The formerly accepted styles and forms of proposal and report writing are quickly becoming passé. Astute executives and businessmen are getting fed up with them; as prospective clients, their jaundiced eyes are beginning to look upon most of this non-communicative effort as garbage. Those consultants and consulting firms that still use the old format do so because they don't ask for feedback; they submit, bill, and run. Effective proposals are those which succeed in obtaining the work desired by the consultant for his normal fee. Effective reports are those that succeed in satisfying the client that the consultant's work was properly and professionally accomplished; they also succeed by the consultants getting paid.
The need for this is apparent when we see the number of proposals that are rejected and the number of reports that are either misunderstood or treated with indifference. A proposal that does not eventuate in a client retaining the consultant wastes an enormous amount of time - for both parties; and this time translates into money. Likewise, a report that doesn't accomplish what it set out to do, or obfuscates its own intent, both infuriates and loses clients.
Time and money wasted is injurious to any profession, but for a consultant it is doubly so, because this waste is always obvious to the client and cannot be hidden in any way.
For the wise consultant, the consideration of whether to write a proposal starts very early. He differentiates between a prospect and a suspect, between a winner and a loser. Similarly, the consideration of what kind of report to write should start long before it is written in the solid consultant/client relationship, whereby the client is fully aware and expectant of the type of report you will write. Everything comes together if, as Holiday Inn suggests, there are no surprises.
This is not a manual of style or of creative writing. For that you are referred to "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White. It is, however, a guide to do's and don'ts based upon my own experience. The general rules here transcend all fields of consulting, so that, whatever your expertise, you should find them useful.
What Kind of Proposal?
At first glance, it would appear that a consultant should tailor his writing to the taste of the client. Not so. If a client is a devious type who beats about the bush, this is no reason to write a monograph that accommodates his nature. He will spot what you are doing right off anyway, because it takes one to know one. All proposals and reports should be straightforward and to the point.
But there are different kinds of proposals with respect to what it is that the consultant hopes to achieve. For example:
1. The entire project itself may be the writing of a report, in which you will divest yourself of everything you know about that type of problem. In this case, the proposal will merely be a restatement of your credentials and expertise in this area, a general idea of what your report will contain, a quotation of your fee, and a due date for the report.
2. The project could call for a long-term contract (or letter of intent) for your services on an ongoing basis. Here the proposal would generalize about what it is that you would do for your client, the goals, and the areas in which you intend to accomplish this. Needless to say, this proposal would be much more detailed and lengthy than the former one.
3. The client may request a budgeting proposal. This could call for a definitive explanation of the project along with the costs (in addition to your fee) for carrying out the work entailed and/or the price to the client if he were to pay you on a cost-plus basis, which is, not conducting the project in-house.
You can readily see that, in length alone, these would be three different kinds of proposals. How long should a proposal or report be? As long as it takes to write it and write it well! Writing can be the most precise method of communication. But precision and brevity are not always synonymous. Write concisely and to the point. But don't leave anything out just for the sake of brevity. Most writers see a contradiction between brevity and comprehensiveness. There is none. A twenty-page treatise dealing with a complicated matter may be considered just as concise and succinct as a two-page document dealing with a simple matter.
There is only one instance that calls for extreme brevity. Once in a while it requires the decision of a committee or board of directors to okay your services. The person conducting your exploratory interview is merely screening. Always request that you address this group personally. A go-between trying to sell your services rarely succeeds. This for two reasons: first, he is not as intensely enthusiastic as you are regarding this matter; second, the board will raise the most simplistic questions, which he cannot answer and you can. Invariably, when a sufficient number of unanswered questions crop up, the entire matter is either shelved until the next meeting or dropped altogether. If you are prohibited from attending the meeting, your proposal must speak for you. Several days or the night before the meeting, each member receives your proposal along with a raft of material pertaining to other items on the agenda. The members are supposed to digest all of this in preparation for the meeting. They rarely do. The shorter the piece, the more they are apt to at least glance at it. So brevity here is your only chance.
