What Goes Into Your Proposals?
On Friday, I posted a thread to the FreelanceSwitch forum. Here is the text of my initial question to the freelance community:
I’m working on an application of sorts to make the process creating/presenting proposals easier and more effective.
I’d appreciate it if anyone can share some info on how they create and present proposals. Here are a few questions:
1) What format do you use? (PDF sent as an attachment, web-based, print and present in person, etc.)
2) What do your proposals consist of?
3) In terms of winning projects, any ideas on what works, what doesn’t?
I’d really appreciate any and all feedback – either as a reply on FreelanceSwitch or in the comments of this blog post. It would also be great to see sample proposals from anyone willing to share.
Don’t worry, I’ll fill you in soon regarding this “application of sorts” 
Hey Brian,
1) I usually send a PDF as an attachment because I am in school and usually unable to meet face-to-face with clients. I do the best I can to meet w/ them f2f, but the web-based format sounds interesting and I may try and adopt that for a few gigs I have. But yes – PDF is the way I go about it now.
2) Mine consist of a PDF of a PSD layout I am proposing for the company, an estimated timeline, a clear set of deliverables to the client (cross-browser consistency, psds for their own use, etc…), and a short Thank-You for their time.
3) In terms of winning projects, I usually just out-do the competition. Maybe it’s because I’m target smaller companies or because in college, I really don’t have much competition. Regardless, I get my fair share of phone calls for work, but usually, I hear from someone “xy’s company’s website is horrible”. I look at it, learn a little bit about the company, do a mock-up, send it to their Marketing department, and explain HOW and WHY a better website would increase not only their brand, but their overall presence in the market.
Hope that helps!
Best,
Connor
Thanks Conner.
I’ve been creating PDFs and sending as email attachments as well. Mine contain mostly the same as you (deliverables list, time estimate, price). However, we differ on one thing…
I don’t do mockups or “proposed layouts”. This gets into the area of spec work, which I don’t do. We discuss how the site might be laid out, the features, navigation, etc. But I don’t get to work on creating any of these things until the project is underway (and I have my deposit). It’s a matter of time investment.