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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: : : : Copyright (c) 1991,1992 : : David A. Works : : All Rights Reserved : : : : This is NOT free software. This is : : NOT public domain software. This : : is shareware: you are expected to : : pay a registration fee to the : : author of this program if you find : : find it useful. See registration : : details in the REGISTER.ME file : : : ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: PROPOSE IT! (Macintosh) V2.0 "USER'S GUIDE" Registration has great benefits: 1. User's Guide 2. Latest version of Propose It! 3. Bonus diskette 4. More Programs! (See REGISTER ME) ========================== PROPOSE IT! ========================== USER'S GUIDE David A. Works Grand Universal P.O. Box 4118 Whitefish, MT 59937 HOW TO REGISTER PROPOSE IT!®: There are several different ways to register PROPOSE IT!. Please use whichever method is most convenient for you. In all cases you will receive the latest version available at the time your order is received. Read the sections that follow and the registration forms below for other benefits of registration. -BASIC REGISTRATION- Latest Version Of Propose It! Technical support (minimum 3 months) via regular mail, e-mail (via the online services listed below), or phone. Special Offers: Registered Users of PROPOSE IT! are entitled to receive a discount on a subscription to Shareware Magazine. The regular yearly subscription rate of $14.95 is reduced to just $9.97. A toll-free number and special Order Number will be provided upon registration. CompuServe: full details about a special offer for CompuServe will also be provided. The offer provides for FREE sign up, a $15.00 usage credit and a complimentary subscription to CompuServe Magazine. **PROFESSIONAL REGISTRATION** Additional Features: In addition to all the features listed above, we will also include the following: * Request for Proposal (RFP) Response (Commercial) Many companies and salespeople are asked to respond to RFP's. These files give you not only a format to answer an RFP, but also some tips for winning this type of bid. * Non-Disclosure Agreement This Non-Disclosure Agreement protects your rights and ideas. Mandatory when sharing confidential information with prospective customers. User's Guide A complete PRINTED User's Guide will be included with all registrations. The User's Guide will have all files printed out and will include printouts of all the samples included with PROPOSE IT!. Bonus Diskette: Also included with the registered version diskette will be another diskette with exceptional business and productivity shareware/freeware programs. Coupon For One Free Upgrade Included in your registration packet will be a coupon good for one free upgrade. ********************************** * PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE * ********************************** Receive the PROFESSIONAL versions of three of our most popular software packages - Propose It!, Business Plan Master, and "F & L". Individually these programs would cost you well over $100, but you can have all three programs for only $66 plus shipping and handling. Business Plan Master Every business needs a business plan. Great when you need to raise capital or get a loan, even BETTER as a management tool! Includes sample text and powerful spreadsheet files. Professional registration - $44 F & L Create over 100 business Forms & Letters. Includes business correspondence, legal forms and agreements. Save hundreds of hours of time! Professional registration - $34 REGISTER DIRECTLY WITH THE AUTHOR: Visa/MasterCard Call us at (406) 862-1280 between 9:00 and 4:30 (Mountain Time; GMT-6) Monday through Friday. We will ship immediately. You may also mail the completed Author Registration Form with payment to Grand Universal at the address below. Please include any comments about PROPOSE IT! with your order. Hope the P.O. Box doesn't offend you, but going to the Post Office is one of the highlights of our small town's social scene. This program is produced by a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. PROPOSE IT!(Macintosh) v2.0 AUTHOR REGISTRATION FORM NAME: _____________________________________________________ COMPANY:___________________________________________________ ADDRESS: _____________________ CITY/TOWN: ______________ STATE/PROV: _______ ZIP/CODE: _________ COUNTRY: __________ TELEPHONE: ______________ HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT PROPOSE IT!? _____________ HOW DID YOU GET THE EVALUATION COPY ? _____________________ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- QTY DESCRIPTION PRICE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BASIC: latest version of PROPOSE IT!, upgrade notices, support, other shareware ___ programs, CIS/Shareware Mag. offers $19.00 PROFESSIONAL: additionally includes a Printed User's Guide, BONUS diskette and a coupon for ___ 1 FREE upgrade $24.00 ************************************************************ * PROFESSIONAL PAK: Includes Professional * * versions of Business Plan Master, Propos * *___ It! and F & L. Normally a $99 value! $66.00 * *********************************************************** * SHIPPING/HANDLING: __ ANY: $4 US (1st class), $10 overseas (air) $ 4.00 TOTAL: ___.00 INVOICE contains an invoice which can be given to your purchasing department to ease ordering. Grand Universal CompuServe 70400,153 David A. Works Delphi DAVIDWORKS P.O. Box 4118 GEnie D.WORKS3 Whitefish, MT 59937 America OnLine DAVIDW2959 (406) 862-1280 Table of Contents ___________________________________________________________ Introduction 1 Requirements 2 Usage 2 Files 3 Preparation 4 Getting Started 7 Cover Letter 8 Large Proposals 9 Letter Proposals 9 Overview 9 Propose It! - User's Guide ---------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ____________ A couple of years ago when I was between jobs, I worked for a temporary employment agency. One of my assignments was with a large telecommunications company as an administrator in the corporate sales department. I supported the correspondence of 60 sales people who were working accounts ranging from Mom & Pop to the Fortune 500. The first day on the job I was given an overview of the job - generating all the correspondence necessary for the sales people to close the sale. One of the first things to cross my desk was a proposal. I asked around for the format they wanted it in and looked for some template files to generate the project. To my surprise, there was nothing available. What they had done up until that point was to take old proposals and just change a few things and out the door it went. It was all done manually. Faced with the number of people I supported and the amount of correspondence generated, as soon as I got the pressing work out of the way, I started digging up boilerplate from wherever I could find it. I took the best from about five proposals that were on the computer and set about to automate the process. Rather than retype everything manually as had been done up till then, I set up a series of files as "search-and-replace" documents. From that beginning, I have put together more files and ideas and developed "Propose It!®" for those who may need a helping hand. By putting together a professional looking document with "Propose It!®", you will make yourself and the people you work with more valuable. David A. Works Propose It! Page 1 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide ---------------------------------- REQUIREMENTS ____________ To use "Propose It!®" you will need: • An Apple Maintosh • A word processing program Optional: • Word 4.0 or greater • Microsoft Works 2.0 • Laser printer (fonts are nice too!) • Spelling checker, Grammar checker • Thesaurus Usage --------- A well-written proposal is vital to presenting your ideas, your products or your services to clients or customers. Good writing takes time and preparation. To save time, I have designed "Propose It!®" so that it can be used verbatim. Here are some ideas to get the most out of "Propose It!: * I have designed "Propose It!®" to be used as a set of mail merge documents. I learned after a few "interesting experiences" that global search-and-replaces can get weird. Besides, by using a mail merge you can put in the letters you will need with the proposal at the same time. The idea is to save time. * Always follow any standards or formats that your company has set up. Just because "Propose It!®" is neat and will save you time so that you can play computer games doesn't mean you should ignore any corporate standards. "Propose It!®" is written in Times or Helvetica fonts and the margins are all changeable to suit your needs. * Familiarize yourself with the "merging" capabilities of your software package. To spare you the agony of reading a manual, I have included a section on "Merging". Propose It! Page 2 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide -------------------------- * Incorporate your own material into "Propose It!®". If you are in a corporation you should have enough marketing mumbo jumbo to last you an eternity. If you are in a small company, you still must have a few brochures lying around that you can cannibalize and incorporate. * Print out the "Sample" files to use as another reference. These files have the letters *sam.txt in them. * Get a copy of the "User's Guide". You can print this file out or purchase one from me directly. You may find it useful to print out the other files as well as they are lengthy (also included in purchased User's Guide package. * Work only on copies of the documents. * Keep your ideas simple and concise. * Allow several hours for the preparation of your first proposal. Files ______ *.DOC = WinWord 2.0 *.ASC = ASCII text file COVERLTR.DOC or COVERLTR.ASC Cover Letter Use this letter with larger proposals. It isn't good form to just send out a proposal without a cover letter. People like to know what they are receiving. LARGEPRO.DOC or LARGEPRO.ASC Large Proposal Template for proposing large or more complicated projects. Propose It! Page 3 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide -------------------------- LETTER1.DOC or LETTER1.ASC Letter Proposal Templates for proposals in letter form. Also includes an overview template which I have found very useful to include along with a letter proposal to larger companies. CVLTRSAM.TXT, LARGESAM.TXT, and LETRSAM.TXT Samples of Cover Letter, Large Proposal and Letter Proposal in ASCII format. MERGE.DOC or MERGE.ASC Merge Files These are the merge files necessary to complet a mail merge. USERS.GDE User's Guide This file. REGISTER.ME Please fill out this form to register your copy of "Propose It!". All of these files and their particular usage are explained in more detail below. Propose It! Page 4 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide -------------------------- Preparation ___________ This is frankly the most important part of your work. It's even more important than the "Propose It!