The fact is that every bid goes to client’s inbox is a pain to evaluate, and all the more important when your client is reading your proposal after binning a bad proposal. There really isn’t a “magical key” that works for every bid. There are, however, some basic steps you can follow while drafting your proposal to increase the chances of the prospective client considering your bid seriously.

With growing rat race it’s time to stand out of the competition, here are fifteen outstanding tricks for writing an effective proposal:

1) Thoroughly read the project requirements
If the client doesn’t feel that you understand the work, your chances of losing the bid are higher in the first review. Besides, many clients demand for specific details that you need to be aware of. In fact, clients often include a phrase or code that must be included in your bid in order to have it considered and not giving the impression that the response is a canned one. The bottom line is, client gets the feeling its worth spending time in the project.

2) Describe your terms clearly
This will give the client a chance to look at the conditions that come along with your proposal, such as payment expectations and other project related necessary conditions, so they can negotiate these points early on, if needed.

3) Requirement understanding, address concerns and specifications
While you draft your proposal, describe in detail your client what you understand from his requirement description, be upfront about any issues specific to project. Seek information where you think it can impact your client’s business. Client must get the sense all the time while gliding through your proposal that you know the exact work.

4) If the client contacts you, be sure to respond promptly
Here is a deal seizing moment, you have an opportunity to impress the client, remember don’t be too pushy, perhaps be gentle in your approach for providing the required information and more about your services. Often projects are awarded within the first 3 days of reviewing all the proposals.

5) Outline a summary of scope of work
Based on the requirement you may definitely evaluate the gap areas, the areas of improvement, include necessary information regarding project requirements or any need to negotiate any potential changes to the plan, Any necessary equipment/licensing/hardware’s/software’s to complete the work. covering the intangible aspects of the project and all that your client overlooked while detailing the requirement. Lastly, give your expert recommendations to make the project better, believe client will like it.

6) Keep your bid clear and crisp
Using the project description give your brief offerings, remember that the client definitely may have received dozens or even more proposals to be considered. It’s very likely that every word of every bid isn’t going to be read. Bids with an unnecessarily long description will be skipped over completely. Don’t invite the client to ignore your bid by making it over wordy.

7) Don’t oversell your company instead focus on services
A little self-confidence is a good thing, but over-the-top claims and too much about your organization won’t impress anyone. Client has limited interest to know about your company. Concentrate on the estimated timeline and deadline for the project.

8) Refer your work samples in the proposal
Quality of your work, refer some past projects, experience your company has and the methodology you follow are generally among few to be presented while sharing samples of your work. Ensure that your samples are appropriate for the project and that they represent your finest piece of work. For example if you are a Google Adwords Manager, you should show few sample of the ads you are running with CTR and conversions.

9) Why your company qualifies for the project
Skills/domain/technologies your company has worked, niche certifications your company holds, awards your company has bagged for excellence in the area, Patents or white papers your company has for the work.

10) Be cognizant for your clients cents
Being competitive does not always mean that you need to bid lowest. Winning in the worldwide marketplace calls for the real value add, and if your work is truly a masterpiece, you will definitely find clients are willing to pay. On the other hand, if you’re relatively new, you may need to establish a reputation first.

11) Make your proposal your brand ambassador, give yourself the latitude
few points never to miss while sending your bid to represent in your absence are
a) you cannot afford to miss your company name, logo, and contact information, website address in the proposal.
b) give your client the feeling of exclusivity by adding clients name, logo, its business, its website in the proposal.
c) add current date, the project’s name and location in the proposal.
d) include your online presence, according to latest online surveys any client before opting for your services looks at your online reputation and does a research about you on the web. You can consider a Web Design and SEO Company to build your presence on the web.

12) The overall price for the project
This is a very significant and essential section, wherein you detail the cost your company will charge for delivering the project, Include the breakdown of the total cost of the project.

13) Cover the extra mile
A bid is not just merely an info packet, it ought to be an high octane persuasive tool. Therefore, proposal should be beyond an encyclopedic description or an exercise of copy and paste. The goal of your proposal is to persuade your client to choose your services. Why are you different? What will you do for the project that others can’t or won’t? A proposal is to be personalized and tailored for the client. Yes, it’s time-consuming but equally rewarding at the end.

14) Last, but most important, proofread your bid before you trigger submit
As a general rule, ensure the proposal is very neatly drafted, free from grammatical errors, run the spell checker. No matter what kind of project you are bidding for! a poorly written proposal exhibits lack of attention to detail and shows poor presentation skills. You do want to give a professional and polite image for your company and yourself. Putting in a little extra effort will set you above other companies competing on the project.

15) An appreciative conclusion
End with a note of thanks towards the person reading your bid, thank them for taking the time to consider it; invite your client to reach out to you for their questions as they move forward with their evaluation process.

Takeaway
Drive this step-by-step process to create award winning proposals. We suggest you follow a homegrown or take expert services to select the best work. Feel free to take a moment to run through our checklist to see if you are bidding on the right projects for your company.