Perfect

Proposals
5 Elements Perfect
Proposals Must Have
Element 1:
They Speak Their Language
You may be the best in the world at what you do. But that means
youre even more likely to make this mistake...
It's a mistake that can destroy the credibility of your proposal.
It's a mistake that will make your beautiful portfolio irrelevant.
And it's a mistake that will make you lose proposal after proposal.
So what's the deadly mistake? Its not understanding your prospect's
problem.
The Solution: Speak their Language
To avoid this deadly mistake, you rst need to nd out what the
prospect's problem is. Often, it's not what you think.
For instance, say a local car wash wants a new website. It'd be easy
for a designer to assume that their problem is they want to update
their website with a fresh new look.
That designer might send a proposal like this:
Title:
New Website for Squeaky Clean Car Wash
Project:
Squeaky Clean Car Wash wants their website redesigned
with a new look. We recommend a complete redesign,
including a new logo, contact form page, and a location
search.
However, when you assume you know what the prospect's problems
are, you're often wrong. Happily, there's a surere way to identify a
prospect's problem: simply ask the prospect what their problems are.
Then, once you know their problems, you can propose a custom
solution, demonstrating understanding and winning their trust.
Using this approach, web designer #2 would ask the prospect about
the problems the business is currently facing. As it turns out, the
biggest problem is that customers are having a hard time nding the
car wash on a side street. Several customers have complained.
Armed with this information, web designer #2 submits the following
proposal:
Title:
A Site that Gets Customers Rolling In
Project:
A user-friendly website that helps customers navigate to
Squeaky Clean Car Wash, whether theyre viewing the site
on a desktop computer or a mobile device. Well
accomplish this with a prominent Click to Locate button,
integration with Google Maps, and a street view photo of
Squeaky Clean Car Wash.
If you owned Squeaky Clean Car Wash, which designer would you
hire?
When you demonstrate that you understand a clients problem and
that you have the solution, youll win the prospects heart...even if
youre charging more than the other guys.
Element 2:
Theyre Short (But Not Too Short)
The longer your proposal, the more likely it will convince your client to
hire you, right?
Wrong!
Clients may say they want thorough, but our stats show they prefer
short, to-the-point proposals.
In fact, proposals that are less than 5 pages long are 31% more
likely to succeed.
Unfortunately, many of us learned to write by churning out 10 page
college essays when we only had 3 pages of things to say. So it's no
surprise that our proposals are too long and full of uff.
But don't just take a chainsaw to long proposals. You want to make
sure you don't cut out the good parts.
So what do you cut?
The Solution: Make Your Proposal Worth Reading
To make your proposal worth reading, you have to cut out the uff.
Luckily, most proposals have two kinds of uff that are easy to
eliminate.
The rst kind of uff is the stuff that's about you.
Look for sections called About Us, Meet the Team, or Company
Information. The truth is that most clients just skip over these
sections. At this point, your clients already know plenty about you, or
you wouldn't have been invited to submit a proposal.
So cut those sections. Immediately dive into what you can do for your
clients. That's all they care about anyway.
If you can't bear to cut these sections, you should at least move them
to the end of your proposal. This way, at least you're not training the
reader to skip entire sections of your proposal.
The second type of uff is template ller.
Template ller is the cockroach text that never seems to die.
Instead, it appears unchanged in every proposal you write.
For instance, say a recipe website asks you for some SEO work to
improve their Google juice. Most proposal writers would take this as a
chance to copy and paste a whole section about "How SEO Can
Improve Revenue."
Sadly, stale content is the kiss of death. Our research shows the best
proposals contain 50-80% fresh content.
Plus, think about it... If your prospect didn't already know that SEO
can improve revenue, would you have been asked to write a
proposal?
Instead, write fresh content that explains specically how you
will help your client.
For instance, here's one way you could write that kind of section in
that proposal to improve a recipe site's SEO:
Our Strategy to 10x Your Google Traffic
According to your Google Analytics report, Meatball
Recipes already gets 100 visits a month from visitors
searching for "spicy meatball recipe." Your site ranks #12
for that keyword, which means you're on the second page
on Google. We estimate that the #10 result gets 1,000
visits a month. So even a slight improvement to rank #10
for "spicy meatball recipe" would 10x your traffic for that
keyword.
