How can you determine the best structure for writing a proposal? AND Explain how to choose an organizational strategy when writing a proposal.

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Business Communication Today

Fourteenth Edition

Chapter 15

Writing and Completing Reports and Proposals

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Learning Objectives (1 of 2)

15.1 Explain how to adapt to your audiences when writing reports and proposals.

15.2 Name five characteristics of effective report content, and list the topics commonly covered in the introduction, body, and close of formal reports.

15.3 List six strategies to strengthen a proposal argument, and identify the topics commonly covered in the introduction, body, and close of proposals.

Learning Objectives (2 of 2)

15.4 Summarize the four tasks involved in completing business reports and proposals.

15.5 Identify the elements to include in a request for proposals (RFP).

Writing Reports and Proposals: Adapting to Your Audience

LO 15.1 Explain how to adapt to your audiences when writing reports and proposals.

The communicators at WPP (profiled in the chapter-opening Communication Close-Up) know that reports and proposals are most effective when they are adapted to the needs and interests of their intended audiences. To ensure your own success with reports, be sensitive to audience needs, build strong relationships with your audience, and control your style and tone.

Being Sensitive to Your Audience’s Needs

The “You” Attitude

Maintaining Etiquette

Emphasizing the Positive

Using Bias-Free Language

Chapter 5 discusses four aspects of audience sensitivity, and all four apply to reports and proposals: adopting the “you” attitude, maintaining a strong sense of etiquette, emphasizing the positive, and using bias-free language. Reports and proposals that are highly technical, complex, or lengthy can put heavy demands on readers, so the “you” attitude takes on special importance with these messages.

In addition, various audience members can have widely different information needs. For instance, if you’re reporting on the results of a customer satisfaction survey, the service manager might want every detail, whereas the president might want only a top-level summary. With previews, summaries, appendixes, and other elements, you can meet the needs of a diverse audience—provided that you plan for these elements in advance.

Today’s readers often lack the time or the inclination to plow through long reports page by page or screen by screen. They typically want to browse quickly, find a section of interest, dive in for details, browse for another section, and so on. If you want readers to understand and accept your message, help them navigate your document by using headings and links, smooth transitions, and previews and reviews.

Guiding Your Readers

Headings

Transitions

Preview Sections

Review Sections

Headings improve a document’s readability and are especially useful for identifying the framework of a report. They also visually indicate shifts from one idea to the next and, when used in a combination of levels, help readers see the relationship between subordinate and main ideas. In addition, busy readers can quickly understand the gist of a document simply by scanning the headings. In online reports, headings serve all these functions, plus they can be used to provide links to other sections and other websites.

Transitions help readers move from one section of a report to the next and from key point to key point within sections. Transitions can be words, sentences, or complete paragraphs.

Preview sections introduce important topics by helping readers get ready for new information; they are particularly helpful when the information is complex, unexpected, or unfamiliar. Think of a preview as an opportunity for readers to arrange their mental file folders before you start giving them information to put in those folders. Review sections come after a body of material and summarize the information just covered. They help readers absorb details while keeping track of the big picture. Long reports and those dealing with complex subjects can often benefit from multiple review sections, one at the end of every major subject block, as well as a more comprehensive review at the very end of a document.

Building Strong Relationships With Your Audience

Style

Language

Content

Language

Building relationships with your readers starts with planning how to adapt your style and language to meet their needs and expectations. Bear in mind that some reports— particularly those that can be transmitted online—can take on lives of their own, reaching a wider audience than you ever imagined and being read years after you write them. Consequently, choose your content and language with care. Also, because many companies have specific guidelines for communicating with public audiences, make sure you’re aware of these preferences before you start writing.

As discussed in Chapter 5, establishing your credibility is vital to successful communication. To gain your audience’s trust, research all sides of your topic and document your findings with credible sources. Also, be aware that setting audience expectations too high can lead to problems with your credibility if you can’t deliver everything people expect you to, so take particular care with the introductory sections of important reports.

Controlling Your Style and Tone

Informal Tone	Formal Tone
Known Audience	Complex and Longer Reports
Message Meets With Audience’s Approval	Message Sent to Outsiders
Use First and Third Persons Style	Use Objective Journalism Style

If you know your readers reasonably well and your report is likely to meet with their approval, you can adopt a fairly informal tone—provided that doing so is acceptable in the situation and in your company’s culture. To make your tone less formal, refer to readers as you and refer to yourself as I (or we, if there are multiple report authors).

