For most businesses, proposals are the gateway to new revenue. These humble documents act as ambassadors as they vie for trust, engagement, and ultimately new business. Proposals are often the first and decisive impression a company leaves on a prospective client.
And yet, despite their critical importance, most business proposals are poorly written. And a subpar proposal will not leave a good impression.
Consider this: one survey found that nearly two-thirds of respondents will refuse to do business with an organization whose written materials contain grammar or spelling errors. That simple fact alone should make every business leader pause. An inadequate proposal won’t just diminish credibility, it will actively drive potential clients away.
And that’s true even when the underlying business offering is strong. “Make no mistake—the best written proposal will not win money for a weak idea,” writes Robert Porter, Director of the Proposal Development Team at Virginia Tech. “But it is also true that many good ideas are not funded because the proposal is poorly written.”
The High Cost of Mediocre Writing
Most companies assume their sales team can write a decent proposal because they know the product. Unfortunately, knowing the product isn’t the same as knowing how to persuade. And that gap between expertise and expression is where many proposals falter.
The quality of the writing within the proposal matters as much or more than its format, its subject matter, or the sheer expertise of its authors. Better writing means better proposal performance. One study examining the impact of writing quality in published academic articles illustrates why. Researchers created a “writing index” based on 11 measurable components of writing quality. They found that articles that scored higher according to that writing index turned out to be measurably more influential than others: “Our analysis suggests that influential articles [those earning more citations] had more positive writing components.”
In other words, better writing doesn’t just sound better, it spreads farther, earns more trust, and opens more doors. The same logic applies to business proposals. Well-written proposals are shared more, discussed more, and ultimately win more business.
The Power of Proposal Writing Classes
So, all of this begs the question: how do you improve the writing quality of your team’s proposals so that they make a better impression and land more business?
Here, there are no real shortcuts. You can’t “cheat” or “hack” your way to good writing. Even AI-powered writing may be great at getting the grammar right or figuring out what needs to be said, but AI will still struggle with the psychological and strategic underpinnings of a document that must simultaneously 1) educate, 2) persuade, and 3) impress.
For that, the path forward is skills development through a dedicated business proposal writing course.
What a Business Proposal Writing Course Teaches
1: How to Get the Basics of Good Writing Right
First, an effective business proposal writing course will provide instruction on the basics of good writing. That will include everything from the most overlooked grammar missteps to the foundational principles of good writing, such as clarity, specificity, and simplicity.
2: How to Structure and Organize a Business Proposal for Maximum Impact
Then, a great business proposal writing course will go further than just the basics. As damaging as poor grammar can be, the strategic missteps in business proposals are often the costliest. So, the most effective proposal writing classes won’t just teach participants where to place a comma; they teach participants how to think about proposals strategically.
For example:
“Keep it short, on-point, and eye-catching. Do not write more than six to ten pages unless your product is extremely complicated,” advises Artyom Voronetskiy, an Account Executive with PandaDoc, a document management platform. PandaDoc studied the proposals managed through its platform to uncover what makes a successful proposal.
The problem here is that “short” and “on-point” can be deceptively challenging. Conveying everything—all the factual data, the sales and marketing messaging, the calls to action, while proactively addressing questions and objections, and so on—can be difficult to do effectively and comprehensively in a short format document.
It’s like mathematician Blaise Pascal once famously said (often misattributed to Mark Twain): “I have made this longer than usual because I have not had time to make it shorter.” Except we’d argue it’s not just a function of time. We might say instead, “I have made this longer because I did not have the skill to make it shorter.”
3: How to Understand and Properly Address the Readers
Too many proposal writers forget that the proposal isn’t about them. It’s about their customer.
One of the most pervasive mistakes in weak proposals is the overemphasis on the vendor’s qualifications, capabilities, and history. Certainly, some background is necessary, but most clients care far more about how your solution addresses their specific problems.
Effective proposal writing thus demands a deep understanding of the readers, their situation, and their goals. Are you writing for procurement officers? A technical evaluation committee? A business owner? Is the proposal solicited or unsolicited? Formal or informal? For government contracts or private enterprise? Are you part of a larger chain ( a subcontractor to another contractor who has their own client), or do they need whatever you’re offering in isolation?
Proposal writing classes often begin by drilling down into these distinctions. They train participants how to tailor their messaging based on both the known needs of the client and the unspoken emotional triggers that influence decision-making.
And More…
In reality, truly effective proposal writing involves a complex and integrated skill set that combines:
- Reader analysis
- Persuasive writing
- Strategic positioning
- Visual formatting
- Technical compliance (especially for government contracts)
- Psychological insight
A properly designed business proposal writing course tackles all of these concepts. The best programs are practical, business-oriented (not academic), and tailored for real-world application.
As a result, participants don’t just learn how to write, they learn how to win. Learn more in our financial writing courses.
The ROI of a Good Business Proposal Writing Course
In many ways, proposal writing classes are one of the highest-return investments a business can make. Unlike software upgrades or marketing automation platforms that may require substantial capital, writing training offers skills that directly improve revenue-generating activities at minimal expense.
To understand the real financial implications, imagine a simple scenario: a company that supplies some kind of equipment or supplies to healthcare organizations.
Let’s say they’re selling MRI machines. Altogether, the cost of purchasing and installing a single MRI machine can cost between $1 million and $3 million. Let’s say a single sale for our company is $2 million. Then, within the healthcare sector, the average industry conversion rate is 5.6%. With those numbers, for every 100 proposals our hypothetical company submits, it generates $11.2 million in sales.
Now let’s say they up their proposal game, improving the quality, impact, and persuasiveness of their business proposals. In turn, they gain a modest boost to their conversion rate (from 5.6% to 7%). Now, for every 100 proposals they submit, they gain $14 million in sales—an increase of $2.8 million.
But here’s the real kicker: they probably spent only about $10,000 to $15,000 to train their sales and proposal writing staff (a very rough estimate based on figures from the Association for Talent Development’s State of the Industry Report on the annual cost of training employees).
A five-figure expense to generate a massive gain in added sales? That’s a no-brainer.
The Path to Better Proposals Starts Here
So, where do you get started to help your team write better proposals that make more sales at your organization? Everything we’ve described, we offer: a business proposal writing course that’s both business-oriented (not academic) and that incorporates the entire spectrum of needed skills, both strategic and foundational.
Business proposal writing courses aren’t a luxury. They’re a competitive advantage. In an economy where trust is fragile and competition fierce, your team’s ability to clearly, concisely, and compellingly make their case can be the deciding factor between a lost opportunity and a major contract won.
The question isn’t whether you can afford to invest in better proposal writing for your team. Can you afford not to?
