Business proposals are documents that describe the terms of a sale for potential buyers. They’re typically used by B2B businesses to provide detailed explanations of their products and services, pricing, and scope of work. They can be customized, but they typically follow a business proposal template, which is why using a repeatable process is important for success.
Free Business Proposal Template
To help you streamline your sales process, we have created a business proposal template in PowerPoint and Google Slides you can download for free. Simply download the templates and customize them for your business proposal needs. You can then adjust the branding to reflect your company image.
Click Here to Download the Business Proposal Template
How to Use Your Business Proposal Template
Every business proposal should have main components, including a cover page, table of contents, product information, pricing, and terms and conditions. Having these sections in a business proposal template ensures you communicate the most important information about your product or service that your prospects need to make a decision.
Here’s more information about what you should communicate in each section:
Cover Page
The cover page sets the tone of your proposal. This is your first opportunity to express your brand and the nature of your proposal. Some cover pages are graphic or image-heavy. Others take a minimalist approach, with very few graphics and little more than the title and date of the proposal. The approach taken on the cover page should be reflected throughout the proposal.
Table of Contents
A table of contents makes the reader’s job easier, especially when proposals are over 10 pages. It helps them quickly locate sections of the business proposal without having to search through all of the pages. Electronic business proposals that link tables of contents with their respective sections make this particularly convenient.
Summary of the Problem or Opportunity
Including a section that describes the prospective customer’s problem or opportunity reminds both you and the customer of the purpose of the proposal. It keeps you focused on what they need and it reminds them of what they told you their needs were. This section is a great precursor to your solution and how it solves your customer’s problem.
Proposed Solution
Your proposed solution should solve your prospective customer’s problem. In this section, you demonstrate how your product offering is the answer they need to either make a problem in their business go away or become less painful. This section should clearly demonstrate why they should buy your proposed solution.
Cost Pricing Table
The cost section outlines how much money your proposed solution will cost. It gives your prospective customers an idea of how much money they will need to spend or invest to make their pain points go away or become more tolerable. The previous sections of your proposal, along with your selling activities up to this point, should have addressed their concerns and objections, making the costs justifiable. Here’s an example from TemplateLab.
Terms & Conditions
Many business-to-business (B2B) sales come with terms and conditions. They add more detail around who does what and what products and services are included in the sale. Most often, they are outlined in a contract, but a good business proposal outlines them to ensure both you and your prospective customer are on the same page and understand what’s included and what is not.
Next Steps
Excellent business proposals clearly establish the next steps for all parties. This section tells your prospective customer what they need to do now that they have all the information they need to finalize their buying decision. This section serves as a call to action where their next step should be signing a contract and paying for your proposed solution.
Where to Find Other Business Proposal Templates
Besides using our free template, or similar document template, there are other ways to create your own business proposals, such as using cloud-based software like Better Proposals, Proposify, Qwilr, and Canva. The advantage of using cloud-based proposal solutions like these is that they will save you time and potential headaches. They also have features like tracking, e-signatures, and interactive pricing that can help you close your deals.
Better Proposals
Better Proposals’ proposal software is affordably priced, starting at $19 for up to 10 proposals per month. They offer professionally designed templates along with analytics, notifications, digital signatures, and custom domains. Plus, you can try it free for 14 days.
Proposify
Proposify proposal software is cost-effective starting at $19 per user, per month for up to three users. They offer beautiful designs and an extensive business proposal template library. Features include interactive quoting, notifications, metrics, and online signatures.
Qwilr
Qwilr’s marketing documents and proposal creation software is affordable for small businesses, with pricing starting at $12 per user, per month for up to three users. They offer beautiful designs, a template library, the ability to create unlimited proposals, and tools to approve and accept payments.
Canva
Canva is an online design tool that allows those with no design skills to make their own business proposals with drag-and-drop images and editable text boxes. If you decide to use Canva, we suggest selecting a design you like and using the business proposal components we’ve outlined to customize your template. Pricing depends on the number and type of images selected, but they offer an excellent free version for small businesses.
Bottom Line
A business proposal template can be a great way to quickly generate proposals so you can better focus your time and efforts on the tasks needed to increase your conversion rates. While we’ve provided a free proposal template, there are also several tools out there to help your proposals stand out from the crowd.
The business proposal is only one step in building a successful customer relationship. Using a customer relationship management (CRM) tool such as Salesforce Essentials can help you manage your sales process from start to finish, including efficiently building relationships with the right people and increasing the number of deals you close. Sign up for a 14-day free trial today.
