I feel proposal writers and technical writers are different. But most of the time technical writers are asked to do the work. So here I am throwing some light on proposal writing.

Proposal writing involves either of the following two activities:

1. Preparing Request for Information (RFI) or Request for Proposal (RFP)
2. Preparing reply to an RFI/RFP

When you are preparing an RFI/RFP, you generally state the requirements which you expect from the venders’ system, whereas when you are replying to an RFI/RFP, you describe the functionalities in your application, explaining how efficiently it can address the requirements stated by the customer.

Consider these points when you prepare reply to an RFI/RFP:

• Analyze the RFI/RFP sent by the customer and identify the outline (generally customers provide the outline in which form they want replies)

• Prepare outline and collect information from different sources in the company. To prepare reply, you must have thorough knowledge over the software or system for which the RFI/RFP is intended for. Then only you can identify the components in the application which can address the requirements and highlight them in your response. If you don’t have that much knowledge, then take help from experts (QA guys would be the best option.)

• Refer the previous response documents if any are available. You can copy most of the generic information from these documents, such as company background, organization chart, satisfied and esteemed customer profiles, etc.

• You can provide a list of your company SOPs as these would explain how standardized your company procedures are.

• Through out the response, your emphasis must be on addressing user requirements (stated by the customer in RFI/RFP.)

Experts, please correct if I am wrong anywhere.

Regards,
Mahendra

Hi Gonela,

The difference is as follows:

Proposal writers- Proposal writers create documents to help sell products/services. The proposal typically will represent the background of the company/organization, understand the need of the audience, your services and products match the customer’s requirements. A proposal writer also requires establishing and emphasizing the credibility of the organization. A proposal writer not only thinks of presentation, but also of selling a product/service.

A technical writer also understands the requirements of the customer/audience and creates documents. A technical writer gathers information and creates like User Manuals, Quick Reference Guides, Installation Guides, Error Messages etc. Their ability includes in having an expertise in the required language. They write in a concise and brief manner and need to keep in mind the presentation.