Where to Put Your Client-Centered Insights

The whole proposal should be oriented toward the client, but it's particularly important to put as much of your client-centered insight up front as possible. That means including the client in your cover letter, title page, and executive summary.

One simple way to check whether your proposals are client centered or self centered is to count how many times your company's name appears in the executive summary compared to the customer's name. The customer should appear at least three times more often, because a good executive summary will focus primarily on the customer's business situation, their needs, their desired outcomes, and how your solution will match up against their expectations. If it's all about you, it's a bad executive summary.