, then proceed to describe how you propose to meet those needs, and what it will cost. You’ll most likely include pages with titles like Recommendations, Options, Comparison, Policy, Premiums, Contract and Terms, Claims, Exclusions, Reliability, Bonding, and so forth, to spell out exactly what you are offering.

In the final proposal section, you will provide proof that you are the best choice to supply the insurance coverage needed. To do this, you’ll include information about your company such as a Company History, About Us, and/or Experience page, and pages that mention your customer base, such as Our Clients or Clients Served. If you have special Certifications or Training, have won Awards in your industry, or have Testimonials from clients to recommend your services, you’ll want to include those, too.

The final page in your proposal should be a Call to Action or Next Steps page, where you state what you want the client to do next, such as signing the enclosed contract or calling you to set up a meeting for further discussion.

Be sure to double-check every page to make sure spelling and grammar are correct and that everything looks professional. It’s always a good idea to employ a professional proofreader or editor, or at least get someone who is unfamiliar with your proposal to scrutinize it. If you present a proposal that is full of grammatical errors, your readers may conclude that you are likely to be just as error-prone in your business dealings.

Before you deliver your proposal via mail, email, or by hand, make sure your proposal looks good, too. Proposal Kit can help with this aspect as well, because the product includes professional designs that add graphic elements and dashes of color to enhance the visual appeal of your proposal. Proposal Kit is a recommended buy for any office. With hundreds of templates to help you include all your information, scores of sample proposals to spark your imagination, great designs to make your proposal stand out, and all kinds of instructions to help when you need them, the product provides an efficient way to create not only proposals, but any sort of business document.

How to Write a Book Publishing Proposal

“You should write a book.” Have you ever been told that? Maybe you’re an expert in your field whom others are eager to learn from, or maybe you simply have a great story that you want to share with the world. In either case, you’ve probably toyed with the idea of writing a book, or maybe you’ve already written one. But how do you go about getting an agent or a publisher? If you’re writing fiction, you need only a query letter and a synopsis. But if you’re writing memoir or any sort of nonfiction, agents and publisher will want a book proposal.

Okay, you think, I’m a writer; I can do that, but where do I start? First, if you haven’t already done it, you need to determine to whom you will send your proposal. You may be looking for a literary agent to represent you or an editor to take on the project. There are various printed resource catalogues of agents, editors, and publishers you can look through; and you can also go to a bookstore and look for the current publishers in your category.

But keep in mind that any printed catalog quickly goes out of date; be sure to double-check each name and organization online, and even call publishers to verify an individual’s name to send your proposal to. The publishing business changes constantly. You may find that the agent or editor you were targeting has moved, or that the organization is currently taking only proposals for certain types of books.

After you have a verified list of people that you are going to approach and you know they are at least willing to look at your proposal, it’s time to write the proposal.

So what goes into a book proposal? No matter whether you’re creating a “how-to” book about how to gardening or programming, documenting the history of your town, or writing a biography of a superstar, any agent or publisher will want to see the same basic information. Put yourself in the reader’s shoes—that person wants to know who you are, what you are offering, and why they should be interested in partnering with you to publish the book.

First of all (of course), you need a Cover Letter, which should succinctly explain who you are, what you want, and provide all your contact information. Following that should be a Title page, which should simply say something like “Proposal for Sugar Free but Taste Rich, a cookbook by master chef Jane Smith.”

Following the Title page, you should create a Summary and/or a Concept page—in other words, what is your book about? What will it offer the reader? Speaking of readers, you will also need to provide a page that describes your Market and Audience, meaning the readers who will want your book.

Descriptions here might be something like “Parents of autistic children” or “Anyone renovating a Victorian house.” If you can provide numbers of people in those categories, that type of concrete information will help persuade the reader that there is a good opportunity to sell the book. For example, if your book is about bird watching, you can probably find numbers of members of various bird watching organizations, or dollar amounts of sales of bird feed, etc.

The reader will want to know why you are qualified to write the book, so you’ll need to write an Author Bio to explain your expertise, your history, and your passion for the subject.

