YOU'VE BEEN WORKING with a potential client for the last three months and managed to identify their key needs, determine the budget, and move them closer towards a decision. What's still missing is your final proposal, which is an important part of the process.
Though no one has ever won a major contract on the strength of a written proposal alone, this document has a specific job to do. It demonstrates your understanding of the client's business, shows that your solution will create value, confirms how you will support the project and explains the proposed fee structure.
But just as importantly, it provides a further opportunity to build rapport and improve two-way communication. The way to do this is by getting the client involved in its development. Don't retreat to your office and lock yourself away until the proposal is completed. Instead, before you start working on it, ask the client if you can contact them with questions. Then do so by calling up a few days later.
Come up with questions that will make them view their business in a different light. Also, float some new ideas and see how they are received, and reconfirm your understanding of which issues are the real priorities. Don't do this by e-mail – pick up the phone.
Before printing a final version, arrange to meet the potential client again to review a "draft'". Take along just one copy because this will help to focus attention when you are going over the material together.
There's no need to review everything, so concentrate on the areas you know are of greatest interest. If the client has any observations or comments, write these down directly on the draft. Better yet, get the client to mark up the copy, as this will create a sense that it's their proposal as well.
If it's not possible to fix such a meeting, then make arrangements to deliver the final proposal by hand. This should give you another chance to highlight the main points and emphasise certain aspects of it.
Any questions raised by the client at that point can be answered either on the spot or by sending a short addendum if you feel things are not sufficiently clear in the proposal. Hopefully, when the client subsequently holds internal meetings, your contact will be looking to support your recommendations and will have the necessary information to do so.
The crucial thing when preparing the proposal is to remember that it's not about you; it's about what you can do for the client. It has to focus squarely on the end result and not just the means of getting there. You don't want to leave the decision-makers thinking only about the time and money involved, and being uncertain about how their business will be improved. To avoid this, make sure the proposal contains four key elements:
Understanding the business
Don't start the proposal with a section about your company. This belongs at the end, so begin with something that deliberately focuses on the client, such as "Our Understanding of your Issues". In writing this, don't just rephrase the issues set out in the original brief or request for quotation.
Too many proposals merely include a "cut and paste" of objectives, issues or corporate background supplied by the client. Your job is to take this as a starting point, analyse the problems or opportunities and provide an insightful understanding of the issues.
If a client wants to improve the negotiating skills of their sales team, state the real business issues – i.e. sales are falling, or competition is increasing. The objective is not to repeat what is already known, but to present a message with a new perspective that causes them to think again.
Service and solution
When deciding on the layout and content of the proposal, make it easy for the client to understand your solution and the value it will bring. Also, show that you're responsive and will offer personalised service.
Every client wants value for money, and most of them believe their business needs are unique. They don't want to hear about products or services that have no immediate relevance and will detect signs of a proposal cobbled together from "second-hand" parts. They want to know that you understand the issues and that some thought has gone into preparing a customised solution.
The people
The adage is true. People buy from people, rather than from companies. Since relationships are often the deciding factor, it is essential to select the right team and ensure they come across as a cohesive unit. The client should believe that they have the right balance of knowledge and experience, something not easily demonstrated in a proposal. For this reason, the best advice is not to present members of your team on paper. They should sell themselves in person. The "people" part of the proposal should serve as a reminder, not an introduction.
Your company
You must talk about your company in the proposal, but do it in a way that creates value for the client. Simply claiming a wide range of experience or mentioning past successes is unlikely to differentiate you from the competition. If you make a statement about something, follow up with an example of how it can add value for the client.
Always remember that clients perceive things differently. One will see a benefit in having a "high-quality" supplier, and another will think that frequent references to "quality" mean extra expense.
Therefore, assess things carefully before deciding which benefits to highlight, and make sure the client can see the connection between your "value" and their needs. Provide evidence and support each key statement with facts, statistics, case studies or visual aids.
In fact, the written proposal is a summary of evidence to support the claims you have made during the sales process. It should show you understand the industry, market developments, and the client's current business issues and competition. Use it also to demonstrate how you will create benefits and add value.
In the final analysis, business is won by building a sound relationship with the client, but the proposal is an important part of the process of clarifying and confirming information and creating rapport and credibility.
TIPS TO WIN
Clients want quality
The focus of any written proposal should be quality, not quantity. Don't kid yourself that clients will be impressed by the number of pages, unnecessary background information, large font size or endless charts and graphs. In fact, these tactics can make the document look weak.
Demonstrate quality by including a page called "Why It Will Work" or "How the Solution Addresses Your Issues". This should summarise each issue and show as clearly as possible how your suggestions will work for the client's business.
If they have previously spoken about needing to react more quickly to market trends, you should include a section setting out concrete ideas. This is the time to spell out exactly how your company can address the client's stated needs, and not fall back on generic or vague promotional material.
Document structure
When creating the final proposal, both content and presentation are important. The structure is everything and should be built around the headings of context, concept and form. Context relates to the situation, issue or problem at hand. The concept refers to your thinking, strategy, approach and proposed solution. The form should include key information about how you will execute the strategy.
As you draft the document, each concept you include should have a "point" to explain the idea, an "impact" to illustrate the expected outcome or benefit, and an "example" to demonstrate how it has worked previously. If you make use of a case study, consider presenting it in a "situation/action/result/testimonial" format. This allows you to provide a context and discuss the problems while proving that the solution worked.
Be concise
The first rule of writing a proposal is to keep it clear and concise. Too many people make the mistake of thinking that long sentences are more impressive. They take a simple idea and add unnecessary qualifications and meaningless dependent clauses. They insist on working for "an internationally renowned solutions provider" rather than a "company".
If you have something to say, it will come across best in tightly structured sentences and paragraphs. Therefore, prioritise the points you want to make and have only one or two ideas in each sentence.
If there are qualifications or explanation to add, put them in separate sentences, but don't go to the extreme of writing only short bullet-point sentences. Use a combination of both and don't be reluctant to ask colleagues for their comments.