Sample Consulting Proposal
1. Salutation- A personalized greeting sets apart your consulting proposals from a generic proposal. When you treat your proposal as a personal letter, prospective clients are more likely to trust you and want to build a relationship with you. Use the clients formal name (e.g. Mr., Mrs., or Dr.) unless youre on a first-name basis.
2. Summary- Consider this section the introduction, or hook, of your proposal. Summarize the challenges your prospective client is facing and what value you can provide through your consulting services. In this section, you should also thank your client for considering you and give them a brief overview of what they can expect from the rest of the proposal. Lastly, outline a few key goals or objectives of your consulting project.
3. Project scope- This section is all about what youll be doing to reach those goals and objectives you outlined above. Specificity is key here!
For example, if youre being hired to review and analyze a clients marketing strategies, this section would outline how long your phone calls or office visits will be, how many calls or visits you commit to each week, the length of each visit, etc. You can never be too detailed in the project scope section; itll only save you and your client a headache later.
4. Deliverables- This section outlines the tangible, identifiable end products you will be providing your client as a result of the project. If the project scope describes how, the deliverables are the what.
Following the example from above, while your project scope would be reviewing and analyzing marketing strategies, your deliverables may be a detailed analysis document, a presentation of proposed changes, or even a brand-new marketing plan. (The specific details will vary depending on your client and their preferences and needs.)
5. Timeline- This section is incredibly important for setting expectations and creating boundaries with clients. The timeline part of the proposal should outline specific project dates and deadlines for different parts of your project. Whether you are making office visits, creating documents, or simply sending follow-up emails, try to detail every possible date in your proposal. At the very least, make sure you include the project start, final project deadlines, and any milestones in between.
6. Fees and payment structure- Make it crystal clear what your consulting fees are, what they include, and how and when you prefer to get paid. If you recommend using a certain payment portal, include that information here. Similarly, if you require a down payment or staggered fee structure, dont forget that information, too.
7. Why choose you?- While the proposal shouldnt be focused on your work as a consultant, it never hurts to include a short section in which you explain why the client should choose you. Even if you pitched yourself during your initial prospective call, you can reiterate your key strengths and qualifications here.
8. Next steps- Finally, dont forget to include a strong call-to-action in your proposal. Need feedback from the client? Are you ready to start working together and simply need a signature? Give clear instructions in this final section so clients know how to move forward.
Sample Consulting Recommendation Report
The final project of the consulting project is the part of the project which we will ultimately deliver to the client. It is based on your analysis and various types of research concerning this client. This is the most important part of the project. It is where you present to the client your ideas that you hope will help the organization. You will present this presentation to the client along with whatever deliverable(s) you are preparing for him/her.
Executive Summary- Begin with an executive summary that briefly introduces and summarizes your purpose for writing this report. This section establishes reader expectations for what is to follow. Make sure to state clearly here your reasons for writing this report, and what is contained within the report.
Problem Statement- All recommendation reports address a real and important problem. The Problem Statement is perhaps the most important part of the report because it articulates this problem clearly, providing a strong sense of need for the options you will explore in the rest of the report. The Problem Statement is where you justify the purpose of this report.
To justify the options you recommend, you must first understand the specific needs of the business, organization, or stakeholders you are writing for (i.e. What does the organization need? Why? What is the background of this problem? Who are the major stakeholders? What has been tried in the past? Why didnt it work?). Your Problem Statement will serve as your introduction to the options discussed in this report.
Description of Options- This is the heart of a recommendation report. In this section, you describe a set number of possible ideas (typically 3) for solving the problem cited at the beginning of your report. Your ideas should be creative and well-planned. Each option (which should be described in 1-2 paragraphs) should include the following information:
a cohesive, comprehensive overview of this option/idea;
information about how this option answers the need cited at the beginning of your report;
specific details about how this idea could be implemented; and
justifications as to why this option will work.
Evaluation Criteria & Evaluations of Each Option- After describing the three options, you should outline criteria for evaluating those options. The criteria should be based on the information outlined in your Statement of Need. After listing and justifying evaluation criteria, you should evaluate each option based on its ability to answer your criteria.
Final Recommendation- After describing and evaluating your options, you will recommend the one you think is best and provide a discussion of the reasons why you recommend it. In other words, defend your recommendation thoroughly in this section.
Conclusion- The conclusion to a recommendation report should re-emphasize the final recommendation and offer suggestions about how the audience/reader could move toward implementation.
Reference Page- Recommendation reports sometimes require in-depth research that can range from conducting interviews and surveys to reading peer-reviewed journal articles or other related documents. You should cite this information so that future readers can find the articles and resources you used.
November 10th, 2020 
