Career Advice

How to Succeed in Business Proposal Writing: Beginner's Guide for Graphic Designers

Freelancers or not, graphic designers still need to have a good grasp of writing business proposals. When creating a spotless business proposal, your clients will be provided with an accurate description of the project, and they will have a better idea of how you, and your services can help them reach their goals.

However, some graphic designers might encounter some difficulties when it comes to writing proposals and writing these well. There is a process they have to follow to ensure their project is approved by clients. Below we will offer more information on the necessary steps that will guarantee a spotless business proposal.

Find out your client’s needs
Before starting to write your business proposal, you must make sure you learn more about your client, their business and their needs. To make sure you get all the relevant information to write an amazing business proposal, follow the steps below.

• Have an honest discussion with them. Get as much information as possible from your clients by asking questions about their business. However, make sure you also pay extra attention to their reactions and body language. Analyse their body language and try to schedule a face-to-face meeting if possible. This will offer you more information on how difficult or not they’ll be as clients.
• Look up information online. Try to learn as much as possible about your client but also their industry and competitors. This will help you set better expectations in terms of project requirements and client needs.
• Take your research up a notch and search professional data. Professional sources amazing that may come in handy in this particular step and it will offer you access to more insightful information on your client and competitors.

While researching your client, make sure you think about what products and services that you provide might fit them and their business needs best.

Have them set clear goals and requirements

Projects can also fail because the contractor doesn’t fully understand their client’s needs, goals, and requirements. So, making sure you do understand these, is a great way to have your business proposal approved.

Get all the information you need as soon as possible, and this will save you from plenty of headaches, in the future. Follow the advice below, for the best results:

• Establish what information you lack and really need to get the job done. This will help you ensure you have everything you need on hand once you start writing your business proposal.
• Always know what problems you have encountered with previous clients. Use this list of problems to find out more about their expectations and needs in terms of those issues.
• Pay attention to your wording. All clients must be able to understand the questions you’re asking. So, avoid hard-to-understand terminology, and phrase your questions as simply as possible.

You might already have a list of questions you send your clients before starting to work on a project, but make sure you update it, from time to time, depending on how your business and trends in the industry evolve. 

Have an accurate cost estimation

Your client will most probably be very interested in charges when it comes to your services and solutions so, try to come up with an accurate number. Although estimations are difficult to tackle, you most probably already have a list of prices for different tasks and types of projects. Start working from there and follow the guidelines below, for extra accuracy:

• Take a look at the costs of similar projects you had in the past. Estimating the costs of future projects depending on past ones is a great way to come close to a much accurate number for your client. This will also help you plan the necessary time you need for your future project more accurately.
• Analyse all the tasks you had in past project. All professionals have a good overview of different steps and type of work involved by projects. This will help you make an estimation of a project when you didn’t have similar ones in the past. Also, try to take into account all costs, nu only the project tasks, but also mundane tasks like keeping in touch with your client and answering their questions.
• Plan for extras. It’s tempting to come up with a stiff estimate, but sometimes, graphic design projects are not as simple and straightforward as they seem. Make sure to account for extra tasks you will have to tackle.

Ensure you include some key-elements in your business proposal

Since you have all the information you need already, you can start writing your business proposal. Ensure you include in your business proposal all services and products you will offer your client, but also information on how you will deliver these. A seamless business proposal usually includes the following:

• An executive summary. In this section, emphasize your client’s problem and how you will solve it. Make it easy to scan. A good trick would be to use bullet points and emphasize how your services and product will help them.
• A scope. The scope should consist of a thorough description of the project, and your products and services. State how you will provide the services, too, since this is highly relevant for your client.
• A cost estimation. Include the overall costs of the projects in your business proposal. This will help both you and your client have realistic expectations on the costs. Make sure you detail furthermore how you will charge per task, so no suspicions appear.
• The delivery method. How you will deliver the products and services should also be part of your proposal. Here you should also state the date and time of the delivery, the method of delivery, but also a short list of the items and tasks you will deliver by the end of the project.
• The terms. Set clear terms to make sure you save both you and your clients from wrong expectations and misinterpretations. If this is the first business proposal you write, you can use the terms section for future projects, too.
• Expiration date. The expiration date of your project should also be included in your business proposal. Because prices in the graphic design industry are dynamic and can go up in a matter of weeks, you don’t want to leave this information out. This way, clients won’t come back after years asking for the prices on the proposal you write today. Usually, business proposals are valid for a 30-day or 60-day period.

You can always use business proposal templates. This will help you ensure all your future proposals follow a standardized form and that you will navigate it with more ease.

Review the business proposal draft

Once you write your business proposal it’s time for you to review it. Make sure you let some time pass after you write it. This way, you’ll notice mistakes easier and your proposal will end up looking as polished as possible. Use smart online tools and services to check for spelling, grammar or phrasing mistakes. From online editing tools and services like Grammarly or Studicus to other smart tools and interesting services like Hemingway Editor or WowGrade, you will find all these extremely useful when reviewing your business proposal

Final Thoughts

Although many graphic designers and entrepreneurs in different sectors, for that matter, fear the entire process of writing a business proposal, it can be easily achieved by following some easy and straightforward steps.

Dorian Martin loves to write about all things digital. He is a senior writer and editor at Supreme Dissertations where he’s able to apply all his knowledge and experience. Along with this position, Dorian is a frequent blogger, a marketing and article contributor to a number of businesses that offer digital marketing, AI/ML, blockchain, and data science services to their clients, and provides training to other content writers. He runs his personal blog NotBusinessAsUsusal and loves every second of it.