Here are nine guidelines to help you write a better Executive Summary for your next business proposal.

The Executive Summary creates difficulties for many proposal writers. Is it part of the business proposal or is it a separate document? How long should it be? Should it include costs?

1. Define the purpose of the Executive Summary

If you’re new to proposal writing, it’s easy to confuse the Executive Summary and the Introduction. After all, both seem to be doing the same thing. And they are, to a degree.

However, the Executive Summary is really the ‘elevator pitch’ for your Business Proposal.

If we see it in these terms, then we need to change the tone, structure and ‘hooks’ to capture the reader’s attention.

2. Write it as a Separate Document

One way to write the Executive Summary is to think of it as a standalone document.

In other words, if you took it out of the Business Proposal… it would still make sense to the reader.

When you look at it like this, you realize that you don’t need to write it before the proposal is finished. Instead, you can set it aside and develop it after you’ve completed the rest of the bid.

3. Develop Themes

Themes are an interesting way to develop the Executive Summary. What this means is that you choose a theme, for example, reputation, and then develop the bid around this theme.

Why create themes?

It adds a human element to your proposal. Instead of responding only to the requirements, you go deeper and explore the underlying pain points and needs of the customer.

This makes the document much more interesting to read as it speaks to the reader on an emotional level.

4. Problem Statement

What you’re doing here is three things:

1. Identifying the underlying problem or need that exists
2. Confirming how you’ve recognized this and
3. Why you’re expertise will address this

In this section, try to connect with the deeper underlying issues.

For example, why does the client need a content management system? Do they feel threatened or risk getting left behind.

These issues may not be identified in the Request For Proposal, but you as a proposal writer need to tease them out – and then weave these into the fabric of the proposal.

5. Proposed Solution

Remember that you may be writing for more than one reader.

In other words, your Executive Summary may be read by the:

• CEO
• Finance Manager
• IT Manager
• Quality Manager
• Procurement Officer

…and so on.

For this reason, keep the text light, focused but not too technical. Avoid using jargon, three letter acronyms, and other buzzwords.

Give a short description of the proposed solution. Identify:

• How it will be managed
• Who will benefit from the solution
• Where it will be implemented
• How long it will take to develop
• Who will maintain it

6. Costs

You don’t need to break down costs by line item; however, the evaluators will expect to see the total cost required for the project.

Don’t try to fudge it and bury the costs in the document. This sends out the wrong message. If you’re confident in your figures, show it in the summary.

If you want, you can also discuss the payment structure. For example, state that the client is expected to pay 15% upfront and the balance at different intervals.

7. Expertise

You need to demonstrate your expertise – but how?

One way to do this is include an endorsement from a respected industry figure. This works for two reasons:

• It shows that another person (or company) is willing to vouch for you, which reduces anxiety in the reader.
• It shows that you have a track record in the industry and aren’t another ‘fly by night’ company.

You can also look for ways to highlight your qualifications, industry recognition, and other prestigious projects you’ve worked on. Social proof is very important.

8. Length

There are different schools of thought on this.

I prefer to keep it to one page.

In this way, if it’s printed out, the reader doesn’t have to keep the pages together. They can scan it and absorb the key points in one go.

Whereas, when you add a second page, you break the momentum. You don’t want them flicking back and forth checking what you’ve said.

Remember to use a large, easy to read font. Don’t make the decision-maker strain to read your text. The may not have the same excellent eye-sight you possess.

9. Proofreading

The last step is the hardest – proofreading.

Try to avoid proofing your own document. Instead, ask a colleague to check it for you. If this is not possible, take a look at these twenty proofreading guidelines.

The key to effective proofreading is to assume there are mistakes. Check facts, dates, figures and numbers. Print it out and read the document from the End to the Start.

Why?

This technique forces you to pay attention; you can’t get into a momentum. Another tactic is to read the Executive Summary aloud and check if the tone sounds right.

Conclusion

Writing an Executive Summary takes dedication. Instead of writing it first to get out of the way – so you can get into the real document – see it as a separate piece of work.

Identify the core messages you want to convey, emotional triggers you want to evoke, and create a sense of urgency.

Over to you.

How do you write Executive Summaries? Do you write them before or after the proposal?

