Persuasive Business Proposals: Writing to Win More Customers, Clients, and Contracts

Creating Credibility with Details

Another common weakness in proposals, one that undercuts your credibility, is the use of unsubstantiated claims. Marketing “fluff” is not convincing. The more specifically you can substantiate your value statements and differentiators, the more likely the customer is to believe them.

Here are some examples of marketing fluff you should avoid:

• Best-of-breed

• Leading edge

• Leveraged

• Market/industry leader

• State-of-the-art

• Unequaled

• Uniquely qualified

• World-class

If your proposal says that you “leverage world-class service and best-of-breed products into the industry leading solution” and that you are “uniquely qualified” to handle this project, your customers will probably just mutter to themselves, “Oh, please, not again ...