Here's how we would boost your Google juice...
The best part is that this dynamic template content is just as
recyclable as stale template ller. If your next proposal is for, say, a
local bike shop, you could use this same basic text and just change
the keywords and numbers.
Once you've cut out all that uff, you're ready for the last step: using
your clients words.
To do this, take notes when you talk to your prospect before you start
writing. A good Q&A session might go something like this:
Q: Why are you looking to create a new company portal?
A: Wed like to improve internal communication.
Q: Ah, OK. Can you tell me about some specific problems
youre seeing due to this lack of communication?
A: Sure. Every year in our employee survey,
communication is one of the biggest complaints.
Employees say that we dont listen to their concerns and
suggestions on how to improve the company. Also...
We can easily swipe this client's words for our proposal:
Every year, the employee survey shows that employees
feel like management doesnt listen to their concerns and
suggestions on how to improve the company. The new
company portal is going to change that perception. This
portal will...
The fact is, most people love to hear themselves quoted back to them.
And by using their language, you create empathy and trust with your
prospect.
Element 3:
Theyre Sent While Interest is High
See if you can spot the problem in this scenario.
Its Monday morning. Youve just met with a prospect, and youre
feeling condent. You know that once they see your proposal, the job
is yours.
By Thursday afternoon, your proposal is in the clients inbox. You keep
checking your email, knowing theyll reply any minute now. Only they
never do.
Do you know what the mistake was?
Heres the answer: It took 3.5 days for the client to receive your
proposal. The average losing proposal is sent after 3.4 days.
In contrast, the average winning proposal is sent after 2.7 days. One
day may not seem like a big deal, but it makes a big difference!
So why dont we get our proposals in faster?
Because proposal-writing isnt what we signed up for! No one really
enjoys writing proposals. Its a necessary part of the job, like collecting
payment from clients or tracking expenses.
So, as with most tasks we dont enjoy, we procrastinate. Wed rather
be doing the stuff we love to do. Besides, it takes a lot of time to write
a proposal! Its hard to know where to start or what to write.
But theres a less painful way. One that makes it easier and faster to
write proposals, and gets you better results.
The Solution: Use a Proposal-Writing Process
Use a process to write proposals faster.
In other words, you dont need to start from square one every time you
write a new proposal. Thats a lot of work and a waste of time. And
time is one thing you can't waste.
To start using a proposal-writing process, there are two approaches
you can take.
Approach #1: Microsoft Word Templates
First, you can manually create a proposal system by making your own
templates in a program like Microsoft Word.
If you go that route, you should have at least two types of proposal
templates: one for small jobs and one for larger jobs.
A small-project proposal should have these ve elements:
1. Problem Statement
2. Recommended Solution
3. Benets
4. Project Fees
5. Call to Action
In your proposal template, it helps to create a basic outline for what
goes in each section. For instance, in Deadly Mistake #2, we
discussed using dynamic template content in the Benets section. You
can insert that into your proposal template.
A large-project proposal should include the same elements, plus an
estimated project schedule. That gives the client a timeframe for each
step of the project.
Finally, create a simple header and footer to brand your proposal.
This sounds easy, but it can be a little tricky. You want your proposal
to look professional and hint at your creative abilities, yet you dont
want prospects to be distracted from the content.
Approach #2: Use Online Proposal Software
If that sounds like too much work, theres an easier way to start using
a proposal-writing system: proposal software.
Software like Bidsketch creates the system for you. All you have to do
is select the template and provide the content. Your proposals get to
the client faster, and all they need to do is click a button to say yes".
Whichever approach you take, a system will help you get your
proposals in the clients hands faster. One day makes all the
difference!
Element 4:
They Focus on the Right Things (Not
Price)
You just had a great meeting with a prospect and he's asked for a
estimate. Yippee!
