46+ Sample Product Proposals

Product Proposals: What Are They?

The competition is tight in the business in which you are constantly seeking new markets and customers to sell products. Many years back, business owners were able to get by with a listing in the local phone book and word-of-mouth recommendations from satisfied customers. But those days are long gone. Now, you need an effective product proposal to pitch your products. As a sales tool, the product proposal should introduce your business, highlight your products, outline your cost, and help your customers understand your product as the right tool for the job.

Meanwhile, in a report by Better Proposal in 2018, the most commonly signed business proposals are those with six pages.

The Common Elements of a Product Proposal

The best first step in writing any proposal is to gather enough information about the prospective customer. This way, the proposal is tailored to that customer’s specific needs or goals. Although it takes more time doing this, your proposal is more likely to succeed. After data gathering, you can now proceed to familiarize the different parts of a project proposal in the list below.

Cover Letter and Title: The first part of a proposal is the introduction section. It is composed of the cover letter and title. The cover letter is a brief introduction to the proposal and it contains your company’s contact information for customer inquiries. After that is the title that is written in bold font style. It should be easily recognizable so that any reader can differentiate the proposal from other important business documents.Executive Summary: The executive summary is the most crucial section of your product proposal. Why? Because it contains all the information a client should know about the product. An executive summary is a condensed-down version of the entire proposal. This means that your audience can decipher what the proposal is about by just reading the executive summary. Product Details: After customer-centered sections, it is time to let your product shine. The body of your proposal must be about how you can satisfy the customer’s needs and desires. So, highlight topics about your products like costs, features, options, benefits, and product summary. You can even include a description of what you are offering and how much it costs. Business Details: The last part of your proposal should convince the customer that you are the best choice to supply the products. Thus, provide pages for topics such as About Us, Company History, Our Customers, References, Awards, and Testimonials. All this will help your customer establish trust in your business.

Different Types of Proposals

Winning over customers, boosting sales, or getting an increase in your marketing budget does not happen in a snap of your fingers. Instead, it needs to be presented before taking measurable actions. But how can you pull together all of the ideas convincingly to make them a reality? A proposal is the best way to persuade your audience. It has a lot of different purposes, and one of those is to help get what you want by outlining smart goals to paint a picture of your intentions. To create a more persuasive impact, it is important to be aware of the different types of proposals. Let us take a look.

1. Construction Proposal

A construction proposal covers a wide range of situations that can be anything between commercial and residential. Because of that, a proposal may specialize in one thing—whether electrical, HVAC, roofing, plumbing, full-blown construction, government RFP responses, or small projects. However, any service-oriented proposal’s goals are the same: introduce your organization, highlight your services, describe the costs, and convince the client that you are trustworthy enough for the job. But how do you know you pull together all of the information convincingly? A quote or price list can never replace a comprehensive proposal. Because the main purpose of a proposal is to persuade clients to let you perform the work, it must prove that you can deliver the services needed.

2. Start-Up Proposal

The stakes are at an all-time high when managing a startup. It is known that startups rarely earn profits for their first few years. Statistics reveal that only 56% of startups reach their fifth year. According to other data, 42% fail due to bringing offers and services that are not in demand (Source: CBS Insight). Are you certain your startup’s hitting the right targets with the high-risk rate and vulnerability to consumer rejection? This should prompt you to identify the right objectives to pursue. When it comes to managing a newly planted brand, it takes more than generating profit as a goal to nourish and encourage its growth. Clarifying your objectives helps you translate your vision to your startup proposal.

3. Marketing Proposal

A marketing proposal is a presentation document that marketers or marketing agencies submit to propose a marketing project. Its purpose could be to promote a new product, a new service, or simply the company’s brand itself. A marketing proposal contains every bit of information about a marketing project. That includes the strategies, ideas for promotion, marketing expenses, the timeline of deliverables, marketing goals, and marketing projections.

