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

Writing the Business Case

Writing a formal proposal can be a daunting task. Some of them may be hundreds, even thousands of pages long, but even if they are much shorter, they are still complex documents. As the old proverb about eating an elephant says, you can only get the job done one bite at a time.

The most important bites are the ones that appear up front—your cover letter and executive summary. Allow yourself enough time to do a good job with those parts and you’ll at least create a positive first impression.

The Cover Letter

The cover letter is your firm’s official transmittal message. It should be signed by an executive of sufficient rank to bind the company to a contract, ideally by someone in your organization who is the peer of ...