Do you worry when you hear the word ‘proposal cover letter’? Or at the very least does it make you nervous? You are not alone, my friend!
Writing a strong cover letter, executive summary, or other introduction is difficult in a variety of situations, from job applications to company proposals.
Your proposal’s cover letter has a significant task to perform, from grabbing the prospect’s attention to demonstrating that you have the proper solution.
The importance of a proposal cover letter cannot be overstated. It is the prospective client’s first impression of your proposal. For better or for worse, it sets the tone. And writing it down can help you figure out what should and shouldn’t be in your proposal.
It shouldn’t be whipped up in a hurry just before moving on to the proposal’s ‘meat,’ nor should it be a boring fill-in-the-blank exercise using a common template.
At the same time, you can’t devote hours upon hours to creating a one-of-a-kind proposal cover letter. You have a contract that depends on the completion of this proposal.
For this, you will need a solid writing formula.
So, in this blog, we’ll show you how to write a dynamite custom cover letter for every proposal you send out in a few simple steps.
Before we get down to the main stuff, let’s understand what exactly is a proposal cover letter and why it is important!
What is a Proposal Cover Letter?
A cover letter is a letter that goes with your proposal and serves as an introduction. The proposal cover letter resembles a letter of inquiry, however many are delivered without a proposal, but the cover letter is always accompanied by a proposal.
A proposal cover letter is a one-page statement used to convince a potential client of your company’s services. It rapidly introduces your company and proposal to a potential contributor.
It is normally optional when submitting a proposal, but it adds a great personal touch and gives the project context. It is also your first chance to persuade a potential client to read the rest of your proposal.
Now let’s find out, in detail, why a proposal cover letter is important.
Importance of Writing a Proposal Cover Letter
1. Helps in Getting Attention
The cover letter is to your proposal what a book cover is to a book. It’s important because it is the section of the proposal that comes before the actual proposal. In other words, a business proposal’s cover letter is the first, and maybe the most significant, component.
With a good proposal cover letter, you can easily get the attention of the client and get them interested to read the entire document before agreeing to sign it. You could just offer them a full specification straight away, but that will focus the client’s attention too much on statistics and particular outcomes, which is why a proposal cover letter is great in hooking the client’s attention.
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2. Helps Stand Out
A client can tell if you’re genuinely interested and have done your homework—or if you’ve just copied and pasted generic expressions from previous proposals.
The proposal cover letter is a great way to demonstrate that you are paying attention to their concerns. It helps you stand out from any competition and encourages your clients to read your proposal thoroughly. They can move on to the more technical parts of the detailed specification after finishing the cover letter.
3. Demonstrates Your Commitment
The lack of a cover letter is often seen by companies as a way of slacking off.
If the proposal you’ve sent doesn’t have everything in place, it doesn’t set a good precedent for the service or work that they can expect from you once the deal is made.
Adding a proposal letter shows that this business opportunity is important to you and that you take it seriously.
Now that you know how important a proposal cover letter is, let’s take a look at what you must include in one and the step to write it!
What You Should Write in a Proposal Cover letter?
Every great proposal cover letter must include some basics. To get you started, here are a few:
- Always speak about the client rather than about yourself. Don’t brag regarding your accomplishments, honors, or portfolio.
- Use language and sentiments from your meetings and discovery calls to “talk back” to the customer.
- Don’t get too technical — that’ll have to wait until the next phase.
- Keep it brief and sweet — the goal is to encourage clients to read all the way through and sign.
Make sure the format of your proposal cover letter emphasizes the following:
1. Introductory Sentence
The most crucial component of your proposal is this. Get directly to the point. Persuade them to keep reading and learn more by shocking them. You should say something unusual. Try to say something obvious as if it were a secret.
2. The Tone of the Letter
The tone should be straightforward and devoid of any doubt. Ambiguity is the fastest way to destroy trust. This is why it’s critical to gather the facts you need ahead of time so you don’t use ‘maybes, “sometimes,’ and ‘ifs’ when writing. Ensure that what you’re presenting is correct. You’re the authority on the subject. Write as though you are one.
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3. Closing
Always ask them to read the body of the proposal when finishing your proposal’s cover letter. Without being generic, many people welcome it when folks direct their readers to the case study that they’ve included. It demonstrates that they are the ideal candidate to close the business deal with, and that have evidence to prove it. It’s a good bridge.
How to Write a Proposal Cover Letter? Follow these steps:
One of the most difficult parts of creating a proposal cover letter is getting all of the information you want to convey in as few words as possible while still being compelling or even entertaining.
Step 1. Write a Unique Cover Letter
Nothing upsets a client more than reading a bland cover letter. If you want your proposal to stand out, prepare a cover letter that is tailored to that client and the services required. This not only reveals to the client that you’ve done your homework, but it also demonstrates your interest in and commitment to the business deal.
Double-check your proposal cover letters for proper spelling and grammar. Don’t be afraid to use free apps that provide auto-checks for things like spelling, grammar, punctuation, and more.
Step 2. Make it Personal
Since a cover letter should be tailored to the service proposal, avoid the use of generic salutations such as “Dear Sir or Madam” or “To Whom It May Concern.”
If you’re sending a proposal to a casual firm, you may be able to address the client with their first name, but if you’re sending one to a more professional organization, you may want to address them with a Mr. or Ms. prefix.
