You might submit a business proposal in response to receiving an RFP. Large businesses and government agencies send out RFPs when they need goods or services. For example, a business that is being sued may send RFPs to different law firms, asking them to submit a business proposal. Alternately, the government could send out an RFP when they need to buy supplies of a product. The RFP should contain certain information which you must fully understand before drafting your business proposal.  Make sure that you can meet the client’s requirements as spelled out in the RFP. For example, if you can’t come in under the budget or meet the client’s timeline, then you shouldn’t submit a proposal. You don’t need to submit a business proposal in response to an RFP. Instead, you can reach out to a business you think could use your services. You want your business proposal to respond to the client’s actual needs. This means fully understanding the client and clearing up any confusion in the RFP. You should always step into the client’s shoes and try to see the problem from their perspective. To help in this process, you should call and get answers to the following:  Whether prior attempts were made to address the problem. Why did they fail? What criteria the client will use when evaluating a business proposal. Whether the organization has any concerns. The organization’s operating policies. You want to make sure your proposal is consistent with these policies. You want your business proposal to be readable. This means that the font should be in a size and style that the reader is comfortable with. Generally, you can use Times New Roman 12 point.  You can also look for sample proposals used in your industry. Type “business proposal sample” and then “your industry” into your favorite search engine. There are also business proposal templates online. Using one can make your business proposal look professional. You should have a title page as the cover to your business proposal. The title page should include the following information:  your name your company’s name the name of the person you are submitting the proposal to the date you submitted the proposal A business proposal identifies a problem and proposes a solution. Accordingly, you should begin by identifying the client’s problem in simple and clear language. Explain why the current situation is a problem for the client. For example, you could write, “Mathis Gyms is in need of Accounting and Payroll Services as the business continues to grow and hires more employees. Currently, all accounting is done by management, which must devote increasing amounts of time to accounting. By outsourcing this task, management can focus on other business priorities, such as marketing and entering new markets.” You might need to explain context so that the reader understands the proposal. For example, you may need to identify the following for the reader:  If any previous solutions have been attempted and failed. Whether someone asked you to write the business proposal. How you became involved in the project or aware of the problem. Although your business proposal should be written in simple and clear language, there may be terms that you need to define for the reader. Remember that you might submit your business proposal to a purchasing department that understands industry jargon. However, the person who makes the ultimate decision might not be as familiar with industry terms.  You can draft the business proposal first and then go through to identify any terms that might be unclear to the reader. Also define terms if you are using them in a unique way. For example, the term “fiscal year” can be defined in many ways, depending on the business. If you have a long business proposal, then you might want to offer an overview of what follows the introduction. You could summarize the parts that follow. For example, you could write, “This business proposal has four parts. After this introduction, we offer the proposed solution, timetable, and an explanation of benefits in Part II. In Part III, we provide an itemized budget and a set of standard contract terms. Finally, in Part IV, we summarize our experience and confirm that our proposed solution is the correct course of conduct.”

Summary:
Read the Request for Proposal carefully. Ask questions. Format your document. Add a title page. Introduce the problem or business need. Provide context if necessary. Define any key terms. Offer a roadmap for the proposal.