How to Write a Winning Business Proposal?

What is a Business Proposal?

A business proposal is perhaps one of the most critical documents you need to learn how to write. It is what makes the difference between success and failure in any business you are embarking on, whether you’re a freelancer or you own a company.
In today’s business world filled with lots of opportunities, both online and offline entrepreneurs spend so much time submitting business proposals to potential clients, and not get any results. On the other hand, there are those that are very more likely to get the contract after just submitting one business proposal. Strange, isn’t it?
Now you can find out how these very successful entrepreneurs are able to do just that below.

What are really the Basics of a Winning Business Proposal?

Before you start thinking of writing that winning business proposal, you must first understand what it is and learn the fundamentals of it.
A business proposal is just a written document that contains offers of a particular product or service to a potential buyer or client. In other words, it is the information contained in the written proposal that the buyer or client would access to know if he or she wants your product or not.

What type of Proposal is Suitable for Your Potential Client?

There are two major type of business proposals;

• Solicited Business Proposals: These are submitted in response to an advertisement published by the buyer, company or client.
• Unsolicited Proposals: These are submitted or given out to potential buyers, companies or clients even though they are not requesting for any proposal.

What is the Steps taken to Write a Winning Business Proposal?

The secrete of writting a winning business proposal can be gotten from three steps, love to call it the "3P steps", it include the following;

• Problem Statement Defining: The first "P" is the problem statement. Now what is the problem statement defining? This is defining the client's need, problems and challenges in clear simple terms. Every organization or client has its own pressing needs and challenges it faces on daily bases, so to proffer solution to their problems, you must be able to define the kind of problems they are facing, otherwise your written proposal would never ring a bell. Now, how do one get to know about the client's problem? To do so, you must learn the act of asking vital and relevant questions about the client and carry out series of investigation, this would sure help to find out about your client's challenges.

Below is an example of a properly written problem statement of a business proposal:
"With the presence of social media in today’s advancing world, E&D Sons Limited have hesitated to make the leap from traditional way of marketing to social media marketing.
Their old fashioned marketing tactics seem to be losing effectiveness and the company feels as if they are missing out on a large segment of their market. In addition, their competition has began acquiring the majority of the business in the market and have brought E&D Media’s growing revenues to a halt.

• Propose a Proffered Solution:The major objective of submitting a business proposal is to offer your prospective client a solution to a particular problem. This part should contain much more details as possible, and should be able to touch on the current basic need of your client.Below is  an example of a proposed solution:
  "The solution that is recommended for E&D Sons Limited. is to deploy their company on all of the major social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter; however, there is a major difference in creating social media platforms versus creating a brand you can promote on those platforms.
  A marketing campaign must be created that would make use of these media channels and creating immediate engagement with your audience and customers. In order for this to be successful, you know how to make sales. Initially, acquire some fans, followers, subscribers, and connections and invite them to join you in particular discussion or attend a specific event.
  The purpose of this is not only to promote E&D Limited, but also to get feedback from the target audience."
• Pricing InformationThis is the third "P" of every successful written business proposal. For many clients, the pricing information is what will make them conclude whether to offer you the contract or not.The skill to write this part greatly depends on the solutions you included in the previous segment. If the solution proposed will only take a short period of time, a Fee Summary will suffice. For longer projects, it is best to segment these payments to specific milestones in what is called a Fee Schedule list.

Key Points to Remember When Writing a Winning Business Proposal:
Now that you know the essentials of a winning business proposal, think this is the right time to go ahead and start writing, right? Well, not really.
The key points written below would further guide you on how to write a winning business proposal that gets their attention and awards you the contract.

Do a Diligent Research!


First and foremost, you must do a thorough research about your client, not all clients would give you the explicit details of their wants and needs, especially if you’re submitting an unsolicited business proposal. Extend your research to include the competitors of your potential client, and their customers as well. This will ensure that your business proposal will be as comprehensive and as detailed as possible.

Put Yourself in their Shoes:

One other thing to remember when writing a business proposal is to always put yourself in the shoes of your potential clients. By doing this, it will help you provide information on things that they would most likely ask, such as “Why should we pay you this much amount for the solutions you’re offering” and “How can these changes benefit me?”

Why must it be You?
If you are able to find out that a company or client has certain needs, there is a probability that others would have done the same thing. That means that there will be others that have submitted their proposals to the company.
That being said, it is important to make sure to highlight your talents, experience and other qualifications to convince the client why they should choose you or your company.