HOW TO WRITE A BUSINESS PROPOSAL

Jc. CHETANA JAIN

A business plan is a written description of your business's future, a document that tells what
you plan to do and how you plan to do it. If you jot down a paragraph on the back of an
envelope describing your business strategy, you've written a plan, or at least the germ of a plan.

Business plans are inherently strategic. You start here, today, with certain resources and
abilities. You want to get to a there, a point in the future (usually three to five years out) at
which time your business will have a different set of resources and abilities as well as greater
profitability and increased assets. Your plan shows how you will get from here to there.

BEFORE WRITING YOUR PLAN

 How Long Should Your Plan Be?

 When Should You Write It?

 Who Needs A Business Plan?

 Why Should You Write A Business Plan?

 Determine Your Goals and Objectives

 Outline Your Financing Needs

 Plan What You'll Do With Your Plan

 Don't Forget About Marketing

WRITING YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

 How To Write A Business Plan

 How to Start A Business

 The Ingredients of a Marketing Plan

 Updating Your Business Plan

 Enhancing Your Business Plan

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Within the overall outline of the business plan, the executive summary will follow the title page.
The summary should tell the reader what you want. This is very important. All too often, what
the business owner desires is buried on page eight. Clearly state what you're asking for in the
summary.
BUSINESS DESCRIPTION

The business description usually begins with a short description of the industry. When
describing the industry, discuss the present outlook as well as future possibilities. You should
also provide information on all the various markets within the industry, including any new
products or developments that will benefit or adversely affect your business.

BUSINESS PLAN GUIDE

Before Writing Your Plan
 How Long Should Your Plan Be?

 When Should You Write It?

 Who Needs A Business Plan?

 Why Should You Write A Business Plan?

 Determine Your Goals and Objectives

 Outline Your Financing Needs

 Plan What You'll Do With Your Plan

 Don't Forget About Marketing

WRITING YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

 How To Write A Business Plan

 The Ingredients of a Marketing Plan

 Updating Your Business Plan

 Enhancing Your Business Plan

STARTING A BUSINESS
 How to Start a Business

 Write Your Business Plan

 Choose Your Business Structure

 Choose & Register Your Business

 Choose Your Business Location & Equipment

 Business Licenses & Permits

 Learn About Business Laws

  Business Financials

 Finance Your Business

 Filing & Paying Taxes

 Hire & Retain Employees

MARKET STRATEGIES
Market strategies are the result of a meticulous market analysis. A market analysis forces the
entrepreneur to become familiar with all aspects of the market so that the target market can be
defined and the company can be positioned in order to garner its share of sales.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS
The purpose of the competitive analysis is to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the
competitors within your market, strategies that will provide you with a distinct advantage, the
barriers that can be developed in order to prevent competition from entering your market, and
any weaknesses that can be exploited within the product development cycle.

DESIGN & DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The purpose of the design and development plan section is to provide investors with a
description of the product's design, chart its development within the context of production,
marketing and the company itself, and create a development budget that will enable the
company to reach its goals.

OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT PLAN

The operations and management plan is designed to describe just how the business functions
on a continuing basis. The operations plan will highlight the logistics of the organization such as
the various responsibilities of the management team, the tasks assigned to each division within
the company, and capital and expense requirements related to the operations of the business.

FINANCIAL FACTORS
Financial data is always at the back of the business plan, but that doesn't mean it's any less
important than up-front material such as the business concept and the management team.

WRITE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN

A business plan is an essential roadmap for business success. This living document generally
projects 3-5 years ahead and outlines the route a company intends to take to grow revenues.

 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
 Your executive summary is a snapshot of your business plan as a whole and touches on
your company profile and goals. Read these tips about what to include.
 COMPANY DESCRIPTION
Your company description provides information on what you do, what differentiates your
business from others, and the markets your business serves.
 MARKET ANALYSIS
Before launching your business, it is essential for you to research your business industry,
market and competitors.
 ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT
Every business is structured differently. Find out the best organization and management
structure for your business.
 SERVICE OR PRODUCT LINE
What do you sell? How does it benefit your customers? What is the product lifecycle? Get
tips on how to tell the story about your product or service.
 MARKETING & SALES
How do you plan to market your business? What is your sales strategy? Read more about
how to include this information in your plan.
 FUNDING REQUEST
If you are seeking funding for your business, find out about the necessary information you
should include in your plan.
 FINANCIAL PROJECTIONS
If you need funding, providing financial projections to back up your request is critical. Find
out what information you need to include in your financial projections for your small
business.
 APPENDIX
An appendix is optional, but a useful place to include information such as resumes, permits
and leases. Find additional information you should include in your appendix.

 HOW TO MAKE YOUR BUSINESS PLAN STAND OUT

What makes your business unique? Determining this could help you stand out from the
crowd and give you advantages over your competitors

1. Study the Requirements. Writing a winning proposal begins with a clear understanding of

the client's requirements. Read the RFP thoroughly. As you're reading, ask yourself, what are
this company's goals? What is my role in achieving these goals? Is the time frame, budget and
scope of work reasonable? And if we're awarded the contract, does my company have the time,
expertise and resources to complete the project?
Next, decide whether you want to proceed. Preparing this proposal will require a lot of time
and effort in research, analysis of the client's needs and writing, and you may decide to wait for
a better opportunity.

Wakefield examines every RFP carefully. "We don't send everybody a proposal who asks for
one, because researching and writing a proposal is a fairly expensive process," admits
Wakefield. "First, we decide if we can design a good program for them. Then, we look for
projects that have some potential for us strategically, contracts that offer continuing
relationships and good networking possibilities."