4. Training Proposal

A training proposal covers the whole plan of what a business or organization can do to offer professional development, corporate training, and so much more. Training proposals basically describe the training program from the venue, schedule, duration, etc. And once organizations approve of the proposed training scheme, the training session will follow eventually.

5. Grant Proposal

A grant proposal is an official document submitted to grantmakers that covers all about the proposed project, its monetary requirements, and reasons why the organization needs grant assistance in the first place. It is the first step before actually having a formal grant agreement since giving and receiving grants only apply when grantmakers accept the proposal. And it is crucial for grant proposals to be informative and organized to have organizations support those in need of funding.

6. Sponsorship Proposal

A sponsorship proposal is an official proposal used to acquire the best sponsors in introducing your products and services, in getting the money to achieve a certain event, and is planning to deliver programs or events that meet the objectives and the budget. And this formal proposition is needed rather than just begging for sponsors to fund you. That is because sponsors would want to know if their money would be used for the right reasons, most especially, on how they also benefit from sponsoring you. Thus, a well-written and winning sponsorship proposal is the ultimate goal to get the attention of potential sponsors.

7. Bid Proposal

The main purpose of a business proposal is to persuade clients to let you perform the work. A construction bid proposal covers a wide range of situations that can be anything between commercial and residential. Because of that, a proposal may specialize in one thing—whether electrical, HVAC, roofing, plumbing, full-blown construction, government RFP responses, or small projects. However, any service-oriented proposal’s goals are the same: introduce your organization, highlight your services, describe the costs, and convince the client that you are trustworthy enough for the job.

8. Book Proposal

A book proposal is what a writer prepares when he or she wants to convince publishers into publishing their work. Basically, the book proposal contains the book’s synopsis, its target audience, and other essential details even if the whole manuscript isn’t finished yet. This proposal’s intention is to see if a proposed book could be economically viable in being published. Hence, publishers or agents will evaluate if the book idea is worth paying for or not.

How Do You Write a Compelling Product Proposal?

If you want to write the winning product proposal, it must look professional and indicate all requirements needed. Pitching a product proposal means competing against other businesses that offer the same products as yours. Because of that, you need to take time to hit all the key points. So, here are some tips on how to do it:

Step 1: Include an Executive Summary

It could not be stressed out enough. The executive summary is the most important part of your project proposal. Since your audience does not have so much time to read the whole proposal, the executive summary will tell them the things they need to know about the product. Additionally, it should also recognize your client’s concerns and shows that you care for their priorities better than anyone else who has already proposed to them.

Step 2: Identify Scope and Work Schedule

Most conflicts arise in the specification. That is why one of the proposal’s main focuses is identifying the scope and benefits. Do this by being as detailed as possible and strive for no ambiguity. In some cases, clients think that you agreed with doing something that was never in the proposal.

Step 3: Paint the Bigger Picture

Imagery is conventional for product proposals because it helps clients digest all the information quickly. When there are images, you give the reader a visual relief and short breaks from the textual and numerical content. By putting all facts into infographics, bar graphs, and tables, your proposal is easy to read.

Step 4: Describe the Cost

Writing a product proposal could be a tough challenge for being in the business. But even professionals who write business proposals for a living feel the same way. Often, getting the numbers right is quite a challenge in writing a proposal. Yet, clients need to know what they are paying for and what comes across, and what goes beyond the product scope.

FAQs

What are the other types of proposals?

When do you write a product proposal?

If you are in a business that sells products, you should have a product proposal on hand to seek a new target market. A proposal is a sales tool that will help you persuade a potential client to avail of your products.

Hos is a proposal different from a plan?

A proposal and a plan are two different documents. The main difference between the two is that a plan is a written presentation that sets out goals and steps in achieving those goals while a proposal is a call to action that convinces its readers to do something on what is being proposed.

A proposal helps a client choose the best price and contract terms for a product. It means a well-written proposal has a good chance of winning a customer’s heart as it tells them what they want to hear about the product. For more proposal templates, visit our website and unveil a collection of ready-made business stencils.