Proper Way To Format a Business Proposition Letter

This might be bordering on IMHO, but I digress.

Is there a proper way to format a letter in regards to a business proposition? More specifically, I’d like to request a product from a corporation while compensating them with advertisements on a product I’ll be retailing (as well as the website).

To supply a few more details, the company I hope to contact is fairly large for the niche audience it caters too, and the product I’ll be distributing is targeting a similar, potentially untapped demographic (Untapped in reference to the company I’ll be contacting).

More important than the letter format is the letter content, and more important than the letter content is the addressee.

To answer your direct question, standard business letter is fine, make sure you keep it succinct and get across the value to them.

As far as content, I’m not certain of the deal you’re proposing. You’re saying that if they give you a product for free, you’ll put an ad on your retail website, which gets many hits (and sales?) from a relevant market? If so, I would phrase things a bit differently. I’d say “we have access to a very relevant market and are interested in reselling your product. Please send us an evaluation unit.” Never mind the advertising. If you’re planning to sell it (or you can convince them that you are), they would much rather hear about that.

As far as the contact goes, you say this is a large company, so call in ahead of time and ask who you should talk to about reselling the product. You’ll likely have to make a few calls to get to the right person. Then send your letter to that person. Or better yet, get them on the phone and ask them in person. If you can convince them that they’ll sell a bunch through you, they should be happy to give you a test run.