How to Write a Proposal for a Service Business ~ Biz.com Small Business

By Lanee’ Blunt

A proposal for a service business is used for bidding on a RFP, asking for funding, or used to persuade potential clients or customers to support the proposal financially. Write from an outline. Deconstruct the request for proposal (RFP) to develop an outline. Service businesses need to summarize their concerns and begin planning early before writing the proposal. Collect all of the information on your company from service brochures, and ensure that graphs that will be included are relevant.

Difficulty

Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need

Company brochures

Graphs

Charts

Write a project summary or executive summary which is a brief summary of the project. Tell the evaluators or client why your service is best for the contract.

Start the next section with “qualifications” information. Write about the number of similar types of contracts. State the size of each plan and the number of participants, or amount of assets. Give references from similar types of contracts that you have done.

Start the third section “Personnel information” and the responsibilities of key employees in your company, and subcontractors that are named in the proposal.

Start the forth section “Cost estimate” and explain the price you are proposing. List a project price. Include each service that is proposed with a detailed fee schedule.

Address expected completion dates in the fifth section. Address major topics in the request for proposal (RFP) and address them in the order that they appear in the RFP.

Avoid typos that will make your proposal look unprofessional.

Eliminate all errors by proofreading the proposal. Rewrite sections that are too vague and don’t explain the full meaning of what you are proposing.

Tips

Make sure that your proposal has demonstrated that your company has the capability to perform the job.

Reference

Findfrp: Government Contracting; How to Write a Proposal or Respond to a Bid Solicitation