Where to start with a proposal?

Proposal writing can be a scary thing. I remember the first time that I was asked to write a proposal...I hadn't got a clue where to start. I didn't know what content should be put it there, how it should be formatted let alone how to develop some win themes and a customer benefits-driven message.

Fortunately I got better at it over the years and wanted to be able to help those new sales people, bid team members and project managers...eveyone who gets asked to write or contribute to a proposal who doesn't know where to start.

I would have loved to have the opportunity to have good tools to help prepare that first proposal, indeed many later proposals. That's what I've done. I've made available tools and resources to help get new people started and established proposal writers improve.

Using the right tools is important. How much time have we all wasted, not managing the proposal development well (we are salespeople...how often do salespeople manage projects where you work?) not having the right content on hand (have you emailed colleagues asking for some text on that something-or-other project we did a couple of years ago?) and ending up a few days before the proposal has to be submitted eating cold pizza and drinking warm Coke at 12:30 am trying to get it finished.

I always thought there was a better way, that wouldn't cost $1,000's to get access to. Something for the micro, small or medium sized business.

There is now...Learn to Write Proposals. And plently of the content, including this blog on writing proposals better proposals and learning how to write better proposals is free for everyone.

It's not going to cover only the content and resources at www.learntowriteproposals.com (though it will sometimes) and if there are topics you'd like me to discuss let me know.

Otherwise, I hope that you get something useful from my posts.