Next, you need to do a Market Study. Don’t panic—you don’t need to do telephone surveys or anything onerous like that. In a book proposal, a market study or analysis means listing the other successful books currently available on the same subject or in the same category (your competition), and explaining how your book will differ from them.

If your book is a scholarly study, you may need to include a Bibliography or a list of Reference Material that you will draw from as you write your book. For any type of book, you will provide an Outline of your book—this is usually a list of chapter titles with brief descriptions of what each chapter will contain. Finally, you need to provide one or more Sample chapters so that the reader can evaluate your writing skill and style.

If your book is already written and you’ve received reviews from credible sources (meaning other authors or experts in the field, not your family or friends), you’ll want to include a Reviews page or a Testimonials page to let the reader know that others appreciate your expertise and writing skill.

Finally, if your book proposal is fairly lengthy, you may want to include a Table of Contents right after your Title page to help the readers easily find the sections they are most interested in.

Naturally, you need to proofread your book proposal until it is flawless, because you are pitching your writing skill as well as your expertise in a subject. Every writer needs an editor, so if at all possible, be sure to have someone else read through your proposal before you send it out. Make sure your proposal package looks attractive and professional, too.

You’re a writer, so you could start off each of these sections by staring at a blank word processor screen and then typing away. But you could also choose to make it easy on yourself and start with a product like Proposal Kit, which includes templates for all the pages mentioned above. Each template has instructions and examples that will remind you of what sort of information should go on each page, so using Proposal Kit can make the writing much more efficient and help you get your book proposal “out there” faster.

Proposal Kit includes professional graphic page designs that make your proposal look appealing, too. And finally, if, like most writers, you create other types of documents, Proposal Kit is a great buy to help with those. There are hundreds of templates and sample proposals and tons of instructions to guide you in writing everything from a business plan to a grant request.

How to Write an Education Business Proposal

Do you have an idea for a new educational program or service? Maybe you want to apply for a government grant for an after-school program for middle school kids, organize a private high school, or develop a network of tutors for hire.

How are you going to get the money you need and explain your ideas to the influential people who can make it happen? The best way is to master the art of writing a proposal.

If you are replying to an RFP (Request for Proposal) or applying for a specific grant, you need to follow any instructions specified in the RFP or grant application as precisely as possible. An RFP response typically requires combining government agency forms with topics you need to write from scratch - based on what the RFP asks you talk about.

All proposals follow a basic structure: introduction, the recipient/client-oriented section, the description of proposed goods and/or services, and then the proposal writer/supplier-oriented section. The content of each section will vary from one proposal to the next, but this sequence of sections should stay the same.

Let’s break down those sections further. The introduction section is the shortest. The very first thing you’ll want for your proposal is a Cover Letter. A Cover Letter should be brief, and it should contain the following four elements: 1) a brief explanation of who you are, 2) a statement about why you are submitting this proposal at this time, 3) a statement of what you want the reader to do after reading your proposal—call for a meeting, sign the contract, etc., and 4) all your contact information so the reader can easily call you with questions or to accept your proposal.

The very first page of your proposal package should be a Title Page—just name your proposal something appropriate, like “Advanced Science Seminars Offered for the Jacobi School Gifted Program” or “Proposal to Create a New Charter School in the West Valley School District.” Next, if your proposal is long and detailed, you may want an Executive Summary or Client Summary Page, which is a summation of the most important points you want to make, and a Table of Contents to help readers easily see the contents and navigate through the proposal. That’s all for the introduction section.

The next section should be focused on the proposal recipient or client. Depending on what you are proposing, the readers you want to target might be members of a grant committee, potential students, parents of students, teachers, school administrators, a loan committee, or a governmental organization. It’s important to consider them carefully, and tailor your information to them. What do they want to know? What concerns might they have? Are there scheduling or budget restrictions? At the very least, this client-oriented section should have a Requirements page that summarizes what they have asked for, or what you believe they need. You may also want pages like Schedule, Deadlines, Limitations, Budget, Goals, Considerations, Special Needs, and so forth, to describe in detail your understanding of what the client needs. This is not yet the time to brag about your proposed program or your organization. Keep this section focused on information about what the client wants or needs.

