How to Write A Winning Business Proposal (Part 1)

Proposals are selling instruments which you use to solicit the patronage of your offerings or a buy-in for your cause, idea or project. Proposals do not just present only facts about your goods or organisation, but also information on the processes of executing a given project or delivering a particular service.

Generally, proposals should be:

- Accurate in information

- Detailed in coverage and

- Persuasive in presentation

What Business Proposal is Not

- It is not just a price quote

- It is not just a bill of materials

- It is not a project plan or scope of work

- It is not all about the company’s history either

Ideally, all of these should be included in your proposal. But it is more than the summation of them together. A Proposal is a sales document designed to drive the sales process towards closure!

Proposals’Litmus Tests

Generally, proposals provide answers to three basic questions:

- Why are the goods or services you are proposing worth acquiring?

- What the receiver gain from the product, service or project?

- How can your claims or promised results be validated?

Qualities of a Winning Proposal

Good business proposals should…

1.   Identify with the problems of the client

2.   Contain convincing information

3.   Contain ample details and credible explanations

4.   Be thorough and clear

5.   Be consistent in structure, language and presentation

6.   Indicate the competitive advantage of your solution

7.   Be attractive to the client in terms of cost, and

8.   Contain selling features such as track records and profile of the company.

Components of a Proposal

Below are some of the general features that are contained in a proposal:

1. Background/Problem Definition

2. Objectives of the Proposal

3. Proposed Solutions

4. Modus Operandi

5. Execution Timeframe

6. Evaluation of Results

8. Cost Implications andPayment schedule

9. Short Corporate Profile

10. Track Records or Testimonials

11. Appendices (if available)

Writing for Professional Development

For those whose vocation is writing-intensive, such as journalists, academics, secretaries, etc the command of a superb language mechanics is a great determinant of their success at the workplace as well as the prestige ascribed to them by their publics. 

People like Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, J.P. Clark, Ayo Banjo, Reuben Abati, Dare Babarinsa, are few among the contemporary people who have attained international prominence through their writing skills.

Students in academic institutions, especially those in the humanities, also need a good command of language to enhance their grades. Therefore, it behoves anyone whose line has anything to do with writing to hone his writing skill by reading and writing regularly. 

Writing for Personal Development

The Cambridge International Dictionary of English(1996:1692) defines writing as “the act of creating pieces of writing work, such as stories, poems or articles”.  In the words of Beck et al (2002:31), “writing is a method of passing information from one person to another, or to a group of people”. They, however, did not limit writing’s function to information alone, as they also cite persuasion and entertainment as veritable resources to which writing can be put to.

Of the four communication skills, writing is the least utilized for obvious reasons. It requires a great expenditure of time and mental efforts to write. It is a process of drafting, editing, and redrafting to usually arrive at an acceptable finished product. The more reason it has been a highly prized communication skill throughout history. Its mastery confers great powers and influence on whoever possesses it (Beck et al, 2002), Hence the popular saying that “the pen is mightier than the sword”.

The beauty of writing is not usually in its volumes, but in the style and the effectiveness of the content in achieving the set objective(s) of the writer. Effective writing essentially thrives on clarity, precision, and conciseness. In the words of Adesanoye (1995:115):

Effective writing…is a piece of written communication that conveys its message in the simplest, clearest, most concise and most readable way possible. It is also that piece of writing in which the manner of expression dovetails perfectly with the subject matter; one in which…there is a close fit between what and how.

Simplicity, clarity, readability and conciseness are thus the hallmarks of effective writing.

With this background on writing, we shall now proceed to highlight how it can be used for various forms of personal development.

Writing aids the development of the mental faculty because, more than any communication effort, it involves a lot of thinking. The writer often finds himself writing, cancelling and rewording his expressions in the effort to choose the words that will most suitably convey his heart to his reader(s). In the process of doing this, he regularly consults the dictionary and thesaurus, thereby increasing his bank of vocabulary while at the same time honing his intellect. 

What is Success?

Success is knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential and sowing seeds that benefit others. - John Maxwell

Success is not determined by acquisitions or opulence. It is the ultimate fulfilment of an identified purpose – grand or small – for the benefit of others, the glory of God, and the fulfilment of the person.

