The telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing
industries in the world today. The field includes a wide variety of
organizations that do everything from telecom infrastructure, designing
and manufacturing tablet computers to selling service plans to cell
phone users.
Whether
you specialize in building and maintaining wireless networks, satellite
communications, or in creating the latest Wi-Fi reading application,
you always want to grow your market share or get your new projects
approved or funded.
These days, when competition is fast and
global, it's vital to constantly increase your client list or customer
base, secure new projects, and form new partnerships.
After you
identify a potential new project or beneficial relationship, how do you
go about convincing the other party? The telecommunications business is
complex: a brochure, phone call, or handshake is not likely to seal a
new deal. You almost always need to spell out a lot of details, which
means you need to write a business proposal.
If you've never
written anything other than memos or in-house reports, the prospect of
writing a proposal may sound like a monumental task. But it doesn't have
to be. All business proposals have the same goal--persuading the reader
to agree to your ideas--and the best proposals share a common
structure, too.
The first thing you should know is that a good
proposal should always be customized for your potential customer or
partner. Of course you'll talk about your products and your
organization, but you should describe them in terms of how they will
meet the needs of the other party. To start, gather all the information
you can find about the people who will be reading your proposal. What,
precisely, is their business? What is their organization's history? What
do they care about? What do they already know about you, your project,
or your products? What questions will they have? As you may have
guessed, the biggest question most organizations have is "What's in it
for us?" So keep the benefits to your potential customer or partner
first and foremost in your mind as you create your proposal.
A
proposal has four basic parts: introduction, description of needs and
requirements, description of project or goods or services offered, and
description of your organization's expertise.
When your reader
opens your proposal packet, the first thing he or she should see is a
Cover Letter introducing your proposal. Keep this short--just introduce
yourself, explain why you are sending your proposal at this time, state
what you would like the reader to do after considering the proposal
(call you, sign the enclosed contract, set up a meeting, etc.), and
provide all your contact information.
The next page should be a
Title Page for your proposal. Simply give it a descriptive name. Some
examples might be "Proposed Expansion of Transmission Network to Expand
Wireless Coverage Area" or "Proposal by Smith Company to Provide Cell
Phone and Internet Services to Jones Corporation." If your proposal is
long or complex, next you'll want to include a Table of Contents and an
Executive Summary--a list of the most important points. But you will
need to create them after you're done with the body of the proposal.
On
to the next section: the description of needs and requirements. Put
yourself in your potential client's or partner's position. What do they
want or need? If you are responding to an RFP, that will be spelled out
in detail in the RFP and you can simply repeat that information here. In
other cases, you have to describe it for the reader. For example, one
company's traveling sales reps might need reliable, long lasting cell
phones that can easily share information with company computers; another
company might require cutting edge security software to encrypt their
sensitive global transmissions. As well as describing the needs in this
section, describe any requirements or limitations you know about. These
might be costs, deadlines, or specific details such as devices,
operating platforms, download speed, ability to interface with multiple
networks in multiple countries, etc. In this section, you'll have pages
with titles like Problem Statement, Needs Assessment, or Goals and
Objectives, as well as Requirements, Specifications, Performance
Requirements, Interface Requirements, Limitations, Deadlines, Schedule,
Market Demand and any other topic pages you need to describe the current
situation.
Next up is the section where you describe exactly what
you have in mind, taking care to explain how your project, products, or
services will meet the needs and requirements of your potential client
or partner. Include as many topics as necessary to fully describe your
proposal--you want to show that you have a well thought out, detailed
plan for success. The pages in this section can include a wide variety
of topics, depending on your business and the project you have in mind.
Most proposals will use general pages with titles like Intent, Project
Plan, Products or Services Offered, Options, Cost Summary, Schedule,
Benefits, and so forth. If you're proposing to upgrade
telecommunications equipment or software, you might want pages like
Legacy Systems, Hardware, Software, Integration Plan, Training, and so
forth. If you're proposing a joint venture to develop a new device, you
might want pages like Design, Prototyping, Collaboration, Investment,
Responsibilities, Timeline, etc. In this section, try to anticipate
questions the proposal reader might have, and provide answers in advance
to show your ability to plan for all eventualities.
In the final
section of your proposal, it's time to explain why the proposal reader
should pick you as a partner or supplier. Here, you'll provide
information about your Company History and Clients Served, similar
Projects you've worked on, your Expertise, any special Certifications or
Training you have, and perhaps information about your Team Members or
company Personnel who will work on the project. If you have Awards,
Achievements, Referrals, or Testimonials, include them in this section.
Now
you have a first draft of your proposal. Take the time to proofread it
carefully and make every page look and sound as professional as
possible. Consider using special fonts or splashes of color to make it
look attractive. Visual appeal is especially important in competitive
situations where you need your proposal to stand out.
The more
proposals you write, the easier the process will become, because you'll
reuse information and some topic pages will be the same in every
proposal. However, always remember that customization is the best key to
success--be sure to tailor each proposal to the specific organization
and readers you are targeting, and explain how your ideas will benefit
them and meet their needs.
You might also like to know that you
can get a jump start on any proposal writing project with pre-designed
proposal kit. A proposal kit will come with sample proposals you can
look at to get ideas, and pre-designed topic templates. Each template in
a proposal kit will have instructions and suggestions to prompt you for
information on that topic, so you'll never sit and stare at a blank
screen. Using a proposal kit can help you efficiently create
great-looking business proposals.