Page 266 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

Paramount’s Proposal Letter to the ABC Company 257

Proposal to ABC Company page - 4
February 29, 2XXX

concrete plan for implementing that strategy to improve your position within the
marketplace and solidify your position within Consolidated Industries.

Our Proposed Methodology
We have designed our methodology as we have for three important reasons. First,
because forecasted demand will soon outstrip capacity and because building new
capacity will require long lead times, you need a study that produces a decision
quickly. Therefore, we will involve ABC’s management to expedite the retrieval,
development, and analysis of relevant information, thus reducing the time for
analysis. We will also work with your management team to prepare the final report.
This document will not only be a recommended expansion plan but also an actual
proposal to Consolidated that justifies the cost of the expansion by articulating the
compelling reasons to move forward with urgency.

Second, because of the many and varied proposed expansion alternatives, you
need well-defined and agreed-upon criteria for evaluating them. Therefore, we will
conduct strategy sessions with all relevant ABC managers to gain consensus on
and establish the proper quantitative and qualitative criteria. Quantitative criteria
worth considering include ROI; investment incentives; taxes; and costs related to
labor, service levels, distribution, construction, and utilities. Qualitative criteria
could include labor supply, union climate, workforce characteristics, productivity,
environmental permitting and regulations, vocational training capabilities,
manufacturing support services, risk, controllability, the ability to develop and
promote employees, and the flexibility to react to unanticipated changes.

Finally, because this will be a cross-functional study, ABC needs a senior, multifaceted
consulting team with a broad range of business capabilities, including marketing,
manufacturing strategy, facilities planning, logistics, financial analysis, and human
resources. These capabilities are necessary to ensure that all relevant options are
surfaced and evaluated in a practical manner, that the most desirable options and
their attributes are clearly identified and defined, and that ABC’s management not
only has the ability to make the right decision but that Consolidated is convinced of
its appropriateness.

Therefore, we will form a joint ABC/Paramount study team with ABC’s managers
playing an integral role, thereby providing the additional benefit of training ABC’s
management to analyze and plan for additional capacity in the future.