A more formal tone is usually appropriate for longer reports, especially those that deal with controversial or complex information. You’ll also want to use a more formal tone when your report will be sent to other parts of the organization or to outsiders, such as customers, suppliers, or members of the community (see Figure 15.1).

If the situation calls for a more formal tone, use the impersonal journalism style, eliminating all references to you and I (including we, us, and our). When you use an impersonal style, you impose a controlled distance between you and your readers. Your tone is not only objective but also businesslike and unemotional. Be careful to avoid jokes, and minimize the use of similes, metaphors, and overly colorful language.

However, when crafting a more formal tone, take care not to go overboard, or you’ll end up sounding stiff or dull. In addition, don’t inadvertently slip into the passive voice. You can avoid this potential weakness by making the report content itself the actor in a sentence.

Drafting Report Content

LO 15.2 Name five characteristics of effective report content, and list the topics commonly covered in the introduction, body, and close of formal reports.

With a clear picture of how you need to adapt to your audience, you’re ready to begin composing your first draft. Before you put those first words down on paper, though, review your outline one last time. Verify that the organization you’ve chosen makes sense, given everything you’ve learned about your topic so far. Also, review the wording of the headings and subheadings to make sure they establish the right tone. For a hard-hitting, direct tone, use informative phrasing (“Quality Problems Result in Nearly 500 Customer Defections Every Year”). For an objective, indirect tone, use descriptive phrasing (“Effects of Product Quality on Customer Retention”).

Report Structure

Three Main Sections

The Introduction

The Body

The Close

Writing lengthy reports and proposals can be a huge task, so be sure to take advantage of technological tools to help throughout the process. In addition to features such as automatic table of contents and index generators, look for opportunities to use linked and embedded documents to incorporate graphics, spreadsheets, databases, and other elements produced in other software programs. For instance, in Microsoft Office you can choose to either link to another file (which ensures that changes in that file are reflected in your file) or embed another file (which doesn’t include the automatic updating feature).

Like other written business communications, reports and proposals have three main sections: an introduction (or opening), a body, and a close. The content and length of each section vary with the type and purpose of the document, the document’s organizational structure, the length and depth of the material, the document’s degree of formality, and your relationship with your audience.

The Introduction

Helps Reader Understand the Context of the Report

Introduces the Subject Matter and Why It Is Important

Previews the Main Idea

Establishes the Tone and Writer’s Relationship to the Audience

At a minimum, an effective introduction accomplishes these four tasks:

●● It helps the reader understand the context of the report by tying it to a problem or an assignment

●● It introduces the subject matter and indicates why it is important

●● It previews the main idea (if you’re using the direct approach)

●● It establishes the tone and the writer’s relationship with the audience

The Body

Presents

Analyzes

Interprets

Supports

The body presents, analyzes, and interprets the information gathered during your investigation and supports your recommendations or conclusions. The length and content of the body can vary widely based on the subject matter.

The Close

Summarizes Key Points

Emphasizes Benefits

Brings All Action Items Together

The close has three important functions:

●● It summarizes your key points

●● It emphasizes the benefits to the reader if the document suggests a change or some other course of action

●● It brings all the action items together in one place

The final section of a report or proposal can leave a lasting impression, so use the close to make sure your report says what you intended. In fact, readers who are in a hurry might skip the body of the report and read only the summary, so make sure it carries a strong, clear message.

Effective Report Content

Accurate

Complete

Balanced

Clear and Logical

Documented Properly

Your credibility and prospects for the future are on the line with every business report you write, so make sure your content is:

●● Accurate. Information presented in a report must be factually correct. When writing reports, be sure to double-check your facts and references in addition to checking for typos. If an audience ever gets the inkling that your information is shaky, they’ll start to view all your work with a skeptical eye.

●● Complete. To help audiences make informed decisions, include all the information necessary for readers to understand the situation, problem, or proposal. Support all key assertions using an appropriate combination of illustrations, explanations, and facts. Tell your readers what they need to know—no more, no less—and present the information in a way that is geared toward their needs. Mobile reporting apps can help you integrate text with “live” data that let readers explore if they need additional insights.