The next section is a description of your ideas. Be sure to match them up with the previous section, explaining how you can address the client’s needs, how the client will benefit from your proposed program, and what your proposal will cost to implement. Don’t use generic sales jargon. Instead, be as specific as possible about what you plan to do. This section could contain a wide variety of topic pages, like Classes, Equipment, Schedule, Staff, Venues, Tutoring, Testing, Mentoring, Evaluation, and so forth—you’ll include whatever you need to thoroughly describe your proposal. At a bare minimum, you’ll want a Services Offered, Benefits, and a Cost Summary page in this section.

After you have thoroughly described what you want to do and how much it will cost, it’s time to tell the proposal readers all about you in the final section. What makes you or your organization qualified to take on this job? It’s not enough to simply say “I can do it” or boast about how smart you are. Keep in mind that it’s always best to provide evidence or testimonials from other parties than to do your own bragging. Do you have special Training, Certifications, or Education? Do you have an extensive Company History, a long list of Clients, or years of Experience in the field? Have you won Awards? Do you have Testimonials or Case Studies to offer to show how you have been successful in the past? Include any information that helps persuade the clients that you have the knowledge and professionalism to carry out your proposal promises.

At this point, you will have completed the first draft of your proposal. Congratulations! Now for the finishing touches. Have a qualified proofreader or editor read through your draft and fix any grammatical or spelling errors. It’s always best to enlist someone who is not familiar with your ideas to do this. That person is much more likely to catch errors and ask important questions than someone who knows your proposal well. It would be especially embarrassing to submit an error-ridden proposal for an education project, wouldn’t it?

After the words are perfect, make sure each page looks good, too. You might want to use visual details like splashes of color in titles or special bullet points to add interest, but keep the overall look professional.

That’s it! Print out your proposal or package it into a PDF file, and deliver it to the client or committee. Be sure to use whichever delivery method was specified by the client, or deliver it in the way you believe will most impress the recipients (email, upload to a web server, print and mail, etc.). Remember, you want your proposal to succeed, not end up in the heap with a hundred others, so it might be worthwhile to hand-deliver it or use another special method. Then, after a reasonable period of time, follow up with a phone call to make sure your proposal was received and give the clients a chance to ask questions.

After you have written one proposal, you’ll find that the next one is easier and faster to write, and that you can re-use a lot of the same information in multiple proposals. But it’s important to customize each one to the specific recipient; that’s the difference between proposal writing and mass marketing.

Proposal writing software packages can make your proposal writing and formatting easier. Take a look at Proposal Kit. You’ll be impressed by its value. The Proposal Kit packages include hundreds of templates, including all the ones mentioned above. You can find a page for almost any topic, and in the rare event you can’t, there are blank templates you can adapt for your own needs. The writing and details to include are up to you, but each template includes examples and instructions that remind you of typical information for that topic, so you’ll feel like you have a guide throughout the writing process.

Each Proposal Kit package is professionally designed, so your proposal will look great, too. You can choose a design theme or insert your own company logo. All pages can be adapted for your own needs. There are dozens of sample proposals, too, including some education-oriented ones. These are included to give you ideas of contents and looks for finished proposals. You can use Proposal Kit to generate reports and studies as well as proposals, and the product even includes contracts you can adapt for your projects. You’ll find that Proposal Kit gives you a big head start on your first proposal, and you’ll use it over and over again for all your business documents.

How to Write a Fashion Business Proposal

The world of fashion is huge and international, and it includes many different types of businesses.

There’s the design group: businesses that design patterns, fabrics, notions, accessories, makeup, and lines of clothing.

There’s the manufacturing group: businesses that create and package all those items. All those goods have to move around the planet, so there are specialists in importing or exporting clothes and accessories.

And then there are specialists in showcasing and marketing fashions, such as catalog companies, modeling agencies, fashion show production professionals, fashion experts at magazines and on television, photographers, makeup artists, and hair stylists. Even a few niche businesses are included in the fashion realm, such as costume design and makeup for movies, collectors of vintage clothing, and even doll clothes and accessories. The list is endless.

