In this article, we will try to learn some important points which can be of good help while writing an executive summary. We will also be taking a look at an example of proposal summary.
An executive summary for a proposal is a brief description that summarizes your business plan. It gives the investor a brief idea about who you are, what you specialize in, and what are your strengths as an organization. When you are looking around for potential investors, it is very important that you have an appealing proposal executive summary, as it can determine whether you crack a deal or not. Many researchers and thinkers have shared their expertise on how to go about writing a concise executive summary for a proposal. We would be looking at some of the important things that you should include if you have been entrusted with the responsibility of writing a proposal executive summary.
When you think of an executive proposal, you should carefully analyze certain points. There are two methods in which you can go about writing a proposal executive summary. The first way is to build your proposal first and write an abstract from the proposal. The other way of doing it is, you first write the summary and then build your proposal around it. There are proponents of both these methods and they enlist the advantages and disadvantages of each of them, but we will tell you that there is no hard and fast rule of doing it. It all boils down to how you would like to do it without missing out on the important points. The tips mentioned below might be helpful to write a good executive summary.
Executive Summary – Some Tips
- The first thing that you need to make sure is that the summary should be brief and concise, and should be able to hold the attention of the reader. Whether we like it or not, the executive summary can be a decisive factor as far as your business proposal is concerned. You might have written a detailed proposal, but if the reviewer is not too excited with the summary, chances are that your proposal would be lying somewhere in the stack of files. So, while preparing a summary, your writing skills would be put to test!
- While researching on this topic, I found out that there are a lot of websites that tell you to be aggressive with your summary and think of it as a sales-pitch. Your executive summary is definitely a marketing tool, but we would advise you not to be too obvious with it. Put yourself in the shoes of the person who is going to review the executive summary and think if you have to review twenty proposals in a day and nineteen out of twenty are vying for your attention equally, won’t the sales-pitch seem like a cliched thing. There is a thin line between marketing and aggressive marketing, and while writing an executive summary you need to remember that.
- The executive summary should offer a brief introduction to your company, your strengths and the benefits that the investor would be in for if he chooses you over others. It should also offer the salient features of your sales proposal.
These were some of the tips that can be useful while writing an executive summary. We will now look at a proposal executive summary template which you can refer to, while writing an executive summary. This sample will try and provide some information on the contents of a well-written executive summary.
Executive Summary Template
| Introduction
Our company was formed in the year ________ and today it is counted among the best in the ____________ sector providing __________ to its clients. It is located in _________ and has branches at ______________________________________. Services Our company makes ____________ and offers the following products and services. (list the products that your company specializes in) Market Position The ____________ market is 3.5% of the total global economy and is valued at $________. Our company has a major share of about 17% in this segment and we are planning to grow to 20% by the end of this year. We are privileged to have ___________ (name of your clients) as our clients and are proud to say that their experience with us has been satisfactory. Competitors Our competitors are ________________ and we have been able to have an edge over them, courtesy our affordable product range, a dedicated workforce and the trust factor that we have been able to create amongst our customers. Our customers are satisfied with our services and we have got several recommendations through them. Opportunities and Risks The potential of this sector will provide us with innumerable opportunities in future. We would be looking to expand our business so that we can cater to more people. As a company, we never underestimate the potential risks, and look for ways to overcome them. The biggest risks that we have today is ___________ and we are working hard to address this issue. Capital requirements To retain our position as one of the pioneers in this segment, we are planning to start two new projects and are planning to raise $______________ through our esteemed investors. We expect that, as always, investing with us will be secure and profitable as we are offering the most competitive returns in the market. The detailed plan is mentioned in the proposal. |
This was a proposal executive summary example. As mentioned before, you can think of an executive summary as a sample query letter that aspiring writers send to editors these days. It saves the time and effort of going through the whole document. An executive summary is the norm in today’s business and we have to be good at it so that we are able to get more investors on board.
