advice on making a proposal

I have been asked to make a proposal for my company and need a little advice from anyone that has experience in making up proposals in the past. I work for a Bathroom and Kitchen company, we have several showrooms throughout the province and get a lot of business driven in by Interior Designers. What I want to do is start a network of commission based sales consultants whos job would be to actively seek out Designers and explain our process whereas the Designers get 10% rebate of each sale. i.e for each client they send in or accompany in to our showroom they get 10% of the purchase price of their customer. We need to pay our commission sales reps a fee, a finders fee which I,m thinking will be ongoing for each sale their designer earns. I have to work out some sort of percentage for which we can afford to pay them and also how do I write this up as a proposal in order for it to look professional to my Director. In otherwards I dont want to to look like an idiot. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[Ankesh]

I've created proposals and presentations before - but never for a boss (me being my own boss for my entire life except 1 week.)

What I do is usually:

1. Write down the basic idea in 1-2 paragraphs.

2. Create a table with 2 columns.
2.a. On the left hand side, write down "Production" or "Operations" - and make a list of all the details needed to make the idea into a reality.
2.b. On the right hand side, write down "Marketing" - and list down all the ideas that can be used to promote the idea.

3. Then itemize everything under "Production" and "Marketing" - make a few phone calls - and figure out the costs. Add a little bit of cushion for the costs.

4. Next, estimate the time it'll take. Double it.

5. Then calculate the profit potential - if the idea is a flop, if the idea is a huge success, and if the idea works out ok - mention the profit or loss estimates for all 3 scenarios.

Thats it.

You could also create graphs and images and file everything in an expensive looking folder. But basically, if you talk about Production, Marketing, Finance, Time and Profit Potential - its comprehensive and your boss should be able to make his decision based on that info.

These Writing proposal resources might help with some ideas...
http://www.captureplanning.com/!hc_h..._proposal.cfm?
http://sbinformation.about.com/cs/bi...a/proposal.htm
http://www.cbsc.org/servlet/ContentS...c=CBSC_WebPage

Phil

One main objective of a proposal is to make an offer
to another party. Therefore, a good proposal should simply
state clearly what is being proposed and what the one
being proposed to stands to benefit for accepting the proposal.

The way I go about writing a proposal is to first have
a clear picture of what I want, that is my objective for writing
the proposal. Second, I then identify what I intend to give
as a reward to the party receiving my proposal if he accepts
my proposal.

Once I'm able to do that, then I proceed to write those
terms and conditions down. And my proposal is ready.

What you need to bear in mind, as you write your proposal,
is that there should be as much benefit for you who is
making the proposal as for the party being proposed to.

I think they call it "win-win deal."

sobazu
http://www.sowealthlibrary.com

Guys thanks for taking the time to respond. I have picked up some ideas and have started writing it up. I just needed some guidance as this is my first time putting a proposal together.
Thanks for taking the time out to help, appreciated.