Should I Hire a Proposal Writer or Do It Myself?

There comes a point for every B2B business where you have too many proposals on your plate and not enough time to do them all. The natural next question is: Should I hire a proposal writer or keep doing this myself?

If you’re struggling with that question now, let’s take a look at your options to determine what is a best fit for your company.

Read More
Writing Advice from Fiction Authors to Improve Your Proposals

With proposals ranging from two pages to over two hundred pages, it’s easy to start to compare your writing process to that of a full-time novelist. Fortunately, the world of fiction has plenty of advice for how to handle writing large sections of content. Let’s take a look at a few that can be applied to proposal writing.

Read More
21 Overused Words and Phrases to Avoid In Your Proposal

In the world of business proposals, jargon abounds. While it’s important (and often essential) to eliminate jargon from your proposal, sometimes it’s impossible to cut out all of the business lingo. If you’re struggling to reduce your jargon, focus on eliminating these most common overused words and phrases to make your proposals more engaging for readers.

Read More
5 Reasons to Build Your Content Library Now

There are many methods to write a proposal. A popular approach is to copy and paste from past proposals to create a new one using your favorite sections. Or you might use an old template that was created years ago with outdated content that you update every time you send it out. Let’s not forget the wait-until-the-last-second-and-frantically-type-everything approach. No matter what group you fall into, rest assured that there is a better way that takes much of the stress out of proposal writing.

Read More
6 Ways to Improve Your Proposals Today

As one of the final steps in the sales process, many people want to know how to use the proposal to push a deal across the finish line. While a proposal alone can’t win an opportunity, it can definitely lose one. By using the steps below, however, you will make your proposal significantly stronger and inspire customers to work with you.

Read More
7 Strategies to Make Your Proposal Brief and Clear

One of the most common business writing tips is to make your content brief and clear. This sounds great in theory, but if you’ve ever drafted a document only to find out that it’s way too long, then you might be wondering how to actually put this into practice. In this blog post, we’ll take a look at a few specific tactics you can use to improve the clarity of your proposal writing.

Read More
5 Books to Help You Write Proposals

Writing is a skill that requires constant work and improvement. Like any skill, sometimes you need a bit of outside help and guidance to continue to improve. There’s no better place to get help than a good book, and the resources on this list are the perfect place to get started. So if you’re ready to take your proposals to another level and curl up with a good writing book, read on!

Read More
Questions to Ask During Your Proposal Kickoff Meeting

It’s easy to have the proposal kickoff meeting to be focused only on assigning tasks and aligning on schedule. However, since this is often the one time where the whole team is available, it is the perfect opportunity to dive into your proposal strategy. Whether you use the kickoff call for establishing your strategy or you have a separate meeting, below are a few key questions to address to make sure you’re positioned to win.

Read More
How a Content Library Will Save You Time & Money

There are three main approaches to creating proposals. The first one is to write from scratch every time, which can be time consuming, frustrating, and inefficient. The second approach is to copy and paste from past proposals. This is more efficient but leaves room for error and repeated mistakes. The last, and best option, is to use a content library to save time and avoid mistakes. Let’s take a look at how you can implement this in your business.

Read More
How to Get in Front of Buyers

If you’ve done much reading about proposals, then you know you are significantly more likely to be successful if you build a relationship with the buyer before they release the RFP. While this may sound great in theory, you might wonder: how do you actually do that?

Read More
Your Proposals Aren't Winning? This might be why.

There are few things more frustrating than spending hours (or weeks!) on a proposal only to have the buyer go with someone else. Until it happens again. And again.

If you’ve found yourself in this position, then you’re likely wondering why this keeps happening. Let’s take a look at a few of the common reasons why the project might be awarded to someone else

Read More
A Winning formula for Your RFP Response Cover Letter

An oft-overlooked (and sometimes completely absent) section of RFP responses is the cover letter. Including a cover letter in your proposal provides a personal touch, allows you to address any administrative components, and gives a special place to sell your offering. If you want to include a cover letter in your RFP response but are not sure where to get started, read on!

Read More
Adobe InDesign vs Microsoft Word: Which is Better for proposal design?

A well-designed proposal makes it easy for evaluators to better understand your offering and why they should choose you. Unless you’re a designer, however, knowing how to get started with designing your proposal can be overwhelming. The first decision is what tool you should use. For most organizations, that decision becomes choosing between Adobe InDesign and Microsoft Word. Read on to learn which one is the best option for you.

Read More
What Types of Proposal Support to Hire Based on Your Proposal Process

Whether you’re just getting started with proposals or you’ve created hundreds, odds are, you’re going to need help at some point. What many organizations don’t consider, however, is the type of proposal support that is best suited for your process. Before you create a job posting for a proposal writer or hire a proposal management firm, review the below to see what would be the best fit for your organization.

Read More
Am I ready to respond to government RFPs? Answered.

Winning a new government contract can dramatically boost revenue for many small businesses. In order to win those contracts, however, you often have to go through the government procurement process, which means responding to RFPs. If you are struggling to determine if you’re ready to start responding to government RFPs, read on for a few key questions to ask to determine your next step.

Read More