Great post from Matt Handal on The One Question That Can Dramatically Increase Your Proposal Wins. I won’t give away the ending here, but it’s worth the read, especially if you are struggling to figure out why you’re not closing deals.
Blog
Sales Proposal Writing Tips: Staring Down the Blank Screen
Did you ever have a great meeting with a prospect, when everything felt clear and straightforward, like the deal was in the bag, and then you got back to your office to start your proposal and you stared at that … Read More
Rules for Proposal Writing and Fiction Writing: Not What You Think
I’ve read plenty of proposals that sound like (bad) fiction. I’m not talking about the rules that says “don’t write fiction for your proposals.” That ought to go without saying. I’m talking about a great piece of writing advice from Chuck … Read More
If Pricing’s too Complicated, Get a Computer to Do It for You
Don’t know how to come up with a pricing model? Think figuring out it is too complicated, but coding genetic algorithms in Java is easier? Well, you’re in luck. Brian Du Preez put together an algorithm to price wine by … Read More
Follow up on proposal discounting
A while back, I wrote about a customer who wasn’t sure whether he should offer a discount to a prospect. He ended up following my advice and not offering any preemptive, arbitrary discounts, but he did offer 2 conditional discounts, … Read More
3 Tragic Misconceptions about Proposal Cover Letters
Here’s a great piece by Matt Handal about proposal cover letters. The most important part is the first: “Don’t include a cover letter in your proposal. It’s not going to convince us. So, don’t waste your time.” Why would he … Read More
Tips for Adding Videos to Proposals
Videos are a great way to make proposals really stand out. You can use videos to: Introduce team members who will work on a project. Demonstrate products and solutions in action. Provide testimonials. Show details of a location in a … Read More
A Faster Proposal Process Saves Time for You and Your Customers
Creating and closing proposal more efficiently is a big win for personal and company productivity, and it’s also a big win for your customers’ productivity. Do you hate the grunt work of answering RFP questions or just having the seemingly … Read More
Simple Sample Proposal Template
Need a simple sales proposal template? It’s easy to get anxious about whether your proposal covers the right things, in the right way. While there’s no universal, “perfect” template, here’s an outline and a way to get an actual proposal … Read More
When (and How) You Should Discount Your Sales Proposals in 3 Steps
I recently wrote about how not to discount. Some people have naturally asked how they should handle discounting situations. 1. Follow the advice in the “how not to discount” post– never preemptively discount. Note that Mimiran helps with some of … Read More