How To Write Business Proposal Template

How to write a business proposal (The modern way)

Nothing speaks to a client's direct needs like a well-written business proposal.

But how do you make sure that your proposal is engaging to every potential client?

This twelvemonth, we analyzed most 570,000 proposals sent in 2021 through the PandaDoc platform for insights on what works all-time and what doesn't.

Here's what we learned almost writing concern proposals.

The basic structure of your proposal

Cover page
Cover letter
Table of contents
Executive summary
Proposal and solutions pages
Pricing
About usa
Testimonials and social proof
Agreement and CTA

The bones structure of your business proposal

Edifice a business proposal is like edifice a house.

While there are certain elements that are e'er necessary — like the foundation — a business firm varies based on location and the architect or homeowner'southward preferences.

In the same mode, the components of a business concern proposal can vary based on manufacture, company size, and many other factors.

Just like writing anything else, a well-written proposal begins by gathering information and assessing the problems that your potential client is trying to solve.

With that in listen, the following items are what readers are looking to glean from your proposal. Think of these every bit the roof, walls, and foundation of your document:

Data well-nigh your company. Your background, your qualifications, and why you're a amend fit than the rest of your competitors.
Demonstrated cognition of the problem. Proof that y'all've listened and done your research. Yous know what the customer needs and you accept a feasible solution.
Pricing and methodology. How you lot programme to solve the client'due south problem, information near your proposed solution, and how much information technology's going to cost.

In the next section, we'll accept yous through how to draft a business proposal using our social media proposal template every bit an example.

If you're not a social media company, don't worry.

While the template we're using is an instance of a simple project proposal, the bones structure applies to nearly every business concern proposal — no matter how complex they might be.

Yous tin can download this proposal example and hundreds of other business concern proposal templates on our website.

Here are the nine elements of a business organization proposal , and what to include in each section.

Earlier you start, a quick notation on length

Based on our analysis of proposals on our platform, we found that the average proposal length is most nine pages.

Just, as several of our own business relationship executives and sales team members were quick to signal out, longer doesn't always mean better.

"Short and sweet has a loftier conversion rate," said Josh Gillespie, from Upmarket Sales. "Fewer pages and less fluff is better. Ideally, a proposal should be fewer than 10 pages for transactional proposals below $10,000, and never more 50 pages."

Artyom Voronetskiy, Account Executive with PandaDoc, agrees:

"Go along it short, on-bespeak, and eye-communicable. Do not write more than half dozen to 10 pages unless your product is extremely complicated."

While you should brand certain to include all relevant data that prospective clients will need in order to make a determination, have care to avoid overcrowding them with irrelevant details.

01. Cover page

This section includes basic information like your company'due south name and contact information, your company logo, your client'southward name, and contact data, the date, and a championship.

A potent title page makes the project proposal wait slap-up, organized, and well put together.

It's besides the very first thing that your prospective customer will see when they open your proposal, and anybody knows how of import that first impression tin can be.

Studies take shown that you have as little equally 50 milliseconds to make a good first impression when designing visual content similar websites.

The same holds true for your cover folio.

Unlike the balance of your document, a encompass folio is a place where y'all can place graphics and visual content to ready the tone before the reader dives into the meat of your proposal.

But don't go overboard with complicated graphics and logos on this page. According to a study by Google, users dearest elementary and familiar designs, peculiarly at a outset glance.

This is besides a great way for you to stand up out. Based on our information, only almost xiii% of proposals nosotros see use embrace pages. Take advantage of this missed opportunity and use it to stand up out from your competitors.

02. Encompass alphabetic character

You wouldn't walk up to your potential client and dive into project specifics without introducing yourself, would you?

A embrace letter is that introduction.

Include a one-liner near your visitor, curt background information almost how your company came to be, and a cursory overview of what makes your company better than the rest.

Make it friendly and encourage your reader to reach out with whatever questions. Close it with a give thanks you and a signature.

Cover letters don't have run on to the point of exhaustion. They can be simple, short, and sweet. In this example, the text is just over 100 words, but you could make it even easier to read by using bullet points.

Check this out:

Dear [Client.FirstName]

Give thanks yous for considering [Sender.Company] for your social media marketing needs.

