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How to write an agency proposal that gets replies

Most agency proposals are written for the wrong reader and buried under credentials. Here's a structure that gets a decision, plus a template you can copy and send this week.

·5 min read

The person who reads your proposal first is rarely the person who signs it. They skim it, decide whether it's worth forwarding, and then have to explain it to someone else — usually badly, usually from memory, usually in a meeting you're not in.

That single fact should change how you write. A proposal isn't a document that persuades. It's a document your contact can defend without you in the room. Everything else — the case studies, the team bios, the process diagram — is weight it has to carry.

Lead with their problem in their words

Open by restating what they told you. Not paraphrased into agency language, not upgraded into a "strategic challenge". The actual words they used on the call.

If a marketing director said "we're getting traffic but nobody fills in the form", your first line is about traffic and forms. Not "conversion rate optimisation opportunities across the acquisition funnel." When they read their own sentence back, two things happen: they believe you were listening, and they stop reading defensively.

This is also your first filter. If you can't write two sentences describing their problem in concrete terms, you didn't run a good enough discovery call and you're about to write a proposal on guesswork.

Put the price where they can find it

Bury the price on page eleven and the first thing your reader does is scroll to find it, in a bad mood, having skipped everything you wanted them to read. Put it on page one or two, before the credentials.

Three things make a price easier to say yes to:

Cut the credentials to one page

Every agency includes a founding story, a values slide, a logo wall and four case studies. Your reader has three proposals in a folder that all look like that.

Keep one page. On it: two pieces of relevant work with a specific outcome each, and the names of the people who will actually do this job. Not the agency's headcount — the two or three humans, with a line each on what they'll be doing. Relevance beats volume every time. One project in their sector with a real result outperforms six impressive projects in sectors they don't care about.

The template

Here's the whole thing. Five sections, aim for four pages. Anything you want to add that doesn't fit in four pages goes in an appendix your reader will never open, which is fine.

1. WHAT YOU TOLD US            (half a page)
   - Their problem, their words
   - Why it matters to them now
   - What happens if nothing changes

2. WHAT WE'D DO                (one page)
   - The approach in plain language, 3-5 steps
   - What you'll see at each step
   - What we need from you, and when

3. WHAT IT COSTS               (half a page)
   - Recommended option, one number
   - Payment schedule
   - Not included: X, Y, Z
   - Optional add-ons, priced separately

4. WHY US                      (one page)
   - Two relevant examples with outcomes
   - The named people doing the work
   - One sentence on how we handle things going wrong

5. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT           (a few lines)
   - The specific next step
   - The date this pricing holds until
   - Who to reply to

And the opening, which is the part most people get wrong:

Hi [Name],

Thanks for the conversation on [day]. To make sure I've got it right: you're [specific situation], and the thing that's actually costing you is [specific consequence they described]. You want that fixed by [their deadline], mainly because [their reason, not yours].

Here's what we'd do, what it costs, and what we'd need from you. I've kept it to four pages — if you want the detail behind any of it, ask and I'll send it.

Then section 5, which almost nobody writes properly:

Next step: a 30-minute call with [Name] and whoever needs to sign off, to walk through the timeline and answer questions. I've held [two specific slots] — either works, or tell me what does.

This pricing holds until [date, 3-4 weeks out]. After that I'd need to re-check team availability, and the timeline would move.

Notice what that does. It names a specific next action rather than "let me know your thoughts". It invites the decision-maker into the room. And it puts a real, explainable reason on the expiry date instead of a fake discount deadline.

Three sentences that do a lot of work

"If you'd rather do X instead, here's what that would cost." Offering a cheaper or smaller version, unprompted, reads as confidence rather than desperation. It also gives your contact something to negotiate with internally that isn't your price.

"The risk on this project is X, and here's how we'd handle it." Naming the thing that could go wrong is the single most credible move available to you. Everyone else's proposal implies the project will go perfectly. Yours is the only one that sounds like it was written by someone who has done this before.

"We'd need a decision by [date] to hit [their deadline]." Urgency that comes from their calendar rather than your sales target. If their launch is in October and you need eight weeks, that's arithmetic, not pressure.

Send it and then say so

Email the proposal and follow up with a short message the same day — not a week later, and not "just checking in". Something like:

Sent the proposal over. Short version: [one sentence on the approach], [price], [timeline]. Happy to jump on a call if it's easier to talk through than read.

That three-line summary is what your contact will forward. It's what gets repeated in the meeting where the decision actually gets made. Write it deliberately rather than letting them invent their own.

This week

Take the last proposal you sent that went quiet. Rewrite the first paragraph using the client's own words from your notes, and rewrite the last section so it names a specific next step and a specific date. If those two paragraphs are weak, nothing in the middle was ever going to save it.

Then use that version as your template. You don't need a new design system — you need the same four pages every time, so writing one stops taking a day.

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