Structure of the commercial offer. Commercial proposal template in Word: how to present services correctly

Finding partners in business is necessary, as ideas or projects may arise that will bring many new opportunities. But it often happens that the head of a large enterprise or firm does not have enough time to meet with potential partners, and they ask to send them a commercial proposal (CP).

Why offer services

You should know how to write a commercial proposal correctly, since the success of the transaction may depend on its content. Often you want to include as much information as possible about your company or service in your commercial proposal, but too much text can alienate a potential partner or client. It is necessary to compose the proposal in such a way that the person who reads it becomes interested and wants to continue cooperation.

Knowing how to write a business proposal is important for both business newbies and those with more experience. It doesn’t matter whether you are the owner of a large company or a start-up entrepreneur, everyone needs well-written proposals.

How to learn to write such letters

The main questions that arise when writing a CP relate to where to start writing, what information to include and how to finish. Sample commercial proposals make it possible to eliminate errors.

Basic rules

  1. First of all, you need to define the market segment.
  2. It is important to specify the CP - to write what type of cooperation will be discussed.
  3. You should try to interest the person to whom the proposal is addressed from the first lines.
  4. It is necessary to describe the advantages of the company.
  5. It is important to present in simple language, without fanaticism, the main ideas of the commercial proposal. It should be borne in mind that the person who will read the text does not have sufficient knowledge about the specifics of the product or service being offered. Information needs to be presented in an accessible manner. It is also not recommended to use advertising-related phrases, as this approach can be off-putting.
  6. You should not indicate possible risks; it is better to ignore them.
  7. The text should be written in a business style, but at the same time simple; it is also recommended to exclude strong emotional overtones.
  8. No matter how much you would like to include as much information as possible in the text of the letter, you should highlight only the main points and present the remaining data as an announcement.
  9. You should consider answers to the client’s possible questions and doubts.

What needs to be done before writing a proposal

First of all, you need to make a list of those to whom these proposals will be sent. If you are confident that some organizations will refuse, then you should not waste time on them. Although, as practice shows, cooperation can be achieved with almost any company.

It is necessary to draw up a list of organizations that need the proposed product or service, and also specify what exactly the company can provide them.

The important point is that it is necessary to make two sentences, separately for the manager and for the specialist. You should think about where to highlight which points, since a manager is a person who makes decisions, and a specialist is a performer who will carry out the task. Therefore, for the latter, it is necessary to highlight those points that will simplify his work in future cooperation (for example, draw up a commercial proposal for the supply of something). And for the manager, development prospects and cost savings will be the most significant.

It is also recommended to practice before writing a commercial proposal by making several sample letters for different companies. In each of them, you should outline the company’s activities and how you can help it. For example, in a commercial proposal from an insurance broker to a large insurer, you can use the following words:

Dear leader!

In the current economic situation, it is necessary to increase sales volumes. Your company is a leader in this service sector. There is always a need to attract new clients. Our brokerage agency is ready to help you. We want to sell your insurance products to our customers. Our agency specialists will provide competent advice in the field of insurance.

We will always answer by phone.

Sincerely, employee's name and position.

How to start writing

It is recommended to start drawing up the right commercial proposal directly from the essence. It is necessary to understand that in addition to this offer, the company to which it is sent receives a lot of similar letters. Therefore, there is no need to delve into the content; it is recommended that from the first sentences you reveal the essence of the commercial proposal and outline its goals. Under no circumstances should you start a letter with hackneyed phrases, be original!

Before writing a proposal, it is worth doing an analysis of the company for which it is being made and identifying the needs. For example, you can call and talk with a company representative, during the conversation remember a few phrases that will be included in the announcement of the commercial proposal. That is, if the head of a company says that he wants to increase office sales, then in the announcement of the commercial proposal it is recommended to write that your activities will increase office sales.

If you are unable to talk to the head of the company, you can go to the official website; as a rule, the main areas of activity and prospects for its development are reflected there.

KP writing style

First of all, you need to draw the client's attention to his problem, and then offer a solution to it. Developing a commercial proposal involves using simple sentences that are easily and quickly understood. If you think that this or that phrase is unnecessary, then it is better to remove it.

