What is a Formal Business Proposal

Series Summary

Formal business proposals are important for all businesses. They can be as short as one page or a long as hundreds of pages. They are legal binding contracts between both parties involved. In order to protect business interests, business proposals are necessary documents. Including good references is also key to a successful business proposal. A good business proposal will result in a win-win situation where both parties get what they intended. In this free instructional video series, let a communications and public speaking expert help you navigate the process of writing a good formal business proposal. Our expert explains what a formal business proposal is and breaks down each portion of it such as page breaks, cover pages, title pages, letters of authorization and table of contents. Next she shows you what should go in the body of the proposal and how to write an appendix and index. Get the help you need for securing that business sale or proposal with help from an expert.

Video Transcript

"Hi there. I'm Tracy Goodwin and I'm the red sweater lady. Today we're going to be talking about how to write a formal business proposal. Now, this could be something that you're going to write because you're starting up a business or perhaps you are soliciting interest in a business or it could be a report that you are writing or you have been asked to write within a company that you already work for. Formal proposals are exactly that. They are formal. They can take on many different styles, but they are formal so they; there are some certain components that have to go in a formal report that you're not going to find, just, in more casual reports. Usually you have been asked to do this formal report, possibly by another company, but the point of it is is that usually the formal business report is about generating business. Which, generating business is about generating income. So you want to make sure that you have written all the components in a formal report that need to be included, as well as followed a specific style and format. Formal reports can be short or long, direct or indirect, but there are specific things that have to be included in them and we are going to talk about them now."