While most people put a lot of effort into crafting their business proposal, often only a few minutes are spent on the cover letter, which is often relegated as a pesky formality. Unfortunately, people who dismiss the importance a business proposal cover letter are essentially missing out on a great opportunity to create an immediate connection with the potential client they are communicating with.
Since a business proposal (whether it is solicited or unsolicited) is essentially meant to sell a service/product, or at least lead up to a sale, your cover letter should be crafted for the express purpose of getting the buyer excited about the solution you are offering them (your product and/or service).
This is what your cover letter should accomplish:
1. At the very minimum, you want it to create enough curiosity to make the reader want to read your executive summary and your full business proposal. This way, your business gets enough facetime to convey and convince your prospective client why you have the best solution for their job/issue and that they should do business with your company.
It should be noted that creating your cover letter (and your business proposal) as a text document is quickly becoming out of date. If you really want to impress a prospective client and make your company stand out, create a digital multi-media business proposal using ClientPoint Software and have your cover letter be a personalized video from a top executive at your company, preferably your CEO or President.
2. You simply cannot discount the fact that many times it's only your cover letter that gets read before the proposal is tossed aside. So, apart from the hook, your cover letter should also offer a summary of the information stated in your main business proposal.
However, remember that you have to be frugal with your words when drafting your cover letter. It should be short, to the point, and highly persuasive. You don't want to bore the reader.
To ensure that you impress your reader instead of bore them, we recommend that you create a digital multi-media business proposal and use a short 1-2 minute personalized video instead of a cover letter. With ClientPoint Software, adding a personalized video to your digital business proposal is fast and easy.
Before you start writing the cover letter for your business proposal (or creating a cover letter introduction video), put yourself in the right mindset. Ask yourself what would you say to the reader/recipient of your business proposal if you only had 1-2 minutes of time to talk to him or her and win their business?
In this brief amount of time you have to get across the most important points about their requirements, the solution you can offer, and the end-result benefits your solution will provide to them. Write these down and you are ready to begin drafting your cover letter.
So, at this point, your cover letter should look something like this:
Your Company Name
1234, Bentree Complex, Addison Pkwy
Addison, TX 97692
(123) 555-1234 | yourcompany.com | youremail@yourcompany.com
To,
Mr. Peter Coleman, CEO
Receiver Industry,
Carmichael Street.
Dallas, Texas 75248
March 1, 2018
Dear Mr. Coleman,
Sincerely,
Susan Davis
With the formatting out of the way (which was our step 1), you can now start working on the body of your cover letter. This is the information that you need to include in it (note that if you create a personalized video instead of a cover letter, these are still the items you should discuss):
Why have they sought your help/service, or what is the problem that they have which you can help them solve? If the buyer has asked you to send them a business proposal, you can start the first paragraph by simply stating this. So, start with, "As per our discussion on so and so date..." or, "As we discussed in our last meeting..." and then go on to state the issue/requirement in a single sentence.
If you share a good rapport with the recipient, you could also start with something like this, "We at Our Company are thrilled to have the chance to submit a proposal that will help your company solve XYZ problem."
If you are sending an unsolicited business proposal, forego the formalities and use a hook right away. You need a truly explosive statement that will make your reader sit up and take notice. Nothing works better than a question or the monetary implications of a problem they have to evoke strong emotions. For example:
This should be the first paragraph of your cover letter. You can also introduce your product/service here in one sentence and quickly add a few words about how you have helped other companies in their industry achieve outstanding results. Here is an example of what we are going for:
Solicited proposal first paragraph: As per our discussion on February 12, we know that you are interested in moving to a more energy efficient manufacturing environment. Our company has over 15 years of experience in installing energy efficient manufacturing systems across a range of industrial sectors, and we have helped many of our clients reduce their energy costs by as much as 35%.
OR
We at Our Company are pleased to have the chance to submit a proposal to help your company lower its marketing costs while greatly increasing your marketing ROI by at least 30%.
In the accompanying proposal, we have outlined how we can help you progress from simply trying to acquire new clients to a powerful new dual approach that would help you increase the retention of your existing customers by over 80% and keep them loyal, while at the same time helping you to target and acquire new clients at a cost that is 30% less than your current new client acquisition costs.
Unsolicited proposal: How would you like to reduce your manufacturing energy costs by up to 35% within 60 days? For the last 15 years our company has been helping manufacturing companies in your industry significantly lower their use of electricity, saving them millions of dollars.
