Business · 4 steps

Write a business proposal

From a vague client ask to a priced, written proposal you can send.

All recipes

Clarify the brief, design the approach, price it, then write it. Each step feeds the next, so keep the chat open.

  1. 1

    Get the brief straight

    Prompt
    You are a senior consultant. I'm writing a proposal for [CLIENT] who wants [PROBLEM]. Ask me six questions about their situation, decision process, budget and timeline before writing anything. Then summarize the brief back to me in five bullets and flag any assumption that could sink the proposal.
  2. 2

    Design the approach

    Prompt
    Using that brief, design the approach in three phases: what we'd learn, what we'd build or change, and how we'd prove it worked. For each phase give the deliverables, the client's time commitment, and the risk we're managing. No pricing yet.
  3. 3

    Price it three ways

    Prompt
    Turn the approach into three options — lean, recommended, full service — with scope differences, hours, day rate and a risk buffer. Show the math and what's excluded. Then give me the exact sentence to say the recommended price out loud.
  4. 4

    Write the proposal

    Prompt
    Write the proposal: their problem in their words, our understanding, the approach, what they get and when, investment, why us in three lines of evidence, and the next step. Under 900 words, plain language, no filler. End with a 60-word version for the covering email.