Enclosed, you'll find a proposal based on our understanding of your social media expectations. Briefly, nosotros suggest:

An expanded social media strategy across currently unused platforms and channels
A comprehensive distribution strategy designed to generate original and unique content
Improved post automation for increased audition engagement during acme times

Our methods and procedures are based on all-encompassing analysis, an intense study of social media trends, and the application of specifics unique to [Client.Company].

We are confident in delivering constructive results within your social media channels.

Thanks again for because us, and please don't hesitate to arrive bear on with questions.

My contact information is below.

Your cover letter can accept on many forms, and you can use those formats to brand your proposal stand out from the crowd.

In our proposal example, notation that we've also used an image to go on things fun and interesting.

This is critical throughout your proposal. In our research, nosotros found that a proposal with media like photos and videos included is 34% more probable to shut.

As you lot're designing your proposal, don't be afraid to add graphics and images to keep readers engaged. A winning business proposal is more just black text on a white folio.

As yous're designing your proposal, don't be afraid to add graphics and images to keep readers engaged. A winning proposal is more than than merely black text on a white page.

03. Table of contents

Unless your proposal is very brief, include a table of contents that outlines the bones structure of your document.

A table of contents is an important, but ofttimes overlooked, office of whatsoever longer document considering information technology helps the reader know what they can expect to find in the proposal.

Virtually word processors generate a table of contents automatically using the headings in your document. Every bit you lot're writing, accept the time to set the formatting for your headings and and then simply generate a tabular array of contents from those headings.

A table of contents isn't always necessary, merely it tin can make whatever proposal much easier to parse as your certificate is passed effectually to all advisable parties.

Recall: Proposal documents may not exist read chronologically. Different determination-makers will care about dissimilar things and will check your proposal to encounter how it addresses their unique pain points.

Don't lose a deal just considering stakeholders couldn't discover what they were looking for!

04. Executive summary

Your executive summary sets the scene for the residuum of your proposal past providing a high-level overview that summarizes the contents of hereafter pages.

If yous provided a few of these details in your cover letter (like the bullet-point example shown in a higher place) this is your opportunity to get into greater detail and summarize your overall strategy.

Using our case, our potential clients are primarily realtors in the greater Chicago area looking to reach new clients through social media marketing, so your executive summary might read like this:

This proposal outlines a coordinated plan crafted with the intent of building John's Real Manor social media presence, primarily including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, and Twitter.

Past engaging an audience through social media channels, our team will demonstrate the power to generate sensation, widen your company's potential accomplish within your target market, and contribute to driving more website traffic, which volition ultimately result in height-line growth.

We assist realtors place, target, and communicate with their ideal clients through each of the following:

Creating Engaging Social Content
Posting Company-Related Updates
Promotions & Social Campaigns
Integrating Social Media Activity into Other Marketing Plans
Monitoring
Analytics

While our competitors work to serve multiple industries and target audiences , nosotros specialize in the real estate manufacture. Our co-founder Tom Lancaster too has a background in both social media and real estate , giving him a unique perspective on the needs of the market.

Your own executive summary will shift depending on the duties you're performing for the customer, and what kind of industry they're in.

Your tone might also change. If you're targeting a young travel startup run by college graduates, you might employ a more casual tone peppered with industry jargon and humor.

Leap Social Media Marketing offers full-service social media services for the real estate industry. Our team ensures area realtors are targeting their cadre market with an authentic bulletin across the best channels possible.

Jump Social Media Marketing will work to identify, target and market to your ideal customer through Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Vine, and Twitter channels. Our team estimates nosotros will grow your social media followers from your combined 214 followers to over 5,000 in the next six months and generate additional leads for your business.

We know that today's realtors are also tasked with marketing homes and their own real estate firms. With a groundwork in real estate and social media , Leap Social Media understands the unique needs of your industry.

While writing, keep in listen that your executive summary isn't designed to explain every detail or sell your entire RFP response past itself!

Don't get lost describing deliverable logistics or strategic plans. Focus on the client's needs and the outcomes they specifically wanted to accost in their request for proposal.

Let your executive summary nowadays a high-level overview and go out the other pages of the certificate to explain the details. This will forbid your summary from getting overcrowded or bogged down with specifics best handled elsewhere.