®" templates. The old line, "Plan your work and work your plan" applies two-fold in proposal writing. How would you like to spend weeks sweating over a proposal only to find out yours was not accepted as you didn't really solve the problem the customer wanted solved? True Story #1 A company I worked for spent about two months and thousands of dollars in travel, computer rental and aggravation designing a telecommunications proposal for a large defense company. My group was responsible for designing the network. We frankly just did as we were asked by the account team. Part of good design is getting the best cost for your network design. In working with the pricing and the RFP (Request for Proposal), it became obvious to us that what the client wanted was not a network with all the bells and whistles (which is what we had been told to design) but in actuality they wanted the lowest price. Hundreds of people spent months on this project when in fact the account team and our little group of six could have done it all in about two weeks time. Needless to say, we did not win the proposal. Remember that you are solving a customer's problem so you better know exactly what the problem is. Your solution may be the best thing since sliced bread, but if the client wants dinner rolls... Also, be brave enough to give up if you can't really handle a project or if you don't want to deal with any hassles. I recently gave up on a government proposal because of the bureaucratic paperwork nightmare. It was about $40,000 worth of business but the aggravation factor was the most extreme for any proposal that I had ever seen. Ideally if you anticipate being in an RFP situation, the best time to inform yourself is before the RFP is written. That way you might have some influence in what actually will be asked for. Most companies appreciate the insight of vendors and are bright enough to know when you are trying to skew things your way as well, so don't over do it. Propose It! Page 5 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide -------------------------- Using "Propose It!®" should come in at the last phase of your proposal scenario. If you start writing before you know the problem or have developed a solution, you will end up with a very muddled proposal. (Of course, there are oftentimes many questions which are a matter of routine which can and should be answered before you get into the heat of proposal deadlines.) I have found that the best way to prepare is the old boring way of writing an outline. You know, the old Roman numeral "I, II, III, A,B,C" routine that we all learned in grade school. If you are lucky, your word processor will help you by having the outline feature. If not just hack away anyway. True Story #2 A few months ago I wrote a business plan for a wild-eyed business idea that I had. I must have revised the dumb thing about 200 times before I got fed up, I started over with an outline. Finally I could understand what I was trying to say. I wish I could tell you the business was a rip roaring success and that I am now on "Easy Street", but after playing with it for a few months I gave up on it. Frankly, I wouldn't have known to give up had I not organized my goals and objectives well to see that even though there was great potential, my comfort zone of how much effort it was going to take versus the amount of money I might theoretically make was invaded. Customizing One last bit of preparation to use these files is to customize them for your company and product. First open any document. Do a search-and-replace on [Your Company] and change it to the name of your company. You may also choose to do the same thing with [product/service] in each document. However, sometimes the usage of the word may require a generic product or service name and other times it may be specific. For example, the difference between "soda pop" and "Coca Cola". Also you will want to change "Your Name" to your name and change the "Marketing Representative" to your title. Propose It! Page 6 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide -------------------------- Mail Merging ------------ Doing a mail merge is different for every software package, so check your manual to find out how to incorporate what I have into the correct commands for your program. (Don't ask me why no one has bothered to standardize this part of computing. Seems rather obvious, doesn't it?) Basically, a mail-merge follows this way. 1. Open the merge file. 2. Enter the data requested (usually separated by commas). 