Whether you work in-house in a company’s Human Resources or Personnel department or for a staffing or executive search firm, you assess organizational human resources requirements and make sales pitches on available candidates. Sometimes, you may need to persuade your superiors or a potential customer of the merits of adding a new role or position or of the value of hiring individuals you recommend. You might be able to convince the client or top management with a phone call or a casual talk in the hallway, but writing a proposal is the more likely option.
You may think, “Oh no, I’ve written business letters but never a business proposal.” Stop worrying! Writing a proposal is much easier than you may believe. Introduce yourself, detail the proposal’s rationale and any associated costs, and demonstrate that you can be relied upon to follow through on your commitments to the boss or potential client. Advice abounds online and in dedicated proposal-writing software like Proposal Kit. Using a proposal product as a jumping-off point can save time because it provides you with templates and examples you can use to craft your successful proposal.
When trying to sell your product or services to several people, the worst thing you can do is send them a generic sales letter and some brochures or resumes. A generic solution like that won’t cut it in place of a tailored proposal. A proposal aims to win over the client or supervisor so you can carry out their desired action. To win them over, you must tailor your message to their situation, earn their trust, and demonstrate that you are an expert in your field and can provide them with the necessary solutions.
The first stage in creating a successful proposal is researching potential reviewers. That’s because it’s essential to address the recipient’s interests and degree of understanding before making a suggestion. Put yourself in the other person’s position and try to see things from their perspective. You may be already familiar with the viewpoints and concerns of your employer and other corporate executives if you’re making a pitch to them. But if you’re presenting to folks at a different organization, you’ll need to learn more about them, their work, and their requirements before submitting. The time and effort you invest into this study will significantly increase your chances of accepting your proposal.
Creating the proposal will be a breeze once you have gathered basic information about the prospective client. Every bid has the same four sections: There should be an introductory paragraph, a summary of the problem and the requirements, and then a detailed description of the idea or the products, services, or individuals being offered, together with any associated prices. Finally, you’ll include 4) everything the proposal reader needs to have faith in you, including your experience, credentials, and ability.
The shortest part of the paper is the introduction. A cover letter and title page should be your first steps. Cover letters should be concise introductions explaining who you are and how to contact you. A proposal’s title should do precisely what its name implies: introduce the proposal and convey the central idea or value proposition. Titles could read “Executive Search Services Proposed for Jameson Company,” “Temporary Services Proposed to Benefit the Stuart Corporation,” “Suggested Candidates for the Vice President Position,” and so on.
Include topic pages following the cover letter and title page to demonstrate that you have read and understood the position and needs of the employer or client. If your proposal is lengthy and involved, you may want to start with a one- or two-page summary highlighting the most crucial aspects to include in the document’s body. In a more official proposal, this summary is termed an Executive Summary, whereas a more casual one is called a Client Summary. Here, you should explain who your client is (the one who will ultimately decide whether or not to accept your proposal) and what they hope to achieve. You shouldn’t talk about what you have to offer here just yet. Here, you’ll need to show that you’ve considered the other side’s concerns and expectations.
After focusing on the client, you can discuss your thoughts and service. Depending on your proposal, you may need to include pages under things like “Resume,” “Compensation Package,” “Salary,” “Bonuses,” “Services,” “Human Resources,” “Job Description,” “Cost Summary,” “Job Creation,” “Personnel,” “Key Positions,” and “Competitiveness.” Don’t forget to detail the expenses and benefits of your ideas and services. After this proposal part is dedicated to you and your thoughts, you must show the reader that their expectations will be met. You can accomplish this by including sections such as “About Us,” “Our Clients,” “Awards,” “References,” “Credentials,” “Experience,” “Testimonials,” “Company History,” and so on. In this final section of your proposal, you should convince the reader that they can entirely rely on you.
You have finally finished the proposal. You can almost touch the end goal but are not quite there yet. Spend some effort making your proposal look good. Add a company logo, highlighting important information with bullet points and fancy fonts to make a good impression. Any visual elements you want to incorporate into your proposal should be tasteful and fitting with your writing style.
Be sure to proofread and fix any spelling mistakes on every page. If you need a final check, find a proofreader who hasn’t seen your proposal before. It’s far too simple to overlook mistakes in one’s work.
Finally, submit your well-researched proposal. It can be downloaded as a PDF, printed out, or both. How well you know the person reading your proposal will determine the best method of sending it. It may be more impressive to hand-deliver a professionally printed and signed proposal than sending a PDF file to an email these days.
In conclusion, you can see that the targeted content of a proposal for work depends on the context, the objective, and the requirements of the prospective employer or client. However, you should know that submissions are uniform in structure and format. Don’t worry about creating everything from scratch; Proposal Kit has all the necessary samples. Your proposal sections will be easily written and formatted if you start with a template that includes detailed instructions and sample content for each page.
The proposal Kit includes many sample proposals, many of which are relevant to employment, in addition to hundreds of templates. There is a sample proposal for temporary services, another for a new sales office with new employees, and another for a job-share arrangement, to name just a few. You can use the examples in Proposal Kit to get ideas for your proposal and streamline the proposal-writing process.
For over ten years, Ian Lauder has advised startups and independent contractors on proposal and contract writing. => Visit for advice on how to write a legal contract or business proposal.
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