Business proposals for accounting firms have a particular set of traits. A compelling proposal possesses key components like precision, technique, timing, and unique selling points to truly capture your target audience. If you’re an accounting marketer writing a business proposal to close a crucial deal or secure key business partnerships, we have exactly what you’ve been looking for.
With our writing guidelines for crafting a business proposal, accounting firm owners and marketers can learn good writing techniques, come up with a solid proposal structure, establish a signature writing format, and take bits and pieces from our business proposal template.
Tips on Crafting the Best Business Proposal for Accounting Firms
As was mentioned, accounting firm owners and marketers alike should know how to craft the best business proposal possible. To establish crucial industry partnerships and close their target deals, below are some important writing techniques that will help you create a professional, well-crafted, and successful business proposal.
1. Speak the language of your target audience
When you begin writing an effective business proposal, keep in mind the ways that your possible new clients communicate. After all, the business proposal you’re creating for a prospective client may fall under an industry different from what you’re used to. Do your due diligence and study that unfamiliar field or niche before making your business proposal.
Enhancing the quality of your business proposal means learning about unfamiliar terms that your prospective client commonly uses. Incorporate their terminology into your business proposal as if you’ve been using them for a long time. Aside from catching their attention right away, you also establish credibility.
While you’re at it, familiarize yourself with how your potential clients communicate to their audience by exploring the content they’ve already produced. Master their brand voice and style to convey your willingness to align with their mission and vision.
2. Address the pain points of your target audience
Accounting marketers who know how to write a killer business proposal also understand that there are pressing pain points that your firm should offer solutions for. Some concerns might exclusively be in your client’s company while other issues are more widespread across the accounting industry, like capacity crunches or talent shortages.
When crafting business proposals, accounting marketers don’t just problematize — they also present the best possible resolution in their business proposal. To increase your chances of closing a deal, frame your business proposal so that it benefits your prospective client more than it benefits you.
3. Tailor-fit your business proposal
No potential client wants cookie-cutter business proposals — a winning proposal aligns with your target client’s profile. In line with speaking the language of your potential client and addressing their pain points, creating a business proposal includes customization and personalization, which is key to maintaining a solid relationship with your potential client.
You may use a business proposal template (which we will give you for free below) but make sure to modify its key components like the executive summary, provide a concise overview of your business proposal, craft a detailed problem statement by identifying customer pain points, present a solid and comprehensive business plan, and conclude according to how you understand your client and their needs.
4. Create an outline of your business proposals
Writing an outline of your business proposal helps you collapse duplicate points or categories so that the final output is not exhausting to read. Outlining your business proposal also allows for a clearer definition of goals, objectives, and strategies, which can all be unique selling points to your prospective clients. Lastly, ensure a well written proposal outline by identifying any gaps or inconsistencies before presenting it to any prospective buyer or potential investors.
How to Write a Business Proposal: Establishing Your Writing Format and Proposal Structure
After knowing the essential elements to incorporate into a persuasive business proposal, you can now focus on the technical side of writing. From the title page to project timeline to market analysis, it’s now time to put into practice what you’ve learned about writing a business proposal. These tips below can help you establish your writing format, proposal structure, and proposal strategies with these tips.
1. Standardize your business proposal with a writing format and a proposal structure
It’s great to keep your business proposal personalized, but there are elements to making an effective business proposal that are constant. To craft a great business proposal, consider the font type, font size, and text alignment so that your entire proposal looks neat and organized.
- Choose a font type that’s easy on the eyes
- Set the font size to optimal readability
- Make sure that the text is aligned and justified
Meanwhile, establishing the proposal structure is like writing an essay. Apart from the usual introduction, body, and conclusion, your business proposal should also have sections like the executive summary, problem statement, objectives, client testimonials, and the like, which will be discussed further below.
2. Segue your email introduction towards the actual business proposal
Like most proposals, your business proposal for your target audience is accompanied by an introductory message. While some pay more attention to the content of the business proposal rather than to the introductory business proposal email, the latter is crucial to closing your dream deal.
As in most cases, the business proposal is directed toward a particular person. Start your business proposal email with a “Hi, [Name]”. Follow this up by expressing gratitude to your potential client for considering working or partnering with you. For the next part, you can transition to the actual business proposal by writing, “Attached is the [business proposal] we’ve promised you” or “Here is our [business proposal] as we’ve agreed upon.”
3. Make a catchy introduction to your actual business proposal
After crafting an impactful, professional-sounding, and effective business proposal email, it’s time to get started with your actual content. Take the element of tailor-fitting your business proposal and begin writing the executive summary of your business proposal with a greeting for the target audience. Choose which of the following elements to incorporate into your introduction:
- Show gratitude or delight in partnering with your potential client
- Support your potential client’s mission, vision, and long-term goals
- Present current statistics on the issues you’re trying to solve
- Make your potential client evaluate any areas for improvement
Ideally, the executive summary is written after you’re done with the entire proposal so that you don’t make changes over and over – much like the abstract of a research paper. Ensure that the entire document is consistent with your executive summary as well.
4. Beef up the body of the business proposal
After the executive summary, it’s time to write the body of the business proposal. The body is the section that requires the most details. In the body of the business proposal, emphasize why your accounting firm stands out among its competitors.
When you write a business proposal, the body ideally contains the problematique, the proposed solution to the issue at hand, the scheduling and timeline for fixing the concern, the pricing for the solution process, and the like.