05. Proposal and solutions pages

The proposal section is a general overview of the custom-made solution your company has devised for your potential client.

This section gets into the specifics.

Anticipate their questions, and take them through the process so they know what they're signing up for when they hire you.

As Josh points out, this section of the proposal is critical considering it demonstrates the relevance of your product or service to a specific product.

"Quick delivery and relevance to your specific prospect are two of the most of import items in any proposal," he said. "Prospects need to know what you're selling, how information technology will assistance them, and how long it will have them to go it."

Describe exactly what deliverables they can expect and when they tin can expect them.

A timetable that pairs deliverables with their expected date can make your document more visually appealing, and your data more than digestible.

You might likewise break down your master objectives even further by describing how you programme to execute a given strategy.

In our example, nosotros touched on six fundamental goals during our executive summary. Let's expand on those here.

i. Creating engaging social content

Beginning with quick and thorough planning/grooming, our squad will programme out a dynamic, ongoing social content agenda to guide you to your goals.

We will grow an increasing social audience and follower base using each of the following techniques:

Hashtag campaigns
Strong use of keywords
Sharing/retweeting relevant news
"Liking" posts
Staying updated within the industry
Contributing our ain unique content to broaden reach.

2. Posting company related updates

Our plan is to engage your social media audience by sharing company news, press releases, events, employee spotlights, and more.

We will also pay attention to industry trends, and share them. This volition assist to proceeds exposure to your target market.

three. Promotions and social campaigns

Nosotros will utilize social channels to connect with your follower base of operations and engage them with promotions to get them excited about both electric current events and the make itself.

These campaigns may be as brusque every bit a day or run up to 6 months. We'll analyze the results from each campaign, and then nosotros will provide a study of its success.

Results of campaigns tin can be compared so the most constructive promotions, offers, or contests can exist replicated.

four. Integrating social media activity into other marketing plans

With articulate communication and monthly brainstorm meetings, we'll be able to consolidate the marketing initiatives to fit your goals and promotional material.

Campaigns via social media are more important than just sharing about giveaways, sales, contests, and/or promotions. We will agree on a schedule for a series of posts to go on upwards the exciting momentum for all prospective customers.

v. Monitoring

It is important to regularly maintain marketing activity for maximum growth.

We will continually monitor each aqueduct and volition respond to any questions, comments, and posts within a two-hour time period. Two hours volition allow us to confirm that accurate information is relayed dorsum to the person asking.

six. Analytics

Nosotros will provide yous with each of the post-obit:

Daily and weekly analytics. Follower growth, achieve, demographics, comments, "likes", shares, retweets, and additional metrics as provided past each platform and our own internal tracking data.
Reporting. Summarizing various results and activities over each quarter.

We will besides set upwards a monthly meeting to go over the results and and then tweak our approach accordingly.

Your own content may look different than this depending on your proposal writing skills and services, but you tin can still apply the example as a framework. Add together in more details as needed.

For example, a cybersecurity company would need to include information on penetration testing and how oftentimes it would exist done to look for possible intrusions and hacks.

Breaking upwards this section

While writing your proposal content, keep in mind that this department is both the nigh important and the about flexible department of all.

Your unabridged proposal doesn't need to be arranged into a single, long section. It can easily be broken down into smaller sections such as:

Strategic Cess
Implementation
Goals & Outlook

There are other combinations you can try, depending on your proposal and how your solution should be explained.

If you lot're offer a complex solution to a customer problem, breaking your proposal into seize with teeth-sized chunks is a great way to ensure that readers understand your solution.

The importance of good data

Leveraging proficient data is critical when creating an constructive business proposal.

Use details surrounding impact and ROI effectually your products and services to prove your worth and add value to your proposal.

Consider these 2 phrases:

"Our customers honey us!"

"To date, our products and methodologies have helped more than 700 companies increment their sales by 35%!"

Which sounds better? Which is more compelling? Numbers and figures catch the centre and assistance readers build trust. By demonstrating a proven tape of success, with numbers and data, you lot're adding tangible details that assist to justify your costs.

