Tip 91 – State your most important point first - Shipley Asia Pacific

Proposal evaluators read until satisfied, score the question, then look for the answer to the next question.

Writers’ styles are influenced by the documents they read. So proposal writers with a technical background often model their writing on the scientific genre, where process is more important than results and comes first in the document.

However, the most effective and highest scored proposals are like management reports or newspaper articles. They state their conclusion or result, and then support it.

When writing any proposal or business document, ask yourself, “If the evaluators stop reading before the end, will they have absorbed the ideas and information that are most important to them?” If not, reorder your content to reflect the evaluator’s priorities, with essential ideas and points stated in the first sentences.