|
|
Tools of the Trade
A Monthly Guide to Communicating Effectively at Work |
|
Greetings!
Welcome to the December edition of Write It Well's newsletter. Each month we offer you our time-tested tools and strategies that make it easier to write at work. Feel free to forward this message to friends and coworkers who are also interested in learning to write more effectively.
|
How to Write Engaging Proposals
and Clear Requests for Proposals (RFPs)
| It's often hard to figure out what details to include in a proposal, how to organize your information, how to keep the document concise, and how to bring together several people's contributions into one well-integrated whole. It's much easier to write a great proposal if the instructions are clear.
The document you can download here outlines a process for drafting crystal-clear instructions for the people who will write proposals for your consideration. These point-by-point instructions are also known as requests for proposals (RFPs).
Both RFPs and proposals present information about one organization for another organization's members to understand. Whether you're writing an RFP, responding to an RFP, or making your own bid to win a new client, follow our five tips to write a clear, winning document:
1. Figure out what questions you need your proposal to answer and develop it with those questions firmly in mind, right from the beginning. Don't start by copying and pasting chunks of prepared text into your document.
2. If a group of your colleagues are "writing by committee," try to assign a document owner. The owner should resist any temptation to paste all of the committee's information into the document. Instead, she or he should collect input from everyone and reconcile it all, in a seamless style, for the master document. No matter how many people contribute to your proposal, it should project a unified voice. It's important to use the proposal to present a coherent impression of your organization.
3. Keep it short. No one wants to read a very long document. There's no rule about these documents' length, but put yourself in the reader's shoes and ask yourself how many pages you'd be willing to read carefully.
4. Use active, specific, descriptive language and examples. Don't be vague. Instead of informing your prospective client that you have "lots of clients," tell them that you "improved the business writing skills at eight high-tech companies -- including Check Point, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, and National Semiconductor."
5. Use short paragraphs, short sentences, and bullet points. Long, dense paragraphs are visually unappealing.
Long, dense, poorly organized, or confusing RFPs will probably elicit badly written proposals. Long, dense, poorly organized, or confusing proposals don't usually win a bidding contest. If you're sending out an RFP in 2011, follow the process in these guidelines to write a set of instructions that outline the kind of crisp, targeted proposals you'll want your bidders to send you.
|
 Write It Well's Books, Programs,and Editing Services
 Write It Well can help with all your writing needs! Looking for a self-paced training manual to improve individual writing skills, or materials for an in-house trainer? Click here.Looking for an on-site workshop, customized webinar, or e-learning module? Click here.Want a writer or editor to help you create or finish any kind of document? Could you use help cleaning up the language or design for a document that you're almost ready to deliver? Or could you use a style guide or set of exemplary documents to make sure your team presents a coherent, professional image of your organization? Just click here.
What's New at Write It Well
Want to stock up on training materials between now and the end of the year? Here's our offer: - Buy any facilitator kit and receive five free copies of the corresponding workbook
- Buy 50 copies of any title and receive 10 free copies (bulk discounts apply)
- Buy 100 copies of any title and receive 20 free copies (bulk discounts apply)
E-mail us to place an order! Welcome to our new clients Gordon Food Service and Republic Service! Click here to master comma usage once and for all and see what Write It Well can do with asynchronous online learning. We develop e-learning modules that are designed to improve soft skills (e.g., communications) as well as technical skills (e.g., lab procedures). We can build SCORM-compliant modules quickly and efficiently -- customized with your content, fonts, and logo. Our new book is coming! In February 2011, we'll release a fully updated version of our sold-out book Grammar for Grownups. The new self-paced training manual is titled Essential Grammar: A Write It Well Guide. The book will be available bound or as a downloadable PDF. A facilitator kit will also be available for trainers.
The updated facilitator kit for our workbook Professional Writing Skills is available. For only $499, which includes shipping, you'll receive the following:
- 20 copies of the workbook
- A leader's guide with suggestions for preparing an excellent workshop and a script for leading it
- A set of PowerPoint slides that you can customize with logos and writing samples from your organization
Keep reading our newsletter! In January we'll share our tips and tools for writing eye-catching headings and headlines, and in February we'll show you how to write effective press releases.
Just a Bit about Us
Write It Well is certified as a woman-owned business (WBE) and a California State-Certified supplier (57828). Since 1980, we have helped people in the workplace communicate clearly and work together effectively.
We develop and deliver online and on-site programs, publish a line of popular business-writing texts and facilitator kits, and provide writing and editing services for organizations large and small. We offer five programs: Marketing Writing, Writing Performance Reviews, Effective E-Mail, Business Writing, and Grammar Fundamentals. You can customize any of these job-relevant programs, and they get results.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Natasha Terk, President
Write It Well
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
