Aug 21 2009
Savvy Boomer Business Owners: Winning New Business
Doing well in today’s economic climate is a challenge. Guest author, Jeanne Yocum of Tuscarora Communications, Ltd has some wise advice for the savvy boomer business owner.
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Writing Proposals That Win Business
By Jeanne Yocum
Tuscarora Communications, Ltd
Ratcheting up your organization to pursue new business as the economy recovers (hopefully!) is invigorating. The good news is that revenues finally may start growing again. The bad news is that bringing new business in the door may require writing proposals, a time-consuming activity that many business people would rather skip.
Increasingly, savvy business owners are requiring proposals to ensure that they get the best possible solution at an attractive price; learning how to write great proposals to increase your win rate is a must. Once you are confident in your ability to compete on paper, proposals will become less of a necessary evil and more of a sure-fire way to gain a competitive edge.
Here are tips for making sure your business proposals are winners:
• Begin by demonstrating knowledge of your prospect. Establish from the get-go that you understand the prospect’s objectives and challenges as they relate to the product or service you wish to provide. This may seem like you’re telling them things they already know, but in reality prospects want to be certain you understand their situation and needs. Briefly state the problem before launching into your solution.
• Clarity is essential. Simple, concise writing is a must. Avoid long-winded paragraphs and use bullet points wherever possible. Don’t be overly technical and steer away from jargon or catch phrases. You never know who might be on the decision-making team, so write for a general audience instead of assuming that only people with your level of technical expertise will read the proposal. Have someone else give your first draft a test read to make sure it is easily understood.
• Beware of boilerplate. It’s tempting to keep recycling portions of previous proposals; the “copy and paste” functions are definitely time-savers! But be careful about relying too much on boilerplate material. The last impression you want to give a prospect is that your proposal is the same “off-the-shelf” response you give to everybody. Again, this is part of convincing the prospect that you understand his/her specific situation and are offering a tailored solution.
• Avoid an 11th hour sprint. Many of us made it through college by finishing every term paper an hour before it was due. Carrying that habit over to your business proposal writing can be dangerous. Rarely does anyone do his/her best writing when the clock is ticking down the final minutes before a deadline. Start writing as soon as you can and plan to finish at least a day ahead of time. This gives you time to sleep on what you’ve written and to read it thoroughly with “fresh eyes” on a new day.
• Looks do matter. Great ideas and appropriate pricing are important but even those things won’t help your proposal rise to the top of the competitive pile if it looks sloppy. Choose a readable typeface, an appropriate page layout, and good quality paper. If you are submitting your document electronically, be sure to use formatting commands that will display well on different computers and screen sizes. If you’re unclear about what that means, check with someone who knows the ins and outs of word processing or use a PDF file. Check with the intended recipient to ensure software compatibility and whenever possible, follow up with a printed copy. Include graphics where feasible to break up the text and make the whole thing more readable. Your goal is a professional looking proposal that conveys your attention to detail.
• Proofread. And then proofread again. All other things being equal, who would you hire–the company whose proposal was error free or the one whose proposal had typos or grammatical errors? Relying on spellcheckers is perilous. Also, it’s hard to do a great job proofreading something you’ve slaved over for several days, so recruit some fresh eyes for the job. And then proofread it one more time. Pay special attention to headlines, a spot where typos are often overlooked.
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Jeanne Yocum, president of Tuscarora Communications, Ltd., has over 20 years’ experience in planning and implementing corporate communications and public relations programs. She also writes book proposals and ghostwrites business books. Her Web site is
http://www.yourghostwriter.com and she can be reached at Jeanne@yourghostwriter.com.
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