Free business proposal templates to impress your clients

What is an example of a good proposal template?

Even if they start from a template, most people need to customize it. You want to accurately describe your own services, highlight your USPs and put your own pricing in. You'll also write in your own tone of voice. So what's the best way to do all of this? What should a final customised proposal template look like? Let's break it down:

1. Cover & Title

There are different ways to display this but your proposal should contain a cover image and title. This is a high impact visual introduction that will be the first thing your client sees so you want it to make a splash but also accurately reflect what's coming next.

Try to choose a photo that at once inspires and positively highlights your services. If in doubt, go abstract. In this section you should be careful to check contrast and legibility. Pro tip: use a contrast checker to make sure you are being objective. You'll only need to do this once as you'll likely recycle the format for future proposals. With Nusii you can automatically insert content using our reusable content blocks.

For the copy you will need to be descriptive. Don't build suspense or keep them guessing. Put a clear title that leaves no doubt about the content to follow. Remember the proposal could be forwarded to others who may not have been in the loop on previous communication with the client.

2. Problem & Goals.

Too often agencies jump right into the objectives but it is useful to quickly outline what problems you are trying to solve. This is critical to communicate that you have understood the client's pain points. It also reminds the client of the issues they are facing just before you present your solution which preps them to receive your proposal.

Don't know what the paint points are? In this case this is not a proposal template issue, it is a communication problem. We always advise our clients to hold a client interview before preparing any kind of proposal. We actually have an in-depth guide on how to conduct a client interview, what to ask and, crucially, how to uncover their underlying pain points.

Once the short list of problems have been included in your template, you should immediately state your objectives. They should align well with the problem. For example, let's say the reported problem is that the client receives a high volume of traffic but it doesn't convert. Then you would frame your objectives in those terms. This might involve proposing to identify underlying causes, refining paid and organic strategies to hone in on valuable traffic or perhaps make CRO changes to increase visit to lead metrics. This is just an example, you're the expert!

What we can recommend is that the objective should always be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound).

3. Proposed Solution

We've arrived at the core component of your proposed template. This is where you sell your solution or services. Try to avoid being overly salesy. Instead, explain clearly what you propose in a concise manner. Keep your sentences short and stay in the voice of the sector you are responding to. In other words, talk in their language and construct a logical argument as you walk them through your solution.

A logical argument is far more persuasive than a sales pitch trying to desperately point out how much better you are than the rest. Let your proposal do the work and let your client reach that conclusion themselves.

Feel free to include images or videos to illustrate this section. Nobody wants to wade through huge swathes of text. If you are using Nusii Proposal Software, you can just drag and drop your content wherever you need to. You can also import Vimeo or Youtube links as you go.

4. Scope

Not every proposal template includes a scope and we definitely don't believe in making proposals any longer than they need to be. However, it is often useful to include a quick Scope section, particularly if you feel the client is likely to be demanding. Your scope will help to keep expectations in check and the project to run smoothly.

Make it clear what is and isn't included. Detail any constraints that you have identified. These may be financial, time-based or task related. Or also outline any assumptions that you have made. Being on the same page as your client from the get go is essential and this section will avoid any misunderstandings.

5. Benefits

Here you will generate excitement and create desire for your solution. Briefly outline the benefits that it will bring just before you introduce pricing. This means the client has a true grasp of where you will be by the time you're finished with the project and what deliverables they will have in hand. Seeing the pricing options with that top of mind may make your entire proposal more attractive.

Be sure to make this match up with your stated objectives. The last thing you want is to state benefits which are unrelated to what you want to achieve. Throughout your proposal template you should aim for coherence. That's why we recommend selecting the same font and color scheme throughout. With Nusii you can set and forget this and it will auto populate future proposal templates with no extra work on your part.

6. Pricing

Typically the scariest part of the proposal for the client and the hardest to define for the agency. What to do about pricing? Well, we've studied our fair share of proposals and we are firm believers in optional pricing. We actually think this is the secret to winning more proposals.

What do we mean by optional pricing? We're talking about offering a client 2 or 3 choices instead of a single price for your services. Typically these will be priced low, medium and high and will include different levels of service or deliverables. You'll be familiar with this from apps and tools that offer tiered level subscriptions. They do that to allow you to pick the best fit for your budget and needs. The same holds true for proposals.

Optional pricing dramatically increases your chance of success by giving agency to your client and putting the power back in their hands. Don't tell them what to do by forcing a solution on them and bragging that you are the best. Be professional and knowledgeable, show how you add value and now that they want to work with you offer them a choice of ways to do that. You'll find your conversion rate increases! Oh, and if you use Nusii, we can prove that to you because we track conversion rates ;)

7. Timeline and CTA

Ok, so we have our pricing and we're done. Wrong! We recommend you don't finish on pricing. What we think is best is to give an indication of timelines. For example you can detail that it takes 6 weeks from sign off to deliver the first part of your proposal. This creates a sense of urgency to sign the proposal in order to move forward.

And how to move forward? The absolute best way is to empower the client to make a decision right there and then. Don't make them print the proposal. Definitely don't make them scan it! Instead, embrace digital signatures and let the client take action as soon as they make their decision. Clients absolutely love to e-sign so it's a no brainer really. It's why we built it into Nusii, the professional proposal software for agencies & consultants.

Why you should send your proposals online?

Software for this, software for that. We get it, there's an app for everything these days and you only want to use essential ones. Here at Nusii we couldn't agree more and we think ours falls into the "can't do without" category. Actually, our clients from all over the world think the same but we're not here to blow our own trumpet! We're here to show you why a dedicated online proposal software can give you not only beautiful templates but a whole lot of time-saving, client-winning features. Let's break it down:

1. Save time

If you run an agency or are a busy freelancer, your time is precious. The big corporations might have HR, Legal & Admin teams but when you don't have whole departments for administration, you end up doing a lot of tasks that aren't really your skill set.

Enter, Nusii. As you know we have some handy templates to accelerate the proposal creation process. That's where most people start but you can also create your own and then use it again and again. In fact, you can have as many templates as you want. Once you know which one you'll pick, we have intuitive drag and drop features in our proposal builder and reusable content meaning you don't need to start from scratch each time you want to send a proposal.

But that's not all. Not only is your proposal writing faster, you also get them accepted and signed faster. Nusii's digital signatures allow clients to view, accept and sign their proposal all in the same place. Cut out the back and forth and get your proposals signed off in less than half the time.

2. Look professional

When a client receives proposals from different agencies, the first thing they see is the look and feel. Some proposals will look awkward, some will be off-brand and others might even have layout or margin issues. Not yours! Our proposal templates make sure that they work straight out of the box and look beautiful.

We know that branding is everything for agencies and, even more so, if you are actually selling branding services! That's why we allow full customization of your proposals and make it really easy for you to upload your own logos, fonts and switch up the colours to those exact HEX codes you already made your own. The result is a polished proposal fit for any executive's inbox.

3. Understand what works

So you used our templates to send out a bunch of proposals and then you sent some more. What next? Well, ordinarily you would sit and wait. Cross your fingers (and toes!). Hope for the best. It's making us nervous just thinking about those times we used to do that.

Nusii is going to save you from all that. How? Well, we let you track your proposal live. Yup. You can actually see when someone receives it and when they open it. Of course you'll also get notified when they sign. No more nervous waiting, just keep your eye out for that notification bell.

4. Close more deals

Your client roster doesn't grow without winning proposals. That's just a fact. And it's our one and only mission to help you win those proposals more often than you used to (and more often than your competitors do). We're not just a proposal template library, we're the feature-packed proposal tool you'll rely on to bring in new business.