7 Skills to Look for in Business Proposal Writers and Presenters

Posted by Prospero Team | November 8, 2022 | marketing, proposals
7 Skills to Look for in Business Proposal Writers and Presenters

Your proposal and presentation can make or break the deal when trying to win a big client or attract a powerful business partner. Sadly, we’re not all cut out for this kind of pressure, so proposal presentation skills are precious in today’s business world.

Therefore, when planning your company’s growth, you also need to factor in need for people who can charm their way into the hearts of partners, customers, and leads while doing a stellar presentation.

In today’s article, we’ll discuss what makes a good proposal presentation, where to look for the right people, and what skills to keep in mind. 

The Ingredients of a Good Proposal Presentation

A good proposal presentation is compelling, engaging, and informative for everyone in the room. For this, the speaker needs to find creative ways to grab and retain everyone’s attention, which is not an easy feat, especially in today’s day and age when people have shorter attention spans. 

So, to put together a powerful presentation, you’ll need a combination of these elements:

  • A great introduction
  • Good structure and a clear goal
  • Convincing visuals
  • Positive and open body language 
  • Familiarity with the audience
  • High-quality data that supports the main point

In short, an excellent proposal presentation starts with a bang! (the introduction) and continues with a well-defined structure that highlights compelling data in an easy-to-understand and friendly visual format. 

Also, non-verbal behavior is just as important as the spoken part of the proposal presentation. A smiling, calm person who uses large gestures and looks confident in what they’re saying is extremely convincing.

Lastly, a great speaker knows their audience. Or they know what motivates their decision-making process. This often involves lots of research into the type of people who will participate in building something similar to a customer profile.

Types of People Who Make Great Speakers

Public speaking is the stuff of a nightmare for many people, and when you add the pressure of a business presentation, things get challenging. This is why you need to find and hire people who genuinely are interested in this activity.  By carefully designing your recruitment process, you can identify and attract individuals who not only possess the required skills but also have a genuine passion for the work

Most of them are outgoing and passionate, with a unique personality that tends to shine when in front of an audience. They are also expressive and can use body movements, facial expressions, and words to turn even a boring, technical presentation into something exciting and worthy of attention.  

Studying the most famous public speakers worldwide will make you notice they genuinely connect with their audiences. Now, the chances that you’ll find and hire the next Nelson Mandela are pretty low, but it does help to know what you’re looking for in terms of character and skills. 

Where to List Your Job to Find Talent Fast

Now that you’re searching for people who can help create and give outstanding business proposal presentations, you should also know where to look for them. Most online job boards will do, but if you want things to move on faster, you may want to include sites like Indeed.com or Lensa, which is an excellent alternative to Indeed.

Modern online job boards use AI-powered algorithms to help refine searches and filter candidates based on specific skills and features. This way, you don’t have to review a pile of CVs before finding your best applicants.

Skills to Consider when Browsing Through Applications

Here is a list of the most common skills that can help a person become a good speaker. 

#1: Resilience and Patience

Behind a good proposal presentation are hours and hours of research, preparedness, and practice. Even natural speakers who enjoy being in front of a crowd still need to know their audience and put together a timeline of their presentation and speech. 

The level of preparedness remains the same whether the audience comprises five executives working at the company or 500 people at a conference hall. Therefore, one of the skills a good presenter needs is the patience and resilience to invest time and effort into digging through data and learning on the go.

#2: Fast Thinking

A good presenter must deal with interruptions, unexpected questions, and comments from the audience without allowing these events to affect the general flow of the presentation. This can be difficult to achieve when speakers are poorly prepared or nervous. 

People who can improvise on the spot are often great during proposal presentations, but it mostly boils down to their level of confidence and preparedness. When you know what you’re talking about, it’s easy to answer a question and return to the presentation. 

#3: Storytelling

Stories have been ingrained into our being from birth, and humans have used them for generations to communicate and share information. This is why we tend to remember the best stories, the ones that made us feel a certain way (studies show that emotions play a critical role in decision-making)

Storytelling is a surefire way to connect with your audience and inspire them to take action (buy a product, sign a contract, subscribe to a service). It’s also great to drive social media engagement and make your brand stand out in a crowd of similar brands.

Source

In summary, a good presenter with a convincing story can turn even the most boring data into a story that will get the audience emotionally invested and paying attention.

#4:  Digital Proficiency

People who work on presentations (both for research and presenting) need to be comfortable using digital tools. Many companies use knowledge sharing platforms to ease the research work and encourage collaboration between employers and departments, but features and interfaces often differ from one provider to another. 

Therefore, you should look for someone comfortable learning a new system from scratch. Also, in today’s day and age, virtual proposal presentations are pretty standard, so you also want someone who knows how to use the tools to help create and run a presentation from a remote location.

#5: A Good Sense of Design

We are visual beings, so visual content tends to be more popular and gets the most shares online. According to a recent study, 91% of content consumers prefer visual and interactive content over static media or text. 

But you don’t need to study to know that. If you’ve ever been subjected to a PowerPoint presentation that was mostly text, you probably remember it as one of your life’s most painfully dull experiences.

That’s why you want a person with a good eye for design to take care of the company’s proposal presentations. Visual aids and good structure are essential elements, right next to storytelling and sound research.  

#6: Enthusiasm and Honesty

Can a candidate get excited over Excel spreadsheets while explaining why you should also be excited? Then you’re most likely talking with someone with potential for the job.

Next to a presentation lacking visual aids, a bored presenter who doesn’t show interest in the topic is just as bad. A good speaker is excited about what they’re about to share with the audience, and their excitement spreads through the room, engaging the audience. 

But honesty is just as crucial for a successful proposal presentation. In a business setting, the people in the audience are often well-informed on the topic and can quickly spot exaggerations or any bending of the truth. When this happens, both the presenter and the brand behind them lose credibility. 

#7: Great Body Language

Human beings have several communication patterns, and non-verbal communication (aka body language) is the one we use the most. According to Prof. Albert Mehrabian of the University of California in Los Angeles, we deduce a person’s feelings and attitudes more by the speaker’s body language and tone of voice and less by what they’re saying. 

In summary, a speaker’s body language is often the determining factor when successfully delivering a message. The great thing about this skill is that it can be easily assessed during the interview when the hiring managers can determine a person’s nonverbal communication under pressure. 

A good presenter is open toward the audience (no crossed arms or legs), emanates confidence (looks people in the eye, smiles), and keeps a calm and friendly demeanor throughout the proposal presentation. 

Of course, it takes time and practice to reach this level of non-verbal communication, so it’s best to look for a person who pays attention to details and has enough self-presence to understand their body language. 

Key Takeaways

A good presenter is enthusiastic, honest, confident, calm under pressure, and capable of thinking fast in a dynamic scenario.

They are also good with digital tools and want to know their audience. Lastly, they know how to adjust their body language to communicate the right message and can enrapture the audience with an exciting story.

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