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Business Proposal Presentations Writing Basics

Your business proposal presentation should provide your target audience with all the necessary information about your company and its services, as well as an overview of your business solution.

Personalize the presentation

Use a presentation template, but customize each slide to fit the client's goals and pain points, and be careful not to accidentally include another company's name in the presentation.

Maintain a seamless structure

A solid and consistent structure will make it much easier to navigate your presentation. This will also keep you from missing important messages and  keep your thoughts from becoming tangled.

Pay close attention to the design of the presentation

If your deck is disorganized and poorly designed, the impact of your arguments will suffer. Use compelling visuals and video, a consistent color palette, pay attention to contrasts, allow white space, create a typographic hierarchy, and use icons to avoid text overload.

Include social proof

Including social proof increases the credibility of your proposal. Prospects are more likely to trust peers and other customers than someone attempting to win their business. For this reason, elements like customer quotes and testimonials can go a long way.

Keep your presentation short and to the point

The presentation should be limited to a maximum of 15 to 20 minutes. The longer you talk to the prospect, the less they will remember.

End the presentation with a call to action

End your presentation with a compelling call to action. If the next steps are not clearly defined, even the best proposal will not get you anywhere. That's why you need to make sure the potential customer knows what to do next.

Impart a sense of urgency

A lack of urgency causes people to take their time when making decisions. You can convey a sense of urgency by outlining your short- and long-term business goals and making the short-term goals attractive enough that the prospect will want to start working with you immediately.

Check for typos and grammatical errors

Your proposal needs to be flawless and airtight. You do not want your message to be undermined by a sloppy and unprofessional impression. Before you submit the proposal, double-check it for typos and grammatical errors.

Never send a presentation to a prospect before a meeting

Never send the presentation to the potential client before the meeting. Deliver the presentation in person or via video conference. Giving the prospect the opportunity to review the presentation for themselves can drag out the process and even delay a decision.

Send an email before the meeting with an agenda

Before the meeting, send an email with an agenda outlining the meeting process to prepare the prospect for the presentation. This way you can set realistic expectations and keep both parties on track.

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