Freelancers are often called upon to create proposals for prospects. A proposal comes in various forms (and sometimes under different names) but it is essentially always a proposal: It might be a query letter to a magazine; it might be a bid on Elance or Guru (or other similar site); it might be a proposal that you’re sending cold or in response to an RFP; or it might be a page or two of ideas that you’ve jotted down for an existing client.

Freelancers who are just starting out often ask me: How do I attract prospective clients to me? My response is simple: “You may eventually build a reputation that will attract people, and that should be something to strive for, but you’ll need to go out and get business until you’ve reached a point where people are coming to you.”

And you get that business by proposals (in one form or another). Here’s how to create a compelling proposal that will work for almost all of your needs. All you need to do is expand it for larger proposal situations and reduce it for smaller proposal situations. Each bullet point below could just a single sentence (as in a brief email query to a magazine for whom you’ve already written) or each bullet point could be several paragraphs or even several pages (as in a multi-page printed-and-bound document you might create for larger RFPs, especially government RFPs).

• Start with an Executive Summary to outline the project. Remember: this is a summary so write it last and make sure that you include the most important aspects from later in the proposal. Don’t save your good stuff until the proposal; lots of times, people only ever read this part! So put your “A” material here and don’t think that you’ll include the punchline later for maximum effect.
• Move into a section of the proposal I like to call the Situation Analysis. Describe the current situation or problem that you plan on addressing. Don’t forget to include the result of the situation if it leads to a broader problem.
• Next, describe the intended outcome that the reader will have if they implement your solution. You don’t have to describe your solution here, but rather describe in detail what the user can expect.
• Now it’s time for your solution. This section should include a description of what you’re going to deliver (i.e., your scope and timeline) and also your recommendations for specific aspects of what you’re proposing. You’ll also want to talk about your qualifications here.
• The next section should deal with return on investment. Note that I didn’t say “financials” or “price.” You will include that here but the greater emphasis should be their return on investment. So, instead of suggesting that they pay $500 for your article, you should talk about how their investment of $500 for the article will lead to many thousands of dollars in revenue from the new clients they’ll get from the article.
• Finally, you should cover any details here that you haven’t already covered earlier. This is a good section to discuss your approach, for example, if you have a detailed or unique approach to the project. You might also want to talk about any requirements you have or special circumstances that they should be aware of.

A call to action is the last item you’ll need to include and it should include a specific description of what you expect them to do. Even if it’s as simple as “call me,” it should be easy to follow with the phone number and suggested time to call.