Written by Ivan Walsh. Follow me on Twitter

Yesterday, we looked at the mistakes to avoid when writing your first business proposal. Now, let’s look at how to do it right.

Be specific. Present a clear idea and a focused plan.

1. Connect your ideas with the client’s needs. Avoid suggesting options, technologies outside the scope of the requirement. Stay focused.
2. Check if staff is in place to help plan and implement the project.
3. Check that all activities are well thought-out and will promote the objectives of the proposal
4. Ensure that the budget and budget narrative reflect and explain all proposed activities.
5. Is the writing clear, grammatically correct, with no typos?
6. Does the proposal follows the RFP’s format requirements? Also called the Invitation To Tender.

Remember: define your audience. If you don’t know who you’re writing for, it’s unlikely you’ll hit the mark.

What’s the main mistake that business writers make when writing their first proposal? The target audience is not clear, the format is incorrect and the tone is wrong. And, the solution doesn’t align with the requirements. So, how you can improve your proposals and win more projects that you bid on? Here are some guidelines to get you started.

Proposal Writing: 7 Mistakes to Avoid

Mistakes to avoid when writing proposals:

1. Does your description of the solution ramble?
2. Have you provided diagrams that illustrate how it works?
3. Does your budget match the grant requirements?
4. Is the budget narrative too broad?
5. Does the hardcopy of the proposal violate the RFP requirements?
6. Has it been reviewed by your peers?
7. Have all edit been included and reflected in the master copy?

What have I missed?

What are the biggest mistakes that proposal writers make? Please share your thoughts in the comments sections.

As mentioned earlier, a case study is a soft-sell sales document. Its role is to highlight your abilities without resorting to market-speak and sales clichés.

An effective approach to catch the reader's attention (who is frequently a potential client) is to explore how the solution helped end-users and the target group.

How to build your case

Support your argument with direct quotes (with their names, if possible) from personnel who've adopted your system or use your services.

To make this work, concentrate on how the solution resolved one very specific issue and then build the case study around this.

Warning: don't complicate the case study by addressing multiple issues; stick to one subject and explain how you solved the problem in measurable and quantifiable terms.

How to write a Case Study

How to support your case

Support your case study with statistics, figures and tables.

Areas to focus on include:  

Return on Investments - how did the investment in your product pay for itself. For example, it increased productivity by 50% within 2 months. Explain how you can substantiate this; otherwise, your argument loses credibility.

Cost Containment - how does the solution help companies contain costs? This area is very important as budgets are always a sensitive issue. If you can illustrate how another company who adopted your solution saved money then you will keep the reader's interest.

Reducing Barriers - explain how your solution improves internal operations and assists management planning. For example, how does it fit into the system workflow and business procedures? Alternately, mention how your system integrates with other applications and business critical applications.

When compiling the final draft, avoid making it too dry and overwhelming the reader with excessive figures. Rather, keep the tone light, easy-to-read while highlighting the key points.

Remember: case studies that oversell themselves by proposing to solve all problems to all people don't work. No-one believes such claims. 

How to refine your case study

Perfecting your case study takes hard work. But, once you refine the words and polish the edges, you have a very powerful marketing tool.

Indeed, those who download your Case Study will keep it on file and use it as a reference.

Case Study - Sample Templates

Once this occurs, the reader sees you as a credible, trustworthy and reliable source of information, the type of company people want to do business with.