When will business proposals hit 2.0?
I was writing a proposal for some new work today, and the task has become quite formulaic. I’ve done it so many times, and I never really liked the standard format of a proposal, but I guess I never had the guts to do something new either.
Here’s how a typical proposal goes (according to me):
- Cover Letter – SS 25%
- About the Company – SS 50%
- Example Clients – SS 25%
- Staff Profiles and references – SS 75%
- Development Methodology – SS 100%
- Project Goals and Objectives – SS 50%
- Line Item Estimate – SS 10%
- Timeline – SS 10%
- Terms – SS 10%
Guide to Proposal Reading
| Scroll Speed (SS) | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 10% | Okay, now let’s get down to business |
| 25% | About as interesting as a M*A*S*H re-run after the bars close and I can’t sleep |
| 50% | Simultaneously playing tetris, but really, I want to hear about you CSR |
| 75% | I saw your profile picture and I think your nose is a funny shape, otherwise it’s a blur |
| 100% | My finger hurts from holding down PgDn |
I guess it’s effective and that is why people keep re-hashing it. I try to spend the most space on the parts specific to the client, #1 and #6-8. As someone who has also received a fair amount of proposals, I really couldn’t give a toss who you are until I’ve read those parts. But the formula is to throw the stock about us and way we work in the middle, hoping you’ll impress the client and some buzzword or super client will attract their attention.
Does this work?
What could be the new way to make a proposal with the following goals:
- Not to be boring!
- Not to use meaningless language and buzzwords
- Client gets to see the brass tax quickly and clearly
- The whole thing gets at least skimmed @ 50%, ideally read in entirety
- Is not an environmental crime to print
- Gives client reassurance that you are good at what you do
I’ve been thinking about structuring my proposals in a wiki. So that I literally send the client a link to a wiki page which has the whole proposal in it. The reason this is ideal is that you can use HTML to show only a small portion of “Company profile” (Yawn…), and then link off to more detail and try to be more enticing rather than verbose and confusing.
The other advantage of this approach is that it becomes easier to re-using existing content / organize it, and there are more tools at your disposal (such as animation, ajax, etc – what about an interactive proposal!).
Disadvantage of course is the layout thing, as well as the printable document which is of course 100% necessary, but getting around these technical limitations, it just might work.
Other thoughts? Ideas?
What’s the best proposal you’ve ever read?
