How to write a business proposal | Business proposal template

First impressions count so make this look super smart using your branding or the client’s and include the project name, the date, your business name and the clients.

Introduce your business and it’s values, highlighting any key clients, awards or a short story that will be relatable to your client and will help build trust. You may also want to include a testimonial in here. The length should be relative to the rest of your proposal.

This is a key part of your proposal that will summarise the case for you winning the business and give the key takeaways that you want the client to have. Be persuasive but factual with your conclusions and don’t try and summarise everything. It’s often easiest to write this part last and add it in later

A contents page is an optional addition to your proposal, certainly not required if it’s fairly short.

Provide a run through of the problem that needs solving and your client’s needs, demonstrating that you understand their business, the industry and the challenges that they face. Although this part will cover the problem, try and focus on opportunities rather than being too negative.

This is where you’ll talk about your strategy and approach, industry benchmarks and case studies. Take the client through the steps you’ll take in detail, and what the value is of each step, as well as (crucially) the potential results.

Specify your relevant experience across similar projects, clients or industry. Put in your team’s relevant skills - introduce who will be working on the project and why they’re capable of delivering (even if it’s only you). Here you can also include your USPs and the benefits to working with you over anyone else - be compelling but straight-forward.

Give the client an estimated timeline of all the different aspects of the project, from sign off of the proposal right through to completion.

Here’s where you provide your quote. Use a table to split your pricing up into the services that you’re offering or by labour and the different materials (and don’t forget to include VAT if applicable). In this section, you could also include any terms and conditions or caveats to protect yourself (for example, ‘additional charges will be incurred for extra services’.) 

Tell your client what the next steps will be, thank them and invite them to ask any questions. Setting a deadline for them to respond is inadvisable unless it’s critical to material costs or resource availability.