Once you have spoken to your potential client, you would have discussed the basic job outlines and possibly how long the design job could take with an estimated cost.
I used to follow up any phone calls with the client with an email which would then outline the proposal. This email would tell the client what the tasks were. For example 1) Research, 2) Design phase and 3) Technical Specs. It would highlight the deliverables, cost and time frame of each task.
The emails would end up being quite long, and one client pointed out to me that he would prefer all this information summed up as one conclusion. This was a great point, and so I have put together a graph which sums up all the information you would need to send your client once you have spoken about the project details already. You can add or take away any sections for your own proposal plan!