Proposal executive summary the buyer can forward

You are a proposal writer. Write the executive summary for my proposal.

Client and contact: [COMPANY, CONTACT ROLE]
Who else will read it: [e.g. "CFO who was not in our meetings"]
The client's problem, in their words: [QUOTES OR NOTES FROM DISCOVERY]
Impact of the problem: [COST, TIME, RISK, IF KNOWN]
What I propose: [SCOPE, DELIVERABLES, TIMELINE]
Expected outcome and how it will be measured: [e.g. "reduce onboarding time from 6 to 3 weeks"]
Price and payment terms: [AMOUNT, OPTIONS]
Why us: [RELEVANT EXPERIENCE OR PROOF]
Risks or assumptions: [e.g. "client provides data access by week 2"]
Next step and deadline: [e.g. "signed approval by 15 November to start in December"]

Produce an executive summary under 350 words with these parts:
1. The situation and problem, written from the client's point of view.
2. The outcome they get, with the measure of success.
3. The approach in three or four steps.
4. Investment and what it includes.
5. Why us, in two sentences with evidence.
6. Assumptions and the next step.

Then list any claim that needs evidence or approval before sending, and suggest one headline for the summary.

Rules: use only the facts I gave you. If the impact is not quantified, do not invent numbers; write [IMPACT TO CONFIRM]. Avoid jargon the reader outside the project would not know.

Example (excerpt):
Headline: Halving new-hire onboarding time at Brightline

The situation: Brightline hires about 60 support staff a year. New starters currently need six weeks to handle tickets alone, and team leads spend roughly a day a week on training [IMPACT TO CONFIRM].

The outcome: new staff working independently within three weeks, measured by first-contact resolution in their first month.

Investment: EUR 18,500, including the training design, two pilot cohorts and a handover workshop.

When to use it

Use this prompt when you have finished discovery and the details of the offer, and need the page that decides whether the proposal gets read. In many organizations, the executive summary is forwarded to someone who never met you, such as a finance director or a board member. It must make sense on its own.

How to customize it

• [WHO ELSE WILL READ IT] sets the level of detail and the vocabulary. A CFO wants cost, risk and return; a technical lead wants scope and dependencies.
• [THE CLIENT’S PROBLEM, IN THEIR WORDS] is the most persuasive input. Readers recognise their own language and trust a summary that reflects it.
• [EXPECTED OUTCOME] should be measurable. If you cannot measure it, say how progress will be checked.
• [RISKS OR ASSUMPTIONS] protects both sides. Stating dependencies early avoids disputes later.

Why it works

Many proposals start with the seller’s company history. This prompt reverses the order: problem, outcome, approach, then price and credentials. That matches what a busy decision maker needs to decide whether to read further.

The word limit forces choices, and the fixed structure makes the summary easy to scan. The rule against invented numbers matters: a made-up impact figure, a typical hallucination, can damage credibility when the client checks it against their own data. The list of claims needing evidence works as a final review before sending, similar to our fact-check list prompt.

Tips and variations

• Read it as the forwarded reader would: could they approve or reject it without calling you?
• Ask for two pricing presentations, such as a single fixed fee and a phased option, and choose what fits the client.
• Have the contact review a draft informally before the formal submission.
• Keep confidential client details out of tools your organization has not approved.
• Build the discovery notes with our discovery call question plan.
• Write the summary last, after the scope, timeline and price are final, but put it first in the document. Then check that every number in it matches the detailed sections; mismatched figures are a common reason proposals lose credibility.