Tell the reader what you can bring to the table here. Talk about the analysis that you conduct to gauge the problem and the solutions that you provide. The best formatting is to use a bullet list after a sentence or two of explanation on the analysis of their problem. This list should explain the goals that you intend to achieve through your product/service. This is what step 3 looks like:
We will analyze/have analyzed (as may be applicable) the complete marketing and sales process of your company and we have found that through the use of our service, your company will:
Answer the all important question of why the recipient should be spending his/her precious time reading your proposal. Remember, this is not about highlighting the features of your product/service. In this section, you very clearly state what the recipient business will receive if they purchase your solution. Use something like:
By using this novel approach to marketing and sales, we can help your company increase revenue by over 40% while at the same time creating an optimal environment for the direct marketing of your future products.
So far, you should have no more than 2-3 paragraphs and a bullet list.
Your Qualifications (optional)
In the fourth paragraph, briefly state why and how your company is the most qualified to handle the issue that the receiver's company has. For example, you could tell the reader that together your team has over 50 years of cumulative marketing experience, or that you have world-renowned industry experts on your team who have worked with leading marketing companies or Fortune 500 companies. However, don't make lofty claims here. State the facts of what you can do, and don't lie.
Finally, end your proposal cover letter (or video) by telling the reader what you want him/her to do next. This may be verbal encouragement to continue reading your full proposal or to get in touch with you to answer any questions they have or to request additional information. You could say something like this:
1. Typically, you should not mention the cost of the service/product in your cover letter. There are two exceptions to this rule:
However, remember if you are using cost in your marketing strategy, it has to either be the lowest cost or offer the absolute best value (highest ROI). The last thing you want to do is tell the reader that you are the company with the most expensive solution/product as that may immediately get your company eliminated from the selection process.
2. Edit, and then edit again. There is simply no shortcut to this step. Read and reread your cover letter. Spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors in your cover letter will project a bad image of unprofessionalism, which you don't want, and is the kiss of death.
3. Keep your cover letter to one page.
4. Your cover letter should not be about your company. It should be about the client's company and how you can solve a major problem they have or fulfill a major need they have. So, write from the perspective of the biggest benefit you will provide to them.
5. Do not make any claims that you cannot back up with proof in your business proposal.
This is what your business proposal cover letter will look like after going following the above 5 step approach
Your Company Name
1234, Bentree Complex, Addison Pkwy
Addison, TX, 97692
(123) 555-1234 | yourcompany.com | youremail@yourcompany.com
To,
Mr. Peter Coleman, CEO
Receiver Company,
Carmichael Street.
Dallas, Texas 75248
March 1, 2018
Dear Mr. Coleman,
We at XYZ Company are thrilled to have the opportunity to submit a proposal to help your company significantly lower its marketing costs. In the accompanying business proposal, we have outlined how we can help your company transform from simply trying to acquire new clients to a powerful new dual approach that will help you increase the retention of your existing customers by over 80% while at the same time targeting and acquiring new clients at a client acquisition cost that is 30% lower than you are spending now.
After a thorough analysis of your end-to-end marketing and sales process, we found that by incorporating our proprietary Dual Approach marketing System, we can help your company:
By using this novel marketing and sales system, your company can increase revenues by almost 40% and create an optimal environment for the marketing of your future products.
The enclosed proposal includes in-depth information detailing how we have helped other companies in your space achieve their branding and marketing goals. You will also find examples of work we have done within your sector.
Call us at (123) 555-1234 if you have any questions or require further information. We are confident that we can create a personalized plan that suits the requirements of your company.
Sincerely,
Susan Davis
Now that you have a great cover letter or introduction video, you need to back it up with an impressive digital multi-media business proposal that helps you beat your competitors and win the client. With ClientPoint Software, you can easily add the following elements to your business proposal to help you win more clients:
1. Use a personalized video introduction instead of using a written cover letter. A personalized video introduction is much more impressive and effective at winning a client than using a written cover letter. When you use a personalized video introduction at the beginning of your business proposal instead of using a written cover letter, you will see that you will win far more clients.
2. Use client testimonial videos and client case study videos instead of using written testimonials and case studies. Again, video is a much more powerful and effective medium for grabbing the attention of your perspective clients and persuading them to hire you.
3. ClientPoint Software provides you with advanced business proposal analytics and tracking tools so you always know when and how many times your client opens your proposal, what pages they read, what videos they watch, how long they spend reading each page or watching each video, and who and how many times they share your business proposal with other people in their organization. Compare that to just sending your pdf proposal via email and not knowing if your client received it or even read it.
4. ClientPoint Software provides you with real-time notifications and alerts for immediate follow-up with your prospects so you know exactly when to contact them instead of guessing and not knowing when you should contact them.
5. ClientPoint Software provides you with Esignature, making it fast and easy for your prospect to sign and approve your proposal instead of them having to print, sign, scan, and email or fax your accepted proposal.
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Want more?
Check out these sample business proposal cover letters from all over the Internet. Some of these follow the 5 step plan perfectly while others have skipped a step or two in keeping with their specific requirements/situation.
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