The Perfect Proposal Introduction: Impress From The First Sentence
The Perfect Proposal Introduction: Impress From The First Sentence
The first page of a proposal shouldn't be a history lesson. It's an opportunity to showcase your unique abilities, and the lessons you've learned, and stand out from the competition.
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The Opening Page Of The Proposal Isn't A History Lesson
Here is a typical first page of a proposal:
WidgetCo is a long-established and renowned company operating in the competitive widget manufacturing industry for over three decades. Specializing in producing high-quality widgets for various sectors, including automotive, aerospace, and consumer electronics, WidgetCo has built a solid reputation for reliability and product excellence.
In recent years, WidgetCo has faced a growing challenge – an outdated and somewhat inconsistent brand image that no longer resonates with its evolving target audience. The company's branding, developed years ago, does not effectively communicate the innovative and forward-thinking nature of the business. This misalignment between the brand identity and the company's core values and offerings has started to hinder WidgetCo's growth potential and its ability to capture new markets and customers.
WidgetCo recognizes that to maintain its competitive edge and expand its customer base, it must embark on a comprehensive brand refresh journey. The company has conducted preliminary research to better understand its audience's evolving needs and preferences, which has paved the way for this initiative. However, WidgetCo now seeks the expertise of a professional consulting partner to guide them through the entire branding process, from redefining their brand identity to implementing the changes across all communication channels.
Our consulting proposal aims to outline our approach and provide a roadmap for WidgetCo's brand refresh, addressing the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
If you got through all that, congratulations!
…because your prospective client probably didn’t.
Far too many proposals have an opening page which is something of a cross between a Wikipedia page and a late-night TV Ad.
I’m not sure when everyone decided proposals should be boring, but I wish they would stop.
The Information You Should Convey In Your Opening Statement
You don’t need to regurgitate a list of basic information back to the client - especially information you can glean from their Wikipedia page. The person receiving the information will already have seen it and they won’t be impressed by your ability to visit the Wikipedia page.
(Aside: It’s also worth noting that most corporate Wikipedia pages aren’t updated as often as you might think. They might contain irrelevant or out-of-date information which will simply reveal you got the information from Wikipedia.)
The three goals you need to achieve in your opening stage are:
Show you’ve listened and truly understand the desired outcome. This means looking carefully through your notes and identifying the critical information. Make sure you know what your contact really cares about. Understand exactly what the outcomes look like. Look for the specific words the client used to describe the problems and outcomes too.
Fully understand the problems and why they can’t solve them internally. Why doesn’t the client just solve this challenge themselves? What’s stopping them from getting there? Why are they reaching out to a consultant and why have they invited you (specifically you)?
Highlight why you’re the best solution to that problem. What makes you different from any other consultant out there? What are the unique advantages which only you can bring to this project?
Begin by assembling these ingredients from your notes. This might look something like the below.
It’s always a good idea to go through your notes and draw out the key details.
(Aside - ChatGPT now makes it easier to enter notes and then ask for a summary based on this kind of criteria).
Make Your Writing Exciting
Make your writing interesting and exciting to read. Take a few risks and have fun with it.
Let’s go back to the WidgetCo paragraphs again:
In recent years, WidgetCo has faced a growing challenge – an outdated and somewhat inconsistent brand image that no longer resonates with its evolving target audience. The company's branding, developed years ago, does not effectively communicate the innovative and forward-thinking nature of the business. This misalignment between the brand identity and the company's core values and offerings has started to hinder WidgetCo's growth potential and its ability to capture new markets and customers.
So, so, boring. Let’s try and put some life into it.
It’s not 1993 anymore. Design principles which were in vogue thirty years ago are displayed in design museums today. WidgetCo now faces a decision. Should they cling nostalgically to the dated design principles of the past or embrace the modern principles of our generation?
These principles include minimalism, whitespace, responsiveness, accessibility, and flat, typographically-centred, design - none of which are present in WidgetCo’s current brand identity.
