Tips for Writing Better Business Proposals: Language, Tone, and Style | Episode 30

You may have had a great initial meeting with your sales lead; you feel like you really connected with them, and you can offer a solution to their business challenge. Now that it’s time to move the opportunity to the next stage, it’s up to the proposal to reinforce and deepen that connection through the written word. How you express yourself in the proposal will reflect on the credibility of your company, your expertise, and your working style. It’s critical you get it right (pun possibly intended). Pick the right tone of voice We all know that how we say something is as important as what say. It doesn’t matter what you want to communicate to your sales lead, if you use a tone of voice or language in your writing that alienates them, you’ll lose the deal. Writing with a tone of voice your client can relate to will help you connect emotionally and engage with them. Once you establish that emotional connection and create some common ground, it’s easier to be persuasive. And being persuasive is the name of the proposal game. Consider your target audience - who are they, what do they value, how do they view themselves, and how do they want to be seen by their own target audiences? Write with a tone that addresses them, while remaining on brand for your agency. Is your tone professional, conversational, empathic, educational, or irreverent? It’s important to position yourself as the expert in your industry, but you need to be careful not to sound condescending toward your client. You need to address them with respect, acknowledging their own experience and expertise in their industry.