Professional Documents
Culture Documents
OBJECTIVES
To introduce the functions and types of business proposals
To understand how to plan a proposal by conducting a situation, audience or
customer analysis
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
1. explain the functions and types of proposals
2. conduct a situation analysis to position the proposals in context appropriately
3. conduct an audience or customer analysis to identify the readers’ needs, goals, and
roles in the proposal.
RECOMMENDED READING
Sant, Tom. Persuasive Business Proposals Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and
Thill, John V. Excellence in Business Communication. 10th ed. Boston: Pearson, 2013.
FUNCTIONS OF PROPOSALS
What kinds of proposals have you written in your university study or work experience?
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Describe the context to show when and why you were asked to write these proposals.
Proposals can take different forms. They can be internal or external, and solicited or
unsolicited. The type or length of the proposal always depends on the context and
audience you intend to write this proposal for.
Internal proposals, which are usually shorter, are written to a specific level of
management within a company.
External proposals are usually written for the company you are working for in order to
get a contract or funding from an outsider. These proposals are considered as full
proposals, longer and used as a marketing tool targeting current or prospective
customers. They are often written in response to a Request For Proposal (RFP), a formal
document outlining the needs of the company who wants to buy a product or service
from an outside source.
Read the following paragraphs that describe various types of proposals written for the
internal or external audience. Fill in the missing words in the blanks.
Advertised proposals: The invitation is sent in a detailed In__________ for Bids (IFB)
which clearly defines the desired product or service and the corresponding
requirements. The proposals are aw________ on the basis of price and favor the lowest
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bidder.
Negotiated proposals: The invitation is sent in the form of Re__________ for Proposals
(RFP) also detailing the specific needs and seeking response. The proposals are
awarded on the quality of the solution and the ability to im___________ the solution. As
the invitation to propose is open to the public, the competition among writers of
solicited proposals is usually keen.
1. _____________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________
1. _____________________________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________________________
Which of the following items are relevant when preparing a sales proposal to sell a
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To kick start the proposal writing process, you will need to analyze the context in which
the proposal is situated. Use 3Ps – the problem statement, proposed solution, and
pricing information.
Problem Statement
Proposed Solution
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Pricing
SITUATION ANALYSIS
To make the proposal more persuasive, it is important to examine the internal and
external environment. Analyze the situation and assess the strengths and limitations of
both your company and your competitors before you decide on the highlights and
differentiating attributes of your proposal. What are your competitor’s credentials e.g.
ability and experience in launching projects of a similar nature and magnitude?
• What are your or your company’s credentials in proposing and launching the
project? How are you or your company uniquely suited to perform the work
required for the proposal?
• What are your major selling points expressed in themes such as high quality,
efficiency or reliability?
• How will you communicate to the reader that your ideas are superior to those of
the competitors (if any)?
At the start of the Situation Analysis section, you will need to clearly identify your
communication objectives for the message. Poor writing usually reflects undeveloped
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thinking. Being clear is about thinking through all the relevant questions before acting.
The following are questions to ask yourself so as to be clear about why you are writing:
1. You are one of the sales team supervisors of TRY Company. Since your team will
be promoting more products in the coming years, you would like to propose to
the management to increase manpower for your team.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
2. You are the administration manager of YOUR Company. In view of the wasteful
behavior of your colleagues, you would like to propose some recycling and
waste reduction activities to your boss in order to initiate a green working
environment.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
3. You are the management trainee of BEST Company. There has been an increase
in the number of English-speaking clients and you would like to propose to
management to have all company staff members attend English language
learning programmes offered by a local university.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
AUDIENCE ANALYSIS
Business communications are written from the point of view of the audience (reader),
and not the writer’s. Essentially, those who read your proposal are the evaluators, and
they have a decisive role to play in selecting or dropping your proposal. Ask yourself
the following questions to find out the needs and wants of your audience.
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• Who will read and evaluate the proposal, as individuals or members of the same
team?
• What is the personal background and knowledge of the evaluator?
• What is your relationship with the audience/evaluator?
• What role does the evaluator play in his/her company?
• What would interest the evaluator most?
• Based on your understanding and research, what are the evaluation criteria of the
evaluator?
CUSTOMER ANALYSIS
In many ways customer analysis is the most important piece of your business plan. In
order for your proposal to be successful, you must be able to demonstrate who will buy
or use your products or services. Be sure to identify your customer segments, and how
your proposal will meet their specific needs.
• Consider the demographics of your customers including their age, sex, race,
occupation, household income, rent vs. own, population, spending habits, where
they are located, etc. Be sure to cite all of your sources.
• Describe their behavior. Consider how they make decisions and who in the
household makes which decisions. Determine whether they respond to price,
loyalty, quality, technology, reliability or trends.
• Divide your market into segments, assign value to each segment, and decide how
to best approach each segment.
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promised. Elaborate your company’s experience, expertise, facilities and resources, and
measures in quality assurance as well as a schedule for implementation. Third, you will
prove your solution is cost effective and your service is reasonably or competitively
priced.
In general, these three elements will be elaborated in four key components of a business
proposal:
1. Background section (critical analysis of the present situation, identified problem and
intended audience or customer)
2. Objectives section
3. Methods/Implementation section and the qualifications section which explain how
the objectives are to be achieved
4. Benefits section which summarizes the proposal’s major selling points and buyers’
benefits.
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Bosses at a new branch of the AB Cafe will change menus that use simplified Chinese
characters after being accused of discriminating against Hongkongers.
The cafe apologised on its Facebook page yesterday after an online outcry over what internet
forum users dubbed the 'invasion of simplified Chinese' at the new branch in Tseung Kwan
O's PopCorn mall.
Internet users were angered to see that menus adopted the simplified characters normally
used on the mainland, rather than the traditional Chinese used in Hong Kong, for items such
as salad and chocolate. The row comes amid months of tension between Hongkongers and
those from the mainland.
Cafe staff apologised on its Facebook page yesterday, and a company spokeswoman said
management had decided to replace the wall menus at all branches, but said the company
had been using simplified Chinese since at least 2008.
'The Times Square branch - one of the first shops we had - only offered English menus and we
received complaints. So we have also included simplified characters at every branch since
then. The Tseung Kwan O branch was not the only one,' the spokeswoman said.
'In light of the complaints, we will replace all our wall menus to include only English and
traditional Chinese. Simplified Chinese will be listed alongside the two languages in the
printed menus,' she said.
Mr. Fan, Sai Kung district councilor, says it is unfair to Hongkongers that more shops and
restaurants are targeting mainland tourists. 'It's disrespectful and discriminatory,' he said.
One blogger wrote on HK Golden forum: '[The] mall is for mainlanders. The use of simplified
Chinese is normal [there], Hong Kong's businessmen have no dignity.' Another wrote:
'Chinese people should use simplified Chinese'.
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Identification of problem:
__________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
2. Suggest the desired situation, results and outcomes, and the objectives
_________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________
3. Suggest solutions/methods
__________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
The situation:
Our research has shown that the active customers are between the ages of 15 and 20, who like
to buy T-shirts imported from Korea. Facing the high rents of the two current outlets in Hong
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Kong, the company is now interested in extending their Korean product line as well as
exploring opportunities for online sales.
Identify a company report or press release that illustrates a business situation. Upload
the article or its hyperlink on the class Blackboard site. Then analyze and comment on
the situation and its potential market or customers. Make notes using the following
headings: source of information, present situation, identified problem, suggested
solution, potential market or customers’ need.
Present situation
Identified problem
Proposed solution
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