How to write a proposal

Or I must be doing something right part 4

During my career I have had to write several proposals to win work for the company I was employed by, although such proposals need to be tailored to the customers requirements to my mind they should be structured as follows:

• Introduction/Executive Summary-The most important part of a proposal, it should consist of one page (as potential customers need to be hooked on that first page) and five paragraphs:

1. Statement of the customer requirement and a statement that your company/consortium put forward this proposal to develop the solution (1-2 sentences)
2. Description of the problem (or part of) space you intend to solve, this should include examples of why this is a problem and possibly a diagram, and is the main part of this section
3. Description of the solution and how it relates to the problem you are solving and why you are best place to deliver this solution
4. Impact your solution will have in solving the problem and any potential wider impact the solution might have (ideally include examples)
5. Description of how you would take this solution to market

• Solution description; This should be a wider description of the solution , this usually includes a diagram illustrating the solution
• Team; A statement on your company’s capability and why you are best suited to deliver this capability, plus a short paragraph on each member of staff who will work on the project; In some cases, this may include multiple companies
• Work package descriptions; This section should involve a description of the work packages (individual tasks that need to be undertaken to help you build to your solution) including any deliverables related to each work package
• Risks; This section I usually put together as a table indicating what the risk is what the impact would be and how the project will mitigate this risk from becoming reality
• Timeline; This section should essentially be a diagram showing the duration over which the work packages will occur, how they interconnect, when any deliverables or milestones will be met and when the full solution will be complete
• Costs, Manpower and expenses; I tend to structure this section as a series of tables:

1. Table 1: Manpower per work package (in days or hours) broken down per person, and associated price;
2. Table 2: Expenses per work package, associated reason for expense, with associated cost
3. Table 3: Price per deliverable (with an overall price at the bottom)

• Exploitation and wider Impact; This section will involve describing how you intend to take the solution to wider market, jobs it may create and how it might impact other products/projects you are developing

Most requests for quotes ask for other things or certain things in a specific format, but the above covers the main parts of any proposal that need to be covered; In a future blog I hope to provide a fun example of what I think should go in a proposal.

Previous Articles on ‘Or I must be doing something right’

How to pass any exam: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-pass-any-exam-daniel-tilley/

How to Structure a CV: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/how-structure-cv-daniel-tilley/

How to achieve Professional Chartership: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/importance-professional-chartership-accreditation-how-daniel-tilley/

You can also read my latest article on the SME Leader Programme here https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/sme-leader-programme-blog-mentoring-working-captions-daniel-tilley/