Definition of LEADERSHIP

Good Proposal Writing Secures The Funds

You need to be good at Proposal Writing in order to secure money for your business development project. You visit investors and maybe venture capitalists to see if they will invest money in you and your business.

An investor views your project as a pure investment and has no emotional attachment to your dreams and ambitions. You need to write a proposal that is structured around a investors needs, not yours. What may interest you may have no relevance to your potential funder. You need a business plan that is ‘investor-focused’.

An Investor Focused Business Plan

An investor focused business plan contains relevant information about your project. It addresses their concerns, questions and should allay fears that any potential investor may have. It should meet their needs exactly, because investors exist to make substantial returns on the capital they invest. They want to see a good return on their investment, and the way to do that is by compiling an investor focused business plan, so that it is clear to investors that you understand your business, you are focused, prepared to meet the challenges and competent.

It is always useful to prepare an ‘Executive Summary’ or abstract from the proposal. Then, in 500 words, or less, give the essence of your proposal so the reader understands your plan. As a rule, if the investor can get their minds around what you hope to accomplish, and how, from reading just your summary, and assuming it is a workable plan, then you should have a good chance of getting the investment you need. If the reviewer is at all confused after reading your abstract, you quite probably will not get the funding. In many ways, the ‘Executive Summary’ is the most important part of your entire proposal.

You can safely assume that the investor has seen so many poor proposals that people threw together without thinking them through, that they already believe that you have not put in the effort to think through your implementation plan. The investor wants to give you the money, as long as they can see there is a solid potential return.

There are four areas that need to be addressed by your proposal:

1. Management Responsibility
2. Know Your Markets
3. Know Your Product
4. Know How Management, Markets and Product Make Money

 
Management Responsibility

The strength of management assigned to the project can make or break your proposal. Investors need reassurance that you can manage their money. They will want to see a demonstrable track record in areas specific to the project you are pitching. The ability of management will be tested so be very prepared.

It’s also true that investors like to know WHO they are investing in, so you need to include professionally written CVs for the management team along with your proposal documents.

I have a great deal of experience in writing, not only business proposals, but the style of CV you need to go with your documents. Click to find out more about Executive CV Writing for your proposals.

Know Your Markets

Your proposal writing will show investors where your income will be coming from. Your company must demonstrate a strong understanding of your customer base and be able to fulfill their needs. Your plan also must address the issues of any potential new or growth markets. Illustrate any research you have conducted to emphasise this so they can gain a feeling of your understanding of the market you are in.

Know Your Product

investors will want to fully understand your product. They will want you to demonstrate how the product that they are funding will attract customers. The information in this section must be extensive and also feature any potential expansions or upgrades that your product will feature. This will show that you have thought about long-term growth.

Know How Management, Your Market Knowledge and Your Products Make Profits

You must demonstrate that your management ability creates the links and paths between customers and products that make money. This element of your proposal writing must be very strong as ambiguous information, or assumptions will scare off any potential investor. Good proposal writing will create a step-by-step guide of how sales will be achieved and how the profit margin will provide the return on investment that the investor needs. This has to be clearly shown.

Professional Proposal Kits – Accurately quote your projects, multiply your profitability, brand yourself as a top professional and close the sale. Proposal Kit helps you demonstrate that you are the right professional for your customers and makes your proposal writing count.

It’s mission-critical, easy, customizable, accurate and immediately downloadable. More details

Write Winning Proposals For Venture Capitalists

You need to secure money for your project. You visit venture capitalists to see if you can get that money. A venture capitalist views your project as a pure investment. A venture capitalist has no emotional attachment unlike you. You need to write a proposal that is structured around a venture capitalists needs, not yours. What may interest you may have no relevance to your potential funder. You need a business plan that is ‘investor-focused’.

An investor focused business plan contains relevant information about your project. It addresses concerns, questions and should allay fears that any potential venture capitalist may have. It should meet their needs exactly. Venture capitalists exist to make substantial gains. They want to see a good return on investment. By compiling an investor focused business plan, it will be clear to Venture Capitalists that you are focused, prepared and competent.

There are four areas that need to be addressed:

• Management Responsibility
• Know Your Markets
• Know Your Product
• Know How Management, Markets and Product Make Money

Management Responsibility

The strength of management assigned to the project can make or break your proposal. Venture Capitalists need reassurance that you can manage their money. They will want to see a demonstrable track record in areas specific to the project you are pitching. The ability of management will be tested so be very prepared and get your proposal writing right.

Know Your Markets

Venture Capitalists will need to see where your income will be coming from. Your company must demonstrate a strong understanding of your customer base and be able to fulfil their needs. Your plan also must address any potential new or growth markets. Illustrate any research you have conducted to emphasise this.

Know Your Product

Venture Capitalists will want to fully understand your product. They will want you to demonstrate how the product that they are funding will attract customers. The information in this section must be extensive and also feature any potential expansions or upgrades that your product will feature. This will show that you have thought about long-term growth.

Know How Management, Markets and Product Make Money

It must be demonstrated that management can create links and paths between customers and product. This element must be very strong as ambiguous information, or an assumed relationship will scare off any potential funder. Create a step-by-step guide of how their money will be processed and how the customers money will be received. This has to be clearly shown.

