Every time I read a business proposal to a potential client I am amazed by the amount of overhead (bullshit) we add in the document - A lot of stuff about your company's history (Nobody cares), the clients history etc. I am a little taken aback by the client's history part, I wonder which joker would want to tell a client about themselves. I dont know who started this practice but its definitely funny. Some really very cautious sales execs put in a lot of riders to cover their backsides. So essentially you'll end up with a proposal that will tell you a lot about what you will not do for your client rather than what you will do.
Now that brings us to what should be contained in a proposal. For one I believe that you should assess what the client wants to accomplish. It may be business targets like - increase customer base, improve turn around time of tele callers, increase the number of credit worthy customers etc etc.
You should highlight in your proposal that you have understood this busiess need; The solution you propose to achieve this; The mechanism you'll implement to facilitate achieving this business objective and the infrastructure you have to support this implementation. PERIOD. Nothing more nothing less. All this in about 10 - 12 pages including all title, revision history and everything else that your quality procedures require. Every other legal clause can be saved for the contract.
My recommendation would be to have the following contents in your proposal.
1. Situation Summary
2. Objectives
3. Value provided by you
4. Measure of Success - How will you measure that the objectives have been met
5. Methodology
6. Scope and Timelines
7. Critical Success Factors - A disguised way of highlighting accountabilities of the client
8. Compensation
Never title your proposal "Proposal"! Write a title that states the benefit to the client. E.g. "Increasing number of positive prospects", Highlight the key points using bullets or by emphasing text, eliminate jargon and quantify your benefits. You are sure to strike GOLD.
Now that brings us to what should be contained in a proposal. For one I believe that you should assess what the client wants to accomplish. It may be business targets like - increase customer base, improve turn around time of tele callers, increase the number of credit worthy customers etc etc.
You should highlight in your proposal that you have understood this busiess need; The solution you propose to achieve this; The mechanism you'll implement to facilitate achieving this business objective and the infrastructure you have to support this implementation. PERIOD. Nothing more nothing less. All this in about 10 - 12 pages including all title, revision history and everything else that your quality procedures require. Every other legal clause can be saved for the contract.
My recommendation would be to have the following contents in your proposal.
1. Situation Summary
2. Objectives
3. Value provided by you
4. Measure of Success - How will you measure that the objectives have been met
5. Methodology
6. Scope and Timelines
7. Critical Success Factors - A disguised way of highlighting accountabilities of the client
8. Compensation
Never title your proposal "Proposal"! Write a title that states the benefit to the client. E.g. "Increasing number of positive prospects", Highlight the key points using bullets or by emphasing text, eliminate jargon and quantify your benefits. You are sure to strike GOLD.
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