Write for Business - Blog

When you revise and edit a sales proposal, you can't check everything at once. Instead, look at your work one trait at a time.

• Start with your ideas. Make sure - first and foremost - that your proposal is accurate, with triple-checked figures and details. Check that you provided the information your reader most needs.
• Next, check your organization. Does the information follow a logical order and use an approved format for a proposal?
• Make sure your voice is confident and sincere, demonstrating a concern for the reader's needs and a desire to provide the best service or product.
• Then focus on each word, making sure it is as clear as possible. If necessary, define any technical terms that might raise questions in the reader's mind.
• Check your sentences for smoothness and flow, adding transitions where needed.
• Next, check your copy for errors, paying particular attention to punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and grammar.
• Last of all, review your design to make sure you have followed specifications for solicited or unsolicited proposals. Make sure that any graphics are neat, attractive, and properly placed.

Sales proposals generally follow a specific format, but that's no reason your proposal can't stand out as a model of clarity, attractiveness, and readability. The more professional your proposal looks, the more likely it is to be accepted.

You can learn more about sales proposals beginning on page 67 in Business and Sales Correspondence, one of the many helpful business-writing resources from UpWrite Press.

- Joyce Lee

Podcast

An initialism is similar to an acronym except that the initials are pronounced as individual letters.

FDA - Food and Drug Administration

ICC - Interstate Commerce Commission

SUV - Sport-Utility Vehicle

Note: Spell out an initialism the first time you use it, followed by its abbreviation in parentheses. Once the initialism has been identified in this way, you may use just the abbreviation.

(From Write for Business, page 215, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 27)

An acronym is a word formed from the first (or first few) letter of each word in a compound term. Periods are not used within acronyms.

LAN - Local Area Network

radar - radio detecting and ranging

RICO - Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Act)

scuba - self-contained underwater breathing apparatus

Note: Spell out an acronym the first time you use it, followed by its abbreviation in parentheses. Once the acronym has been identified in this way, you may use just the abbreviation.

(From Write for Business, page 215, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 27)

Elicit is a verb meaning "to bring out"; illicit is an adjective meaning "unlawful."

The manager's confidence in the team seems to elicit strong morale.

Illicit home use of shop equipment has been uncovered.

(From Write for Business, page 330, and Proofreader's Guide PDF, page 42)

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- The UpWrite Press staff