3. Save the merge file. 4. Open the main file you want to merge. Getting Started ___________________________________________________________ After you have downloaded "Propose It!®" and decompressed the files, please copy them onto a floppy disk so that you have a back-up. You will probably goof them up a number of times, so be prepared. I accidently trashed this file a number of times before I got it right. Everybody does it so don't feel bad. Don't believe anyone who says they never have - obviously an incredible boor and not good company at a cocktail party. Open your particular word processing application and then open and save each file. Please print out the User's Guide file. I know this sounds stupid since you have already gotten this far, but I guess I need to say it anyway. No go back and re-read the "Preparation" section and do that first. Propose It! Page 7 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide ---------------------------------- FIRST FILE ---------------- Now read through the next few sections and pick out a file which you think will work best for you. I am much more a fan of substance over style, but style does have its place. Would you pay more attention to an idea on scratch paper or one that has been neatly organized with some jazzy graphics and type? If you are honest, you will say that it doesn't really matter if the idea is good. But we are talking about making it easy for your customer to get a handle on what it is you are proposing. I would much rather be bored looking at someone's proposal in Times and Helvetica than some chicken scratched refugee from McDonald's. So what I am saying in a round about way is to get creative in using fonts, font sizes, effects and some graphics. In case you haven't noticed, Courier died a quiet death a couple of years ago. Times and Helvetica are ok, but there are some really neat fonts out there and a number of books to help you through the muddle. But start with Times and Helvetica and you won't go wrong. Cover Letter ___________________________________________________ It is good business form to include a cover letter (some people call it a transmittal) to accompany a large proposal. Not that anybody pays attention to what you say in the letter. Call it protocol. If you haven't done your homework and presentation by this point, it won't matter what you have to say anyway. If you walk into IBM Headquarters with the best idea in the world, but are dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and shorts, guess how many people will listen to you? Think of this letter as the "white shirt, blue suit and conservative tie" of your proposal. Once you get past that it really gets interesting. I have only included one example since it is such a formal letter. When you open this file, you will notice that it is set up as a mail merge file. Propose It! Page 8 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide ---------------------------------- Large Proposals ___________________________________________________________ These are the hardest to write and take the most preparation. I have provided a "standard format", but feel free to be creative. I am assuming you have done all your investigating and all of your research to make sure that the solution you are proposing is in fact the correct solution for your customer and also one which they will want. Letter Proposals ___________________________________________________________ I think these are the most fun to write and I change them constantly. For a sales type, I have found that this is the best way to get your point across in a quick way and with a great degree of success. Here is a little hint. In my line of work (phone sales), I have found that I often never get to the real "decision maker". I end up talking to somebody else who really needs what I am offering but has to get approval from someone else. I give them the information to sell for me. Susie Secretary runs into the office with my proposal and says, "Boss, I need this now." So he looks at this fine piece of literature and agrees because he knows exactly what his employee wants as it is in writing. Overview ___________________________________________________________ This is a handy dandy document to go along with a letter proposal. This contains many of the items in the Large Proposal. You use this to introduce your company and to show off all the wonderful things you can do for your client. Sure you can tell him all about it, but there is nothing like having in in writing. Propose It! Page 9 User's Guide Propose It! - User's Guide ---------------------------------- I print up 10 copies of my overview at a time, bind them nicely using some nice cover stock for a cover and put it along with my main sales literature into a folder to mail to my client. Looks like I slave hours and hours creating this wonderful document just for him. I spent hours and hours on it years ago when I first started writing these things, now it takes all of five minutes to mail merge a letter proposal, organize a folder with sales info and stuff the envelope. This is the essence of computer productivity. Propose It! Page 10 User's Guide