Business proposals: writing an executive summary
By
Tim North
info@betterwritingskills.com
http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com
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When
writing a business proposal, the executive summary
is arguably the most important component. You should
write it as if the success of the entire proposal
rests upon it.
Consider:
*
If your proposal is one of many (or if time is short),
a poor executive summary may mean that it's tossed
into the reject pile with the remainder unread.
*
If many people are going to read your proposal,
some may read the whole thing, but others may make
their decision after reading the executive summary
alone.
*
Some personality types like to make quick decisions
and see this (wisely or not) as being decisive.
These types of people may deliberately choose to
concentrate on the summary and only flick through
the rest.
*
People who lack the technical or financial knowledge
to understand the body of your proposal may make
a decision based on the executive summary.
*
Readers might not be prepared to say "yes"
to your proposal after reading just the executive
summary, but they might be prepared to say "no"
on this alone.
So
given how important your executive summary is, it's
important to set out some guidelines for writing it.
GUIDELINE ONE: USE THE CARROT-AND-STICK APPROACH
(Note:
The "carrot and stick" metaphor refers to
creating a situation where you are motivating someone
with both a reward and a punishment.)
Your
executive summary should briefly point out the severity
of the problem facing the client, the dire consequences
of not fixing it, the key features of your solution
and the key benefits to the client.
By
briefly covering these four things in the executive
summary, we're setting up a highly effective carrot-and-stick
scenario.
That is, we:
1.
Show them the problem.
2.
Tell (or remind) them how terrible it is.
3.
Dangle a solution in front of them.
If
you do it right, your executive summary can generate
great enthusiasm for reading the rest of your proposal.
This
is all material that you'll cover again in greater
depth in the main body of the proposal, but you should
write your executive summary as if the success of
the whole proposal depends upon it. It may.
GUIDELINE TWO: KEEP IT SIMPLE.
Your
executive summary should be understandable by anyone.
This is not the place to start sprouting financial
and technical gibberish.
Keep
in mind that people with widely varying backgrounds
may read the executive summary (even if they don't
read the rest of the proposal). Write it so they can
all understand it. If they want more details, they'll
look for them in the body of your report.
WHEN
USED
Every
long proposal (i.e. anything with a title page and
a table of contents) needs an executive summary. It's
a critical component of your proposal.
LENGTH
It's
called a summary for a reason. Don't try to trick
people into reading more than they intended by being
long winded. A reasonable rule of thumb is as follows:
| Proposal |
Executive
Summary |
| Up
to 50 pages |
1
to 2 pages |
| 51
to 100 pages |
2
or 3 pages |
| Over
100 pages |
3
pages |
You'll
find many more helpful tips like these in Tim North's
much applauded range of e-books. More information
is available on his web site, and all books come with
a money-back guarantee. http://www.BetterWritingSkills.com
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