Writing

How to write a business proposal for a client

A real post-first-call proposal for an 80-page catalogue redesign: the three phases, what the client has to supply, where scope creeps, and the price left blank.

~60s$0.131122SmartBy Heei
The ask

Write the proposal I send a client after a first call: a small firm wants their 80-page product catalogue redesigned. Cover what I'd do, the three phases, what I need from them, and where scope typically creeps. Leave the price as a clearly marked blank. Give me the .docx.

I asked for one blank and got five.

The instruction was to leave the price as a clearly marked gap, and the Word file does that: `Project fee: [INSERT PRICE]` sits under a heading called Investment. But `[Client Name]`, `[Date]`, `[Your Name / Studio]` and a `[X–Y weeks]` timeline are bracketed the same way. It worked out that a proposal you send after a first call is a document you send after every first call, and that the price is simply the blank I happened to name.

Everything else is written out properly. Scope of Work, three phases, What I'll Do, What I Need From You, and a section on assumptions and where scope typically creeps — that last one being the part a person actually dreads writing, because it means telling a client in advance which of their habits will cost them money.

Sixty seconds, $0.131122 on Smart, and the file goes out after you fill the brackets. Replay: https://elsedoes.com/share/152289bbcc9d4aeda4c175e95aa95c5d

Hand Else something of yours.

Describe the job once. The file, the replay and the receipt come back the same way they did for every run on this page.

Try Else
Try Else