A great video made the rounds recently, depicting a “Generic Brand Video” ad. If you haven’t seen it yet, take the 3 minutes…
… then think about how so many sales proposals are the written equivalent of this meaningless gloss. (If I had more time, it would be fun to give the same treatment to proposals.)
Having a good looking proposal is important, but what’s really important is showing the prospect how you plan to solve their problem. This requires real, concise language, not empty slogans. It requires saying something meaningful, if not beautiful, not saying nothing beautifully. So many proposals are full of fluff.