The competition is endless in the fashion world, too. So if you’re in charge of one of these businesses, you’re always looking for new clients and new projects. How can you beat the competition and land those contracts? You need to learn how to write a business proposal. This is true whether you need to impress a potential client, secure funding to grow your business, or even sell your business or find a partner.

Writing a business proposal doesn’t need to be a daunting project. After you understand the standard structure and focus of a proposal, you’ll be able to fill in the pages pretty quickly. And when your first proposal is complete, you’ll find it much easier to write the next one, and the next.

The first and most basic idea you need to master is that a good proposal is not focused on you. It should be focused on your prospective client or partner—the person who will read your proposal. That reader might be the loan officer at the bank where you’re applying for a business loan, the designer whose clothing line you want to manufacture, the production company you are pitching your services to, or the retail chain you want to sell clothing to. Throughout the proposal writing process, put yourself in that party’s shoes and consider what they want from you at each step.

All good proposals follow this structure: 1) introduction, 2) client-centered section, 3) description of proposed goods and/or services, 4) supplier-centered section. The pages in the last three sections will differ depending on your business and what you are proposing, but this sequence of sections should remain the same whether your proposal is four pages long or twenty.

What would you, as a prospective client, want to see as an introduction to a proposal? A Cover Letter, of course. When writing your cover letter, be sure to answer these four questions for the reader: 1) Who are you? 2) Why are you sending this proposal now? 3) What do you want the reader to do next? 4) How can the reader contact you to get more information or accept the proposal?

Next, provide a Title Page, which is precisely what it sounds like. Just give your proposal a logical descriptive name, like “Fashion Show Proposal for QRX Design Company” or “Fabrication and Shipping Services Proposed for West Coast Shops” or “Proposal to Establish a New Consignment Clothing Boutique.”

If your proposal has a lot of pages and details, next you might want to include a Client Summary (a one-page summary of the most crucial details you want even the busiest reader to absorb) and a Table of Contents. That’s all you need for the Introduction section.

On to the client-centered section: this is where you need to prove that you understand your potential client. Provide all the information you know about their needs and requirements for this project. If you’re writing a proposal to get a loan, this section could be as simple as a list of requirements you know you must meet. But if you’re writing a complex proposal, this section could be much longer. For example, if you’re producing a proposal to stage a fashion event, you might write pages about the client’s need for a venue of a certain size and type, the need to hire models, makeup and hairstyling experts, specialists in lighting and sound, possibly videographers and photographers, the need to notify and invite the media, and so forth.

Proposal Pack Fashion #2

If you’re proposing to sell your clothing line to a store, you might discuss their sales seasons, advertising needs, packaging and shipping concerns, and so forth. As well as detailing all the desires of the client, write down any constraints you’re aware of—budget, special needs of any kind, deadlines that must be met, etc. The goal of this section is to prove you understand what the client needs. At the very least, you’ll need a topic page labeled something like Needs or Requirements or Specifications. But if the project has many different aspects, you’ll need many more topic pages to cover what the client is looking for.

After the client-centered section, write your description of exactly what you are proposing and what it will cost. Do you plan to open a new hair salon? Are you selling jewelry to compliment a clothing line? Are you providing marketing services for a product launch? Are you proposing to design unique evening wear for the wealthiest clients? At a bare minimum, this section should contain a list of Products or Services Provided, a description of Benefits, and a Cost Summary.

But the odds are that you will need many more topics, such as Style, Trends, Lifestyle, Concepts, Aesthetics, Accessories, Materials, Venue, Personnel, Schedule, Equipment, Options, Specials, etc.—include all the topics you need to explain about the goods or services you propose to provide. At each step of the way, describe how what you are offering will meet or exceed the client’s requirements that were described in the previous section—in other words, how your goods and/or services will benefit the client. If you offer a Guarantee of satisfaction or a Warranty on your products, include that information, too.