Related posts:

1. 6 Ways To Write a Better Executive Summary
2. 25 Ways to Improve Business Proposals
3. How to Write a Concise Executive Summary for your Business Proposal

One mistake to avoid when writing a Business Proposal is to hide or disguise the resources the funding agency needs to commit to the project. Indeed, you can increase your chances of winning a government contract if you show in the Executive Summary the amount of effort that required by the agency team during the proposal development lifecycle.

 Request For Proposal – Vendor Assessment Checklist

Business Proposals: Calculating Funding Agencies Resources

The reason this helps is that is gives the funding agency (i.e. the organization who has written the Request For Proposal and will provide the funds to the successful bidder) an insight into how well you understand the scope of work, the types of activities involved, and where its team will need to get involved.

If you fail to do this, it shows the evaluation team that you have not estimated the workload correctly and have not foreseen some of the issues that may be involved.

How to Define Agency Requirements During Proposal Implementation

You can use this sample ‘Effort Required’ table to show the estimated effort required from the government agency and its staff over the duration of the project. For several tasks, you can provide a range of values in the ‘Effort’ column.

Task	Level	Effort (Man days)	Description
Project Management	N/A	100	Describe how you will provide project progress reports to the Project Board. Suggest that a Project Manager from the agency works on the project between half-time and full-time.
Workshop and Seminars	1	10	Explain how you will provide explanatory seminars covering all aspects of the proposed software, technologies and implementation and delivery timelines.
Functional and Technical Design	2 & 3	20	As detailed in the Request For Proposal, show where you will provide resources to assist in the System Design. These resources will cover the system architecture and business requirements.
Usability	3	20	Show where you intend to carry out usability workshops and tests with users. Identify how many days this will require over the course of the project. Include time to be spent by Systems Analyst working with end users.
Business Input	3	20	During the course of the project your team will require input from business users or other individuals within the agency who are not directly connected with the project team. The range of effort includes the time spent by both the Systems Analysts and business users.
Sign-Off	2 & 3	10	The deliverables produced will require review and sign-off by the relevant parties within your Agency.
TOTAL		180

Figure 1 – Agency Effort Required

Note that the more time agency resources spend providing input and guidance, the less likely it is time-consuming rework will have to be carried out in the latter stages of the project.

Conclusion

By highlighting where the agency will need to help you with the project, you can build more trust by showing that you have a deep understanding of their requirements and have anticipated where they will need to work with you. Remember to reflect these dates into the project plan and your status reports.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

Related posts:

1. How to Write a Concise Executive Summary for your Business Proposal

I evaluate Business Proposals. I do this every week. In the last fifteen years, I’ve seen hundreds of business proposals ranging from the large Consultancies to one-man/women businesses. Part of evaluating a proposal is checking that the numbers add up but also to see if the project in question is worth investing in. How do we know that from a fifty page document? We don’t always know, of course. But, we can make certain deductions just by looking at the first ten pages. Or even the first five. To be honest, the Executive Summary is the first hurdle you need to master if you want to get investment. Let’s look at how to do it right.

Business Plan – Executive Summary

Executive Summary Checklist

Like we said above, first impressions count. For this reason, you need to pay special attention to the Executive Summary. If your clients or investors don’t get past the Executive Summary, then the rest of your document will go unread.

This also raises the question: Should you write your Executive Summary before or after you’ve written your Business Proposal? Some business writers prefer to do it first, others write it after the entire document is completed. I write it at the end as I want the complete text before me. That way, I can digest the document and write the Executive Summary based on what I’ve read.

The following is one suggested approach for an Executive Summary. Change this to suit your needs. In the Executive Summary, include the following:

Introduction

• Brief description of your product or service
• Identify when, where, and how the company was established
• Provide the current status, including funding, of your organization

Problem Definition

• What problem does the solution solve?
• How important is it to users over the next [x] years?
• What is the business and/or technical road map?
• Who are the customers and their needs?

Market Opportunity

• What is the market size?
• What is the timing of market development?
• What are the key market drivers?
• What are the inter-dependencies of this market to other markets, businesses or the government?
• What are the supply and distribution channels?
• Has the market been validated by a customer / partner?
• What is the marketing and sales strategy?