Step 3. Make Sure Your Proposal Matches Their Goals
The most vital thing to mention in your proposal cover letter, however, is that you are aware of their requirements. This is more than just them asking you for a quote on a certain service.
You should make sure your proposal addresses their primary goals for wanting your services. The rest of your proposal should include information regarding your plan, pricing, why you’re unique, and case studies.
If your proposal cover letter addresses their true concerns, you can be sure that your proposal will be reviewed from beginning to end.
Step 4. Emphasize Your Key Services
You want to sell your services in a proposal cover letter by highlighting your services that are essential to them and drawing attention to your experiences that will show that your company is a good fit for the business.
Rather than just recapping everything in your proposal and case studies, you should pick out two or three points that you want to make evident to the company or client reading your proposal cover letter.
Step 5. Showcase Data and Statistics
If you want to start writing a strong proposal cover letter, make sure to include facts to back up your claims. Add KPIs, sales figures, or other data-driven figures that can be used to assess your company’s prior performance and positive feedback from other big customers to give your client a picture of who you are as a service provider.
Step 6. The Formatting Matters
It’s one thing to know how to phrase a proposal cover letter, but it’s another to make sure it’s formatted correctly.
Because the cover letter is your client’s initial impression of you, even before they read your proposal, it’s critical that everything looks professional and polished.
Make sure to follow the business letter structure and include a suitable heading and signature sign-off.
Step 7. Keep it Brief and To The Point
If you want to know how to write a proposal cover letter, you must be concise and direct. Your client must be able to summarize your offer and primary services in just a few brief phrases because they get many offers.
Don’t waste their (or yours!) time by filling your proposal cover letter with irrelevant information.
Step 8. Proofread. Proofread. Proofread.
It’s sad, but a single misspelled word or misplaced comma might jeopardize your business prospects.
Your service proposal cover letter should have excellent spelling and punctuation, so use a writing assistant or a colleague to proofread both. You can even ask a colleague or friend or family member to proofread your cover letter just be double sure about it.
Taking this extra step can verify your punctuation, spelling, and writing style to ensure that your writing is error-free.
Step 9. Use a Template
If you have a professional-looking proposal cover letter, then it will create a fantastic first impression with your potential client in just a few minutes.
But because writing a proposal cover letter from scratch is excessively time-consuming, you shouldn’t be hesitant to use pre-formatted cover letter templates.
What’s that? You don’t know where to find good proposal cover letter templates? Don’t worry, my friend, Bit has some of the best!
Bit? What’s that, you ask? It’s the best tool to write your proposal cover letter and any other letter!
Want to know more about Bit? Keep reading…
Read more: Letter of Resignation: Definition, Examples, and Format!
Bit.ai: The Ultimate Tool to Create a Proposal Cover Letter
Writing a proposal cover letter is not exactly the easiest task. All the research you have to do, the writing involved and the editing process can be extremely difficult and downright stressful.
When you’re stressed about whether or not your client will like your proposal, things like the formatting of the letter or its appearance should be the least of your worries. But that doesn’t mean it’s important.
What you need is an advanced tool to help you create proposal cover letters in a jiffy and Bit is the best option!
Bit is a new-age cloud-based document collaboration tool that helps anyone create awesome interactive documents like cover letters and resumes! Think of it as a modern-day Microsoft Word!
Bit.ai has an extensive template gallery that provides you with over 70+ templates, which you can use for creating your proposal cover letter. You can even change the color theme of the document with just one click!
Bit’s smart, minimal editor is perfect for distraction-free writing. No more word-styled ribbon with confusing and distracting tabs and buttons.
Don’t worry about the formatting of your proposal cover letter anymore because Bit comes with an auto-formatting feature, which automatically formats your entire document to give it a very uniform and consistent look.
Don’t want to work on your cover letter alone? Don’t worry, Bit has got you covered. It’s the world’s most powerful document collaboration platform, so all you need to do is add your colleagues or (whoever is helping you write the proposal cover letter) to your workspace and they’ll be able to access your cover letter anytime and edit it effortlessly.
Not just that, Bit support 100+ file format which allows you to embed web links, pdfs, graph, etc. to your document. This means you can add a link to your blog or professional website and showcase data and statistics through charts, graphs, etc in your proposal cover letter. Isn’t that amazing!?
What’s more? You can share your documents with utmost ease, and even track them in real-time. You can see who opened your proposal, how much time they spent on it!
…and there’s more where that came from! Jump onto our website and discover the various features that we have to offer to you and your professional needs.
All in all, Bit is a modern-day editor that makes writing fun and distraction-free and is the perfect tool to create a proposal cover letter or other smart workplace documents!
So quit waiting around and get Bit right away!
Conclusion
A proposal cover letter will definitely boost your offer and increase your chances of closing the deal by displaying your communication abilities and highlighting that what’s important to them is important to you too.
One of the most crucial abilities you may have as a salesperson or business owner is the ability to write a fantastic proposal cover letter for your proposals.
If you can do this well, you will simply win better business deals, more frequently, and at a higher price.
With the help of this blog, we hope that you are now well equipped to write an amazing proposal cover letter! Now go out there and impress your potential clients! Good luck!
Further reads:
Sales Letter: What is it & How to Create it?
Contract Proposal: What is it and How to Create it?
Proposal Letter: What is it & How to Write it?
Two Weeks Notice Letter: Definition, Format, Examples & Samples!
Cover Letter: What is it & How to Write it to Woo Recruiters?
