As noted in the project overview, you will send an email of inquiry to your client, develop an interview and transcribe its results, and develop a client proposal based upon your field research.

The deliverables for this unit include:

an email of inquiry to client,

interview questions and transcript from completed interview, and

client proposal.

On this node, you will find all information that you need to complete unit 2 including required readings, recommended resources, and a checklist for project progress. If you have any questions about deadlines, please refer to the course calendar. If you have any questions about using the materials located on this page, feel free to contact me (kimmehea@u.arizona.edu or 663-3500).

What is an email of inquiry?
At this point, you have been assigned a client and team of peers to work with you. The client might be one that I contacted in the initial stages of this project's development or it might be one that you or a team member contacted. Regardless of the initial stages of contact with your client, you now must consider the next level of relationship development. You must establish contact with your selected client and must request information to plan your research and establish rapport.

Almost too cliché is the idea that first impressions are lasting ones. This email of inquiry will be your first "official" contact with your client, and you should carefully compose the message. Please note that if your client does not have access to email, you will create a letter of inquiry as your deliverable. If this is the case, please be certain to speak with me about this change to your unit 2 assignments.

suggested readings
Read pages 139-141, 233-236 in The Business Writer's Companion.

body of email
Some requested information from your client includes, but is not limited to, the organization's hours of operation, preferred form of contact (either email or phone), times when best to contact organization's representatives, and availability of a contact person for interviewing purposes. You also must greet the client and thank him or her for participating in the project. You must assure, but not overstate, your intentions for the client-consultant relationship and outline your project path. Emphasize your need to collect data about the organization in an interview and explain the process to the client. Most importantly, explain that you will be following up the email with a phone call to set up the interview. Draft your message in Word and then later cut and paste it into an email program.

Keep in mind that your interview with the client should take place some time between Wednesday, February 12th and Wednesday, February 19th.

format of email
The email should be from all members of your team listing your full names and your full email addresses (Be certain that the email addresses, themselves, are professional and not "cute"). You should address the email to your contact person--again, use his or her full name and full email address. You should BCC or CC the email message to me. The subject line, just as in your memos, should be descriptive and useful.

Your email should follow formal guidelines similar to those for a letter. Here are some more guidelines for formatting your email:

Don't use a colorful background or other stylized font choice--use the default formatting for your email. Many email programs cannot read the elaborate or decorative email message formats.

Greet the contact person formally, using Mr. or Ms. and his or her full name. Follow this greeting with a colon or comma.

Create clear paragraphs developing the message as instructed above. Clearly state who you are, why you are contacting the client, your goals and intentions in making contact, and requests from the client. Establish a friendly yet professional tone.

Close the message with "Sincerely" or a similarly professional closing. Be certain, then, to provide your full names and contact information (email addresses, phone #s, preferred calling times if you have restrictions).

What field research should I conduct?
Prior to developing your client proposal, you should conduct at least one interview with a member of your client organization. You should be collecting this data to support your rationales for why your client would best be served by the recommendations that you make in your proposal. You will want to know about the organization's history, its purpose, its clientele and role in the community, its organizational structure, its communication needs, and possible top priority jobs in terms of written deliverable(s).

Your goals for this interview are threefold:

1. to gain useful and relevant data about your client.

2. to guide other aspects of your research process.

3. to establish client-consultant rapport.

suggested readings
Read pages 15-16 in The Business Writer's Companion.

developing effective interview questions
The following are points to consider as you draft your interview questions.

As you plan your interview, think about not only the individual questions but also the shape of the interview as a whole.

Avoid asking questions for which you already have adequate answers.

Have at least six well-developed questions, but don't let these questions stifle the natural flow of the conversation.

Listen carefully to the responses and ask follow-up questions based upon the interviewee's interests and concerns.

Avoid questions that can be answered with a simple yes or no.

Avoid asking questions that are too broad.

Avoid starting the interview with questions that are too narrow.

Avoid asking leading questions that assume a particular answer and discourage the interviewee from voicing alternative interests/concerns.

creating an interview transcript
You should transcribe your interview notes in a Word file and distribute those notes to your team members. This transcription should capture, as much as possible, the questions, responses, and tone of the interview with your client.