This is especially useful when competing with other solicited proposals, peculiarly if you lot tin include these data points equally visual representations (charts, graphs, etc.) of your success within your proposal document.

06. Pricing

This is the section where clarity and specifics are central — and virtually every member of our sales team agreed.

Create a pricing table that clearly identifies each product or service, and pair it with the nearly accurate pricing data yous can provide.

Jump Social Media Marketing operates on a monthly billing cycle. Here'southward a layout of the pricing and services for John's Real Estate.

While edifice the proposal, all you'd need to practice is set up the toll for the item and the quantity of distribution.

If you were sending an hourly contract, the quantity becomes the estimated number of hours invested at a predetermined rate.

For recurring payment schedules, you'll need to structure the document in a way that reflects your monthly workflow.

Transparency is critical in this section. Potential customers desire to know how you're charging them, what they're existence charged for, and over what flow they should expect to pay.

Be sure to include all details in a clear and accurate mode.

07. About the states

While you already said hello with the cover alphabetic character, this section is where you get to explain what makes your company unique.

If you're a small business organization or a new visitor, become personal and give your potential customer a chance to get to know yous and your squad members. Include brief bios and photos of the people they'll be working with.

If your company has a unique backstory, a mission, or a cause that your company stands for, share that with readers. For example:

Too often in social media , adept things come up at a price. At Bound, paying for followers or favorable reviews of products is tantamount to criminal activeness.

Authenticity is important in today'south online earth, and Jump Social Media Marketing makes this our No. 1 priority in your social media space.

The information included on this page doesn't have to be a stodgy company average or a cleverly designed sales pitch.

Equally the old saying goes: People buy from people — and then don't be afraid to let your squad's personality shine through.

08. Testimonials and social proof

No sales proposal is complete without information about your by successes, awards, and jobs well done.

Often, this comes in the form of social proof, such as client testimonials and brusk case studies.

Why exercise you lot need this? Considering social proof matters!

Co-ordinate to data, 92% of customers are more likely to trust earned media, like recommendations from friends and family unit, above all other forms of advertising.

By including recommendations from satisfied customers and industry awards that evidence your expertise, yous can earn additional trust from prospective clients.

Hither'south a practiced instance of how Jump Social Media Marketing might leverage the accolades they've received:

Jump Social Media Marketing has received major public recognition for our work.

We've been named equally Chicago's All-time Social Media Agency for Minor Businesses by the Chicago Tribune for the past 3 years and have been recognized as a recommended partner by the National Association of Realtors .

We also grew the Chicago Real Estate Solutions Facebook folio from 0 to v,000 in six months , secured 250 new leads in that time frame , with 25% converting to sales .

You can besides provide testimonials from past clients who can speak to your approach and how it worked for them, like so:

Lively and humorous testimonials like these can add additional personality to your company while edifice trust and rapport with potential clients.

However, keep your manufacture in mind when compiling testimonials and do your best to notice user feedback that fits the mood.

If your industry has serious clients, a humorous arroyo may not be appropriate. If you're working with a 3D manufacturing company with B2B clients, the messaging and tone they take with their own clients — and what they wait from the businesses they work with — may follow dissimilar expectations.

Be sure to plan accordingly.

09. Agreement and CTA

Depending on your business proposal, you may include an agreement, a telephone call to action, and terms and atmospheric condition at the stop of your document.

Your signature below indicates acceptance of this social media marketing proposal and archway into a contractual understanding with Jump Social Media Marketing beginning on the signature appointment below:

Depending on your goals and your sales process, you need to exist very careful in this department. In many jurisdictions, proposals are considered legally binding contracts if they meet the criteria for a contract.

By adding legal language and/or an electronic signature request at the bottom of your document, you might be entering into a contract before than expected.

This may not be ideal if your proposal is simply intended to provide a crude gauge of costs or bring the client into further negotiations.

If y'all don't intend to create a legally binding contract from your proposal, exist sure to note that in your certificate and prompt the reader to contact you to move the procedure frontwards.

On the other manus, well-congenital proposals can double as complete contracts with all the terms and conditions necessary to start work immediately.

If you're confident in the scope of work and you're ready to take on the additional work, permit the customer know by promoting them for a signature.

How does a business organisation proposal expect?

