I've seen this ad on the back of our city taxis and it never fails to get my attention. The main aim in business writing is to communicate with the readers. So, if you can get the attention of your  target audience with your business proposal' title, introduction or executive summary, it would ensure that your proposal gets past the first hurdle of being considered for further reading. The business owner of catchcheatingspouse.my really knows how to get our attention. Watch out, cheating spouses!

Business Proposal Writing

What can we learn from this advertisement?

"What has inspired countless Haiku poems will also inspire you".

What can business proposal writers learn from this Malaysia Airlines advertisement which appeared in local dailies just a few days ago? What's the purpose of this ad? Obviously, it's using haiku, the famous form of Japanese poetry, with presumably Sakura cherry blossoms to entice newspaper readers.The choice of the soft pink-white petals with the beckoning golden yellow filaments could induce in the readers a spring-is-in-the-air mood.

For the business proposal writer, are you able to make your readers see or feel what really matters to them: providing a solution that will solve their problems and bring them the benefits they desire? Will you be able to help them visualize the problem-benefit equation?

Yet, I don't feel quite persuaded by the ad. How many Malaysians out there really know about the Japanese haiku? It's like you put out an ad in China with this line against a picture of our hibiscus flowers: "What has inspired countless pantun poems will also inspire you". Just as the majority of Chinese will not be able to relate to the pantun, it makes me wonder how many Malaysians can relate to the haiku.Why not just show us a famous haiku poem written about the famous cherry blossoms? I would say the cherry blossoms are more well-known than the haiku. Anyway, how can one be so sure that what has inspired countless haiku poems "will also inspire" us?


For the business proposal writer, I would say: make sure that your readers can relate to the solution or idea that you are trying to sell them. For example, avoid using jargon that may confuse them. Do not assume that just because you are the specialist in your field, your readers should know the subject matter as well as you do.

Business Proposal Writing: What We can Learn from Roshan Thiran, CEO of Leaderonomics

I'm a firm believer of learning from the world around us. So, after reading Roshan Thiran's Don't Kill Your Talent in his column Talking HR in StarBiz (Thursday 27 March 2012), I asked myself: How can I use his ideas in business proposal writing? I won't delve into the details of the whole article, but I'll just focus on one quality that caught my attention that made me want to read it till the end.

How can a headline like "Don't Kill Your Talent" ever escape one's attention? Roshan is advocating that business leaders should also source their talents from within the organization. He opines that business organizations are unwittingly killing their own talents by not allowing their own people "to fulfil their potential". He suggests giving their "inexperienced" people a chance to realize their potential. His battle cry: Keep pushing your people outside their comfort zone. They need experiences".

OK, I digress. What has the headline got to do with your business proposal writing? It shows me how important it is to have a title that catches the attention of your readers. You may not write a stare-in-your-face title the way Roshan wrote his, but the same principle applies: you need a good title that tells your reader what you are proposing in your proposal. Just imagine Kentucky Fried Chicken with a bland or cliched tagline like The best chicken in town instead of the memorable It's finger lick'n good. Now, you're not going to write a proposal title like a tagline, which would be frivolous. But that's the point: get your readers' attention with an appropriate title so they will just nod their heads and say, "Hey, that's what I want".

Roshan Thiran is the CEO of Leaderonomics who describes  Leaderonomics as "a social enterprise focused on inspiring people to leadership greatness."

Writing Business Proposals : How Do You Make Your Ideas Stand Out Like a Rockstar?

 Graphic Courtesy of One Academy Undergraduate 2012

If your job requires you to write business proposals to solicit for business or funds, your job depends on your ability to write your proposals well.

Someone says that "Every communication that leaves the office is a sales letter" and that includes  business proposals. Putting in the facts and figures require much background research and thinking, but how do you package and present those facts and figures in a way that is convincing or persuasive?

The presentation of your business proposal is more than just the neat layout and attractive binding- those things do give a good first impression, but they are superficial. Your readers may be the CEOs, directors, managers, accountants, or technical staff. They are busy people who will most likely have other business proposals to read. Just imagine, your proposal is but one of several that they have to read. Put yourself in their shoes. What are they looking for? What will make them want to read your business proposal out of the several that are on their table?

Chances are, the busy CEO or director may not even have the time to read your 50 page business proposal. If s/he likes what you have written in your introduction, s/he might think there's merit in your proposal and ask others in the company to look into it more thoroughly. However, s/he may decide not to read beyond the first paragraph of the beginning of your report. Worse, if they reject it outright after reading just the introduction.

How do you write in a way that will give your readers the A-ha effect? What will make your readers want to go beyond the Executive Summary? How can you use language and style to make your ideas stand out? Your proposal is one out of 10 proposals on your reader's desk. How do you make your ideas stand out like a rockstar?

You may have an excellent product or service, but if your reader is not convinced, your product or service will not stand a chance for consideration. And a lot depends on the language and style that you use in order to convince or persuade your reader.


This PSMB Write Winning Business Proposals Training Program focuses on the effective use of language to sell your ideas to your prospective clients.

This training program is HRDF claimable.