How to make sure your proposals and quotes increase your conversion rate and not detract from it…

“Sounds good, send me a proposal.” How many times have you heard that? Too many?

So you run back to your office, put together a proposal, send it to the prospect, and start the follow-up process (and the prayer vigil)…

Or do you?

I mean the sale should be solidified BEFORE the proposal is written.

Your proposal, or quote, should be the essence of what has been decided by you and your prospect.

It should solidify the sale.

It should be the image of your business.

It should be a window as to how business is conducted by your company…

Is it?

Here’s a five-part “Proposal/Quote Package” that will lock in more deals for you…

Part One: The Preparation…

When your prospect says, “Send me a proposal,” you should have 25 standard questions that completely tie down the deal so that the proposal is more of a formality than a deal maker.

Be sure that you have every fact of the deal written down before you leave their office or home.

Get the price right the first time.
Go in with your best price.

If you have a standard proposal, ask someone impartial to look at it.

Is it the best you could possibly give?

Does it reflect the quality of your company and product?

If it’s not the greatest, change it.

Part Two: The Content…

State the purpose of your proposal in the first sentence.
You can even use a headline.

Define the present situation.
Paint a clear picture that implies the necessity of this sale. Just state the facts – from the customers perspective.

List all the objectives.
If you’ve done your information gathering upfront, then you know what your customer’s needs are, and you have a solid plan to help that person. State the objectives of the purchase using the customer’s exact words, if possible. That way, your customer knows that you cared enough to listen.

Give your background if needed.
If other decision-makers will be looking at your quote/ proposal, use this background information to clarify who you are.
Write your background in terms of how you help others – not in terms of how great you are.
Define how the process will take place.
List exactly who will do what and when it will be done.
Reference dates and include copies of other documents if necessary.

Have an itemised list of all products and/or services.
List these items in an order that makes sense to the customer.

State the cost AND the value attached to the cost (return on investment or productivity payback, say).

State the terms.
Be sure they are stated exactly as you discussed them before the proposal was written.
Leave no room for misinterpretation.

Have an approval page for the prospect to sign with your signature already on it.

Put your mission statement on the last page of the proposal.

Testimonial letters and references should be an integral part of your Proposal/Quotation Pack, especially if others, who did not hear your sales presentation, are going to be involved in making a decision.

Part Three: The Format…

The format makes your proposal outstanding or ordinary.

At this point, you’ve invested time and money in the marketing and time on the prospect to get to this stage – so why not give yourself the best possible chance of success.

I mean, you can send a plain old email if you want but shouldn’t your Quote or Proposal be somewhere between mind-boggling and memorable?

What would you have to do for the person who gets it to call someone from another office to, “come look at this proposal.”

That’s your yard-stick.

The cover: Should be the graphic grabber that leads to a great proposal.
Make me want to open it and see what’s inside. Get a copy of the prospect’s logo and put it on the cover. It’s a small touch, but, providing it’s done well, adds a lot of punch.

The graphics: 14 point type is ideal for body text. Serif fonts (with little squiggles) are easier on the eyes and so easier to read – although a sans serif font can look ‘cleaner’ and more modern.
My favourite fonts are Calibri or Museo.

The paper: must be heavy enough that the type does not show through.

(And yes, you should print and post it. You know that you only get one chance to make a first impression and your beautifully produced, eye-catching quote will hang around way longer, and make you look way better than that easy-to-send, and easy-to-delete and-forget-about email version!

Use a high-quality binding: Don’t just staple it. It’s too easy for the thing to start coming apart and awkward to flip back and forth between pages. Use a clear, heavy plastic on the front, and a piece of cover stock on the back.

Laser printing is a must: If you don’t own a laser printer, get to know someone who does. Many printers will do laser printing for you.

Don’t look at your proposal with your eyes. Look at it through the eyes of your prospect.

Why all this attention to detail? Two simple truths:

1. You want the order, don’t you? Why chance it with a less than a great proposal?
2. The image created by your proposal is the image your prospect has of your company.

Your proposal is the last step of a long courtship. Put your best foot forward without stubbing your toe!!

Part Four: The Style…

The skill of drafting sales words on a proposal is an integral part of the process.
Some people have a hard time coming up with the appropriate words. Not because they can’t write, but because they don’t know the rules of writing. Here are some writing rules and guidelines to help turn your proposals into sales:

1. Use a headline above the body of the text to state your objective.
2. Use short sentences and short paragraphs. (for emphasis)
3. Edit, edit, edit. Take out every word not integral to the purpose or objective of the communication. Avoid heavy syrup. Half the number of adjectives, half the prepositional phrases, and most adverbs can be eliminated. Look behind commas to see if the entire phrase is worthy of keeping. Usually, it’s not.
4. Keep the proposal short. The shorter it is, the better chance you have of the proposal being read and understood.
5. Use bullets to break up the monotony.
They make the proposal easy to read for
your customer.
• Use bullets to make the proposal seem (or be) short and sweet.
• Use bullets to emphasise the most important points.
• Indent the bullets.

6. Don’t bold your name, bold what’s important to the prospect. Your name is among the least important words in the proposal.
7. Bold stu to get attention but only when absolutely necessary.
8. Edit out (almost) all words that end in “ly”.
9. Avoid superlatives (“est”).
10. Avoid the word “unique.” And “exciting”. Almost certainly neither is true, and you don’t want to lie in your proposal/quote.
11. Don’t misspell a word. One man misspelt “potato”, and he paid for it dearly. Luckily he didn’t have a very important job.
12. Include the extra; the unexpected. Enclose an article or something pertaining to your business. Something that makes your prospect think
you went beyond the norm to serve and communicate with them.
13. Write a great (short and sweet) cover letter…
• Don’t make the prospect vomit when he reads your cover letter. Make the letter easy to digest.
• Keep it to one page, and it will be most effective.
• Don’t say “thank you for the opportunity,” instead try “we are proud to offer.”
• Don’t resell your product just sell the next action step in the sales cycle and build some confidence and rapport. Don’t use the letter as a sales pitch; just use it as a sales tool.
• Never say “thanks again”. It’s not necessary to thank anyone again. Once is enough, twice is grovelling.
• Ask for a response by a certain date.
• Use a nice, non-beg, professional closing like: “Thank you for your time and consideration. I’ll call you on Tuesday.”
• Sign your first name only. It’s more friendly.
• P.S. If you want to make your plea or point twice, use a P.S.

14. It must read like a book. It must be totally understandable without anyone explaining anything. It must be compelling. It shouldn’t read like advertising copy, but it is a selling tool. A critical tool. It’s your ‘close’ and the reasons why they should buy restated on paper.

Part Five: The Delivery…

When possible, hand deliver.
This is the best way to be sure that your proposal will get into the hands of your prospect.
Think about it, wouldn’t you be impressed if that important proposal was personally delivered to you?
Royal Mail will do a fine job though as second-best.
And a nice envelope, don’t forget.

Here’s the toughest rule:

Ask someone smart and impartial to critique your proposal. Accept their constructive criticism and use it as a learning tool.
Knowing the rules and practising them will lead to effective proposals.

Sales proposal photo by Sebastian Herrmann on Unsplash