How To Write A Business Proposal?

Check out this site
http://www.4hb.com/0350tipwritebizproposal.html
it has a guide and samples

u can also learn how to write business Proposals at www.about.com or captureplanning.com

from experince i think you need: pages of books, picture(s) of what you want your proposal or plan to be.figure as in what your capital base is or you might visit a financial advisor if you can't  get your head round your financial status.charts/graphs. set everything up as in like a map and describe what risks and reward you are meant to get when your proposal/plan goes into action because no1 would want to help you if you aint gatta risks and rewards that u will have to face when your proposal/plan goes into action.
1.take time to think about what u doing and what your proposal will be like.
2.ask yourself in a moment of quiet qestions like can i realy do this. because some people do what they don't realy like to see themselfs do.
3. visit a financial advisor on fincail help and ask him/her if they can write a financial plan for you but you have to have writing your own plan for the advisor to see if you realy need help. and if you aint got they financial requirement that you think your proposal/plan would have to have before the real action begining, try to rehease and make sure you can answer any question that your proposal/plan might ask you when you are presenting the proposal to who can help you financial because must people don't think about that when they presenting their proposal to who will help them financially , mentally and materaily
                just try to act with you instint on any help people are giving you and i wish you best of luck.

A simple proposal formula
Here is a simple approach to help you cover all the bases in your proposal. For each section/requirement that you must address, make sure you answer: who, what, where, how, when, and why. Repeat it until it rolls off your tongue and you have it memorized.

Who: who will do the work, who will manage the work, who does the customer call if there is a problem, who is responsible for what
What: what needs to be done/delivered, what will be required to do it, what can the customer expect, what it will cost
Where: where will the work be done, where will it be delivered
How: how will be work be done, how will it be deployed, how will it be managed, how will you achieve quality assurance and customer satisfaction, how will risks be mitigated, how long will it take, how will the work benefit the customer
When: when will you start, when will key milestones be scheduled, when will the project be complete, when is payment due
Why: why have you chosen the approaches and alternatives you have selected, why the customer should select you

The two phrases can be used interchangeably, depending on what context it is being used. But when it comes to the finer points of things, they do have their differences, and individual jobs.

A plan can be a 'working' plan i.e what will guide the biz in it's day to day operation, and from an investors point of view, it is to show that his investment is secure and is being invested in a profitable biz, with all the financial figures and other elements to 'prove' it. From what I gather the original poster is asking, this is not what he seeks.

A proposal can be a proposal in the sense of the word. I.e propose a new idea to someone for whatever reason. Perhaps to chip in and add his own contribution, financial or otherwise. but it doesn't necessarily have to include elements of profitability and viability. It's not always about money. eg. I can be a musician with no money to buy studio time, I can write a business proposal to someone who has a studio, and in it, I will details and try and convince him how his investment in letting me use his studio for free will be repaid, one way or another.

Lastly, a plan and a proposal can be interwoven into one. And this is probably your best bet. You are most likely looking for funds and an investor. You have to do both in this case. Propose or sell your business idea and WHY it is a good and profitable idea, and simultaneously show HOW it will be profitable.

Sum total,  a business plan/proposal is not particularly easy work, because to write a good one takes a lot of research (presentation, facts and figures, marketing techniques, etc). if you know your business industry well enough, your work is cut considerably. The websites that have been given are great tools that can and will help you as a guide. use them wisely, and you have a much higher chance of convincing someone to part with his money. Under use it and get woeful results, just as someone who recently showed me a woefully written business plan, with which he was shopping for $3million for a major project, and asked me to find investors for him, which of course I bluntly refused.

I will say this last bit in passing for whomever it might give food for thought and inspiration. The rounds I hear is that banks and other financial houses won't give you a loan for a business if you don't have collat and even a minimum down payment. I don't doubt this and is perhaps true to a great extent, but on the other side of the coin, I dare say that the people who are looking for these funds have not shown anywhere near good enough "evidence", -read business plan/proposal, that the banks' money is being sought for a "fail" proof business. I have yet to personally test and experience this, but I strongly believe that if you have a VERY (and perhaps VERY VERY) good and convincing business plan, by the time you go to 10 or 15 banks/financial house/investors, at least one of them is bound to be willing to take the risk, even without your collat,  That is my firm personal belief,   It may be wrong and naive, but I hold on to it for now. In any case, I will  probably be testing one such dogmatic and 'naive' beliefs of mine on a different matter soon (I have tested it once with fairly good results), and if I am proved right again and again, then I will conclude with certainty what I have just said.

All the best,

I guess the author of this topic wanted a standard format of writing a proposal irrespective of what kind of business.

The truth is that if you need to write a business proposal what you should be looking for is a business plan.A business plan  will tell  anybody why he /she should invest in the proposed business.A business plan is different from a feasibility study.Additionally it is different from a project managment Plan.To be able to write any of this document with ease you need to work with a consultant.Your consultant will now write the document in the standard format with your ideas well articulated.

@dblock it is for a fish farm and snailery,do you have one for me on that

@ naijacutie
silly me!i meant a proposal o.well,hope he and evryone else got the message sha.Cheers
P.S.I didnt build that site,its one built ny a UN body.wish i did

sorry guys i meant transportation of goods to a neighbouring country not a neigbouring company.