It is necessary for the text to be lively, it is recommended to add specifics to it - indicate specific numbers, name existing partners. You can also indicate the subtleties of production or the specifics of the work. Tell us how a process is optimized. There is no need to go deeper and describe the entire production system. It will be enough to highlight a couple of working moments.

Samples

Today, no introductions or preludes - just a dry summary of how to draw up a commercial proposal (compred, CP). We will look at the basic approaches and principles using illustrative examples. Also, just below, I will provide templates and samples of the structure and text of a commercial proposal with links so that you can download them and adapt them to your needs. The purpose of this article is to teach you how to develop a CP that, first of all, will be read. And secondly, after reading it, they will respond and agree to the proposed deal. Are you ready? Then let's get started.

By the way, if it’s more convenient for you to watch a video, or you’re short on time, then I briefly talk about creating a CP in the 18th lesson of the course “Copywriting from scratch in 30 days”, take a look:

What is a commercial offer

Commercial offer is a marketing tool that is sent to the recipient by regular mail or email in order to get a response. A response is a transfer of a potential client to the next stage of communication (meeting, presentation or signing of an agreement). Depending on the type of CP, the specific tasks of the tool, as well as its volume and content, may differ.

Types of commercial offers

There are three types of comps: cold, hot and public offer. The first two types are used in marketing and sales. The third is in jurisprudence.

1. “Cold” commercial offer

“Cold” commercial proposals are sent to an unprepared client (“cold”). Essentially, it's spam. As practice shows, people don’t really like spam, but if it interests them, then... it becomes an exception to the rule. For this type of CP to work, you need a high-quality target list (list of recipients). The “cleaner” this list is, the higher the response. If the target list contains general addresses like [email protected], then the efficiency of the compressor is a priori reduced by 80-90%.

Let's take a spicy situation as an example. Let’s say the head of the sales department of company N has a plan “on fire”. A little less than two weeks before the report, he is tearing his hair out, not knowing what to do, and receives an email with something like this heading: “5 ways to fulfill the monthly sales department plan in a week.” Tada-a-am! This is the salvation of the situation! And the person reads the main text, in which the service we offer is hidden among the methods.

But this is just a special case. The main task of a “cold” commercial proposal is to force the recipient to read it to the end. Make a mistake and the letter ends up in the trash.

That's why when designing a cold gearbox, three main risks of ejection are taken into account:

  1. At the receiving stage. Costs to attract attention. This could be a subject line if the proposal is sent by email, or a custom envelope with a color or form factor if the delivery channel is physical, etc.
  2. At the opening stage. It gets by with an attractive offer (it is also called an “offer”), we will talk about it a little lower.
  3. At the reading stage. It gets around using elements of persuasion and marketing tricks. We will also talk about them below.

Please note: the volume of a “cold” commercial proposal, as a rule, is 1-2 pages of printed text, no more. This is due to the fact that the recipient is not initially inclined to read the CP, and even more so he will not read it if the volume exceeds 10-20 pages.

The main advantage of a “cold” commercial proposal is its mass appeal, but practice shows that when the proposal is personalized, the response to it is much higher.

2. “Hot” commercial offer

Unlike “cold” analogues, a “hot” commercial offer is sent to a prepared client (a person who himself requested a proposal or who was previously contacted by a manager).

“Hot” CPs differ from “cold” ones both in volume (which can be 10-15 pages or slides) and in the approach to compilation. More importantly, they provide a person with information of interest for making a decision (on price, availability, conditions, etc.). Recently, “hot” commercial offers, designed in the form of PowerPoint presentations or translated from PowerPoint to PDF format, have become especially popular.

Read more about hot comps in.

3. Offer

This is a special type of comprades, made in the form of a public agreement that does not require signing. Used on the websites of various SaaS services or in online stores. As soon as a person fulfills the terms of the contract (for example, registers on the site), he automatically accepts the terms of the offer.

Commercial proposal offer

Not to be confused with an offer. This is completely different. To create a truly powerful commercial offer, you will need a killer offer - the “heart” of your offer (English offer - to offer). That's the point. In other words, a clear statement of what exactly you are offering. In this case, it is advisable to indicate the essence at the very beginning (this especially applies to “cold” CP).

