Business Proposal Board for Beginners: Build the Outline with 5W1H and the 6 Elements

Business & Strategy

Business Proposal Board for Beginners: Build the Outline with 5W1H and the 6 Elements

Junior staff writing their first internal business proposal use this beginner template to learn proposal writing with 5W1H and the six elements an approver checks before signing off. The whiteboard uses two pages, with a frame for raw ideas on the left, a 5W1H radial that opens the idea into Why, What, Who, When, Where and How, a two-column pros and cons comparison and a six-step guide to a proposal that gets approved, then on the right a one-line summary frame, a table of the six elements (background, purpose, content, benefit, cost, schedule) and three frames on what approvers check, why proposals fail and the first move after sign-off. The task board has five columns, Idea pool, Outline, Drafting, In review and Submitted, with four parent tasks and three subtasks each, 16 cards in total, all not started. If you freeze on line one because you do not know how to write a proposal, answering the six 5W1H questions gives you the outline. It targets internal approval, not client sales.

0 Likes 0 Copies Author: WeProcess
business proposal 5W1H internal proposal proposal writing junior staff
Sign up free and use this template

Once you have a free account, you can copy this template from the marketplace

Whiteboard preview

Preview mode Business Proposal Board for Beginners: Build the Outline with 5W1H and the 6 Elements
Sign up free and use this template

Whiteboard preview

1. Idea Pool (problems and rough thou... 4. How to Write a Proposal That Gets ... 5. The Proposal in One Line (a 30-sec... 6. The 6 Elements of a Proposal (what... 7. What Approvers Look At 8. Why Proposals Get Rejected 9. Ready to Move After Sign-off Business Proposal... How to use: (1) F... Results you are a... Rules and format ... Sticking points a... Notes and things ... What bothers youe.g. Invoicing takes three days at every month end, and sales visits halve in that week. What you heard from others, in their wordse.g. Accounting: "We retype the same data into two systems."e.g. A senior rep: "Everyone has the same deadline, so there is nobody free to ask." Cases from other teams or companiese.g. The team next door split invoicing into two runs a month to flatten the load. No setup cost. 2. Build the Outl... Invoicing twice a month Whywhy do it e.g. To end three days of month-end overtime so sales can keep visiting clients Whatwhat to do e.g. Split the cut-off from once at month end into the 15th and month end Whowho does it e.g. Run by 2 people in accounting. It covers 12 sales reps and 2 accountants, 14 people Whenwhen e.g. Trial in October, live from November. Approval needed by September 20 Wherewhere e.g. Inside the accounting system we already have. No new tool Howhow to do it e.g. Set two cut-off dates, tell clients the month before, write a one-page procedure 3. Pros and Cons ... Prosupside The main reason to pick thise.g. It removes the cause of the month-end peak itself. No extra headcount, done with what we have. Gains outside your own teame.g. Sales can visit clients at month end too. Clients get spread-out deadlines and ask fewer last-minute questions. Consdownside Whose workload growse.g. All 40 regular clients need a notice. Nobody has agreed to write and send it yet. If it does not worke.g. Two cut-offs add a mid-month check. If one month of trial fails, we go back to the old way. 1. Pick one ideaFrom the problems on board 1, choose the one you can actually move.e.g. You cannot move a supplier price rise. You can move your own cut-off date. 2. Outline with 5W1HAnswer the six questions on board 2.Start with Why and the what, the how, the people and the timing stay in line. 3. List good and badWrite two cards each in the two columns on board 3. The numbers come later, in the benefit and cost rows.An idea with no downside is not thought through yet. 4. Say it in one lineWrite the 30-second version on board 5 and say it out loud.e.g. Test whether that one sentence is enough if you meet your manager in the corridor. 5. Fill the 6 elementsFill the table on board 6 from the top and reuse the rows as your headings.Keep it to one or two A4 pages. Long proposals go unread. 6. Get a pre-readShow it to your manager or a senior colleague and collect comments against board 7 before you submit.e.g. Kill the gap where you wrote zero cost but the IT team still spends hours. One-line summarye.g. We split invoicing into two runs a month, cut three days of month-end overtime to zero and add 12 sales visits a month. The sentence pattern, just fill the blanks"This proposal solves [whose] [problem] by [how] and delivers [what result]."A proposal you cannot say out loud will not pass, however well it is written. What to write Example Background Where you are now and what hurts.Facts and numbers only, no opinions. e.g. Month-end overtime runs 18 hours a month across 2 accountants, and sales visits halve in the same week. Purpose What you want to change, said in one sentence. e.g. Flatten the invoicing load across the month and take month-end overtime to zero. Content What you will actually do. Steps, who is covered, where it stops. e.g. Cut off on the 15th and at month end. Covers the 40 regular clients. New clients stay as they are. Benefit Split what you can put a number on from what you cannot. e.g. Overtime 18 hours to 0, about $324 a month at $18 an hour. Around 12 more month-end sales visits. Cost The money and the effort. If it is zero, write zero. e.g. No system change. 8 hours for the procedure and the client notices, 4 hours each for 2 accountants. Schedule What happens when. Always give the approval date and the start date. e.g. Approved on September 20, clients notified by September 30, trial in October, live in November. How much it costs and how much it returns Whose time it uses and how much of it How you roll it back if you stop e.g. Say you revert if one month of trial shows nothing e.g. Background is only "it feels inefficient" e.g. The benefit is "work gets easier" with no number e.g. You wrote zero cost but another team spends hours It says nothing about money, time or risk Decide one single thing to do on day one e.g. Email the 40 regular clients the next working day Write down who to contact and in what order Record the number you will measure once before you start
100%

Drag to move, scroll to zoom

Task board contents

Idea pool 16 items

Collect ideas
Outline with 5W1H
Write the 6 elements
Get it approved
List the problems
Ask 3 colleagues
Find a similar case
Start with Why
Write What and How
Set who and when
Background and aim
Show the payoff
Cost and schedule
Ask for a pre-read
Prep for questions
Plan day one

Outline 0 items

Drafting 0 items

In review 0 items

Submitted 0 items