●● Balanced. It’s important to present all sides of the issue fairly and equitably and to include all the essential information, even if some of it doesn’t support your line of reasoning. Omitting relevant information or facts can bias your report.

●● Clear and logical. Save your readers time by making sure your sentences are uncluttered, contain well-chosen words, and proceed logically. To help your readers move from one point to the next, make your transitions clear and logical. For a successful report, identify the ideas that belong together and organize them in a way that’s easy to understand.

●● Documented properly. If you use primary and secondary sources for your report or proposal, be sure to properly document and give credit to your sources, as Chapter 13 explains.

Drafting Proposal Content

LO 15.3 List six strategies to strengthen a proposal argument, and identify the topics commonly covered in the introduction, body, and close of proposals.

If you’re writing an unsolicited proposal, you have some latitude in the scope and organization of content. However, the scope and organization of a solicited proposal are usually governed by the request for proposals. Most RFPs spell out precisely what you should cover and in what order. This uniformity lets the recipient evaluate competing proposals in a systematic way.

Writing Successful Proposals

Demonstrate Your Knowledge

Provide Concrete Information and Examples

Research the Competition

Prove That Proposal is Workable

Adopt the “You” Attitude

Package Proposal Attractively

The general purpose of any proposal is to persuade readers to do something, such as purchase goods or services, fund a project, or implement a program. Thus your writing approach for a proposal is similar to that used for persuasive sales messages (see Chapter 12).

Here are some additional strategies to strengthen your persuasive argument:

●● Demonstrate your knowledge. Everything you write should show the reader that you have the knowledge and experience to solve the problem or address the opportunity outlined in your proposal.

●● Provide concrete information and examples. Avoid vague, unsupported generalizations such as “We are losing money on this program.” Instead, provide quantifiable details such as the amount of money being lost, how, why, and so on. Explain how much money your proposed solution will save. Spell out your plan and give details on how the job will be done.

●● Research the competition. Find out what alternatives your audience might choose over your proposal so that you can emphasize why your solution is the optimum choice. Potential customers sometimes face a “buy or build” decision, in which they must choose between buying a solution from an external party and building it themselves. In these cases you are effectively competing against your target customers.

●● Prove that your proposal is workable. Your proposal must be appropriate and feasible for your audience. It should be consistent with your audience’s capabilities. For instance, your proposal would be pointless if it recommended a plan of action that requires three times the number of available employees or twice the available budget.

●● Adopt the “you” attitude. Relate your product, service, or personnel to the reader’s exact needs, either as stated in the RFP for a solicited proposal or as discovered through your own investigation for an unsolicited proposal.

●● Package your proposal attractively. Make sure your proposal is letter perfect, inviting, and readable. Readers will prejudge the quality of your products or services by the proposal you submit. Errors, omissions, and inconsistencies will work against you—and may even cost you important career and business opportunities.

Three Main Sections of a Proposal

Introduction

Body

Proposals in various industries often have their own special challenges as well. For instance, management consultants have to convince every potential client that they have the skills and knowledge to solve the client’s problem—without giving away the answer for free in the proposal. In other industries, such as transportation services, bidders may be asked to compute hundreds or thousands of individual pricing scenarios. Hands-on experience goes a long way when you’re deciding what to include or exclude; whenever possible, get advice from a senior colleague who’s been through it before.

Consider using proposal-writing software if you and your company need to submit proposals as a routine part of doing business. These programs can automatically personalize proposals, ensure proper structure (making sure you don’t forget any sections, for instance), organize storage of all your boilerplate text, integrate contact information from sales databases, scan RFPs to identify questions (and even assign them to content experts), and fill in preliminary answers to common questions from a centralized knowledge base.

As with reports, approach proposals by identifying the pieces to include in the introduction, body, and close.

Introduction to a Proposal

Follow Instructions for a Solicited Proposal

Present and Summarize the Problem You Want to Solve

Propose Solution

Refer to RFP or What Led You to Submit Proposal

For solicited proposals, always follow the instructions in the RFP, but here are some guidelines for unsolicited proposals. The introduction presents and summarizes the problem you want to solve or the opportunity you want to pursue, along with your proposed solution. It orients readers to the remainder of the report. If your proposal is solicited, its introduction should refer to the RFP so that readers know which RFP you’re responding to. If your proposal is unsolicited, the introduction should mention any factors that led you to submit your proposal, such as prior conversations with members of the recipient organization’s staff.