Please note: the offer is ALWAYS aimed at benefiting the reader, and not at goods or services! The easiest way to compose it is according to the formula: we offer you (benefit) due to (product)

Every day I come across commercial proposals, the authors of which step on the same rake again and again (don’t repeat it!):

  • We offer you office furniture
  • We invite you to attend the seminar
  • We invite you to order website promotion from us
  • We offer you to wash your floors

And so on... This is a gross mistake. Look around: competitors offer the same thing. But most importantly, there is no benefit for the recipient. Absolutely no way. What will he gain from this? What benefits will it receive?

At the same time, these sentences can be “flipped”, made more personal and reader-oriented. For example:

  • I suggest you save up to $5,000 on furnishing your office with luxurious European furniture.
  • I suggest you increase your company's turnover by 20-70%, thanks to the information you receive at the seminar.
  • I suggest you attract hundreds of new potential clients at a price of 1.5 rubles per person.
  • I suggest you reduce the incidence of colds among your employees (and the number of sick days, respectively) through daily wet cleaning.

You get the idea. The main thing is to convey to the recipient the benefits that you offer him, and goods and services are a way to receive this benefit. Read more about the offer in .

In its structure, a commercial proposal is somewhat reminiscent of a selling text. And this is natural, since commercial text is a special case of a commercial text. But there is one element that sets compreads apart from the mass of other tools. This is an offer. However, let's talk about everything in order.

0. Footer

The footer most often includes a logo (so that the CP is identified with a specific company) and contact information with a mini-appeal. This is done to save time and space. As soon as a person looks at the top of the document, he already knows what is being discussed and how to contact you. Very convenient. The size of the footer, as a rule, does not exceed 2 cm. After all, for a cold compressor in A4 format, every centimeter counts. Look at how I would put together a proposal for, say, my blog. In this case, I sell content in exchange for readers' time.

1. Title of the commercial offer

Vital element. Especially for a “cold” gearbox. Its task is to attract attention and immediately hook it with benefits.

Please note: When it comes to a “cold” proposal, the title “Commercial proposal” is not the best option. If only because it is uninformative, takes up space and is no different from dozens of others that your competitors send. In addition, if a person does not expect letters from you and receives something so abstract, he reflexively makes several clicks: “select” and “add to spam.”

At the same time, for a “hot” commercial offer, such a headline is more than appropriate if the company name is indicated next.

In my practice, headlines (not to be confused with the subject line of the cover letter!) work best using the 4U formula. I talk about them in detail. In today's sample sales pitch, the headline is a combination of a headline and a subhead.

Lead (first paragraph)

The main task of a lead is to arouse interest in what you are saying. Otherwise, people simply will not listen to you. Well, or literally, then read your commercial proposal. The lead always talks about what is important to the client. To do this, four approaches are used:

  1. From the problem (most often)
  2. From the solution (if there is no problem as such)
  3. From objections (if relevant)
  4. From emotions (very rarely)

In my example, I used a “from the problem” approach, take a look. Below I will show a few more samples with other approaches.

3. Offer

I already talked about creating an offer a little higher. The offer should interest the recipient in the benefits so much that he continues reading your commercial offer. Practice shows that if the offer is not interesting to the reader, the commercial proposal goes straight to the trash can (the second wave of discarding).

For an offer, you can use either a general formula with benefits, or the so-called amplifier link:

  • Product + product at a good price
  • Product+service
  • Product + gift, etc.

At the end of the offer, I recommend making a graphic anchor (if space allows). It thins out the text mass and adds “air”. In addition, it makes your business proposal easy to scan. Look at the offer and graphic anchor I made in the sample commercial proposal for my blog. In your commercial proposal, you can use as an anchor a visualization of the goods supplied or the main areas of services, plus prices (if they are competitive for you).

4. Benefits for the client

The next block is the benefits blog. In other words, this is a transfer of what a person receives when he agrees to your commercial offer. It is important to be able to distinguish benefits from properties and characteristics. I wrote more in .

For example, in a sample CP for readers of my blog, I can cite the following benefits. Please note: the benefit block has a subtitle that is always directed towards the reader.

