Writing Proposals
The Proposal Writing Process
As you can guess, writing proposals follows the same writing process we use in other
technical writing. In the planning stage, determine your purpose for the proposal.
Consider whether this is an internal or external proposal. Internal proposals
(submitted to someone within your company) present an argument for carrying out an
activity that will be beneficial to the company. An example might be when you are
proposing a software or hardware upgrade for employees, in order to complete their work
more effectively and more efficiently. Internal proposals can be submitted orally,
through email, as a memo, or as a letter.
External proposals are written for someone outside of your company. An example
would be if a company needs new hardware upgrades, and requests that several
companies submit proposals to them basically bidding for the contract. They’ll then
compare all the proposals and choose the company to purchase their upgrades from.
These would most often take the form of a letter.
Delving a bit more deeply into external proposals, these can be either solicited or
unsolicited. A solicited proposal is a proposal that you submit when a customer asks
that you send them one. These take two forms: information for bid (IFB) and request for
proposal (RFP). An IFB is used for a standard product such as laptops. An RFP is used
for more customized products or services, such as the development of new software.
An unsolicited proposal is a proposal that is given to someone to consider, without that
person asking for a specific proposal. This could be a situation where you’re trying to
find an investor, for example, rather than filling the particular need of a company.
In analyzing your audience, think about whether this is an internal or external proposal.
If this is a proposal to your supervisor asking for software upgrades, then your language
can be a bit more informal, and could include more technical jargon than you’d include
for an outside audience. If you’re creating an unsolicited proposal, you may want to
research your audience – who are you submitting this to? A company or an investor?
Find out the specifics (their name, position at the company, previous investments), but
also consider their needs, and then write the proposal with that audience in mind. Also,
avoid using first person voice (I, me, my) in your proposal. Stick to third person (he, she,
they) or the second person (we).
The last step before drafting the proposal is to decide on the format for your proposal. If
this is to a coworker or supervisor, an email or memo might suffice. If this is a more
formal proposal, meant for an outside company or an investor, then you’ll want to adopt a
more formal method such as a letter.
The final two stages involve drafting and revising the proposal. We won’t repeat what
you’ve already learned about drafting and revising, but we will discuss the contents of a
proposal.
The Contents of a Proposal
The following excerpt from David McMurrey’s Power Tools for Technical
Communication gives a great overview of the proposal writing process. Go to the site
(http://www.prismnet.com/~hcexres/textbook/props.html) now, and read this excerpt.
There are an endless number of styles for writing proposals, and they can vary in length
from a one or two page proposal up to a 15 page proposal. For our course, our focus will
be on a two page proposal, which includes the following sections:
Title:
The title you choose defines and labels the proposal. Choose something short, but
appropriate, and type it in all capital letters.
Background:
The title of this is misleading because students often think it’s asking for the background
of their company. What you’re really focusing on here is the problem. Present a problem
to the reader and then persuade them that a solution needs to be found by explaining why
it’s a problem. This section (and all the remaining sections) should have a section
heading.
In Mobile Development/Software Development, this problem is going to be the absence
of your app/software on the market. Consider your audience, and how they are lacking
this app/software. Write one persuasive paragraph that focuses on this absence. To put
this in better perspective, let’s say your idea is an app that is an interactive baseball card
checklist app that users can take wherever they go. If they go to a convention, all they
have to do is pull up this app, and then they can see which cards they’re missing in order
to complete a set. For your Background section, your goal is to show us this card
collector at a convention, and they’re either rifling through their entire card collection
(which they brought with them), scanning an unwieldy list, or unable to remember
whether or not they need this one $50 card. Their problem is that they don’t have an easy,
portable way to keep track of their card collection.
In Media Communications, your problem will be the problem you identified. If your idea
is for a magazine revamp, the problem is why the magazine needs to be revamped. If
your idea is an original website or TV series, the problem is the void that this product will
fill. If you chose to reinvent a current video game as a TV series, you’d focus on how the
fans want more and that there’s an untapped audience (TV watchers) for that franchise.
Proposal:
This is where you first introduce your solution to the problem. You want to explain why
this is the best solution (such as describing the benefits or key features), and go into detail
about the procedures for how you’d implement the solution. This will usually take
between one to three paragraphs, and should answer most of the reader’s questions about
how your proposal will work.
For Mobile Development/Software Development, let’s go back to our interactive baseball
card checklist app idea. If this were your app, the Proposal section would reveal your
solution: an interactive baseball card checklist app! Reveal it immediately, and then
explain that this not only lets them take their entire collection with them virtually, but it
lets them sort through the collection in seconds, and can sort the list to show only the
missing cards, cards that aren’t in mint condition, or even the value of their cards in case
they brought them and want to make a good trade. For those arguments when they’re
standing in line, it also lets them pull up the baseball player’s bio and stats.
For Media Communications, if you have an original work as your idea (for example),
your solution would be the idea itself and how it will fill a specific void in the
marketplace. If your solution is a revamp of a current product, the revamp itself is the
solution, and you should explain why this is the best idea and how it will turn things
around.
Research:
This section can be a brief paragraph (or use a graphic such as a chart) that presents
details from your primary or secondary research that supports your solution. If you use a
visual, be sure to introduce it.
Schedule:
This section provides a brief timeline of events leading up to the implementation of your
solution. Start with the date you begin this project, and end with the date you will
complete it. Fill in any dates in between where a measurable action will take place or be
completed, but avoid using meetings as part of your Schedule. Think about aesthetics
when creating this section – use an introductory sentence, and write the Schedule as a list
such as:
March 1, 2015:
Recruit beta testers
March 10, 2015:
Begin beta testing
March 17, 2015:
Beta testing completed
Be sure to use actual dates, and give the month, day, and year. Align items using the tab
key, and keep the event descriptions brief.
Qualifications:
In this section, spend a paragraph or two describing the qualifications of the staff that
would be working on this project. If it’s you and your company, give some background
information about the company, and describe the experience and education of your team.
If you have to hire outside staff, then describe the positions that would need to be filled
and the qualifications/experience these staff members would need to have.
Budget:
For this section, use a list similar to the Schedule section, including an introductory
sentence. What you want to list here is an itemized budget of the project’s expenses, as
well as a total amount, and a brief paragraph that shows the return on investment. Put
yourself in the shoes of the investor – whether they’re investing their time, money, or
donating goods, they’ll want to know what they are getting in return. Be sure that your
numbers here are accurate. It would be disastrous to have to go back to an investor and
tell them that you cannot complete the project without more funds.
Conclusions:
This is your final section, and should be a brief paragraph that reminds the reader of the
purpose of this proposal. You should also very specifically state what you are asking
them for, and give a deadline – a date that you will follow-up with them in case they have
any questions (and then be sure that you do so!).