The Body of a Proposal (1 of 2)

Gives Details on the Proposed Solution

Specifies Anticipated Results

Promotes Offering in a Persuasive Manner

Maintains Objective Tone

Avoids Overselling

The proposal’s body gives complete details on the proposed solution and specifies the anticipated results. Because a proposal is by definition a persuasive message, your audience expects you to promote your offering in a confident, professional manner. Even when you’re expressing an idea you believe in passionately, be sure to maintain an objective tone so that you don’t risk overselling your message.

The Body of a Proposal (2 of 2)

Summarizes Key Points

Emphasizes Benefits

Summarizes Merits of Your Approach

Restates Why You Should Perform Job

Asks for a Decision from Readers

Last Chance to Persuade Reader to Accept Proposal

The close of a proposal generally summarizes the key points, emphasizes the benefits readers will realize from your solution, summarizes the merits of your approach, restates why you and your firm are the ones to perform the service or provide the products in question, and asks for a decision from readers. The close is your last opportunity to persuade readers to accept your proposal. In both formal and informal proposals, make this section relatively brief, assertive (but not brash or abrupt), and confident.

See Table 15.1 for a summary of the content to include in reports and proposals. You can use this table as a handy reference whenever you need to write a report in school or on the job.

Completing Reports and Proposals

LO 15.4 Summarize the four tasks involved in completing business reports and proposals.

As with shorter messages, when you have finished your first draft, you need to perform four tasks to complete your document: revise, produce, proofread, and distribute.

Revising Reports and Proposals

Evaluate Organization, Style, and Tone

Ensure Content is Clear, Logical, and Reader-Oriented

Improve Readability

Review Online Content Carefully

The revision process is essentially the same for reports as for other business messages, although it may take considerably longer, depending on the length and complexity of your documents. Evaluate your organization, style, and tone, making sure your content is clear, logical, and reader oriented. Then work to improve the report’s readability by varying sentence length, keeping paragraphs short, using lists and bullets, and adding headings and subheadings. Remember that even minor mistakes can affect your credibility.

Tight, efficient writing that is easy to skim is always a plus, but it’s especially important for impatient online audiences. Review online content carefully; strip out all information that doesn’t meet audience needs and condense everything else as much as possible. Audiences will gladly return to sites that deliver quality information quickly—and they’ll avoid sites that don’t.

After assembling your report or proposal in its final form, review it thoroughly one last time, looking for inconsistencies, errors, and missing components. Don’t forget to proof your visuals thoroughly and make sure they are positioned correctly. For online reports, make sure all links work as expected and all necessary files are active and available.

If you need specific tips on proofreading documents, look back at Chapter 6.

Producing Formal Reports and Proposals

Table 15.2 Production Elements to Consider for Formal Reports and Proposals

Prefatory Elements	Supplementary Elements
Cover	Appendixes
Title Page	Bibliography
Letter of Transmittal	Indexes
Table of Contents	Résumés or CVs of Key Players
Synopsis or Executive Summary	Blank

The number and variety of parts you include in a report depend on the type of report, audience requirements, organizational expectations, and report length.

One of the most important elements to consider is an introductory feature that helps time-pressed readers get a sense of what’s in the document or even get all the key points without reading the document. A synopsis—sometimes called an abstract—is a brief overview (one page or less) of a report’s most important points. The phrasing of a synopsis can be informative (presenting the main points in the order in which they appear in the text) if you’re using the direct approach or descriptive (simply describing what the report is about, without “giving away the ending”) if you’re using the indirect approach. As an alternative to a synopsis or an abstract, a longer report may include an executive summary—a fully developed “mini” version of the report, for readers who lack the time or motivation to read the entire document (Figure 15.2 see slide 24).

Following the body of the report, possible supplemental parts (those coming after the main text of the report or proposal) include one or more appendixes, a bibliography, and an index. In general, place here supporting materials that could be of interest to some or all of your readers but that aren’t crucial to the main thrust of your message. For an illustration of how the various parts fit together in a report, see “Report Writer’s Notebook: Analyzing a Formal Report,” starting on page 431.