5. Processing of objections

It is not always possible to insert all objection handlers into the commercial proposal. But even so, the main ones can be closed by simply answering the questions: “Who are you?”, “Why can you be trusted?”, “Who is already using your services?”, “Geography of presence,” etc. Look at my sample CP for the blog. I handle the objection by answering the question “Who is the author and can he be trusted?”

Blocks with social proof or authority triggers are often used as objection handlers. Finally, another powerful sales persuasive technique is guarantees. In this case, guarantees can be both expected (12 months for office equipment) and unexpected (if something breaks down, the company makes repairs at its own expense, and provides a similar model of equipment for the duration of the repair).

To inspire even more trust, tell us about your company, without unnecessary praises - specifically and to the point. Just the facts.

6. Call to action

Another essential attribute of a good commercial proposal is an appeal. In this case, there should be only one call (calling for one specific action): most often it is a call, but it can also be an application on the website or a visit to the sales department. The maximum is an alternative: call or send an Email.

Please note: the call should be a strong verb, so the response will be higher.

Compare:

  • Call me (strong verb)
  • You can call (weak verb, the effect will be lower)

And one more important point. You will be surprised, but sometimes people who develop business proposals forget to include contact information in them. It turns out to be a comical situation: the recipient of the CP wants to order a product or service, but physically cannot do this because he does not know where to go.

In my sample, I put the call in the footer.

7. Postscript

The final, and at the same time one of the most important elements of all “killer” commercial proposals, is the postscript (P.S.). When used correctly, the postscript becomes a very powerful motivating lever. Practice shows that people read postscripts most often (after captions under pictures). That’s why, if you want to strengthen your commercial offer, then the cherished letters P.S. It is advisable to take it into service.

In addition, you can insert a restriction (deadline) into the postscript. Many people miss this point of the structure. And if, in the case of sending a “hot” commercial proposal, the manager can call and remind about himself, then in the case of a “cold” proposal, the absence of a restriction can deprive the company of more than half of the responses.

You can limit either in the context of time or in the context of the quantity of goods. For example:

  • There are only 5 fax machines left.
  • The offer is valid only until August 31, from September 1 the price will double.

It is worth mentioning that if you make a restriction, then you must keep your promises. And not so that you promise to double the price tomorrow, but the next day you don’t do this, but promise the same thing.

Ready-made commercial proposal sample

If we connect all the blocks, we will get this sample commercial proposal. It's universal. I adapted it for selling various goods and services: from logistics to rolled metal. In some places it worked better, in others worse. But everywhere it justified itself and paid for itself. The only thing is to remember to keep the target sheet clean.

Another strength of this sample is that it is easy to scan. A person understands what we offer him in a matter of seconds.

You can download this sample to your Google Drive using this link to adapt it to your task. There you can save it in RTF, MS Word or PDF formats. The compilation algorithm is below.

How to write a commercial proposal (algorithm)

To correctly draw up a commercial proposal, you need:

Step 1: Take the sample from the link above as a basis.

Step 2: Replace the logo, slogan and contacts with your own.

Step 3: develop a header using the 4U formula.

Step 4: Describe the client’s real “pain” in the first paragraph.

Step 5: Create an offer with a solution for the “pain”.

Step 6: Make a graphic separator.

Step 7: Describe the additional benefits of your proposal.

Step 8: Eliminate key objections or briefly introduce yourself.

Step 9: Make a call to action, write P.S. with a deadline.

Other commercial proposal samples

Based on the above structure, you can also compose purely textual comps. Let's look at samples of commercial proposals for the supply of goods and transport services. Despite the fact that they do not have graphic separators, the order of the blocks in them is identical. Pay attention to the objection handler “If you already have a supplier.” This technique is called psychological adjustment and is described in detail in the book “The Laws of Influence” by Susan Weinschenk.

a) Sample commercial proposal for transport services

Today, no introductions or preludes - just a dry summary of how to draw up a commercial proposal (compred, CP). We will look at the basic approaches and principles using illustrative examples. Also, just below, I will provide templates and samples of the structure and text of a commercial proposal with links so that you can download them and adapt them to your needs. The purpose of this article is to teach you how to develop a CP that, first of all, will be read. And secondly, after reading it, they will respond and agree to the proposed deal. Are you ready? Then let's get started.

