Winning Proposal – Watch out!

You only have to do a few things right in your life so long as you don’t do too many things wrong. – Warren Buffett

Preparing a proposal can be a daunting task. It can be difficult to provide all the information in a proposal, while also ensuring the content is strategic and targeted, and also keeping in mind that the proposal does not run into pages and pages! That is quite a task!

Proposals play an important role in business growth and success and safe to say it is a challenging business process!

It can be difficult to craft a perfect proposal without making mistakes, especially when you are trying to balance being detailed and concise. A few mistakes to watch out for while preparing business proposals:

·         Understand the audience: Fact, that the information remains the same. But understanding the audience plays a crucial role as it helps to tweak the information being presented, that can be a game changer.

·         Mind the length: It is important to maintain a equilibrium between satisfying the stipulated proposal requirements and refraining from an overabundance of information. Assess the content to pinpoint any redundant details that can be omitted or sections that can be consolidated. Prioritize giving exact answers to the buyer's queries and underscore how your business is capable of satisfying their particular needs.

·         Limit technical jargons: Keep the content aligned in a way that it is easily understood, or layman content (to say in technical form!). Not everybody reviewing or reading the proposal will posses the same level of technical knowledge.

·         Formatting: Watch out for formatting. Make sure the text is neatly aligned, all the infographics within the document are clearly visible (like pixels don’t break on expanding the image). A neatly formatted document can be a game changer.

·         Spell check: Wrong spelling or poor grammer (err grammar) can drain down the entire efforts invested into the proposal. Thus, spell-check the final draft before submission.

Remember, proposals play an important role to help business achieve new clients or convince probable investors to invest in a business. An effective proposal can, infact, turn the tables in favour.