Now, in the final supplier-centered section, it’s time to persuade the client that you are the best choice for the project. This section should have at least one page explaining Company History or Experience. If you are the star, this section might even include your Resume. Keep in mind that it’s always more persuasive to let facts or third parties demonstrate your qualities, so if you have lists of Clients Served or similar Projects you’ve done, special Training or Certifications, Awards, or Testimonials from satisfied customers, by all means add those. If you have helpful Alliances or Contacts that would be useful, include those, too.

If you need appendices, such as sketches, maps, photographs, charts, or lists of suppliers, etc., those will go at the end, but otherwise, you’re finished writing your proposal.

But you’re not quite done. This is the fashion world, and you have competition, so take the time to be sure your proposal is error-free and looks good, too. This means careful proofreading and formatting. Special fonts, colored titles or borders, logos, and unusual bullet points can add visual appeal. Remember that you want your proposal to represent you at your professional best.

After every page has been perfected, print the proposal or create a PDF file and deliver it to your prospective client in whatever way is likely to impress that party (email, upload to your web site, print and mail, etc.). It might be worthwhile to hand-deliver a proposal package or pay for a special delivery to make your offering stand out above the competition.

While your first proposal might take awhile to create, you’ll learn that all subsequent proposals will be faster, and you can re-use some of the same information in each. But remember that a good proposal should always be client-centered, and this means that each proposal will be customized to the particular client and project.

It’s possible to create a business proposal with any word processing system, but to speed up the process, you should consider using a specialized product like Proposal Kit. It comes with hundreds of topic templates including all of the those mentioned above, dozens of sample proposals, and even contracts you can adapt for your use. Each template has instructions and examples to guide you as you write, and the sample proposals will show you what a finished proposal might look like and include. You can choose from a variety of graphic designs to represent your organization’s style, or you can use your own company logo. Proposal Kit can give you a big head start on writing your proposals, and a big jump on your competition in the fashion world.

How to Write an Aerospace Industry Business Proposal

When many people first hear the word “aerospace,” they think of jets and rockets, but the aerospace business is much more varied than that.

Specialized businesses maintain aircraft, design and manufacture interior components or aircraft navigation systems, supply parts for aircraft engines, program monitoring and guidance systems, and so forth. It’s a long list.

If you’re in one of these businesses, you know that each business deal is different because it requires customizing your product or service for a particular client or a particular aircraft. So unlike other businesses, you can’t simply publish your catalog or mail your brochures and reel in thousands of clients. To land the deal, you need to write a business proposal.

If you are facing the prospect of writing your very first proposal, you might feel a bit overwhelmed. Relax. You already have most, if not all, of the information you need, because you know your business and what you have to offer. Writing a business proposal is a step-by-step process with a specific four-part sequence to follow, and the next paragraphs will show how this works.

Your very first task in preparation is to put yourself in your potential client’s position. Consider that party’s needs, requirements, limitations, and concerns. In other words, what questions will your potential client want you to answer? If you need to do some research to find out more about the client’s business history or the goals for the proposed project, do that up front. Often you will have a Request for Proposal (RFP) in hand, or sometimes you can find the information you need on the potential client’s corporate website. If you need clarification about anything, don’t guess--call the potential client and ask.

After you feel that you understand the client’s position, it’s time to begin the Introduction section for your proposal. You’ll start with a Cover Letter introducing yourself, explaining why you’re submitting a proposal now, and supplying all your contact information. Next, create a Title Page. Simply name your proposal in a descriptive way. Examples might be “Proposal to Reconfigure Aircraft Interiors for the Smith Corporate Fleet,” “How a Cabin Air System Upgrade Will Increase Passenger and Crew Satisfaction,” or “Proposed Testing Program for the XZ-78 Jet Engine.” That’s all you need in the way of Introduction.

In the second section, you will describe the needs of your potential client and the requirements for the project. At the very least, you’ll want a Needs Assessment page that describes what the client wants. You might also need pages like Goals, Background, Concerns, Limitations, Budget, Schedule, Specifications, and so forth—include all the topics you need to show that you understand what your client is seeking.