So it’s time for a new identity. An identity that retains the core elements which make WidgetCo unique, but embraces the modern principles of today. One that alerts customers, stakeholders, and even competitors that you’re still the organisation which leads this industry. And one that your customers and staff won’t be ashamed to appear on SWAG, their social media profiles, or in WidgetCo’s headquarters.
Let’s go through some principles we’ve followed here to spruce up our writing.
Principles Of Quality Proposal Writing
I want to highlight the key things we’ve done here.
Attention-grabbing. Notice here we open with a short, sharp, attention-grabbing sentence. Every competitor will write a paragraph about the first example. You’re going to create a much better example. We try to have a little fun with it.
Imagery. We create quick imagery that people can visualise (the design museum). I initially wrote, “design principles which were popular in the era of baggy jeans and fanny packs don’t serve our needs today”. If you can create imagery, you will be more persuasive.
Get to the crux of the issue. Now we get to the crux of the problem in a simple, short, sentence. You now face a decision. This is where we use our notes to recognise internal resistance to changing the brand. We’ll talk more about this later.
Mix of short and long sentences. Makes the text more interesting.
Add value. We also want to add value and showcase our expertise by highlighting the modern principles they’re not following. I might not always do this, but it can help. You don’t have to say the client is making a mistake (and provoking resentment). You can simply highlight trends which aren’t being followed at the moment.
Define the outcome. Yes, the outcome is a consistent, modern, identity which reflects modern principles etc... But what they really want is a brand which shows everyone they mean business. They want to look cool. They want to impress their boss and stakeholders. They want to be held up as a best-in-class example. I added some imagery to this too.
Say it without saying it. It’s often better to say the negative things implicitly rather than explicitly. It’s a lot easier to say ‘not aligned with current trends’ than ‘it’s bad’. The former is less likely to cause offence.
Emotion, logic, ethics. We got the emotion in there, we’ve got the logic in there, and, you might not have noticed, we’ve also got the ethics in there too (our comment on accessibility is going to land - trust me).
Use contrasts. Using contrasts is one of the most powerful ways to make a point. Don’t just write a statement, but compare it to something else. In the above, we’re not just saying ‘need an update’, we’re saying ‘you can stay in the past or advance into the future’.
Alliteration. A little alliteration can help a lot. Notice ‘dated design’, and ‘principles of the past’ etc…If I could have come up with a clever rhyme I might have used that too.
Rule of three. It’s good writing (and public speaking) to use the rule of three. This is where you make one point, then another point, and then a third point which is longer than the other two. It helps to begin each point with the same word.
If You’re Going To Rock The Boat - Rock The Boat
Finally, you will notice we’re not exactly holding back on rocking the boat.
That’s a deliberate decision.
In the audit, there was internal resistance to changing the brand imagery. There are two ways to deal with that. The first is to try and tone things down to accommodate them and their challenges. The second, and what I’m deliberately choosing to do in this proposal, is to more or less steamroll right over them.
The reason for this is simple. The people who object to changing or updating the brand design won’t approve a proposal to do it regardless of how much we try to accommodate them. We can spend hours talking about brand values, the history, the importance of the logo and how we’ll bring them along (and we might do that as part of the methodology), but it won’t get a proposal approved.
So I’m picking a side. I’m taking a calculated risk that the proposal is going to land on the desk of the people who really want to do it. I’m giving them a proposal where they think we’re ‘one of them’. I’m creating a proposal where the recipient can say:
Hell yeah, this is the kind of organisation I want on my side"
In this situation, I’m hoping any competitors will try to walk that careful tightrope of making a big change to the brand design while desperately trying to avoid upsetting anyone.
You can see how absurd that approach is when you write it. So, if you’re going to do something, position yourself as the person who’s really going to do it.
Stylistic Flourishes Can Only Take You So Far
Like writing a résumé or CV, stylistic flourishes can only take you so far.
If you haven’t got any unique value to bring to the table or if you haven’t built a good relationship to truly understand the needs of your prospective client, the writing style won’t help much.
But if you have done the work - then this is where you can deploy persuasive writing techniques to deliver better proposals and attract a lot more business.