The activity of doing business today largely determines the success of a company. And literacy in the organization of all this work, in turn, in many respects affects not only the actual economic indicators, but also determines the face of the company, the image on the market. One of the most common methods of modern management to promote their goods and services is the initiative in attracting partners for the implementation of certain commercial projects. In such a situation, you have to apply a method such as a commercial offer of cooperation.
Such a proposal, as a rule, is made orally or in writing, but when it comes not just to a statement of intent, but concerns a specific and very real project, such a proposal is carried out in writing. These two methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Of course, in verbal communication with the prospective partner, you can state more confidential information, be more open, and stipulate some informal aspects of the proposed cooperation or a specific project. But with such communication, part of the information is not objectively perceived, forgotten, simply not captured due to the peculiarities of verbal communication as such. In addition, this information cannot be restored, comprehended if something remains unexplained.
But a commercial offer of cooperation, made in writing, gives such an opportunity, because a potential partner has the opportunity to contact him over and over again to understand all the details of your offer. However, it should be remembered that the written version is already a document, even if it does not have any legal provisions, but it can affect the image of your company or company very significantly. Therefore, depending on how competently and professionally this document is drawn up, not only the fate of cooperation in this particular case depends, but also the image of the company as a participant in commercial activity.
When preparing a proposal, remember that every word in it makes sense and carries not only information that is relevant now, but also a share of responsibility that will appear later.
There are some rules for the preparation of such documents, which can be presented in the form of step-by-step instructions. It is important to understand that everything that will be offered to you now is not a template or pattern that you should follow. This is just some experience that had a positive outcome and some comments on this experience.
So, here are some thoughts on this.
Getting to the design of the document, treat it precisely as a document. Your commercial offer of cooperation should be printed on the letterhead containing all the details of the company, logo and contact information. Pay attention to the quality of paper, partners can already draw the appropriate conclusions on this basis. If you send an offer in the form of a booklet, then arrange the logos on each of its pages, which can also be done when sending the proposal by e-mail or fax.
Be sure to correctly and fully indicate the position of the person to whom you are addressing your proposal, if you do not know the exact name - specify. At the same time, there should not be any abbreviations (like "deputy, head, acting, and the like). Here I no longer emphasize the importance of correctly indicating the name and initials of an official, this is a matter of course. The appeal should be expressed correctly, but not familiarly (do not write “our dear CEO” - this is not the option).
At the very beginning of your appeal, indicate the subject of your interest, that is, the purpose for which you are addressing. If you already had an oral agreement, remind about this, this will help the potential partner to study your document more focused.
The most difficult part in the design of the proposal is the commercial part, in which you have to briefly and at the same time concisely and intelligibly state the essence of your idea or project. Here it is necessary to consider the following:
- if your interest lies in the field of technological cooperation, you should draw up a technical and commercial proposal, in which the main emphasis should be on technological interests;
- if you and your prospective partner will work in the service sector, then it is necessary to prepare a commercial offer of the service. I emphasize this in connection with what was said at the very beginning of the article - do not consider these recommendations as a template!
The offer itself should not take more than two pages. If you can’t contain all the necessary information, it’s quite appropriate to draw up the appropriate applications, which other specialists of your partner can then be familiarized with.
Your business proposal for cooperation must necessarily contain investment information, at least at the level of the calculated data, this will help the partner quickly navigate and make a decision on your proposal. It will also be appropriate to indicate the time parameters of the project here, also at the level of estimated accuracy.
If this is your first time applying with a commercial proposal to this company, be sure to include information about your own and existing experience in the implementation of such projects.
Well, in conclusion, you can recall the technical culture of the proposal and the method of delivery to your potential partner. This is not the case to trifle and try to save, in the end, such savings can lead to the loss of profitable cooperation.