First things offset: Nosotros're well past the turn of the century. Nobody likes getting thick envelopes in the mail.

Modern business proposals are sent electronically, and this is more than convenient for both you and your potential customers.

While information technology'south possible to email a proposal created with a word processor like Microsoft Discussion, platforms similar PandaDoc are a better fit. Our tools help you create a collaborative environment for negotiation, feedback, and electronic signature.

Regardless of how you choose to send your proposal, be certain to pay close attending to the expect and feel of your certificate. Especially because your proposal may be your kickoff impression with several key stakeholders, it'southward essential that you follow expected formats and make a skillful impression.

Visuals

If you search for business proposal examples online or take a look at our template library, you'll observe that most proposals rely on the structure described above to emphasize their value propositions.

Taking care to create a visually appealing proposal will help you communicate your ideas more hands. Information technology'southward also something that your competitors are doing and something that many clients are beginning to expect.

In our research, we plant that roughly eighty% of proposals included an image and twenty% included a video. We also saw higher close rates when these multimedia tools were used compared to when they weren't.

Exactly how a proposal is designed still has some flexibility, depending on your brand and what you're trying to achieve, but go along in mind that it can accept a large affect on success.

Proposals with pages of blocky text are much harder to navigate than proposals with charts, graphs, images, and bullet points.

It's of import to spend fourth dimension beautifying your proposal," points out Jared from PandaDoc Sales.

"A proposal that are can draw the eye directly to relevant content and go along the reader engaged is a powerful tool when trying to close a deal."

Rather than writing a 1000-word About Usa section, consider including squad member headshots and a brief bio.

Rather than adding highly technical language about operational processes and leaving stakeholders to effigy it out, provide visual aids that summarize the information in a articulate and easy mode.

Writing

Clearly defining your milestones isn't the only reason to pay careful attention to how your proposal is written.

While there tin can exist legal ramifications to poorly written proposal content, mayhap the most important consideration is the impression that your proposal leaves behind.

Your proposal introduces your customer to the quality of work they can expect from your business. If it's total of typos, spelling, and grammatical errors, or but seems sloppy, you're unlikely to close the deal.

Read and re-read. Be sure to proofread every passage for errors before you ship it to prospective clients or relieve it every bit a template.

Yous can as well offset some of this tedium, especially on smaller deals, by focusing on creating a concise offering rather than a long-winded certificate.

Every bit Quincy Berg, Enterprise Account Executive for PandaDoc points out,

"For smaller, transactional deals where you would like to mitigate prospects from suggesting edits to your terms and conditions, consider embedding your Privacy Policy, Master Services Agreement, etc. into your website and hyperlinking them into your proposals."

If these aren't assets that you have on your staff, consider hiring that skillset onto your squad or hiring a freelancer to assist with proofreading and correction.

While many clients will overlook a devious typo or a misplaced comma, too many errors will land your proposal in the discard pile.

A discussion well-nigh costs

When yous're creating proposals, it's easy for costs to add up. Costs for customized professional business concern proposals can take hours of research, consultation, and preparation — all with no guarantee of success.

That's why savvy companies do everything they can to lower the price of proposal training. Typically this is washed by generating a template for business organisation proposals — an outline or skeleton that someone can make full out quickly to save fourth dimension and expedites internal company processes.

Information technology's an effective way to proceed overhead low. Based on our research, an boilerplate of 20 documents are generated from each template you create .

That'south a huge time saver for whatever business organization.

After yous hit 'Transport'

In one case you've sent your proposal, your side by side stride volition depend on the process. Based on our information, most 65% of proposals containing a signature block close within 24 hours.

Notwithstanding, your mileage may vary. RFPs tend to exist competitive processes, and then you lot may have to wait until the submission window closes before you lot hear a response.

Don't forget to follow up and enquire your potential client if they have any questions. Based on the proposals we looked at, you are 30% more than likely to close a deal if you send a serial of reminders to keep your proposal elevation of mind.

PandaDoc and other proposal software tools can assist you monitor your proposal using certificate analytics and so that you know exactly when to accomplish out.

These tools let you know when your potential customer viewed your proposal, how many times they opened information technology, and which sections they spent the about time on.

