Write a One-Page Proposal Your Buyer Can Forward
When you sell to another business, the person you talk to is often not the only person who decides. They have a boss, a partner, a finance person, or a team that has to agree. That means your proposal will probably be read by someone who never heard your pitch. If it only makes sense with you in the room, it's working against you.
A good fix is a one-page proposal written so your contact can forward it without adding a word of explanation.
Start with their problem, in their words
Open with two or three sentences describing the problem the buyer told you about. Use the language they used, not your industry terms. If they said "our quotes take too long to go out," write that, not "proposal workflow optimization." The person reading it later should recognize their own situation in the first paragraph and keep reading.
Say what you'll do, plainly
Next, describe what you'll actually deliver. Keep it concrete: what gets done, by whom, and what they'll have at the end. A short list works well here. Avoid long descriptions of your method or your company history. The reader wants to know what changes for them, not how impressive your process is.
Define what "done" looks like
This is the section most proposals skip, and it's the one that prevents arguments later. Write down how both sides will know the work is finished. It might be a working tool, a set number of deliverables, a training session held, or a report handed over. If you can't describe done in a sentence or two, the scope probably isn't clear enough yet, and it's better to find that out now than halfway through the project.
Be clear about price and timing
Put the price on the page. A buyer who has to email you to find out what it costs has an easy reason to set the proposal aside. Include the payment terms and a realistic timeline with one or two milestones. If there are options, limit them to two or three and make the difference between them obvious.
Name what they need to provide
Most projects depend on the client too: access to systems, a point person, feedback within a certain number of days. List those up front. It shows you've thought the project through, and it gives you something fair to point to if things stall on their side.
End with one next step
Close with a single, specific action: sign and return, reply to approve, or book a short call to go over questions. One next step is easier to take than three. Add a date if timing matters, such as when your availability or the quoted price holds until.
Test it before you send it
Before it goes out, hand the page to someone who knows nothing about the deal and ask them three questions: What problem is this solving? What will they get? What does it cost? If they can answer all three in under a minute, the proposal is ready to be forwarded. If they can't, tighten it until they can.
Writing this way takes a little more thought up front, but it usually saves rounds of back-and-forth, and it makes it easier for your contact to champion you inside their company. That's the whole job of a proposal: to keep selling after you've left the room.
If you're building your business while running it, my book Flying and Building an Airplane at the Same Time covers more practical lessons like this one. And if you'd like help tightening up how your small business sells or uses AI, take a look at my consulting page.