In the third section, your task is to describe in detail what you are offering to do and what it will cost, keeping in mind that your goal is to show how you will address the needs, desires, and any restrictions described in the previous section. The topics here will vary according to the nature of your business and the specific project, but you’ll probably want pages with titles like Solutions, Design, Engineering, Prototypes, Quality Control, Manufacturing, Testing, Coordination, Schedule, Components, Options, Cost Summary, Services Offered, Products, Customization, Delivery and so forth.

Proposal Pack Aerospace #2

Include everything you need to thoroughly describe what you propose to do. Generally speaking, the more specific you can be, the more credibility you will have with the potential client, because a detailed plan shows that you thoroughly understand the requirements of the project and have thought about all the potential concerns and pitfalls.

In the fourth and final section, you will switch your role from project manager to marketer, and explain why you have the expertise and experience to make the project a success. It’s always best not to brag in vague generalities, but to provide factual information about your Expertise, Education, Training, Credentials, Certifications, and Experience. Have you done similar projects for other customers? If yes, then provide a list of Clients Served. You’ll want an About Us or Company History page. If you have won Awards or have Testimonials from other clients, include them here. Do you offer a Guarantee of satisfaction or a product Warranty? Incorporate all the topics you need to persuade your client that you are a trustworthy expert in your field.

Now you have a first draft of your proposal. If it has many pages or complex descriptions, you should create an Executive Summary (a list of the most important points you want even the busiest readers to absorb) and a Table of Contents. These two pages should be inserted immediately after the Title Page.

Edit your proposal language to be sure it reads smoothly and is free of misspellings and grammar errors. For this final step, it’s usually best to employ a professional editor or proofreader, or at least use someone other than the proposal writer, because every writer misses errors in his or her own work.

Make sure each page looks neat and professional, too. You might want to add your company logo, special heading fonts or bullet points, or colored page borders to make the pages more visually appealing. Print your proposal for hand delivery or package it into a PDF for delivery via email. Use whichever method is most likely to appeal to your potential client. Sometimes making an extra effort to send a proposal via special messenger or delivering it yourself can make a big impression that will help you beat the competition.

If you’re in the aerospace business, you know all about efficient use of tools. So you may be interested to know that there’s a product called Proposal Kit that is designed to make writing business proposals faster and easier. It contains hundreds of topic templates, including all the ones mentioned above. Each template is professionally formatted and contains instructions and suggestions for content, so you’ll never sit staring at a blank word processing screen and wondering what to write.

Proposal Kit also contains dozens of sample proposals, which you can peruse for inspiration about what your proposal might look and sound like. There are even basic contracts you can adapt for your own use, and of course, loads of instructions and useful articles. It’s not only for writing proposals, either; all the topics and formats work wonderfully for reports and all kinds of business documents. Proposal Kit is a great tool that will help you efficiently produce business proposals and other documents.

How to Write a Manufacturing Business Proposal

If you are in charge of or dealing with a factory, then you know how important it is to keep your production schedule filled with projects. That most likely means that you must continually seek new clients for your services. To win a new contract, the odds are that you will need to write a business proposal.

If you’ve never written a proposal before, that may sound like a difficult project. It doesn’t need to be intimidating, though, because you already know your business and how to sell it, so you’re halfway to the finish line. The other half is learning what goes into a business proposal, and that’s what this article is about.

If you are responding to a Request for Proposal (RFP), then of course you need to provide all the information asked for, in the order specified in the RFP. But if it’s up to you to decide the content and format for your proposal, you should know that all business proposals have a basic four-part sequence.

Part 1 is the introduction, which consists of a Cover Letter, a Title Page, and (optionally) an Executive Summary and a Table of Contents. In the Cover Letter, simply explain succinctly who you are, why you are presenting this proposal, and what you’d like the reader to do after considering the proposal information (set up a meeting with you, collaborate on a contract, call for estimates, etc.). Be sure to provide all your contact information, too—phone number, email, website, physical address, and so forth. The Title Page is simply a descriptive name for your proposal—something like “Proposed Manufacturing Process for QRT Widgets” or “Fabrication Proposal for HJK Corporation.” An Executive Summary (also called a Client Summary) is a list of the most important points in a complex proposal, and it’s provided for busy execs who may not have time to read the rest of the pages. The Table of Contents is simply a navigation aid and will be needed only if the proposal is long and complex.

