“Sounds good, can you send me a proposal?”
These words used to excite and terrify me. Then, I’d go off to write an amazing proposal to wow the prospect and win the business.
So much stress, for so little success.
Because proposals don’t win deals– they lose them.
The deal is won during the conversations before the proposal. A good proposal summarizes those conversations, it doesn’t try to present magical new information.
Here are a few key rules that I learned the hard way:
- A proposal is a story, not a brochure. Prospects just flipping to the pricing page and picking the cheapest vendor? They’re getting brochures with quotes, not proposals.
- The hero of the story is the buyer, not you.
- Every great story needs a villain. If you don’t know who (or, more typically “what”) is the villain, and why it’s urgent to overcome the villain before they blow up your base, keep digging. Or suggest that maybe this isn’t important right now.
Are you following these rules?
For more details, including tips on pricing, writing, and presenting proposals, register to join my webinar on November 7.