Below is a format to follow for your report:

suggested readings
For more information, read pages 78-82 in The Business Writer's Companion.

letter of transmittal
Your letter of transmittal should address your client, and it should briefly explain the title of the enclosed proposal, denote the research completed to produce the proposal, and outline a guide to help the client follow the major sections of your proposal. You also should request a response to your proposal within one week, if possible. This response can be handled in a formal meeting, via email, or over the phone depending upon the client's response to the proposal. The letter of transmittal establishes good will and contextualizes the proposal for the client. Use full block format and follow the formatting guidelines on the Formatting Reference page. You also can reference the letter template.

title page
Your title page should include a title for your proposal, your name, the date on which the proposal was completed, the name of your client, and appropriate graphic.

abstract of proposal
Your overview should briefly summarize your proposal. Traditionally, this overview is only a paragraph. Note what information is included in each section of your proposal including the deliverable(s); a quick summary of your time line for producing those deliverable(s), research, planning, drafting, peer and client review, revision, and submission to client; and a brief nod to cost factors related to the production and maintenance of the deliverable(s).

need statement
Your need statement should identify the mission of your client and explain the primary need related to that mission. (Remember this "need" is abstract and intangible--it is not the deliverable(s) that you will be creating.) Describe the evidence from your research that demonstrates this need is the primary one for the client, listing at least two to five significant signals that this is so. Explain some other related needs of your client.

project description
Your project description section should outline a specific professional writing deliverable(s) that will fulfill the need that you identified. In this section, you also should explain why this particular deliverable(s) will fulfill the client's need and why it is the best choice for the client. Again, you need to support your claims of why with research data.

plan & progress checks
In this section, you should define a step-by-step plan to produce the deliverable(s) and note how your progress to these goals will be ensured through work in our course and your team's plan outside of class time. Your plan explains each step to get to the deliverable(s) and when each step will be accomplished, and your progress checks section describes the methods of evaluation of progress that will be implemented as part of your plan. In addition to your written explanation, provide some kind of visual here either a timeline or chart for the client. Remember to set your deadline for the deliverable(s) in either week 12 or 13 of our semester--in enough time for you to work on unit 4 of this project.

budget section
Your budget section should consider the resource expenditures of the client based upon your proposal. Since you are gaining valuable experience to help you develop as a professional writer and class credit for this project and the client is gaining a deliverable(s), your person hours are accounted for. You must also consider time and other costs. For example, if your deliverable(s) are two brochures then you must consider paper, printing, and updating costs of these print documents as well as the time factors involved in the future "maintenance" of these documents--how often will they need to be reviewed for revision?

Use this downloadable Proposal Guide to help outline the sections of your proposal.

IMPORTANT NOTE
Based upon your client's review of the proposal, either update the proposal for resubmission to client or begin working on deliverable(s) as outlined in the plan of your proposal.

Now, it will be up to you to monitor the progress updates requested for the course and to maintain contact with your client. Remember you might need to conduct more in-depth research, share drafts-in-progress with your client, etc. You shouldn't overburden your client, but rather provide reasonable updates and ask for input from the client as you are developing your deliverable(s). On Tuesday, March 13th, we will have a class review workshop of your deliverable(s). Remember to meet your own deadline and provide the deliverable(s) to your client in week 12 or 13--enough time before the end of the semester for possible revisions based upon your client's requests.

When do I turn in my unit 2 materials for evaluation?
Please see the course calendar for relevant due dates and be certain to read the course update messages for further details about the project. Peer review sheet for proposal. Your revised version of the proposal should go to your client, and when you deliver the proposal, ask for feedback on the proposal within a week. You will also email a copy of your completed proposal on the due date list on the course calendar.



How can I learn more about professional emails & proposals?
To find out more about creating professional emails and proposals, please review these sites:

professional email messages
Writing Professional Emails
by Report Central
http://www.reportercentral.com/technology/gdr20000509a.html

Writing Effective Emails
by Rachel Green
http://www.firststep.com.au/articles/rachel-email.html

proposals
How to Write a Project Proposal
by Worcester Polytechnic Institute
http://www.wpi.edu/Academics/Projects/Proposal/

Proposal Writer's Guide
by University of Michigan
http://www.research.umich.edu/research/proposals/proposal_dev/pwg/PWGCONTENTS.HTML

Proposal Writing Short Course
by The Foundation Center
http://fdncenter.org/learn/shortcourse/prop1.html

Other Course Links:
syllabus | calendar | memo | overview of units 1-4 | unit 1 | unit 3 | unit 4 | job materials portfolio | formatting reference