Competitive Analysis

• Who are your competitors?
• What are your advantages and the competitive products/services?
• What business models have been successful?

Management Team

• Who are the key management personnel? Cross-reference to Appendix if necessary.
• What is their track-record? 
• How will you complete the management team if all the key members are not yet identified?

Technology

• How unique is the technology?
• Can any parts be patented?
• What is the current development status of product/service?
• How will the products be tested?

Financial Analysis

• Summarize projections for revenue, cost and return on investment
• Describe funding required to achieve the next milestones

Conclusions and final writing tips

While this looks like a lot of work, the key is to select the parts that you want to highlight in the Executive Summary and move the rest to the main document.

Most Executive Summaries are one to two pages max.

With this is mind, write the text and get all the information down first. Then revise the material and see where you can refine the wording to reduce the word count, for example, by merging points together and remove filler text. Also, look for phrases that can be pruned and made shorter. For example?

Instead of

In the event of

Write

If

Instead of

We have come to the conclusion that

Write

We decided

Instead of

The purpose of this document is to

Write

This document… (The purpose of is redundant)

Look for ways to remove these fillers. You’ll sharpen the prose in the process and give your document a nice, polished tone.

What have I missed?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides Business Tips for Smart People on Klariti.com. His also runs the popular Business Planning Blog at http://www.ivanwalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter at ivanwalsh.

PS: You can get the Business Plan Template from our partner Klariti.com here.

Related posts:

1. 6 Ways To Write a Better Executive Summary
2. What Warren Buffett Taught Me About Writing Executive Summaries

photo credit: Dicemanic

This is part 2 in our Proposal Writing Course. Yesterday, we looked at why you need to make the Table of Contents that central hub from which all information flow. Today, we’ll go a step further and examine the Executive Summary. Most Proposal Writers are intimidated by the Executive Summary. There’s something daunting about writing this chapter.

And it should be. The Executive Summary and the Finances are the two most critical sections in your proposal. For this reason, I’ll talk about these more than others and show you how to refine these sections and overcome the pitfalls associated with them. Let’s start.

What goes into the Executive Summary?

Use the Executive Summary  to place the proposal in context.

This section should be one or two pages max. Don’t over-whelm the reader with background material. They can find more details about your organization on your website and in press releases.

So, what goes into this section?

In this example, we’re looking at submitting a bid for a government contract, say to do with Waste Management. To frame the bid correctly, look at how you can introduce the key topics as soon as possible. Think of these as pillars upon which the rest of the proposal will be written.

1. Identify the Government bodies involved in this procurement process, for example.
   The Health Department encompasses five counties in the greater London region. These are…
2. Identify any strategic plans that relate to the success of this project
   The London Region, which encompasses the administrative areas of counties X, Y, Z, adopted a Strategic Management Plan in 2002.
3. Identify significant data that the bidder must be made aware of, for example,
   The administrative area of this region has a combined population of 500,000 and covers 10000 sq Kilometres.
4. Outline your over-arching goals and the key people on the bidding team
   We now wish to review and replace 2002 Strategic Management Plan in compliance with the Waste Management Act 2003 and the Waste Management Regulations, 2005.
5. Identify other preliminary work that has been performed:
   The new plan shall make reference to the existing Waste Management Plan, existing preparatory work, the recently commissioned Waste Management Study, EPA National Waste Database, EU Waste Management Plans and all other relevant documentation and legislation.
6. Close with reference to legal documents and supporting materials.
   The new Plan should take account the Government policy statements, such as Recycling Waste and Waste Management Moving Forward

The pillar concept is worth considering as it gives you a framework to write your proposal around.

The most successful proposals are those that develop themes and then use these to press emotional triggers that influence the assessors.

If this doesn’t make sense, think of it like this.

The team who wrote the RFP have a checklist of things they’re looking for in the bids. For example, costs, ability and experience.

But, they are also looking for bidders that feel right, who are on the same wavelength, and who get it.

These are emotional factors play a key role in their decision-making process.

As you write your proposal, step back from it occasionally and ask yourself, ‘Does this feel right? Does it strike the right notes? Does it come across as though we feel their pain or are we just in it for the money.’

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Supervision section.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a Proposal Writer who develops Business Proposal Plans. He also shares Business Planning Strategies on IvanWalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.

