GreenIndustryPros.com |

In today’s tough market where you’re bidding against more competitors, quality proposals that are informative, professional and customer-specific can help keep you in the hunt.

Your proposal is the one presentation that offers clients something beyond price. So make the most of this opportunity to show your stuff by including the following critical elements.

Get Right to the Point

There are basic objectives with every proposal you submit:

• Did you fully address and comply with the customer’s needs?
• Can the customer understand what you presented?
• Did you convey that you are capable of handling the customer’s needs?
• Can the customer trust you?

The proposal must then provide an excellent customer-focused breakdown of the proposed work into:

• Costs
• Qualifications
• Experience
• Other items that create value for your customer

Strive to keep your proposal focused and direct. Do not include any unnecessary verbiage, marketing material or other information that is not relevant to the job. The information you provide in your proposal should illustrate your capabilities, but only with respect to how those capabilities meet the customer’s needs. Just ask yourself, “Does this information add value to the customer’s project?”

You are creating the proposal for the customer to read, not yourself. It should be easy to understand without taking a lot of time.

Keep the font size at 10 or 12. Bold or underline headings. Only use photos or other graphics when they help illustrate a point or add impact—without distracting the customer. Maintain a similar style throughout the entire proposal.

Your proposal should look like it is job-specific, as opposed to a boilerplate presentation developed years ago. Today’s proposals can be developed rather easily and quickly on most home computers, and can project an image of being special and attentive to your client’s needs.

Use a consistent format that addresses each of the primary elements listed below, either in the body of your proposal or as separate inserts to your proposal material.

Address All Customer Requirements

Make sure your presentation addresses all requirements set forth in your customer’s bid package.

This means that you assign a full cost to every item within the scope of work.

For example, if the customer asks that you include tree care in your presentation, include it. Conversely, if you discussed excluding certain items, do not put them in your proposal. If there are foggy areas, list them as additive alternatives.