The biggest difference between here lies in the purpose. With full proposals, the goal is simple: convey the key information needed to convince a client to choose you for the gig.
No one will pay serious cash just for a cool new website
After you’ve described what your solution looks like, take a minute to explain how you’ll put it into place. Remember, proposal letters are most useful for large, complicated projects. There are a lot of moving pieces
With that said, you can save yourself a mountain of trouble by embracing a persuasive structure that works well for every situation. Once you grasp the key elements and how to order them, it’s a matter of filling in the blanks to adapt each letter to the client.
Executive Summary vs. Proposals vs. Proposal Letters
An executive summary is essentially a condensed, less detailed version of that proposal. The idea is to be able to have a busy upper manager quickly scan it and get the reassurance they need to pass it along to their subordinates, who will review the proposal in detail.
A proposal letter isn’t just a summary of your full proposal. It’s a persuasive introductory document meant to intrigue a reader enough to find out more.
Unfortunately, it’s tempting to just throw this cover letter together in a hurry. We spend painstaking hours getting the proposal just right… but end up neglecting a great opportunity to forge an immediate connection with a potential client.
- A general overview of why you are seeking to partner with the recipient
- Information about how the potential partner could benefit from the partnership opportunity
- A request to initiate an initial discussion with the potential partner
- A call to action with a specific timeframe
If you're looking to partner with another business that offers products or services that are complementary to your firm's offerings without being competitive, consider sending a letter like this one to begin discussions. Such a partnership can provide a great opportunity for both organizations.
When you are pitching a service, you will follow many of the same rules as a product letter, but there are a few key differences. Use this example letter for inspiration.
A proposal letter is a type of business letter that would be used to introduce someone to your ideas. For example, it could be a sales letter promoting products or services to a prospective customer, a letter suggesting a new company program to your boss, or another type of proposal. To access these sample letters, just click the image to download, then place your cursor anywhere in the PDF to make changes. If you need help with the file, these tips may be helpful.
Business Proposal for a Partnership
Make sure your sales letter is addressed to a specific person (or job title if a name isn't possible). It should also include these elements:
- An introduction that focuses on the core problem the customer is facing, which your product solves
- A description of why you understand their concern and are in the perfect position to solve the problem
- Benefits of your product
- Three options to allow for comparison shopping and to decrease the chance your prospect will shop around for other deals
- A specific date you plan to call to follow-up
- A statement of thanks for past support (if applicable)
- A few facts that outline the positive impact of your event
- Two or three options for sponsorship, with the benefits of each one
- An assumptive statement thanking the recipient for his or her support
- A day and time you will call them to answer any questions
For a sponsorship proposal, be sure to start from a place of gratitude. If the recipient has helped you in the past, say thank you. If not, make a general statement about how grateful you are for the community's strong support of your project to provide social proof that can help make your prospect more likely to commit. Use this sample sponsorship proposal letter as a guide.
Most people think that writing a business proposal is boring and time-consuming. And for the most part, they’re right. There really is no creative flare in writing them and it’s all about pitching your product or service so that the client says yes and gives you money.
In other words, the introduction should show the client that you’ve listened to their problem and that you have the cure, which you will show them in the next section. If you want to show your clients how you offer custom services, this is the place to stress that. Show them how you customize your usual offer to match their exact pain point.
One of the biggest reasons people take forever to write business proposals and ultimately do a bad job is because they are using software that simply isn’t geared up to doing the job in an effective way. It might sound like a self-serving suggestion, but you should take a look at using Better Proposals for writing your next business proposal. The business proposal templates in the Proposal Marketplace alone will save you a ton of time and our proposal software has everything you need for writing proposals in one place.
Instead of a typical money-back guarantee, consider guaranteeing a part of your service or a timescale. Cheryl Laidlaw has her service “Website in a day”. She (at time of writing) charges £1,995 for the day and delivers the website THAT NIGHT. The client doesn’t go home and neither does Cheryl until it’s done – which is an amazing offer.
How to write a business proposal
When you write a business proposal, think about the emotion you want them to feel at the end of reading your proposal.
- The key elements of a winning business proposal
- Which sections you NEED to include in every proposal
- What to do before you even begin writing
- Examples of successful proposals from different industries
- Quotes from industry experts on the proposals they’ve written and sent
But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a way to make proposal writing easier and more efficient and get your prospective client on board more quickly.
Lucid Business Proposal template is an Adobe InDesign template. This business proposal template design comes with 26 pages. This gives you room to write all the information needed into the template. The template also comes in four premade color schemes. Easily add any image you'd like by dragging and dropping the image of your choice into the placeholder. This template is print ready and come in US letter size.
You can find thousands of the best Business Proposal templates on Envato Elements, with a great offer: download as many as you want for one low price.
Here's some resources, to help you start your search for the business proposal ideas. There are even freebies you can download today!
Make a proposal cover page design that stands out quickly and fill your business proposal with engaging page layouts.
11. Red Project Creative Proposal Template
While it's a great idea to consider creative business proposal ideas, think about what type of proposal you need and what that includes. Even the very best proposal designs clearly design what they are and their purpose.
Making creative proposal designs, submitting winning bids, and tracking client payments are an important part of running a successful business.
- formally solicited
- informally solicited
- unsolicited
- renewal
- and supplemental proposal
From job applications to business proposals, writing a good cover letter, executive summary, or some other introduction isn’t easy.
Notice that all these samples are written in a slightly different voice? How you word your proposal if you’re in legal or financial services might be different than how you would write one in the marketing industry or the world of pressure washing.
Okay, now let’s get writing—with some examples to help you visualize the steps and tips.
Your sales team wouldn’t end a sales call without discussing next steps. Your proposal cover letter is no different.
Executive summary vs. cover letter
The 15 example snippets above are all pulled from our proposal templates, all written by professional writers. Templates and samples like these are amazing starting points. But they aren’t the end-all, be-all.
You’ve refrained from selling throughout this cover letter. Now’s the time to ask for the close. Don’t shy away from presuming that you’ll be the winning proposal, that you “hope” they’ll pick you.
So, this post will give you an easy-to-follow five-step process to create a killer CUSTOMIZED cover letter for every proposal you send out.