Answer in brief
A business proposal tells one buyer what you will do, what it costs, on what terms and what to do next. A warm one follows a conversation or a request for a quote; a cold one goes out unasked and works like a brochure. In Russia a definite proposal to a named company can be a legal offer, so give it a validity date and have a lawyer read the wording.
What a business proposal is: cold, warm and requested
A business proposal is a written offer from a seller to a prospective buyer; Wikipedia opens its article on the subject with that definition. In practice it is a short document telling one buyer what you will do, what it costs, on what terms and what to do next. Everything else in it serves those four answers.
The first split is cold versus warm. A cold proposal goes out unasked, often to many companies; the same article describes unsolicited proposals as generic marketing material that introduces a product and is not meant to close a sale. A warm one follows a call, a meeting or a request. Only a warm proposal can name the buyer’s real problem, because only then do you know it.
The reverse is the request for a quote, where a buyer asks several suppliers the same questions to compare the replies; Wikipedia notes that a request for proposal sets out detailed specifications of what the customer wants to buy. In Russian public procurement, article 22 of law 44-FZ counts price information obtained at the customer’s request from suppliers as a source for the comparable market prices method. Answer such requests point by point, in their order.
When a proposal becomes a binding offer under Russian law
A proposal can bind you. Article 435 of the Russian Civil Code, as published by ConsultantPlus, calls an offer a proposal addressed to one or several specific persons that is definite enough and shows the sender’s intent to be bound by a contract with the addressee who accepts it. It must contain the essential terms and binds the sender once received. A priced proposal to one named company can pass all three tests.
Article 437 draws the other line: advertising and other proposals addressed to an indefinite circle of persons are an invitation to make offers, unless the proposal expressly says otherwise. One with all the essential terms that shows the will to contract with anyone who responds is a public offer. English case law calls the same idea an invitation to treat, and Wikipedia’s article on the term gives the textbook case: advertisements are generally invitations, not offers.
Two consequences follow. Under article 436, a received offer cannot be withdrawn during the period set for its acceptance, unless the offer itself says otherwise, so write the date until which the price holds. If a document is meant as information, not a commitment, some sellers say so in a plain line. Which wording fits your deal is a question for a lawyer who sees your documents.
The blocks of a working proposal, from headline to contact
Open with the buyer’s gain, not your company name: a headline saying what changes for them, such as a clean office every morning without managing cleaners. Next comes their problem in their own words, as they put it on the call, so they see that someone listened. Then the offer: what will be done, how often, with what and by whom. Each block answers one question in the order the buyer asks it.
After that, the price and what it includes, then the terms: start date, timeline, payment schedule and the validity date. Then proof the reader can check: a client who agreed to be named, a link to finished work, a licence number. Wikipedia’s list for an informally solicited proposal covers the same ground: capabilities, key issues, the buyer’s specifications and how they will be met, cost, delivery schedule and proof of earlier work.
Finish with one next step and one contact: a single action with a person behind it, such as a reply that books a trial visit on a given date. A vague hope of working together leaves the buyer to invent the next move. That is work they never asked for. If something must be signed, say what and how.
A sample one-page outline for an office cleaning service
Here is the outline for an everyday service, office cleaning for a small company; square brackets mark placeholders, not real figures. Headline: your office at [address] clean before the team arrives, five days a week. Problem: on the call on [date] you said the current cleaner misses days. Offer: weekday evening cleaning of [area] square metres, a monthly deep clean, the contractor’s own materials, one regular cleaner and a named supervisor.
Price and scope: [amount] a month, with exclusions such as window washing at height quoted separately. Terms: start on [date], monthly payment in advance, valid until [date]. Proof: [client name] agreed to take a reference call, and the supervisor’s visit checklist is attached. Next step: reply by [date] to book a free trial evening, or call [name] on [phone]. A business proposal for bookkeeping or repairs keeps this skeleton.
Presenting the price: one figure or two or three options
A single price is honest and quick when the scope is clear and the buyer has said what they need. Two or three options help when they have not decided: basic, recommended and extended, each with its scope written out. The options must differ in what the buyer gets, not only in the figure, or the cheapest wins by default. Mark your recommendation and say why.
Your business proposal will lie next to two others, so make the comparison easy: what is included and what is not, quantity and frequency, whose materials, whether taxes are included, what costs extra. A price without scope invites haggling, since the buyer cannot see what a discount would remove. A price tied to a list of work turns the talk to the list. If you cannot be exact, give a range and say what moves it.