By the way, if it’s more convenient for you to watch a video, or you’re short on time, then I briefly talk about creating a CP in the 18th lesson of the course “Copywriting from scratch in 30 days”, take a look:

What is a commercial offer

Commercial offer is a marketing tool that is sent to the recipient by regular mail or email in order to get a response. A response is a transfer of a potential client to the next stage of communication (meeting, presentation or signing of an agreement). Depending on the type of CP, the specific tasks of the tool, as well as its volume and content, may differ.

Types of commercial offers

There are three types of comps: cold, hot and public offer. The first two types are used in marketing and sales. The third is in jurisprudence.

1. “Cold” commercial offer

“Cold” commercial proposals are sent to an unprepared client (“cold”). Essentially, it's spam. As practice shows, people don’t really like spam, but if it interests them, then... it becomes an exception to the rule. For this type of CP to work, you need a high-quality target list (list of recipients). The “cleaner” this list is, the higher the response. If the target list contains general addresses like [email protected], then the efficiency of the compressor is a priori reduced by 80-90%.

Let's take a spicy situation as an example. Let’s say the head of the sales department of company N has a plan “on fire”. A little less than two weeks before the report, he is tearing his hair out, not knowing what to do, and receives an email with something like this heading: “5 ways to fulfill the monthly sales department plan in a week.” Tada-a-am! This is the salvation of the situation! And the person reads the main text, in which the service we offer is hidden among the methods.

But this is just a special case. The main task of a “cold” commercial proposal is to force the recipient to read it to the end. Make a mistake and the letter ends up in the trash.

That's why when designing a cold gearbox, three main risks of ejection are taken into account:

  1. At the receiving stage. Costs to attract attention. This could be a subject line if the proposal is sent by email, or a custom envelope with a color or form factor if the delivery channel is physical, etc.
  2. At the opening stage. It gets by with an attractive offer (it is also called an “offer”), we will talk about it a little lower.
  3. At the reading stage. It gets around using elements of persuasion and marketing tricks. We will also talk about them below.

Please note: the volume of a “cold” commercial proposal, as a rule, is 1-2 pages of printed text, no more. This is due to the fact that the recipient is not initially inclined to read the CP, and even more so he will not read it if the volume exceeds 10-20 pages.

The main advantage of a “cold” commercial proposal is its mass appeal, but practice shows that when the proposal is personalized, the response to it is much higher.

2. “Hot” commercial offer

Unlike “cold” analogues, a “hot” commercial offer is sent to a prepared client (a person who himself requested a proposal or who was previously contacted by a manager).

“Hot” CPs differ from “cold” ones both in volume (which can be 10-15 pages or slides) and in the approach to compilation. More importantly, they provide a person with information of interest for making a decision (on price, availability, conditions, etc.). Recently, “hot” commercial offers, designed in the form of PowerPoint presentations or translated from PowerPoint to PDF format, have become especially popular.

Read more about hot comps in.

3. Offer

This is a special type of comprades, made in the form of a public agreement that does not require signing. Used on the websites of various SaaS services or in online stores. As soon as a person fulfills the terms of the contract (for example, registers on the site), he automatically accepts the terms of the offer.

Commercial proposal offer

Not to be confused with an offer. This is completely different. To create a truly powerful commercial offer, you will need a killer offer - the “heart” of your offer (English offer - to offer). That's the point. In other words, a clear statement of what exactly you are offering. In this case, it is advisable to indicate the essence at the very beginning (this especially applies to “cold” CP).

Please note: the offer is ALWAYS aimed at benefiting the reader, and not at goods or services! The easiest way to compose it is according to the formula: we offer you (benefit) due to (product)

Every day I come across commercial proposals, the authors of which step on the same rake again and again (don’t repeat it!):

  • We offer you office furniture
  • We invite you to attend the seminar
  • We invite you to order website promotion from us
  • We offer you to wash your floors

And so on... This is a gross mistake. Look around: competitors offer the same thing. But most importantly, there is no benefit for the recipient. Absolutely no way. What will he gain from this? What benefits will it receive?

