How to Make an Effective and Attractive Business Proposal for MSMEs – Are you currently looking for additional capital from potential investors, business partners, or are you looking for loan capital to develop your Entrepreneurial Friend’s business?
It’s a good idea not to just invite potential investors or Friends of Entrepreneur partners just by mouth. Instead, create a business proposal document.
A business proposal is a document that contains important information about a business, including the products or services offered, target market, market analysis, marketing plan, and financial plan.
Business proposals can be used for various purposes, such as looking for investors, business partners and even capital loans.
To create an effective and attractive business proposal, there are several things you need to pay attention to, namely:
Contents
1. Clear Goals
Before starting to create a business proposal, first determine the goals of Friends of Entrepreneurship. Do you want to find investors, business partners or capital loans?
With clear goals, Friends of Entrepreneurs can prepare business proposals that are more focused and relevant.
Quoting Paul A. Hills in his book How To Write A Business Plan (Pearson Education 2009), the purpose of a business proposal is to convince the reader that your Entrepreneurial Friend’s business idea has the potential to be successful.
A good business proposal must be able to answer questions such as what is your Entrepreneurial Friend’s business idea, how will your Entrepreneurial Friend run the business, who is the target market, who are your competitors/competitors in your Entrepreneurial Friend’s business sector, and how will your Entrepreneurial Friend generate profits.
For example, in preparing a coffee shop business proposal. Entrepreneurial Friends must be able to answer how the coffee shop business idea will be run.
Starting from the concept of the shop, whether a slow bar is suitable for opening in the yard, a coffee shop that only serves delivery (takeaway), to who the target market is.
Whether you are an office worker, a student or a student, this will determine the price of the product being sold.
Apart from that, you can also include how many coffee shops there are in locations around Sahabat Wirausaha. This will determine the unique selling point (USP) of Friends of Wirausaha’s business idea.
2. Understand Reader Needs
Make sure Entrepreneur Friends understand the needs of the intended readers of the business proposal. If Friends of Entrepreneurs submits a business proposal to investors, focus on the financial aspects and potential profits that investors can get.
If you submit a business proposal to a business partner, focus on the synergy aspects and cooperation opportunities that can be obtained by both parties.
3. Do Research
Do in-depth research about the industry that Entrepreneur Friends are involved in. This will help Entrepreneur Friends understand market conditions and competition in the industrial sector that Entrepreneurs are involved in.
This will make Friends of Entrepreneurs’ business proposals more accurate and convincing.
For example, for a coffee shop business proposal, Entrepreneur Friends can do research on several coffee shops regarding where the coffee supply comes from, the type of coffee used and the menu preparation that is popular with consumers. Such as palm sugar milk coffee and accompanying menus.
In conducting research, Entrepreneurial Friends can also come to coffee exhibitions to find out about current developments in the coffee industry so that they get a comprehensive understanding.
4. Use clear and concise language
It’s a good idea to use clear and concise language when preparing a business proposal. As much as possible, avoid using jargon and unfamiliar technical terms.
Using clear and concise language also requires understanding the enhanced spelling rules (EYD) in the Big Indonesian Dictionary (KBBI).
The language used is formal but still has a light style. Instead of using flowery words, use effective sentences from the SPOK (Subject-Predicate-Object-Description) structure.
Flowery sentences or metaphors are not needed because this will seem unsuccinct and can prevent Entrepreneurial Friends from using unfamiliar terms. Avoid sounding cool, but use more everyday language in a formal format.
5. Include Data and Statistics
Includes relevant data and statistics to support the arguments that Friends of Entrepreneurs wrote. Data and statistics will make business proposals more convincing.
Data and statistics can be used to support Friends of Entrepreneurs’ arguments in business proposals. The following are some examples of data and statistics that can be used: target market demographic data, market trends, and financial data of competing companies.
For a coffee shop business proposal, for example, Sahabat Entrepreneur can include relevant statistical data such as the amount of Indonesian coffee consumption from the most recent year. So it will also show how much potential can still be developed from the proposed business idea.
6. Use an attractive design
Use an attractive design to make your business proposal stand out. However, don’t let the design used distract the reader’s focus.
Use a design with matching colors, use fonts that match your Entrepreneurial Business image, and minimize the use of non-essential design accents. So that readers will focus on the ideas and concepts stated in the proposal. Make sure the design highlights the contents of the proposal.
One example is a coffee business proposal like the one below. In this design, Entrepreneurial Friends can see that the design color selection is adjusted to the color of the coffee beans themselves.
By using photos of coffee beans and cups as ornaments that add an attractive visual appearance, this business proposal will be more attractive.
7. Edit and Revise
Before submitting a business proposal, re-read it from start to finish to edit if you feel there is still an incorrect arrangement. Even as small as a typo.
If necessary, ask for opinions from other parties who according to Friends of Entrepreneurship have the capability to review the business proposal that Friends of Entrepreneurship have prepared.
Apart from paying attention to technical aspects, Entrepreneur Friends also need to pay attention to non-technical aspects in making attractive business proposals. Here are some additional tips that Entrepreneurial Friends can do:
Use an interesting story to explain your Entrepreneurial Friends business idea
Use persuasive language to convince readers
Use images and illustrations to make your Entrepreneurial Friends business proposal more attractive.
8. Understand the contents of the business proposal
To create an attractive business proposal, there are several parts that Entrepreneurial Friends must understand. The first section is the executive summary.
This section contains a brief summary of the business proposal. The executive summary should attract attention and make them want to read more about the business proposal that Friends of Entrepreneurs has prepared.
Next is a business explanation. In this section, Entrepreneurial Friends can explain the business that Entrepreneurial Friends runs in general. This includes the product or service offered, target market and marketing strategy.
The next section is market analysis. In this section, Entrepreneurial Friends must analyze the market in the business sector that Entrepreneurial Friends runs. This section must explain the scale, trends and competition that occur in the market.
The part that needs to be included in the contents of a business proposal is a marketing plan. In this section, Entrepreneurial Friends must detail the marketing projections for the products or services that Entrepreneurial Friends offers.
This includes explaining the marketing strategy that will be used to reach the target market that Friends of Entrepreneurship is aiming for.
Finally, we need to talk about the money plan. This part is really important because it tells us how much money we think we will make, how much we will spend, and how much cash we will have moving in and out. It’s like making a money map for Friends of Entrepreneurship’s business to follow.
Let’s look at an example of asking other businesses and people who might want to invest to work with us.
The example we’re talking about is a really good one because it looks nice, it’s easy to read and understand, and it’s not too long.
What’s in it? First, it tells you a little bit about the company or business group, like what kind of work they do and who is working there. It also talks about what they have done since they started. And at the end, it gives information on how people who might want to invest or work together can get in touch.
I hope this explanation helps all the Entrepreneur Friends out there who are getting their business proposals ready. Good luck!
If you think this article is helpful, please share it with your friends. And don’t forget to like, share, and leave your thoughts about this article, Entrepreneur Friends.