What is a Collaboration Proposal?
A collaboration proposal—also known as a business partnership proposal—is a document that outlines a proposed agreement between two parties. Any well-designed business proposal should communicate the mutual benefit of the joint business venture.
When improving and growing your business—partnerships and collaborations are crucial. Whether you’re looking for a joint venture, a strategic alliance, or a straightforward business collaboration, it’s essential to sell your idea and organization. A business partnership proposal enables you to do just that.
Note: Sign up for Bonsai free and get started on your proposal today.
What to Include in the Collaboration Proposal
Introduction
The first thing you need to include in your proposal is a short introduction of who you are, what services you offer, and how this relates to the collaboration project at hand. This way, you can engage prospective partners, and encourage them to take the time to look at the rest of your proposal.
Executive summary
In the executive summary, summarize your proposal so that prospects have an idea of what’s to come. You want to include all of the main points from your proposal in a brief, punchy summary.
It’s important to keep things short. After all, it’s likely your collab proposal isn’t the only proposal prospects will receive. If they are not convinced quickly enough, they might move on to the next one.
Team members
Here’s where you highlight why you’re a great match. A huge reason to want to work with another company is the team and talent they’ll bring to the table.
Show your potential business partner who your team is made of, how talented they are, and what they specialize in. Most importantly, show the value they’ll add to the partnership.
Bonsai Top Tip: Adding high-quality pictures of your team members improves your likability, builds trust, and allows prospects to familiarize themselves with your team.
Past accomplishments
A crucial part of any partnership is to prove that your brand is full of ideas that would work well with your potential business partner. Showcasing your past accomplishments is a great way to do this.
Not only will you be highlighting your capabilities, but you’ll be showing you have the experience to tackle any new problems successfully. This is the credibility factor that many prospects will be looking for in a new partner.
Project overview
Next up is the project overview. Here you’ll outline the joint venture business project and how both businesses will collaborate to achieve joint goals.
To create a winning proposal, you need to talk about the problems you will be solving together. Take some time to research and fully understand your partner’s struggles, and outline them in this section.
High-quality research both ensures that your partnership proposal ticks every box and it communicates the value you can offer to potential partners.
Scope of work
Once you have established and explained the business project, you can get down to the nitty-gritty—the scope of work.
The scope of work outlines the specifics of the work you’ll be doing together. Here, you can mention any important aspects of the project, include things like:
- Projects: the tasks this collaboration includes, and those it does not!
- Goals: set the expectations in relation to the business partnership
- Timeline and milestones: lets your partner know how you’ll keep them updated on the project and what deliverables you’ll provide along the way
- Pricing and details: provide all the information about costs, payment and any details that need to be addressed
- Ownership: establish clear terms and conditions for the resources generated throughout the project
- Payment schedule: clearly establish the payment schedule and payment terms so that both parties are on the same page
The scope of work is basically a contract without being a one—it’s all the specifics that will be part of the contract once your business partnership proposal gets approved.
Closing statement
You want to create a lasting impression on your potential business partner—one that leaves them feeling positive about your brand and connecting with it.
Thank them for their time and express your excitement for the future collaboration.
How to Write a Collaboration Proposal
Now that you know what your business partnership proposal should include, how exactly do you write it?
Find out exactly what the client wants
Before you even start to write the business partnership proposal, you should focus on doing some research. It’s worth understanding your prospect’s pain points and how you can work together to address them.
Once you have this information, make sure you address it in your bid proposal. This lets your potential partner know that you’ve done your research, and reached out to them with a precise aim. Let them know that you’ve seen their needs and appreciate them as a valuable business partner.
Present the objectives of the partnership clearly. What each company will be in charge of, and how each partner will provide their services to increase the benefits of the partnership.
Highlight what sets you apart
Next, you want to highlight the advantages of working with you. Expand on your expertise, your success, your previous accomplishments, and your vision. Show the benefits of a possible partnership with you and prove that you’re different from the rest.
Consider the following questions when creating your proposal:
- How are you an expert in your industry?
- How can you add value to the partnership?
- What will you bring to the table?
- How can this proposal be an advantage for them?
- What services are you offering that nobody else is?
A proposal template is your chance to sell yourself. You want them to be as excited about the partnership as you are.
Lastly, make sure to showcase your best previous work or even previous successful collaborations. This is your shot to stress on the mutual benefit of the partnership and put yourself above any other companies on their watchlist.
Creating a Collaboration Proposal is Simple with Bonsai
As you probably know by now, creating proposals is no easy job. It takes time to research and address all the necessary details to create an appealing and exciting proposal.
You need to capture your potential business partner's attention and keep them engaged throughout. Doing this is time-consuming, and—if done hastily—can lack critical information.
That’s where Bonsai comes in.
Bonsai’s collaboration proposal template allows you to provide your potential business partners with a simple and convincing document without spending hours on it.
You won't have to worry about adding key sections or formatting it to be clear and engaging—all of this is done by Bonsai up front.
All you need to do is fill in the blanks on the business partnership proposal template and send it to those partners you know will help your business grow.
You can get started with Bonsai in just a few steps:
- Sign up free to Bonsai
- Choose the template you need
- Edit it to suit your client and personal brand
Once you’ve got your template ready, you can send it off to your prospective business partner without ever leaving the Bonsai platform. You can then check out when your potential business partner reviews and even signs off on your proposal.
Collaboration Proposal FAQs
How long is a collaboration proposal?
There’s no exact word count for a collaboration proposal. You want to make sure your proposal provides enough information without being so long it becomes exhausting to read.
Consider this: would you want to read your collaboration proposal cover to cover? Is every word bringing value and excitement to the table?
If you responded no to either of these questions, you might want to make a couple changes to your collaboration proposal before sending it on its way!
What should be included in a collaboration proposal?
Make sure to include the following chapter in your collaboration proposal to ensure its success:
- Introduction
- Executive summary
- Team members
- Past accomplishments
- Project overview
- Scope of work
- Closing statement
By doing this, you cover all bases when it comes to clearly communicating your partnership proposals and the benefits you can bring.
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