At the same time, these sentences can be “flipped”, made more personal and reader-oriented. For example:

  • I suggest you save up to $5,000 on furnishing your office with luxurious European furniture.
  • I suggest you increase your company's turnover by 20-70%, thanks to the information you receive at the seminar.
  • I suggest you attract hundreds of new potential clients at a price of 1.5 rubles per person.
  • I suggest you reduce the incidence of colds among your employees (and the number of sick days, respectively) through daily wet cleaning.

You get the idea. The main thing is to convey to the recipient the benefits that you offer him, and goods and services are a way to receive this benefit. Read more about the offer in .

In its structure, a commercial proposal is somewhat reminiscent of a selling text. And this is natural, since commercial text is a special case of a commercial text. But there is one element that sets compreads apart from the mass of other tools. This is an offer. However, let's talk about everything in order.

0. Footer

The footer most often includes a logo (so that the CP is identified with a specific company) and contact information with a mini-appeal. This is done to save time and space. As soon as a person looks at the top of the document, he already knows what is being discussed and how to contact you. Very convenient. The size of the footer, as a rule, does not exceed 2 cm. After all, for a cold compressor in A4 format, every centimeter counts. Look at how I would put together a proposal for, say, my blog. In this case, I sell content in exchange for readers' time.

1. Title of the commercial offer

Vital element. Especially for a “cold” gearbox. Its task is to attract attention and immediately hook it with benefits.

Please note: When it comes to a “cold” proposal, the title “Commercial proposal” is not the best option. If only because it is uninformative, takes up space and is no different from dozens of others that your competitors send. In addition, if a person does not expect letters from you and receives something so abstract, he reflexively makes several clicks: “select” and “add to spam.”

At the same time, for a “hot” commercial offer, such a headline is more than appropriate if the company name is indicated next.

In my practice, headlines (not to be confused with the subject line of the cover letter!) work best using the 4U formula. I talk about them in detail. In today's sample sales pitch, the headline is a combination of a headline and a subhead.

Lead (first paragraph)

The main task of a lead is to arouse interest in what you are saying. Otherwise, people simply will not listen to you. Well, or literally, then read your commercial proposal. The lead always talks about what is important to the client. To do this, four approaches are used:

  1. From the problem (most often)
  2. From the solution (if there is no problem as such)
  3. From objections (if relevant)
  4. From emotions (very rarely)

In my example, I used a “from the problem” approach, take a look. Below I will show a few more samples with other approaches.

3. Offer

I already talked about creating an offer a little higher. The offer should interest the recipient in the benefits so much that he continues reading your commercial offer. Practice shows that if the offer is not interesting to the reader, the commercial proposal goes straight to the trash can (the second wave of discarding).

For an offer, you can use either a general formula with benefits, or the so-called amplifier link:

  • Product + product at a good price
  • Product+service
  • Product + gift, etc.

At the end of the offer, I recommend making a graphic anchor (if space allows). It thins out the text mass and adds “air”. In addition, it makes your business proposal easy to scan. Look at the offer and graphic anchor I made in the sample commercial proposal for my blog. In your commercial proposal, you can use as an anchor a visualization of the goods supplied or the main areas of services, plus prices (if they are competitive for you).

4. Benefits for the client

The next block is the benefits blog. In other words, this is a transfer of what a person receives when he agrees to your commercial offer. It is important to be able to distinguish benefits from properties and characteristics. I wrote more in .

For example, in a sample CP for readers of my blog, I can cite the following benefits. Please note: the benefit block has a subtitle that is always directed towards the reader.

5. Processing of objections

It is not always possible to insert all objection handlers into the commercial proposal. But even so, the main ones can be closed by simply answering the questions: “Who are you?”, “Why can you be trusted?”, “Who is already using your services?”, “Geography of presence,” etc. Look at my sample CP for the blog. I handle the objection by answering the question “Who is the author and can he be trusted?”

Blocks with social proof or authority triggers are often used as objection handlers. Finally, another powerful sales persuasive technique is guarantees. In this case, guarantees can be both expected (12 months for office equipment) and unexpected (if something breaks down, the company makes repairs at its own expense, and provides a similar model of equipment for the duration of the repair).

To inspire even more trust, tell us about your company, without unnecessary praises - specifically and to the point. Just the facts.