Part 2 is a very important section, and one that is often neglected. Many proposals start off with a lot of marketing information about why the company proposing the project is so great to work with. That’s not a good strategy for a winning proposal. Instead, Part 2 should be all about the potential client. Put yourself in your client’s shoes. Write down that organization’s needs, desires, and limitations. At a minimum, you’ll want a Requirements or Needs page. You may also need more specifics, like a Schedule page and a Budget page. Maybe Specifications and Materials and Packaging pages, too—include all the topics you need to describe your understanding of what the client wants and needs, as well as any Restrictions and Limitations on the project. You might need to include diagrams or blueprints. Your goal is to prove that you understand what the client needs from you.

After you’ve explained what the needs are, it’s time to describe how you propose to fill those needs in Part 3. This is the section where you describe in detail what you propose to do, how it will benefit the client, and how much it will cost. The pages in this section vary tremendously from project to project, but this section should at least contain a Services Offered page, a Benefits page, and a Cost Summary page. You might also want to include some of the following topics: Solutions, Efficiency, Design, Schedule, Options, Quality Control, Guarantee, Equipment, Prototype, Packaging, Shipping, Safety, Sampling, Testing, and/or Labeling. Include as many topics as you need to describe your proposed manufacturing process in detail, and make sure to talk about how your process meets or exceeds the needs you detailed in Part 2.

Proposal Pack Concepts #1

After you have thoroughly described what you propose to do, it’s time to explain why your company is the best choice for the job—that’s Part 4, the final part of the proposal. It’s always best to use facts, statistics, or recommendations from others to sell a client on your reputation, so you’ll want to include pages like About Us, Company History, Experience, Client List, Projects, Staff, Certifications, Facilities, and so forth to demonstrate that you have plenty of experience with similar projects and you have the capability to carry out this manufacturing process. If you have won Awards, have gathered Testimonials from other clients, or offer a Guarantee or Warranty, be sure to include all those, too.

Now you understand the basic structure for a proposal: 1) Introduction, 2) Client-Centered Section, 3) Description of Proposed Services section, and 4) Manufacturer-Centered section. After writing all these sections, you have the first draft for your proposal, and you’re nearly done.

There are two steps left. First, find a dynamite proofreader or editor to scan the entire proposal, correct any spelling or grammatical mistakes, ask questions about any confusing wording or information that is lacking, and make sure each page looks professional. Then print out the proposal or package it into a PDF file and deliver it to the client by whatever method makes the most sense for the client.

Although you can use any word processing program to create your entire proposal from scratch, you might like to know about a professional package called Proposal Kit, which is specially designed for writing proposals. Proposal Kit includes hundreds of template pages (including all those topics mentioned above) with instructions and examples for writing about nearly any sort of topic. Also included are sample proposals, so you can see how finished proposals for all sorts of projects might look.

There are even contracts you can change for your own use, as well as all sorts of help should you need any guidance in using the product. Proposal Kit is useful for writing studies and reports as well as business proposals, and you can purchase an assembly wizard program to make working with long proposals much easier. You’ll find Proposal Kit will make you look like a pro, even if you’re writing your first proposal.

How to Write an Import/Export Proposal

Even more business is global these days, and all sorts of companies are looking for import and export services to move products across borders.

If you’re in the import/export business, you need to let potential clients know how valuable your services can be to them. Of course, you’ll want a dynamite website and maybe some paper advertising as well to attract attention, but to get work contracts, you need to understand how to create a business proposal.

A business proposal is more than just a price quote or a brochure. Each proposal should be targeted to the specific client’s needs and should explain in detail what you have to offer and how it will benefit the client.

All service proposals have a definite structure that you should follow for maximum success. Here’s the basic four-part structure: 1) introduction, 2) client-centered section, 3) description of products, services, and costs, and 4) a section that’s all about you. Now, each of these parts could have dozens of pages, or only a few. The length of the proposal depends on the complexity of the project and the services you are offering.

