idea through to the mature business operation. First, financial support must be raised using a special type of proposal: a business plan. Your business plan must be very persuasive indeed, for there are not many people, even rich ones, who will easily part with their money. Words must be crafted together to form a powerful, persuasive lever with which the mindset of the venture capitalist or banker must be changed from a dubious to a receptive state, and the money gently pried from his or her grasp.
Having obtained venture capital, the entrepreneur must next convince the public to purchase the product or service. Again the entrepreneur is faced with a daunting market challenge, for today’s consumer is sophisticated and is offered an almost limitless variety of products or services competing for his or her hard-earned savings.
Having passed these two difficult “selling” hurdles, persuasion continues to be a major component of the successful operation of this new enterprise. Now the entrepreneur must persuade the labor force to work at high efficiency and productivity, while at the same time accepting labor rates low enough to achieve an economic operation.
The art of persuasion must also be practiced at the decision-making and boardroom levels. A successful business operation is seldom run by one person. At some point, partners or principals will be acquired and become involved with key decision-making. When human beings interact, there is seldom unanimity, so the persuasive skills of the entrepreneur will be continually tested to keep his or her new partners aligned with his or her vision of the company.
An entrepreneur’s greatest asset is not the widget that has been invented, but rather the ability to sell the widget to the world.
Although I have been writing proposals for over 20 years, the exhilaration has never diminished. My pulse quickens when an RFP arrives. In a large organization, the process of preparing a proposal is like publishing a newspaper and the proposal preparation area, like a newsroom, is alive with energy. There is organized pandemonium in the battle to assemble the document before the looming and unforgiving deadline. Phones ring, keyboards clatter, and photocopiers hum as you assemble the manuscript and make final revisions in the hope of adding that critical persuasive ingredient. I found it exciting to be part of such a team, and loved the challenge of seeking innovative ways to make the proposal more persuasive than those of our competitors. Once I started my own environmental consulting firm, the team became much smaller — usually just me — but it was just as exhilarating. I loved the challenge of going head-to-head with much larger firms.
My goal in the following chapters is to not only make you a better proposal writer, but also to instill in you the excitement and thrill of proposal writing.
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