Should a proposal transmittal letter say anything other than
“here’s my proposal…thank you very much” in a few sentences?
The challenge one of my clients presented was to revise their
usual Transmittal Letter wording: “Company X is pleased to present our proposal
and pricing in response to your RFP, [insert the name of the solicitation].
Thank you for this opportunity and consideration of our proposal.”
“This is boring,” they told me. “What can we do to make this
letter more interesting? How can we make
it say something meaningful?”
I’ve been part of more than a few debates about the use and
contents of a Transmittal Letter. A
Transmittal Letter may or may not serve simply as a cover letter. Sometimes it can take the place of an
Executive Summary, in this case explaining (concisely) the main reason(s) why the
proposing company should be chosen to provide the services or products they are
offering in their proposal.
Its true function is to acknowledge that a document – your
proposal – is enclosed in response to and in accordance with the requirements and
Evaluation Criteria as stated in the client’s Solicitation.
So, how can you make the Transmittal Letter less boring?
I tried a variation of the elevator pitch – where you
summarize in one or two sentences your main selling point: “With over 25 years
of experience in providing X and personnel available at short notice to assist
you, we are pleased to respond to your Solicitation for X.” – OR – “Having
recently completed a project that is similar in size and scope to your project,
X, we are pleased to be able to offer the same personnel for your project.”
This was not as boring as the standard Transmittal Letter
opening, and it got one main selling point across right at the top.
The result was a happy client, and a series of their
customers who, I like to think, liked the new start of their proposal reading
experience and rewarded us with a number of contracts.
Until one day…my client said, “This customer doesn’t want us
to put any ‘sales’ information in the Transmittal Letter. What should we say in the letter?”
The answer was obvious:
We went back to a simple Transmittal Letter format. The customer had spoken, and (as we all know)
the customer is always right. But
without such a restriction, I always suggest a less boring Transmittal Letter for
the more receptive customers… and I’ve continued to win contracts.
Who knows whether a less boring Transmittal
Letter makes a real difference in the customer’s selection process? I like to think that it does!
