Collaborating with another individual or business can help you in many ways. For instance, you could gain more exposure or access to infrastructure that your small business cannot typically afford. Whether it is the business community or the area of research or even creative fields, it is important to have a collaboration strategy.

Some common types of collaboration include:

• Research collaboration
• Business project collaboration
• Media partnership
• Event collaboration
• Strategic partnership
• Marketing collaboration

However, before you are ready to work in partnership, you need to approach your target partners first. The best way to make a positive impact is by sending them a professional collaboration proposal. Several organizations and individuals create a collaboration proposal template that they send out to others to initiate their request for collaboration.

Therefore, your collaboration proposal template forms a crucial part of attracting partners and prospects to improve your line of work.

Advantages offered by a collaboration proposal template

As stated previously, having a collaboration proposal template is the cornerstone of your collaborative strategy. It offers the following advantages:

• Having a standardized collaboration proposal template saves you time as you only need to personalize the proposal and make a few tweaks before issuing it to the intended receiver.
• Collaboration promotes diversity of thought, which can offer multiple perspectives to the same issue. As it is said, two heads are better than one.
• A collaboration proposal template establishes equality wherein, regardless of the background, organizations and individuals can put forth their observations in a healthy manner.
• It prevents collaborative oversight, as the roles and responsibilities are clearly defined to decide the ambit of the collaboration.
• Collaboration keeps the project mobilized.

Parts of a collaboration proposal template

Now that you know about the benefits of the collaboration proposal template, it is time to draft one. Every collaboration proposal template must have the following components:

Personalized salutation in your collaboration proposal template

You intend to work with the said individual or company, and the best way to show that you have done your homework is through a personalized salutation. Even though you are making use of a collaboration proposal template, you must make an effort to customize it.

Include the receiver’s first name, spell it correctly, and write a personalized covering letter or note to go with the press release. Also, clearly state your business name and other related details on the proposal. 

Fortunately, to help you in this quest, Bonsai offers editable collaboration proposal templates that will allow you to make these little changes that can make a world of difference.

Clear ideas in your collaboration proposal template

It is important to make the first contact clear and concise. Thus, the next section of your collaboration proposal template must contain the logistics of how you wish to facilitate the collaboration. It must include the following:

• The common grounds forming the basis of the conversation
• Objectives of the partnership
• Your expectations from the individual/company
• The deliverables that they receive in return
• Framework for how the collaboration will be executed
• The expected timeframe of the collaboration
• What differentiates you from your competitors

Clearly, defining these ideas reflects your preparedness for collaborative work. When you show that you are ready, the recipients will be more eager to collaborate with you.

Conclusion

As stated previously, the initial contact must be to-the-point and succinct. Thus, rather than droning on and on about the proposed collaboration, it is essential to go out with a bang when you still have their attention. In the concluding paragraph of your proposal, you can highlight the key points, such as what value the collaborator receives and how it will benefit them. Reiterating the highlights will drive your point home.

Collaboration partnerships are a great way to give your work a boost. However, the most important aspect of every collaboration proposal template should be about how the collaboration is beneficial for you and the recipient. Remember to create the necessary hype and stay polite and professional.