Preparing Proposals
Katie Jenney and Jesse Meyers
Burnett presents five main points to consider when working with proposals and they are: characterizing proposals, the use of persuasion in proposals, considering requests for proposals, preparing proposals, and the organizing and submission of proposals.
A proposal is used to convey a plan to an audience that addresses a problem and is useful. When characterizing a proposal, the question that needs to be asked is: what is the purpose of the proposal? A proposal can be used to solve a problem, investigate a subject, or sell a product or service. The development of a proposal and its submission for input is called a published request for proposal or RFP. Often a proposal is expected to include information about the situation, the plan of action, the benefits of the proposal, how the proposal will be approached, and evaluation of the proposal, and what qualifications one has dealing with the proposal.
Proposals come in different forms. A request for proposal (RFP) is a proposal that contains input from a company to address a problem. A solicited proposal is a written response to an RFP and provides the guidelines for which the proposal will be accepted. There are also unsolicited proposals which are written to respond to a perceived need that an organization has.
The use of persuasion in a proposal is useful because a proposal is an attempt to address a problem and persuasion can help the audience develop good feelings about the proposal and accept it. However a proposal needs to be produced using ethics, credibility, and logic. Aristotle’s three aspects of persuasion are: concerns of the audience, credibility of the speaker or writer, and the logic of the message.
When writing a proposal first the specific audience must be considered because a perceived problem may not be accepted without first finding an applicable solution to the problem. Burnett specifically stated in the book the simple most important aspects of preparing a proposal are to “establish that the problem of opportunity exists and then clearly show how your plan addresses it.” Also, your credibility as the presenter of the proposal must be considered so therefore you must establish a good reason why you are qualified to implement the proposal. Finally the logic shown in the proposal need to be based on sound assumptions that are reasonable and that the plan presented is reasonably attainable. This also means that both sides of an issue need to be addressed in the proposal to show a good and strong argument.
The process of writing a proposal is a tedious process but care has to be taken to write a successful one. First, identify the problem or opportunity and support that problem or opportunity with background information. Then state the desired outcome of your proposal and specify the product or service that you need. Be sure to include detailed information on the organization in the proposal as well as the personnel. In addition to the information provided, be sure to state deadlines and a suggested budget.
Finally when submitting a proposal you should always consider how it can be improved. Proposals often are submitted via electronic submission which may be something to consider because it can save money by decreasing the amount of printed documents, time, and space because files on a computer take less area than several hundred pages of a proposal. Submitting electronically can also be flexible in that it can be submitted anywhere and at anytime. Another reason submitting electronically can be beneficial is data protection. Because the data that you are submitting can be electronically encrypted, this ensures only intended authority can read it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
Chapter 19 discussed how to correctly prepare proposals. This chapter, for me, was a little tedious to read yet informational. I have never had to write a proposal so I never knew how much work they required.
In high school I was on the Speech Team, and I attended many of my friends speeches who participated in persuasive speaking. To me, proposals seem to be a persuasion. The need for persuasion is key, you are selling your idea to a group of people. You need to have up to date information and put on a face of, I know what I am talking about!
This chapter helped me to understand the background process of preparing a proposal, instead of just knowing what they are, I now know how to complete one.
I come from an Engineering background, so most of this chapter review for me. As an engineer I am required to propose new design changes, thus creating an organized proposal for the owners/CEOs of the company. The one thing that this chapter should have mentioned is the fact that most businesses have proposal formats set in stone, thus when employees need to write one, its set up and ready to rock.
I have always thought of purposals as fairly intuitive. A desired objective is realized and a plan of action or idea is established and hence 'purposed'. Only after reading Chapter 19 and looking at the examples of purposals shown by Burnett I now understand that there is a complex process to create RFP's and purposal statements. It is more intricate and technical than I had assumed Aaron said a valuable point that each company may have predesigned purposal format, but the book is a good benchmark for a couple of basic guidelines and business standards that are very professional and for a generic format look to be universal.
I had to write a proposal for my composition class this last year. It would have been very helpful if I would have known this information. I would have created a much stronger proposal.
Chapter 19 talks about how to prepare proposals and it lists the methods used to prepare proposals. People who read a proposal expect these things to be included; situation, plan, benefits, approach, evaluation, and qualificatoins. Proposals are typically used to solve a problem, investigate a subject, and to sell a product or service. I have written couple of proposals for my classes in the past.
Proposals just like presentations and research reports are always important in construction management. This is because we are always writing up proposals to how much a particular project is going to cost. So when reading this chapter it is interesting to see how to correctly prepare one and deliver one. i know i will need it in the near future!
Writing proposals are an entirely great thing to focus on in this class. Since most of your life are in some way or another selling yourself for various ways in terms of jobs, getting married, or just convincing any other audience of getting your way, it's a great section to review and something that be referred to freely in the future.
I thought that chapter 19 was interesting, I personally have never written a proposal but I thought the suggestions and reasons made a lot of sense and seemed useful. I didn't realize howtimely and crucial this process is and what all goes into a simple proposal. I feel that this is something that everyone should know and be familiar with in the workplace.
Proposals will be a very very important part of my career. Going into the building industry, I will need to persuade the bank to grant me a loan for a project. This will be done by a business plan in the form of a proposal. It was very informative reading how to correctly prepare one.
This chapters topic was probably the one I am most unfamiliar with...although I have worked on teams that were preparing proposals, I have never actually written one myself. From what I have heard, they are quite involved!
It was interesting to learn about the types of proposals and reasons for which they are written. When producing a proposal, Burnett's suggestion to focus on ethics, credibilty and logic seemed cohesive when applied to preparing proposals. Once I actually write and submit one myself, all this information will make a lot more sense. At that time, I can tailor my process with what I have learned from reading this chapter.
Post a Comment