Get as much information about the client as possible—annual reports company periodicals, publicity. Sometimes there is a point of contact, i.e. someone who is involved in drafting the request for proposals and who can answer technical questions about the form. and content of your proposal. Call the person—they may reveal some information that, can give you a competitive edge or at least a more customised approach to solving the prospective client's problem. Sometimes they ever, have a checklist of items they look for in each proposal and will be prepared to tell you about it if you ask.

Proposals are evaluated by a wide range of readers, from top management to technical evaluators to budget analysers. These readers will focus on different sections of a proposal, perhaps missing out whole segments, All readers, however, should be able to evaluate the first section of a proposal, which is a summary of the document. The length can vary greatly—it may sometimes be only one paragraph but in a very formal report it may run to several pages.

The worst thing you can de is offer value judgements which the client can refute. You want to seem serious, fair, objective and factual. Only after you build a foundation of fact can you offer a few judgements. Otherwise, you are likely to invite the reader to take issue with you. The facts are your findings and should be labelled as such: opinions are conclusions and should be labelled that way. If you use adjectives like 'powerful', 'wide-ranging', 'significant', etc., make sure you support them with details.

In proposal writing there is a tendency to rely on standard formats, i.e. static, standard sentences, paragraphs or pages that seem to fit all situations and do not change from proposal to proposal. No-company sees itself as being like any other and so the last thing you want is for a prospective client to believe you are just recycling old solutions. You must try to create (the ideas to fit the needs of the particular client and try not to copy old ideas because you cannot be bothered to generate new ones). Start with a statement that will be accessible to everyone who studies it.