3 Elements Omitted in Proposals Will Kill Sales
Effective proposal writing is a learned art. Every person in business who has a need to write and present proposals will be wise to learn it. There are 3 elements in proposal writing most often overlooked that drive prospects away:
1. Speaking to the budget of your prospect
2. Line or package itemization
3. Full disclosure
Prior to writing your proposal, you need to find out why your prospect invited you in for an appointment or agreed to take time on the phone to speak with you. The initial conversation puts you, the vendor, in the position of a consultant.
You need to dig deep through questioning to discover all of the problems your prospect is experiencing. In turn, you question further to find how each problem is affecting other areas of their business.
Only after you ask all of the relevant questions for the situation, will you be able to determine if your services are a correct fit and that you can indeed help.
It has become apparent that some industries do not know to ask for their prospect what their budget is. Instead, these suppliers simply assume they know what is needed and that the money is available to accept their proposal. Otherwise, they believe, the prospect would not have inquired about their services in the first place.
Nothing is further from the truth. When it is your turn to speak after uncovering the needs of your prospect, simply ask upfront, What is your budget?
If you do not ask this frank question, you may well be wasting your own valuable time putting a proposal together and presenting it. They may have designer taste or a budget so low they cannot possibly afford your services offered. You will frustrate the prospect to the point where they will not have an honest dialogue with you.
The second element of a proposal is line items. Your proposal should clearly indicate everything that is included. If you provide individual pricing for each service then that should itemized. If you instead provide a package, be certain every element is carefully listed in the package.
Provide as much detail as possible so that your prospect knows exactly what is to be expected. Your prospect needs to know exactly what they will be receiving in exchange for their money spent.
To improve your success rate for sales, relationship building throughout the sales cycle is also a critical element.
The biggest error on a proposal is omission. Omission of expected items in the package will cause your prospect to not walk away but run. Some vendors purposely omit or are vague about what needs to be included. They hope to begin the project and mid-way through announce an extra element is needed which allows them to add money to their bottom line.
This practice only serves to spread bad word of mouth and hurt business on a bigger scale than just losing one prospect. Honesty is still the best policy.
Upon working with a kitchen designer, an associate was given a proposal to update his old tired-looking house. Jim initially told the designer he was on limited income and the improvement needed to be modest. He was never asked precisely what he had in mind. Instead, the designer said she understood.
The proposal came back being thousands of dollars over the expected amount. Jim told her the numbers needed to be redone.
Jim and the designer finally came to agreement however Jim said he needed to check one more source before signing. The second vendor was asked, In addition to the cabinets, how much are the counter tops?
Jim called the first company to ask if the counter tops were included in her proposal. He thought, how would a kitchen design be complete without the counters?
To his dismay, Jim found out the counter tops were a never-before disclosed extra charge and not included in the bid. Jim walked away thanking his lucky stars he never signed the paperwork.
Tips and Guides: Elinor Stutz, CEO of Smooth Sale, LLC and author of Nice Girls DO Get the Sale trains others on her proven relationship selling techniques through services and products. Her book sells worldwide. Services include training, coaching, and speaking. Her products suit all learning styles. She writes for Diversity Edge Magazine. Visit Smooth Sale or call 800-704-1499.