2. Understand the Client. "If you don't understand the client's problem, you certainly can't
propose a methodology that is going to solve the problem," says Shervin Freed, coauthor
of Writing Winning Business Proposals (McGraw-Hill). "Many times a client or potential client
will say, 'This is what we're looking for.' But when you start researching, you find out that isn't
what they're looking for at all."

The best way to understand what the client really needs is to talk with them. Ask people in the
organization about their concerns, their operating policies and their management philosophy.
Discover if any previous attempts have been made to reach the goals outlined in the RFP and
why those earlier solutions didn't work. Ask what they like and dislike about dealing with
consultants like yourself and what criteria they'll be using to evaluate your proposal.

You'll also want to get some general information about the organization and the industry it's in.
Ask questions like these: How long has the company been in business? Who are their major
decision makers? What are their main products or services? How is this company better or
worse than its competitors? What is the company's financial position?

To prepare their proposal, Wakefield's company interviewed the senior managers in the client's
quality and training & development departments, as well as a purchasing agent. "We learned
that our client's goal was to reach a higher level of customer service," explains Wakefield. "And
they wanted to do that by changing the management process."

If you're not able to speak with the organization's employees, do some secondary research.
Visit the library or check with colleagues who may have worked for the same organization; it's
worth the effort. This research may save you from proposing a tack that has already been tried
or is unacceptable to the client for some other reason. You may also discover some underlying
issues that weren't addressed in the RFP and need to be considered.

3. Develop a Methodology. Once your client's goals are clearly identified, it's time to develop
the steps, or methodology, necessary to reach them. If you're having difficulty with it, use
Wakefield's suggestion of brainstorming sessions.

"My partner and I get together and discuss what kinds of things our clients need and in what
order," Wakefield says. "It's going to be different for each of our clients, depending on whether
they focus more on customer service or on cost savings. We then custom-design an
intervention that is specific to their organization."

To ensure that your methodology is practical, analyze its costs and benefits, as well as the time
and resources it will require.

4. Evaluate the Solution. You may have developed a brilliant methodology, but if it's
unacceptable to your client, you'll need to find an alternative solution. "You have to understand
the decision maker's orientation," explains Freed. "You have to know precisely what their
background is, and how they look upon this particular project. For example, find out whether
the person is financially oriented or operations oriented." You should then describe the benefits
of your solution in a way that will receive the most favorable evaluation from the decision
maker.

You should also evaluate your solution according to criteria outlined in the RFP. For example, if
your proposal is being evaluated on price and completion time, a lengthy, expensive solution is
unlikely to win your company the contract.

5. Outshine Your Competitors. Don't forget that a proposal is a sales document, designed to

persuade the client to hire your company instead of a competitor. So make certain your
proposal reinforces your company's strengths and addresses any potential reservations the
client may have about hiring you.

"If your competition is a company that is much larger than yours, then you've got to show your
strengths," Freed says. "Maybe you specialize in the client's field or can focus intensely on
solving their problem."

To properly present your strengths, you must know how you stack up against the competition.
If you're lucky, the client will divulge your competitors' names, describe what they're like to
work with and offer an opinion of your competitor's abilities.

6. Write the Proposal. Now that you've completed the first five steps, most of the work is done.
All that's left is assembling the information into a proposal format, so we'll be referring back to
the work you completed in the previous steps.

If the RFP specifies the format of your proposal, follow that exactly. If no format is specified,
Freed recommends the following headings be used:

A. Current Situation. Explain the background or problem that motivated the organization to

issue an RFP. This section will be compiled from the background information outlined in the
RFP, as well as from the research you performed in Step 2.
B. Goals. Clearly explain the goals of your proposal. You formulated these in Step 2, based on
the RFP and your understanding of the organization and their problems.
 C. Proposed Methodology. Describe each of the recommended steps, developed in Step 3 that
will lead the organization to meeting their goals.

D. Time and cost. Thoroughly explain the time and cost requirements for each step in the
methodology, based on your calculations from Step 3. This section should also specify how you
will be billing the client, and when payment will be expected.

E. Qualifications. Fully describe why yours is the best company for this job. This information will
be based on your competitive strengths and on the proposal's evaluation criteria, which you
developed in Step 5.

F. Benefits. Discuss the many benefits the client will receive by implementing your
recommendations. This section is based on the benefits identified in Step 4.

7. Apply the Finishing Touches. Review the proposal carefully to ensure it completely fulfills the
requirements set out in the RFP. Make sure the information is arranged logically and that it fully
addresses each of the decision maker's concerns. Finally, have someone you trust proofread
the proposal to catch spelling and grammatical errors.

Many contracts are awarded solely on the quality of the proposal, so don't let sloppy writing or
careless mistakes ruin an otherwise terrific proposal.

"To me, good writing is symptomatic of your basic abilities," says Freed. "Poor writing and poor
grammar would make me ask, 'How good can these people be if they can't even express
themselves intelligently?'"

To make sure that the completed proposal looks as professional as possible, print it on quality
paper and have the final copy professionally bound. Then get ready to put your proposed
solution into action.

Follow these seven steps to write winning proposals:

1. Study the Requirements. Writing a winning proposal begins with a clear understanding
of the client's requirements. ...
2. Understand the Client. ...
3. Develop a Methodology. ...
4. Evaluate the Solution. ...
5. Outshine Your Competitors. ...
6. Write the Proposal. ...
7. Apply the Finishing Touches.