Let’s look at the sections in more detail. The introduction is the simplest. Start off your proposal packet with a Cover Letter. Keep it short—just explain who you are, why you’re sending this proposal, and include all your important contact information. The letter should include a “call to action” statement saying what you’d like the reader to do after considering your proposal. Most likely, you’ll want them to call you to set up a meeting or contract for your services.

The Cover Letter should accompany your proposal, but the first page of your proposal should be a Title page that simply states what the proposal is about: for example, “Import and Shipping Services from China for GTG Corporation” or “Import/Export Services Proposed for Baker Manufacturing Services.”

That’s all you need for an introduction if your proposal is short and simple. If it’s longer, you may want to include a Table of Contents and an Executive Summary or Client Summary page—this is a page for busy readers who may not read all the details, and it should contain a list of the most important points you want to get across.

Now for the client-centered portion of the proposal. This is what truly differentiates a proposal from a sales brochure, and doing a good job on this section can make the difference between a proposal that gets tossed into the pile and a proposal that results in a contract. Why? Because all organizations are necessarily self-centered; they want to know how your offerings will benefit them. So, in this client-centered section, you need to prove that you understand the potential client’s business, needs, and concerns.

If you don’t feel that you already have that knowledge, then you’ll need to do a little work to get it, but it will be worth the time. Put yourself in your potential client’s shoes. Is the company branching out to markets in new countries, or considering importing goods from manufacturers in other countries? Do they have difficulties with shipping, transportation, or customs issues? Do they have limitations on budgets or schedules? At a minimum, you’ll want a Needs page in this section that lists the client’s needs. Depending on the client’s size and type of business, you might also need to discuss Restrictions, Limitations, Schedule, or Budget, or include a Requirements page that sets forth their criteria for import/export services.

After you’ve written down everything you know about your client’s needs and concerns, it’s time to explain how you can meet those needs with solutions in the services description section. Include all the pages necessary to describe your services and what those services will cost. Be sure to match your discussion with the client’s needs. At the very least, you’ll want a Services page and a Cost Summary page. You may also need specialized pages to discuss Global issues, to separate out your Imports and Exports services, describe Strategic Alliances you have formed, or to describe any Shipping services you also provide.

After you have described what you have to offer, you will write the section that describes why you are the best choice for the job. In this all-about-you section, you should include your Company History and Experience, any Certifications or Training you might have, any Awards you’ve won or Testimonials that clients have written about you, and so forth. In other words, include any information that will persuade the potential client that you will deliver on your promises.

After you’ve written these four basic parts in your proposal, you’re done with your rough draft. Now, be sure to carefully proofread every page and make sure each page looks good, too, because mistakes here might make potential clients assume your business practices are sloppy, too. You want your proposal to represent you at your professional best, so if you need to hire a professional proofreader or editor, it’s worthwhile to do that.

After all the pages look and sound great, then print your proposal and cover letter and deliver them by mail or by hand, or package them into a PDF file for email delivery. Be sure to use whichever method is likely to most impress your potential client—remember, this is all about beating the competition and sealing the deal. Then, if you don’t hear from that client within a week or so, follow up with a phone call. Ask if they received your proposal and if they have any questions for you, and odds are that you’ll be on your way to securing that contract.

Writing a business proposal may sound like a big investment of time and energy, but you’ll discover that you can reuse a lot of the information you provide from proposal to proposal, changing only the first client-centered section to make each proposal a customized presentation.

You can also speed up the process by using a specialized product like Proposal Kit, which is designed expressly for producing proposals, reports, and other business documents. The product includes hundreds of templates that you can use in any proposal, including all the topics mentioned above. The templates include instructions and examples, so you’ll never feel bewildered about what sort of information to include. Each page is professionally designed, too, so your proposal will look great.

As an added bonus, Proposal Kit includes standard contracts that you can edit for your own use, and more than a hundred sample proposals, so you can see what finished proposals look like for a variety of businesses. Proposal Kit can give you a big head start on creating a winning business proposal.