Writing a Sales Proposal

Filed under: Writing Business Documents

Writing a Sales Proposal, by Neil Fairley

Part 1: A quick way to assess if you’ve got an opportunity of actually winning the business:

1. Examine the draft sales proposal carefully, and then answer the following questions.
2. Does the client know who you are and have you validated a successful track record. In other words ensure you are really up to the task.
3. Does the proposal clearly articulate your understanding of the prospective clients needs?
4. Have you replaced any jargon that’s only meaningful within your business?
5. Have you managed to get close enough to the prospect so you know if another company has the inside track?
6. Does the proposal follow the customer’s specified format and outline?
7. Have you removed all the meaningless marketing fluff and hyperbole e.g. “state-of-the-art”?
8. If using template material has someone edited out other customer names or information relevant to another company?
9. Is the writing clear and forceful rather than flat and technical?
10. Has the proposal been edited so that it contains no glaring grammatical errors?
11. Can the proposal convince the customer that you can actually deliver on your promise? Sometimes anecdotal stories help here.
12. Does the proposal define how customer satisfaction or milestones of achievement are to be measured?
13. Is the proposal being submitted on time and to the right people?

Hope you’ve learnt some things about writing a sales proposal in the next part we will aid you in writing the covering letter.

3 Responses to “Writing a Sales Proposal”

1. Will Rogers Says:
   August 29th, 2008 at 11:06 am

   I like this material, cant wait for the next episode.

2. Karen Bowen Says:
   August 29th, 2008 at 11:15 am

   This is very helpful material, thanks BIAS.

3. Crystelle Hartfiel Says:
   August 29th, 2008 at 11:33 am

   This is great article…keep them coming!

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