In contrast to formal reports, synopses and executive summaries are less common in proposals. In an unsolicited proposal, the letter of transmittal should catch the reader’s interest. In a solicited proposal, the introduction provides an adequate preview of the contents.

Figure 15.2 Executive Summary

Distributing Reports and Proposals

Physical	Digital	Online
Professional Courier	PDF Format for General Use	Web-based CMS
In-Person Delivery	Specialized Format By Request	Shared Workspace

For physical distribution of important printed reports or proposals, consider spending the extra money for a professional courier or package delivery service. Doing so can help you stand out in a crowd, and it lets you verify receipt. Alternatively, if you’ve prepared the document for a single person or small group in your office or the local area, delivering it in person will give you the chance to personally “introduce” the report and remind readers why they’re receiving it.

For digital distribution, unless your audience specifically requests a word processor file, provide documents as portable document format (PDF) files. Using Adobe Acrobat or similar products, you can quickly convert reports and proposals to PDF files that are easy to share digitally. PDFs are generally considered safer than word processor files, but keep in mind that they can also be used to transmit computer viruses.

If your company or client expects you to distribute your reports via a web-based content management system, a shared workspace, or some other online location, double-check that you’ve uploaded the correct file(s) to the correct location. Verify the on-screen display of your reports after you’ve posted them, making sure graphics, charts, links, and other elements are in place and operational.

For a reminder of the tasks involved in producing formal reports and proposals, see “Checklist: Producing Formal Reports and Proposals.”

Writing Requests for Proposals

LO 15.5 Identify the elements to include in a request for proposals (RFP).

At some point in your career, you might be in a position to solicit proposals, and learning how to request effective proposals will simplify the process considerably. When writing an RFP, remember that it is more than just a request; it’s an informational report that provides potential bidders with the information they need in order to craft effective proposals. Writing an RFP demands careful consideration because it starts a process that leads to a proposal, a contract, and eventually the delivery of a product or the performance of a service. In other words, mistakes at the RFP stage can ripple throughout the process and create costly headaches for everyone involved.

Writing RFPs

Company Background

Project Description

Requirements

Decision Criteria

Proposal Requirements

Submission and Contact Information

An RFP’s specific content will vary widely from industry to industry, but all RFPs should include some combination of the following elements:

●● Company background. Give potential bidders some background information on your organization, your business priorities, and other information they might need in order to respond in an informed manner.

●● Project description. Put your requirements in context; are you seeking bids for routine supplies or services, or do you need a major computer system?

●● Requirements. The requirements section should spell out everything you expect from potential vendors; don’t leave anything to unstated assumptions. Will potential vendors provide key equipment or will you? Will you expect vendors to work under confidentiality restrictions, such as a nondisclosure agreement? Who will pay if costs run higher than expected? Will you require ongoing service or support? Providing this information can be a lot of work, but again, overlooking anything at this point is likely to create considerable problems once the project gets rolling.

●● Decision criteria. Let bidders know how you’ll be making the decision. Is quality more important than cost? Will you consider only certain types of vendors or only those that use certain processes or technologies? Will you entertain bids from companies that have never worked in your particular industry? The answers to such questions not only help bidders determine whether they’re right for your project but also help them craft proposals that meet your needs.

●● Proposal requirements. Explain exactly what you expect to see in the proposal itself— which sections, what media, how many copies, and so on.

●● Submission and contact information. A well-written RFP answers most potential questions, and it also tells people when, where, and how to respond. In addition, effective RFPs always give bidders the name of a contact within the organization who can answer detailed questions.

Managing RFPs

Identify Decision Criteria

Allow Sufficient Response Time

Establish an Online Tracking System

A smart approach to managing RFPs can minimize the work involved for everyone and maximize the effectiveness of the RFP. First, identify your decision criteria and then brainstorm the information you need to measure against those criteria. Don’t ask bidders to submit information about every aspect of their operations if such details aren’t relevant to your decision. Making such unreasonable demands is unfair to bidders, will unnecessarily complicate your review process, and will discourage some potentially attractive bidders from responding.

Second, to get quality responses that match your unique business needs, give bidders plenty of time to respond. Successful companies are usually busy responding to other RFPs and working on other projects; you can’t expect them to drop everything to focus

solely on your RFP.

Third, if your company generates numerous RFPs, tracking proposals can become a full-time job. Consider establishing an online system for tracking responses automatically.