Format, layout and file size for a proposal people will scan
Most readers scan first. In a 1997 article, Jakob Nielsen of Nielsen Norman Group reported that 79 percent of his test users always scanned a new page and only 16 percent read word by word. The group’s later eye-tracking work describes the F-shaped pattern: two horizontal sweeps near the top and a vertical scan down the left side, on desktop and on mobile. Kara Pernice’s article on it advises putting the key points in the first two paragraphs.
So one page wins most everyday deals: a headline, short blocks under plain subheadings, the price where the eye lands, the next step at the bottom. A short PDF deck suits a larger deal or a file that will be forwarded inside the buyer’s company. Send a PDF named after the buyer and keep it light. Gmail’s help gives 25 MB as the attachment limit for personal accounts, and Yandex Mail’s help says attachments over 25 MB in total go to Yandex Disk and arrive as links.
Design matters most in three cases. In a tender, the request sets the form, and the reply follows it to the letter. In a large deal, the document reaches people who have never met you. A brand that sells on looks, from interiors to clothing, is judged by its proposal as by its product. For a regular client, clean typography is enough.
Sending the proposal and following up without turning it into spam
The cover email does half the work. Its subject names the buyer and the topic the way they will search for it later: proposal for office cleaning at [company], valid until [date]. The body is three or four sentences: what it follows, the main gain, the attachment and the next step with a date. Follow up once, on the agreed day, with a short question rather than the file again.
Cold mass mailings run into the law. Article 18 of the Russian Advertising Law, 38-FZ, allows advertising over telecommunication networks only with the prior consent of the subscriber or addressee; unless the distributor proves consent, it counts as absent, and sending must stop at once for anyone who asks. Part 2 bans automatic mailing of advertising without a person’s involvement. Article 3 defines advertising as information addressed to an indefinite circle of persons, so a reply to one company’s request differs from a mailing to a bought list. A lawyer should judge where your campaign falls.
Before you write a business proposal: what to gather and what to delegate
Gather the material before you open a template: the buyer’s request in their words, the facts of their situation, your real prices and what each covers, the terms you can keep and the proof you may show. Decide whether the document informs or commits, and set the validity date. With that sheet ready, a one-page business proposal for a regular service takes an evening. A template saves only the layout.
Doing it yourself makes sense for a quote to a client who knows you, or for a simple service where the price list speaks for itself. Ordering the copy and the design makes sense when the deal is large, when the proposal competes in a tender, or when it must carry the brand as much as the price. VITON13 Studio designs sales proposals and presentations; the guide linked below explains what that design work costs.
Practical checklist
- Write down the buyer’s request in their own words before drafting a single block.
- Put a validity date and a written scope next to every price in the proposal.
- Keep only proof the buyer can check: named references, links to work, licence numbers.
- End the page with one next step, one date and one named person to contact.
- Have a lawyer check any cold mass mailing against article 18 of the Advertising Law.
Questions and answers
Is a business proposal legally binding in Russia?
It can be. If it goes to a specific company, is definite, contains the essential terms and shows that you intend to be bound, article 435 of the Civil Code treats it as an offer that binds you once received. A mailing to an indefinite circle is, by article 437, only an invitation to make offers unless it says otherwise. Ask a lawyer to check the wording for your deal.
How long should a proposal for a service be?
For an everyday service one page usually carries it: headline, problem, offer, price with scope, terms, proof and the next step. A few slides make sense when the deal is large or the file will be forwarded to people who have not met you. Let the buyer’s questions set the length, not the wish to look thorough.
Should a sales proposal go out as a PDF or a Word file?
A PDF keeps the layout and the fonts the same on every screen, so it suits the final version. An editable file makes sense when the buyer asks to mark up the terms or paste them into their own form, as can happen in a tender. Either way, name the file after the buyer and the subject and keep it well below mail attachment limits.
Can I email proposals to companies that never asked for them?
Article 18 of Russia’s Advertising Law requires the addressee’s prior consent for advertising sent over telecommunication networks and puts the burden of proving consent on the sender. Whether a given mailing counts as advertising depends on whom it addresses and what it says, so have a lawyer look at a cold campaign before it goes out.
How do I answer a buyer’s request for a quote?
Reply in the order and format the request sets, point by point, including the points where your offer is weaker. Give the price with its scope, the terms and the validity date, and attach only proof that can be checked. If something in the request is unclear, ask one precise question before sending instead of guessing.