How do I create a proposal?

Creating a proposal to participate in a request in the PERSUIT platform is a straightforward process. 

After you've cleared conflicts and stated you're able to participate, the Proposal section will become visible at the top of the request. 

This section will hold the Create New Proposal button. 

You'll be directed to the Draft Proposal screen once the Create Proposal button has been clicked.

There are three standard sections to be filled out:

1. Proposal Summary
2. Pricing
3. Questions

Note: depending on the request type, it is possible for there to only be two out of three sections in a request. 

Proposal Summary

The Proposal Summary section can act as a cover letter to your proposal. This is where you can provide supplemental information pertaining to your professional relationship with the client, or list a summary of high-level assumptions you may have, or whatever else you may think is helpful for the client to know.

There is also an Attach Files button in this section where you can attach supplementary or required documents pertaining to the matter.

Pricing

The Pricing section allows you to provide fees for the requested matter at the overall total price, phase, and/or activity level, if enabled by the client. In PERSUIT, phase level fees are called items and activities within each phase are called Sub-items.

Depending on the matter, the overall matter price field can be either a Comparison Value which leverages auto-sum functionality or a manual Total Price field to allow for flexibility pricing the matter. You can view this article here for more information on the differences between Comparison Value and Total Price.

This example below leverages the Comparison Value.

This example below leverages the Total Price.

For the total price, items, and sub-items, firms will see the pricing preference that has been provided by the client (i.e. fixed fee, capped fee, budget estimate, etc.).

Firms can choose to deviate from the fee preference provided by the client by clicking on the Pricing drop-down menu.

Firms can also add in their own suggested sub-items within a phase/item, should they need to. 

If a firm would not like to provide pricing for an item for any reason, they can toggle the Excluded from Scope button. This article has more information on the Exclude from Scope toggle.

Questions

The Questions section will be a varied list of questions, depending on the matter and the client, for you to answer related to the matter. This is where you can let your skill, experience and strategy shine through.

Submitting the Proposal

Once you've filled out all three sections, you can Submit your proposal.

You'll find the Submit button in two places: the top right of the navigation bar and the bottom right of the drafting page. Click either one, then confirm the action by clicking Submit again to finalize the process.

You'll find the newly submitted proposal under the Proposals section of the request.

If you would like to withdraw your proposal for whatever reason, please view this article here for more information on how to do so.