Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts

Seven Questions to Keep You Client Focused

Before you ever set pencil to paper, before your fingertips caress a single key, you should answer the following seven questions. They’ll force you to develop a client-centered perspective.

If you are a proposal writer who supports a field sales organization, you should ask these questions of your colleagues in sales when they submit a request for proposal that they want you to work on. Without knowing these basic aspects of the opportunity, you can’t give them the best possible support. If they resist, point out to them that you don’t want to undercut the work they’ve done during the sales process by delivering a boilerplate proposal. (If they still resist, maybe they haven’t done any work during the ...