Making a Proposal Easy to Read, Skim, and Evaluate

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Writing for the Skimmer

Most evaluators don’t read every word—they skim. Clear headings, bullet points, and concise language help reviewers quickly grasp your main messages. Structure matters as much as content when every minute of attention is precious.

Highlighting What Matters

Dense paragraphs bury important ideas. Strategic use of callouts, graphics, and summaries brings critical points to the surface. By making strengths and differentiators impossible to miss, you guide evaluators toward the reasons to select your team.

Respecting the Evaluation Process

Proposals that anticipate evaluators’ needs—compliance checklists, clear scoring alignment, and logical organization—reduce friction and increase confidence. When proposals are easy to navigate, reviewers can focus on substance instead of struggling with format.

suggested KPIs for this topic

These KPIs help you edit proposals to make them readable, skimable, and evaluatable. They focus on clarity, structure, evaluator-centered editing, collaboration with contributors, and applying graphic design principles so your proposal communicates instantly.

evaluator-centered editing (the 3 core questions)

  • Start each section by answering the 3 questions: “What is the goal of this section?”, “What does the client need to see?”, and “How do we make that obvious?”
  • Confirm that each section addresses the correct evaluation criterion.
  • Remove content that belongs elsewhere (e.g., tasks in project understanding).
  • Rewrite sections so their central message is visible within 5 seconds of skimming.
  • Track how often evaluators or reviewers can correctly summarize your section in one sentence.

writing quality: clarity, structure & brevity

  • Break long paragraphs into smaller ones with one main idea each.
  • Reduce sentence length by eliminating false subjects and passive constructions.
  • Use direct, specific language, replacing vague or indirect phrasing.
  • Ensure subheadings state the message, not the topic (e.g., “Relocating the alignment improves safety”).
  • Cut 20–40% of unnecessary words without losing meaning.

collaboration & rewriting with contributors

  • Use positive, nonjudgmental language when requesting rewrites (“I noticed an opportunity…”).
  • Show the evaluation criteria to align the contributor’s section with evaluator expectations.
  • Obtain point-form content if the contributor cannot rewrite a full section.
  • Use storyboarding or structured prompts whenever possible to avoid late, weak content.
  • Track rewrite cycles and reduce them over time through better initial instructions.

section purpose & structural alignment

  • Ensure each section answers the evaluation criteria directly — no filler or misaligned content.
  • Rewrite “project understanding” sections to focus on issues, risks, and context — not tasks.
  • Confirm that the section flow mirrors the client’s logic, not internal organizational logic.
  • Restructure sections so evaluators don’t have to search for the mandatory elements.
  • Flag and remove repetitive or irrelevant detail that slows comprehension.

graphic design principles for skimability & evaluation

  • Use visual hierarchy (headings, subheadings, callouts, white space) to make the argument instantly visible.
  • Limit paragraphs to visually comfortable lengths with generous spacing.
  • Use callout boxes for key differentiators, quantified results, and promises.
  • Apply consistent alignment, grids, and spacing to improve visual clarity.
  • Ensure that any two pages can be skimmed in under 10 seconds with the message still clear.

fast editing & evaluator-ready final drafts

  • Complete a first-pass edit by identifying big-picture misalignments before touching sentence-level issues.
  • Use templates and pre-defined rewrite patterns to speed up editing.
  • Convert bullet lists (like the example you provided) into clear, argument-driven paragraphs with headings.
  • Check each edit against the client’s evaluation criteria to maintain alignment.
  • Reduce full editing time through repeatable techniques and structured workflows.

Choose a KPI from each category to produce proposals that are easier to read, easier to evaluate, and far more persuasive — without rewriting entire sections from scratch.

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