- Babatunde Oladele 

Things That Provoke God to Anger

COMPLAINT

 Now when the people complained, it displeased the LORD; for the LORD heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the fire of LORD burned among them and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. Numbers 11:1
 Often times when we are embattled with challenges or do not get what we desire, or what we have been praying for, we tend to resort to complaining in a bid to arm-twist/blackmail God to look at our side and consider our petition. We whine and gripe endlessly bemoaning our lot. But instead of achieving our objective, what we usually do by so doing is to provoke God to anger. Complaint is one thing that is highly detestable to God. It is a sure way of displeasing Him, arousing His wrath, and unwittingly attracting His consuming fire. 
Fire? Yes, Fire. Even if the LORD does not send a fire, the fact that He is angry is enough to provoke fire to burn! A grateful attitude is what God expects us to have in all situations. Why? Because even when it doesn’t look like it, He is actually working all things out for our good! That may be very difficult to believe. But the truth is that God genuinely loves and cares about every one of His children, both the obedient and the wayward. His love is as constant as the rising of the Sun to its setting, even more so. You can imagine how you would feel if you were planning a surprise package for your loved one only for that person to start acting up by complaining and picking faults in your conducts. How would you feel? Hurt? Disappointed? Frustrated? 

That is the same way God usually feels whenever we complain about our status quo, which is but a process to Him toward getting to where He is taking us. In the case of the Israelites, God was taking them to the Promised Land. But their constant cries, as they passed through the wilderness on the way to ‘the land flowing with milk and honey,’ was their undoing. They did it to a point that God did not even bother to inform Moses, as He was wont to do, before He dealt with them by pouring down a consuming fire upon them. These days, fire may not come down from heaven to consume, but the feeling of being burned will nonetheless be there, with the same intensity as if one is really under a scathing fire. In order to avoid this kind of divine retribution, let us start to praise more and cry less; thank more and gripe less; sing more and groan less. In other words, let us imbibe the spirit of the passage of the bible that says, “IN EVERYTHING, give thanks. For this is the will of the LORD for you…” God bless you.

THE KEYWORD TO PERSONAL GROWTH (PART B)

To achieve this, you need to break out of your comfort zone, query some of your traditional mindsets and stretch beyond your imaginary limits to the realm of can be. One word that must be your driving force – which I call the keyword to personal growth – is “more”, “more”, and “more.” To this end, you would need to:

See more: open your eyes wider and see on a larger scale. Open your inner eye and see beyond the present. See the big picture. See opportunities. See options. See avenues. See possibilities. See greatness. See seeds. See potentials. See, see, and see!

Ask more: ask more questions. Seek more information. Request for more explanation, more clarification. Increase your curiosity. Double your inquisitiveness about everything. By asking more, you get to know more and be more.

Read more: if you do not have a habit of reading, you need to cultivate it. And if you already have, then you need to read more, read wider, read over, read beyond your field. By so doing, you would be cultivating your mind for sound reasoning and better decision-making.

Learn more: you need to increase your bank of knowledge by consciously seeking information on different things, from different sources. Go out and learn more about what you already know, update your mind with the latest information. By learning more, you will become more.

Try more: you might have failed in an endeavour, try again. Explore more options. Try your hands on new things, you don’t have to get it perfect at first or even at all, just do something. Try this, try that, try here, try there. Don’t stop trying, it’s the key to growth and the best way to increase your capacity.

Work more: do more work than you are wont to do. Organise your life and time in such a way that will enable you to get more work done. Do more work than you are paid for. Whatever you are doing, work more at it and don’t rest on your oars.

Do more: take more actions. Expand more efforts. Do one per cent more of what you are doing. Increase your action ratio. Go an extra mile; and you are on the path to self-development, happiness and success.

Give more: give more of yourself, give more of your time, give more of your resources to your family, your friends, your work, your church and your society. Don’t stop giving, it is the secret of getting and becoming. So give more.

Be more: be more than you are to yourself, to your family, to your friends, to your company, to your church/society. Be more than “me” to yourself, be your own resource person. Be more than a husband/father to your wife/children, be their mentor. Be more than a wife/mother to your family, be their inspiration. Be more than a friend, be a motivator. Be more than an employee, be a value-adder. Be more than a colleague, be an encourager. Be more than a member of your church/society, be a contributor. Do you understand now? So break out of the status quo and be more to all!

The keyword to personal growth and development is “more”. Always ask yourself ‘what more can I do?’, ‘What more can I be?’, ‘What more can I learn?’, ‘What more can I give?’ etc. You will be amazed at how fast you would grow as well as at what you are able to accomplish.