A while ago, a potential client provided me with some general details of the copywriting work she wanted me to do for her company. Then he asked me to send him a proposal.

Proposal ?! I panicked as I tried to confirm with him what I meant by that, as I had never done one before, at least not as a freelancer.

I really shouldn’t have wanted to take this opportunity as I didn’t bother to research or follow up with the company after submitting a contract instead of a proposal. A bit of time passed, I came across an article on writing RFP (Request for Proposal). Doorbell! The light bulb went on. This guy verbally gave me his RFP and I wanted a written response.

When a company needs a contractor or outside source to complete a project, they write a request for proposal. This is a formal document that describes the project, how contractors should respond, how proposals will be reviewed, and contact information. Presentation guidelines are often documented by the company to make it easier for them to compare responses. There are no specific rules or guidelines for creating the RFP, but government agencies often follow strict rules when conducting the proposal process.

Outside companies read the RFP and write a proposal (an offer) that explains how they can best provide and meet those needs. When writing the proposal, the company should closely follow the guidelines set forth in the RFP to avoid being excluded from consideration of the potential project.

A typical proposal contains:

  • Executive summary – summary of the full proposal
  • Statement of need: why the project is necessary
  • Project description: how the project will be implemented and evaluated
  • Organization information
  • The Chronogram of the project
  • Budget
  • Conclution

My situation was an informal version of all this. The client gave me a high-level overview of what I could do for him. If I had known then what I know now, I would have written a description of the client’s needs and how I would complete the job to meet those needs.

Small businesses would probably make a proposal between the one I got and the complex ones required by the government. Most small businesses will be asked to write a proposal when they approach a customer. The client may ask you to submit a proposal that describes what you can do for them. In this case, write a proposal that includes the elements of a typical proposal and keep it short and concise, especially if the client is not a large company.

There are RFP samples and responses scattered all over the web, but which one you can learn from depends on the type of work involved. A proposal can be two pages or the size of a book. Trust your favorite search engine and do the research to create an unbeatable proposal.