6. Call to action

Another essential attribute of a good commercial proposal is an appeal. In this case, there should be only one call (calling for one specific action): most often it is a call, but it can also be an application on the website or a visit to the sales department. The maximum is an alternative: call or send an Email.

Please note: the call should be a strong verb, so the response will be higher.

Compare:

  • Call me (strong verb)
  • You can call (weak verb, the effect will be lower)

And one more important point. You will be surprised, but sometimes people who develop business proposals forget to include contact information in them. It turns out to be a comical situation: the recipient of the CP wants to order a product or service, but physically cannot do this because he does not know where to go.

In my sample, I put the call in the footer.

7. Postscript

The final, and at the same time one of the most important elements of all “killer” commercial proposals, is the postscript (P.S.). When used correctly, the postscript becomes a very powerful motivating lever. Practice shows that people read postscripts most often (after captions under pictures). That’s why, if you want to strengthen your commercial offer, then the cherished letters P.S. It is advisable to take it into service.

In addition, you can insert a restriction (deadline) into the postscript. Many people miss this point of the structure. And if, in the case of sending a “hot” commercial proposal, the manager can call and remind about himself, then in the case of a “cold” proposal, the absence of a restriction can deprive the company of more than half of the responses.

You can limit either in the context of time or in the context of the quantity of goods. For example:

  • There are only 5 fax machines left.
  • The offer is valid only until August 31, from September 1 the price will double.

It is worth mentioning that if you make a restriction, then you must keep your promises. And not so that you promise to double the price tomorrow, but the next day you don’t do this, but promise the same thing.

Ready-made commercial proposal sample

If we connect all the blocks, we will get this sample commercial proposal. It's universal. I adapted it for selling various goods and services: from logistics to rolled metal. In some places it worked better, in others worse. But everywhere it justified itself and paid for itself. The only thing is to remember to keep the target sheet clean.

Another strength of this sample is that it is easy to scan. A person understands what we offer him in a matter of seconds.

You can download this sample to your Google Drive using this link to adapt it to your task. There you can save it in RTF, MS Word or PDF formats. The compilation algorithm is below.

How to write a commercial proposal (algorithm)

To correctly draw up a commercial proposal, you need:

Step 1: Take the sample from the link above as a basis.

Step 2: Replace the logo, slogan and contacts with your own.

Step 3: develop a header using the 4U formula.

Step 4: Describe the client’s real “pain” in the first paragraph.

Step 5: Create an offer with a solution for the “pain”.

Step 6: Make a graphic separator.

Step 7: Describe the additional benefits of your proposal.

Step 8: Eliminate key objections or briefly introduce yourself.

Step 9: Make a call to action, write P.S. with a deadline.

Other commercial proposal samples

Based on the above structure, you can also compose purely textual comps. Let's look at samples of commercial proposals for the supply of goods and transport services. Despite the fact that they do not have graphic separators, the order of the blocks in them is identical. Pay attention to the objection handler “If you already have a supplier.” This technique is called psychological adjustment and is described in detail in the book “The Laws of Influence” by Susan Weinschenk.

a) Sample commercial proposal for transport services

Do you intend to start sending out commercial offers to your potential clients? Are you counting on a subsequent flurry of calls and hundreds of concluded contracts? Then you just need to know the basic secrets of creating a working advertising proposal. Our advice will help increase sales through a well-written commercial proposal.

Always remember that business people value their time very much. Do not write information about your company on 3-4 sheets, do not list past achievements. Write briefly and only about the most important things. The commercial proposal should not occupy more than one page of a standard A4 sheet. The maximum length is one and a half pages, provided that the document contains important graphic information. Take care of your reputation and the client’s nervous system. Don't write general phrases or make empty promises. Formulations like “German quality”, “best service”, “mutually beneficial cooperation” are similar to an abstract description of benefits. Specifics will bring greater results: the presence of a service department with a list of service center locations, 100% guarantee for 24 months, free installation, delivery to the warehouse, customer consultations, etc.


Unobtrusively push the client to take quick action by indicating a short validity period for the offer. List all possible methods of communication, including the address of the corporate website, email, landline and mobile phones, and fax number. By doing this, you will emphasize the accessibility and openness of your company, as well as your readiness to start working today.