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1. What Warren Buffett Taught Me About Writing Executive Summaries
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What I like about Warren Buffets Annual Reports is that he says so much with so few words. And loses nothing in the process. For those of us who make a living writing business documents there are a few lessons to be learnt here.

Why The Executive Summary is Important

The Executive Summary of any business document is the first impression you make on the reader. If your business plan’s executive summary is poorly written, dull, or cut/pasted together it will hardly get noticed and the effort you put into the rest of the document won’t be seen.

Instead, set aside two or three hours and write the best Executive Summary you can. Challenge yourself to write three hundred words that excite you, generate interest, and paint a picture of your company. People want to read about other people. Don’t forget the power of human interest. In the end, they’re going to do business with you – not your product.

‘The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.’ Warren Buffett

How to Write an Executive Summary that generates interest

Your Executive Summary should excite the reader and help them understand the key results and conclusions in your business document, whether it’s your business proposal, business plan, annual report, case study or white paper.

Looking for inspiration?

Read the Annual Reports written by Warren Buffett and you’ll see how he does it. You know he has confidence in his company. He highlights the goods news in a nice understated way and delivers the less pleasant results with the same even tone.

Executive Summary Definition

Here’s one definition from The Handbook of Technical Writing, “An executive summary is to consolidate the principal points of a report in one place. It must cover the information in the report in enough detail to reflect accurately its content but concisely enough to permit an executive to digest the significance of the report without having to read it in full…."

Characteristics of a Well-Written Executive Summary

While this is a business document in the tradition sense, you must still find ways to stimulate the reader’s interest, make them want to turn the page and take some action.

• Executive summaries must be original.
• Executive summaries must not be cut-and-pastes extracts from the main document.
• Executive Summary should provide unique information not contained anywhere else.
• Executive summaries are standalone documents. The reader, for example, an investor, should be able to grasp your over-arching aims without having to read the entire document.

Documents That Require Executive Summaries

Some business documents require summaries, others don’t. Write an executive summary for the following types of documents:

• Grant Applications
• Standards
• System Design Documents
• Technical Reports
• Training Plans
• White Papers

Documents That Do Not Require Executive Summaries

You do NOT need to write an Executive Summary for shorter documents or certain technical publications, such as:

• Functional Specifications
• Meeting minutes
• Release Notes
• Status Reports
• User Manuals
• Workshop reports

Executive Summary Format & Guidelines

These are guidelines for your Executive Summary. They’re not set in stone, so adjust where necessary. The summary should cover the:

• Purpose
• Scope
• Methodology
• Results
• Conclusions

In general, you can write it as follows:

• First paragraph answers: "What is this document about?"
• Summary answers "How did you get the information?"
• Expand on the Software Development process (if applicable)
• Facts
• Results
• Conclusions
• Findings Note: present facts in tabular format.
• Recommendations

What doesn’t go in the Executive Summary?

Other information that doesn’t go in the Executive Summary includes:

• Acknowledgments
• Background data
• Cross-references
• Footnotes
• Industry updates
• Justifications
• Objectives
• Project history
• References

Remember to close your executive summary will a strong summary statement. This must persuade the reader that your business is a winner and the only way to do this is to turn the page and learn more about your company.

Final Tips for Writing the Business Plan’s Executive Summary

Provide a summary. The business plan itself gives the financial details.

• Use strong and positive language.
• No more two pages long. Don’t pad your business plan’s executive summary with fluff.
• Generate interest by enticing your reader to read the rest of the business plan, not tell him everything.
• Read it aloud. Does it read well or sound artificial? Is it clear and succinct?
• Adjust the executive summary for your respective audience. For example, if you want to attract investors, focus on the opportunity your business provides investors and why this opportunity is so special.
• Put yourself in your readers’ shoes. Does the executive summary really make you feel excited? If not, why?

The final word goes on Warren. Here’s his take on gold, “It gets dug out of the ground in Africa, or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it. It has no utility. Anyone watching from Mars would be scratching their head.”

Make sense?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides Business Tips for Smart People on Klariti.com. His also runs the Business Planning Blog at http://www.ivanwalsh.com

PS: The Business Plan Template is available from our partner here.

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