Proposal Writing

---
name: proposal-writing
description: Write a proposal that states the client's problem, your approach, and the commercial terms clearly enough to be accepted or declined quickly. Use when bidding for work or pitching a project.
---

# Proposal writing

A proposal is read to answer three questions: do they understand my
problem, can they solve it, and what will it cost. Proposals that lead
with company credentials answer none of them.

## Method

1. **Open with their problem in their words.** Demonstrating you
   understood the brief is what earns the rest being read.
2. **State the approach concretely.** What you will do, in what
   sequence, with what they will see at each stage (see
   milestone-planning).
3. **Be specific about scope and exclusions.** What is not included
   prevents the disagreement that otherwise arrives during delivery (see
   project-scoping).
4. **Make the price and its basis clear.** Fixed, time-based, or staged,
   with what changes it, since hidden commercial terms destroy trust
   later.
5. **Name the risks and how you handle them.** It reads as competence
   rather than weakness, and it separates a serious proposal from an
   optimistic one (see project-risk-management).
6. **Keep credentials brief and relevant.** One or two directly
   comparable examples beat a portfolio.
7. **State what you need from them.** Access, decisions, and materials,
   with dates, because client-side dependencies are the most common
   cause of delay.

## Boundaries

A proposal is a commercial document with contractual implications and
needs review before issue (see agent-legal-desk). It cannot substitute
for a relationship or an understanding of the client's context. Bidding
for poorly specified work is a risk that proposal quality does not
remove.