Note that these sections don’t follow a particular order since it depends on how you customize your business proposal to accommodate the needs and ultimately secure a partnership with your potential client. With that being said, these are the elements that you should include in the body of your company proposal:
Statement of the Problem
This part of the body of your business proposals is where you declare or recognize that there is something in need of fixing. Especially if the potential client has sent you a request for proposal (RFP), your accounting firm must be able to pinpoint the source of the concern and back it up with data and figures backed by market research.
Solution to the Problem
In line with creating the problem statement in business proposals, your accounting firm should be presented as the solution. Remember that you’re not creating a made-up issue – you’re recognizing an existing problem, and you’ll be framing your business proposal in a way that glorifies and emphasizes the unique value proposition of your accounting practice.
Timeline of the Project
This section of your business proposal includes specific dates for the completion of each project phase, deadlines for key deliverables, dependencies between tasks, and allocation of resources to complete the project successfully. The timeline in your business proposal should also account for holidays, team availability, potential delays, and time needed for feedback or revisions.
Scope of Services
This section of your business proposal serves as a roadmap for the parties involved, clearly defining the expectations and parameters of the work to be completed. A business proposal should include detailed descriptions of the services offered, methodologies used, project milestones, and any limitations or exclusions, among other essential elements of business proposals.
Pricing Information
This part of your company proposal is crucial, because you wouldn’t want to underprice or overprice. As most accounting marketers know, it’s best to do away with terms in your business proposal like pricing or costs. Instead, choose words like asset or investment when you write a business proposal for endorsing your accounting practice to a promising prospect.
Disclaimers/T&Cs
In line with the pricing information, creating a business proposal also includes the agreement on what to do when extra stages are necessary for project completion, or who shoulders the extra costs if the need arises.
5. Call your prospective clients to action towards the end
Whether it’s for selling accounting staffing services to your potential client or closing a deal with another accounting firm, there must be a sense of urgency towards the end of your business proposal so that you succeed in sealing the deal. Once you’ve explained everything in the body, it’s time to push (or at least nudge) the potential client by using keywords in the CTA.
To relay this properly, you can use various delivery tones in your business proposals — either using the enthusiastic, professional, or nudge approaches. Assess which would work best with your potential client. Additionally, it’s good to align your vision, mission, and goals with that of your potential client in the CTA of your business proposal.
Making a Killer Business Proposal: Business Proposal Template for Accounting Firms
Ready to secure that deal? This is what you’ve been looking for. Use this business proposal template for your accounting firm and get the help you need to craft the best possible business proposal for your potential clients.
Template:
[Name of Person Making the Proposal]
[Name of Company]
[Address of Company]
[Date]
[Name of Person Receiving the Proposal]
[Name of Company]
[Address of Company]
[Date]
Dear [Name of Person Receiving the Proposal],
Greetings!
My name is [Name of Person Making the Proposal], the [Company Position] at [Name of Company Proposing]. I got your contact after we discussed the potential interest of your partnership in our business. [Name of Company Proposing] is a [description of company], established in [year]. This company has [Milestones, Achievements, and How These Align with the Mission and Vision of The Company Being Proposed To].
Lately, there has been a/an [Event that Needs Urgent Action], with [Data and Statistics on that Event]. This will ultimately impact the industry significantly and most likely negatively due to [Research-backed Reason].
With this said, partnering with [Name of Company Proposing] is an excellent step towards [Vision of the Company Proposed To]. Aside from our mission and vision aligning, [Another Good Reason to Partner].
I propose an investment of [Amount] with [Name of Company], with a significant and considerable return on your investment over time. We believe this partnership between [Name of Company] and [Name of Company Proposing] may be successful as the response received from the clients has been excellent.
I appreciate your company’s contribution towards [Advocacy of Target Company], and I hope you consider this proposal as an excellent opportunity to establish a business relationship. You may like to know that [Case Studies, Testimonials, and Success Stories of the Proposing Company].
Thank you for the time you have taken to read this letter. Join us in revolutionizing the industry and taking action against [Event that Needs Urgent Action] as soon as possible. If you have additional questions, please contact me by email at [name@email.com] or by phone at [Phone Number]
Yours truly,
[Name of Person Making the Proposal],
[Company Position]
[Name of Company]
This business proposal template was crafted to cater to most industries, but you should also note that your business proposal template doesn’t necessarily have to follow any hard-set rules. However, business proposal templates are known to have a certain format so that accounting marketers — especially first-time writers of business proposal templates — know where to start.
Will a Business Proposal Template Help Your Firm Stand Out?
Business proposal templates typically just serve as the scaffolding for your actual business proposal. If you want to write a business proposal that’s unique, attention-grabbing, and responsive to customer pain points, it’s imperative to insert key points in the right places. For effective, set-for-success, and compelling business proposals, make sure it doesn’t sound like it was copied and pasted word-for-word from a business proposal template.
In sum, the key points you should include when you write a business proposal are your value proposition, which makes your firm stand out from other business proposals, your unique selling points, which include all the details to convince and persuade your possible new clients, and your solution to the problem statement that addresses the potential client’s problem, which is all enhanced through consistency in your brand voice, style, and tone throughout the entire proposal.
But while it matters that you craft an effective business proposal, it’s not enough to keep client loyalty. To truly achieve business success in the ever-changing industry, you’ll need to go beyond writing a free business proposal template and targeting your clients with things like a good executive summary or a hard-hitting business idea.
Especially in the field of accounting that’s faced with problems like skills gaps and capacity crunches, your overall business plans should reflect your adaptability to change — which could mean openness to utilizing AI, getting into an elite accounting coaching program, or adopting alternative business models.
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