The 8 Steps to Writing Winning Proposals

After many years of writing proposals, some winners and some not, I’ve learned a couple of things about what makes a client say “yes.”?

Now, I’m not claiming to have all of the answers to this - I mean, after all, who does??

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But what I’d like to do is to share some insights with you that might just help you win more business.?

So, here we go.

The Importance of the Proposal

Why is it that this proposal matters so much??

It’s really the first piece of written work a potential client sees from us. It’s our chance to show them what we can do.

The Eight Building Blocks of a Winning Proposal

1. Summary

Surprisingly, to start with, is the summary. We keep it brief, but we make it count. We highlight the client's challenges and our solutions. So if the client reads nothing else apart from this, then at least it gives them the gist of everything we want.

2. Demonstrating Understanding We show we’ve done our homework. We demonstrate that we understand their world because we know a client can smell a generic proposal a mile away.

3. Presenting Our Solution This is the main event. This is where we lay out our approach clearly, and often using visuals is a great idea.

4. Timeline and Milestones Managing expectations naturally—we want to be realistic. It’s far better to under-promise and over-deliver than the other way around.

5. Introducing the Team The people behind the promise, whether it’s just you or your whole team. Show why you’re the right fit, and don’t be shy about your strengths, but be honest about your limitations—that goes a long way. In his brilliant book, Professor Robert Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice, he talks about admitting a failing (not a failure) after which we always sound more believable.

6. Discussing Pricing Why are there so many conversations where people stumble at this point? We need to be clear about our fees and focus on the return on investment. Then create the contrast between the investment and the financial and emotional return that investment can create. If the client is fixating on price, it’s usually because we didn’t create the contrast earlier in the conversation.

7. Proving We Can Deliver We need to talk about our track record and share relevant success stories, maybe adding some testimonials from clients who are similar to the client who’s receiving this proposal. I call this “matching testimonials.”

8. Outlining Next Steps Making it easy to say yes—spelling out what the client has to do to agree to your proposal and always arranging the next meeting before leaving any meeting, especially when the next meeting is to discuss the proposal.

To wrap this up...

Creating a proposal that wins clients is part art, part science, and a good chunk of empathy.?

It’s about understanding what our client needs and showing them clearly and confidently how we can help.?

I think of it this way: every proposal is a learning opportunity, and I’ve had my share of successes and failures, and each one taught me something valuable.?

So we can keep on refining that approach, and who knows, maybe the next proposal we put out is going to be the one that secures that client we always wanted to work with and help.

I wish every success in all your adventures in life.

Peter

Peter Thomson

‘The UK’s Most Prolific Business Development Author’

PS: Check out my latest book paid! Reveals the 10 Secrets to Being Richly Rewarded for the Value You Deliver