To write a business proposal is no easy task. Strategies, approvals, compliances, competencies, design, persuasive writing etc- are just a few elements that are important. The best proposal management teams invest in the best business proposal tools to improve their ability to increase their win-rates by not wasting time on mundane activities.
There are three phases that a team would ideally go through while they write a business proposal:
- Proposal planning
- Proposal writing and development
- Proposal revision and submission
Phase 1: Proposal Planning:
At the heart of any good proposal is an underlying compliance matrix where each line item of the customer’s needs and requirements are organized. It is the single most important factor that can decide whether or not your organization will win or lose is compliance. Especially in large RFPs, proposal teams may miss minute elements that will flip the coin against them. Being able to understand the full scope, and organize it in a systematic, manageable section is crucial right from the beginning of the proposal planning phase. The best business proposal software would enable you to write a business proposal in a systematic manner, quickly- and that is key to any further steps
Phase 2: Proposal Writing and Development:
This is the phase where you begin organizing and writing the proposal. In this phase you work towards elements like customer focus, competitive strategy. You take information gathered during opportunity assessment and feed it into your writing plan. This phase is the centerpiece of your entire process and takes the most amount of time and diligence.
When you begin write a business proposal, it’s important to remember the 3Cs- clarity, conciseness, and correctness. Keep asking questions when you write something. The questions “So what”? and “Why so”? must be questions you should keep asking after every section. Only then will your content add value when you write a business proposal.
Read More: 3 Key Challenges in Proposal Writing Processes and Team Management
Theme statements, headings, graphics, action captions, draft content and gathering of certificates and boiler plate material are essential and will find place in the proposal. It is vital to remember here that as far as possible; approvals must happen in parallel and not in a sequential manner. The best business proposal tools would enable you to do this, and track progress- so that you do not end up having a pile of activities just before your deadline- but rather have sufficient time for revisions and submission activities.
Phase 3: Proposal Revision and Submission:
Proposal revision and submission involves taking input at various stages of the proposal development and constantly improving it. Submission and post submission activities include submitting the proposal based on the exact guidelines and performing internal reviews based on the same. Post this phase, the team would extract newly composed content that has not been found in the boilerplate content and save it as needed. The best business proposal tools will have a novel and systematic manner of carrying out this activity in its workflow and proposal management features to ensure it happens.
Why do you need the best business proposal tool out there?
When it comes to business proposals, it’s important to save time and effort for what matters. Zbizlink allows you to automate over 80% of the proposal team’s daily tasks so that they can focus on integrating strategy into proposals, and not just work on consolidating documents and following up with proposal contributors. Help your teams achieve 3X efficiency and deliver the best they have to offer. Try Zbizlink today.
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