Tie in these Proposal Writing points together and you are already in the top 3% of all venture capital submissions. Good Luck!

Dominic Dirupo survived the Tech Boom and Crash with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank after graduating with Honours at London’s City University. Don’t Buy Information is an online resource designed to help every consumer make a business decision for free. No Strings Attached.

Frustrated By A Slow Computer?

Surely, if you’re like most of us computer speed is an issue, you’ve been in the middle of a very important proposal, business document or email, and all of a sudden, your computer freezes… You end up having to power down your PC, after many minutes, when convinced that the process is just not working.

This said, all of your proposal writing is then gone into digital nowhere, and you have no way of getting it back. Or, it could be that your computer doesn’t always freeze; but rather, it takes many minutes to open a web page, start/shut down, or open a program, or it interrupts your important communications and tasks with pesky error messages. Sound familiar? You have an inefficient PC and you need to get it back to normal operating computer speed for the sake of your business relationships.

LightspeedPC™ is the leading provider of solutions software that will – with just one click-analyze your pc and remove all programs, registries, and errors that are causing your slow computer speed. Just one click! No more computer freezes. No more error messages. No more agonizingly slow processing times. Just like that, with one lightning fast free download! Try LightspeedPC™ today for a more convenient tomorrow.

You are here: Effective Business Proposal Writing

Read more of my Business Information and Ideas

or continue to read about Report Writing

Get proposal software and sample business proposals from Proposal Kit

Using Your Intuition In Leadership

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.”-Nelson Mandela, Inaugural Speech, 1994

Intuition is divine guidance. Sometimes it is known as a “hunch.” Whatever you choose is call it, intuition is a mighty powerful lead that directs you to take immediate action. Do you follow your intuition or do you allow doubt and reason to step in?

A sudden lead or intuition comes to you in a quick moment. When it feels right and works, you must give in to it. And in order for it to benefit you, it must be nurtured, practiced, and demonstrated. This happens when you act on your inner voice, that unexplained thought, or when you make a decision that turns out to be exactly the answer you were looking for.

It is the same as when you get a spiritual revelation to help someone in need with either your time or money. This too, is a demonstration of your intuition in action. That good deed will be returned to you in multiple ways. It works in your business life as well as your personal life. How many successful people do you know who started out with just an idea or thought that came to them unexpectedly? How about McDonald’s? Wendy’s, the World Wide Web? Most ideas are based on intuition.

Sometimes your intuition or your “hunches” are unexplainable. When that happens, it is God’s way of guiding you to take a step in a different direction, or to trust His lead. It always turns out to be a perfect idea.

How many times have you ever gotten a strong urge to obey a certain thought? Did it come at an unexpected time? Did you act on it? Did you get an unexpected surprise? On many occasions my intuition has led me to an unexpected surprise.

While taking a walk on my lunch hour, I can walk in several different directions, either when leaving or returning to my office. In deciding which street to turn on I usually follow my intuition. And in doing so, I often run into someone I hadn’t seen for months; or someone I’d lost contact with, or someone I used to work with and the re-acquainting moments and emotions are always so precious.

Later, in thinking back, I might wonder at how I might have missed the opportunity if I hadn’t followed my intuition and hadn’t walked in the direction that I was guided to go. If I hadn’t followed my inner voice, those precious moments of a chance meeting would never have happened.

So, never question your intuition. It is unexplainable, mysterious, and many times it is divine law in action. Give thanks for your intuition. Whenever you follow your divine leads or your inner guidance, you are blessed with receiving an unexpected surprise. Though, to follow your inner voice, it often takes an act of faith .

However, when you are indecisive and not sure which way to go, try to be at peace with your choice – whether good or bad. Since all effort is an act of faith, nothing will be lost even if you make a wrong decision or miss a big opportunity. Learn to forgive yourself and remember: “if one door closes, another one soon opens.” This is God’s way of showing you that your life is a part of His perfect plan.

Trust your intuition. Trust your “hunches.” Trust your inner voices or urges They are all blessings for you to use to their fullest. Trust your small decisions as well as the major ones. Trust your business decisions as well as the ones that affect your personal life. Everything that happens to you, happens for a reason. And remember, intuition is a powerful force that must not be resisted to work. It gives God a chance to give your life His perfect pleasure.

Gerri D Smith is publisher and host of multiple Gateways to inspiration, motivation, and support for individuals, women business owners, and entrepreneurs. Gerri’s internet resource offers ways to unlock the doors to your personal and business empowerment. Now is a perfect time to own your own business and discover some of the best ways to market a product. One is by letting your customers see it before they buy it. This concept is a sharing of information and is made available by the Internet. Best of all it’s delivered right to your email doorstep. Why not invest in your future, now. To help you reach more of your personal and business goals, subscribe to Gerri’s Free bi-monthly inspirational newsletter.

Visit: http://www.distinctivebusinesswomen.com Or, send a blank email and your correct email address and mail to: gerri@distinctivebusinesswomen.com?Subject=EZ-Scribe