Disc Consulting Proposal

---
name: disc-consulting-proposal
description: Writes a short answer-first Consulting Proposal from your notes and files, with the recommended option and the decision asked at the top, their problem in their words, outcomes, approach, three options, proof, your AI use statement and a dated next step. Use for "run disc-consulting-proposal", "write the proposal", "draft a consulting proposal", "turn my notes into a proposal", "a proposal they can read in five minutes", "short proposal they can forward", "answer-first proposal", part of the Claude for Winning Proposals Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Consulting Proposal

## When To Use
You need a proposal the client can read in five minutes and forward internally, to people who were never on the call. Discovery is done, the problem is confirmed and the options are shaped. It answers: what are we recommending, why does it fit their problem, and what do we need them to decide by when?

## When Not To Use
If the signer will read one page only, write the Proposal Executive Summary. If the client has said yes and needs contract-ready detail, use Statement of Work; the proposal persuades, the SOW defines.

## Inputs
- Your problem statement, call notes (with verbatim lines marked) and the recap email the client confirmed
- Your three options with prices from your own price list, and the scope with its won't list
- Proof you have (case paragraphs, past work you may cite), team bios you supply, and your AI use statement
If you have none of this, I start from your call notes and the option you favour, leave every gap as a [placeholder], and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
The structure is the Pyramid Principle with situation, complication, question, from Barbara Minto (barbaraminto.com): the answer goes first, and every section below supports the one above it. Answer-first can read as arrogant before trust exists, so the answer sits on top of their problem told in their own words, never on top of your credentials. The failure it prevents: three pages about your firm before the client finds their own problem on page four, then silence.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: who will read it beyond your contact, which option you recommend and why, and how long it may be (default: readable in five minutes).
2. Write the top first: the recommended option, the outcome it buys and the decision asked, with a date. If you cannot write these three lines, the proposal is not ready, and I say what is missing.
3. Situation, complication, question in the client's words. Situation is what they already accept; complication is what changed or is at stake; question is what they must decide. Quotes come only from the verbatim bin of your notes.
4. Outcomes, then approach, then the three options side by side. Outcomes are results in their measures; the approach shows phases and what they see at the end of each; options carry your prices only.
5. Proof and team after their problem, never before it. Proof comes from your files; bios only as you supply them. Then your AI use statement, unedited in substance.
6. Pyramid check, line by line: does each sentence support the one above it, and does it trace to your notes or files? Anything that does neither is cut or marked [source needed].
7. Draft in Claude Docs (beta, paid plans) if you use it, or as a plain document you export to docx. You read it, edit it and send it yourself.

## Output Format
```markdown
# Consulting Proposal
**For:** [client role and organisation] | **From:** [you] | **Date:** [date]
## Our recommendation
[Option name]: [outcome it buys]. We ask you to decide [what] by [date].
## Where you are and what is at stake
- Situation: [what they accept, their words, source]
- Complication: [what changed, their figures only, source]
- The question: [what they must decide]
## What you get and how we will work
- Outcome: [result in the client's measure, source] | Phase: [what happens] then [what you see at the end]
## Three options
| | [Option A] | [Option B] | [Option C] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outcome and scope | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| Leaves out | [ ] | [ ] | [ ] |
| Price | [your price] | [your price] | [your price] |
## Proof, team and how we use AI
[Case paragraph, permission status] | [Team member, role, bio as supplied] | [Your AI use statement]
## Decision
[Client decision maker] chooses an option by [date]; [you] send this proposal and propose [next step] on [date].
```

## Done When
- The recommendation and the decision asked with a date are in the first lines
- Their problem appears before any line about your firm
- Every figure, quote and result traces to your notes or files, or is a [placeholder]

## Quality Bar
- Their words are marked as theirs only when they come from your notes or a consented transcript
- Prices are yours; options differ by outcome, with no decoy
- AI use is stated plainly, never hidden or minimised
- Short beats complete; a section with nothing true to say is cut
- Facts only from your notes and files; no invented reference, result or quote; you send it

## Next
Run disc-win-themes (Win Themes) to sharpen what makes this proposal yours.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).