With these insights, you can anticipate their questions or objections and have your responses set to get.

Gratis business proposal templates

Set up to get started but don't know where to begin? PandaDoc tin help with some great examples of business organization proposals.

In the proposals that nosotros looked at, those created using our templates regularly created high-performing results for customers with minimal editing time.

Have a look at some of the metrics effectually the top professional business organisation proposal templates currently in our template library.

Proposal proper noun	# of docs sent in 2021	Close rate	Avg. creation time (minutes)
Digital Marketing Proposal	4301	25%	forty
SEO Proposal	2810	23%	23
Social Media Marketing Proposal	2416	19%	73
Spider web Pattern Proposal	2158	27%	26
Sales Proposal	1934	34%	12

Once you've fitted an existing template to your personal needs, you can save information technology every bit a fresh template in your content library for even faster reuse.

In doing so, y'all can slim the unabridged business concern proposal design process downwardly from hours to minutes or spend more fourth dimension refining your proposal for maximum appeal.

To encounter the true power of the PandaDoc editor, be certain to check out our community gallery for expertly designed templates from real PandaDoc customers.

If yous're a PandaDoc user, you tin eve swipe these proposals and load them directly into your PandaDoc editor with a single click.

It's but that easy.

Final thoughts

Ultimately, your business organisation proposal should be focused on your client's needs and how your concern plans to set up them.

No matter how you choose to build your proposal, never lose sight of that goal.

The RFP you receive will take most of the information y'all need to build a great proposal.

Have things step-past-step, and utilize the opportunity to evidence your customer that your business is the right fit for the job.

Originally published October 6, 2016, updated February eighteen, 2022

Frequently asked questions

Typically, the signal of a business proposal is to describe in detail how your production or service volition meet a client'south needs. Depending on those needs and the manufacture that you occupy, the content included in a standard proposal volition fluctuate.

For example, at PandaDoc, many of our proposals are customized to fit the unique needs of enterprise-level organizations that are likewise big for our smaller plans.

If you were to compare our sales squad to that of a structure visitor submitting a proposal to construct a building, the difference in requirements becomes clear. The proposal required for building construction is probably longer and may include far more business proposal topics than what our sales representatives would include when endmost a deal.

However, despite the differences and industry requirements, each proposal will nevertheless follow the standard proposal format depicted above.
The traditional format of a business proposal is as follows:
- Title page
- Embrace letter
- Table of contents
- Executive summary
- Proposal & solutions pages
- Pricing
- About usa
- Testimonials & social proof
- Agreement & CTA
Based on our research into over 566,000 proposals created on our platform, most proposals are around nine pages in length .

To get a closer await a how to go started and how to bring your business proposal ideas to life using these sections, cheque out each section of this article.
Your business proposal should include everything y'all think you need in social club to sell your product or service.

This includes all of the basic headings and subheadings you'll see in a traditional proposal, as well as any supplemental documentation to justify your costs and reinforce your proposed approach to solving the customer's problem.

In addition to basic information about your product, y'all should also consider including the following:
- Contact information
- Value statements
- Pricing tables
- Customer testimonials
- Examples of past work (instance studies)
- Images, graphics, and related multimedia
If you lot're sending your proposal electronically, y'all should also consider including an electronic signature block and so that decisionmakers tin can quickly and hands seal the deal when they're ready to go along.
All business proposals are essentially the same, just your submittal method may vary depending on the type of business proposal you lot need to send.

Solicited proposals are proposals that a company has asked you to provide for their consideration. The potential customer has reached out to your concern and requested a proposal. This usually falls into 1 of two categories:

Formally solicited proposals are typically competitive and follow a standardized (formal) process. The prospective client sends out an RFP detailing the scope of work and requests that your business formally submit a bid to consummate that work.

Informally solicited proposals are typically created based on conversations between a prospective client and a vendor that they want to work with. At that place might not be any formal documentation, and at that place may be no competitive process. This work can ofttimes lead to a sole-source, non-competitive contract.

Unsolicited proposals are documents that your company sends to a prospective customer who hasn't asked for 1. They are not submitted in response to an RFP or an information request. Such proposals are typically created based on a market opportunity — often one that the client is either unaware of or hasn't yet acted upon.