How to Organize Resources on a Business Proposal Budget

Organizing a business proposal requires anticipating the needs of the proposal reader and answering those needs better than all your competitors. In addition to the expertise you bring to the proposal, you also have resources at hand that help you do the job. Present these resources so that they make your proposal stand out from the rest.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Determine what you have that enables you to do the job outlined. These are people, machines or businesses you can call on to do the work, but are not mentioned in the budget. For example, as a designer, you benefit from working in the same city as a large, prestigious art school. When your business expands, you have access to a large pool of trainable labor you can hire to produce new designs.
2. List all of your advantages, even if they might not belong in this category. If you are an electrician or shrimper, and your family living nearby has a total of 150 years of experience in the business, list it. If your dry cleaning business is a few blocks from a clothes hanger wholesaler, make sure it's on the proposal.
3. Get personal, separating out the advantages attached to a person in your business by asking what resources go away if someone leaves. These items belong in the description of personnel or budget justification section. The ones left are resources.
4. Leverage resources in your business proposal by listing from strongest, most valuable (creates the most advantage) or most singular to those less important. Readers remember the first and last item on a list, so always begin with strengths.

Tips & Warnings

• Evaluate your own proposal using the 9 Pointers for Evaluating a Business Proposal provided by International Cyber Business Services (see Resources).