So why is it a mistake to give him that estimate he asked for?
It's because estimates focus on price. When you create an estimate,
you're shifting the prospect's attention on what exactly will be done
and how much it costs.
But that's not where you want the prospect to focus. Instead, you
want the prospect to focus on the value you will create. Not the
price.
So instead of a price-focused estimate, you want to create a
persuasive sales document that shows the prospect that you know
what he needs and that you're the perfect person to create it for them.
This persuasive sales document will include the price, but not as the
main focus.
A good proposal is just this sort of persuasive sales document.
So how much more persuasive is a proposal than an estimate? Our
research found that 43% of the average proposals win, while only
35% of estimates win.
Put another way, the average proposal is 23% more likely to win
business versus the average estimate.
So how do you create a proposal that works as a persuasive sales
document?
The Solution: Use a Persuasive Sales Document
Template
All you need are these ve sections to create a persuasive sales
document:
1. Problem Statement
2. Recommended Solution
3. Benets
4. Project Fees
5. Call to Action

Here's how this proposal might look:
This structure persuades for two reasons.

First, it focuses on solving the prospect's problems. In fact, each
section is expressed in terms of the prospects problems:
1. Problem Statement: what is the problem?
2. Recommended Solution: what is the solution to the problem?
3. Benets: what are the benets of solving this problem?
4. Project Fees: how much does it cost to solve this problem?
5. Call to Action: how can you solve this problem for me?
By focusing on the prospect's problems, you are showing the prospect
exactly how you will create value. And that's all the prospect cares
about.
Second, each section makes the prospect want to read the next
section.
For instance, when you read the Problem Statement, it naturally
implies the question: what is the solution to the problem? And that's
exactly what the Recommended Solution section is about!
Likewise, the Recommended Solution question naturally implies the
question: what are the benets of solving this problem. Which is what
the Benets section is about.
And so on, throughout the rest of the proposal.
Put another way, each section creates an information gap between
what the reader knows and what the reader wants to know. And what
the reader wants to know is covered in the next section. So the
prospect keeps on reading!
Creating this sort of information gap is the best way to create curiosity
in the reader. And curiosity is what gets your proposal read.
Element 5:
They Make the Next Step Easy
OK, so you've written a persuasive sales document. It's so good that
the client has even read the entire proposal...
So are you done?
Not yet!
You're not done until the client takes action and hires you.
So the rst thing you need to do is include a clear "call to action" to let
the client know what the next step is. As the previous section
mentions, a good call to action "lets a client know exactly what they
should do to get the project started. The best calls to action are simple
and clear."
But there's a secret about selling that we haven't mentioned yet. And
it's something you already know, but are probably underestimating.
Here's the secret: your client is extremely lazy.
OK, so you already knew that. But do you fully appreciate how lazy
they are?
Believe it or not, we tend to give too much credit to our prospects. In
the perfect world of our imagination, clients read your awesome
proposal, are convinced that you can solve their problem, and
immediately pick up the phone to excitedly agree to your proposal.
In the actual world we live in, clients read your awesome proposal and
are convinced. But oops! They forget to call you right away. They
certainly won't print out your proposal, sign it, fax it back, and mail you
a check.
And when you call or email a few days later, they've forgotten how
awesome your proposal was. They're just not as excited like they
were...
So how do you strike when the iron is hot?
The Solution: One Click to Buy
This problem is easy to solve. In fact, it's so easy to solve that
Amazon patented the solution in 1999.
The boring name of that patent is "Method and system for placing a
purchase order via a communications network".
You may know this better as the "1-Click patent".
When Amazon uses this, it shows shoppers a giant button on product
pages that says "Buy Now with 1-Click." You click the button, and they
mail you your product. Easy peasy!
You can also use a similar 1-Click call to action in your proposals. All
you have to do is abandon the world of paper and PDF proposals and
switch to using online proposals.
Then, you make your call to action a giant button that prospects can
click to accept your proposal.
This sounds like such a small thing to do. You're probably thinking that
it won't have much impact...
Actually, it has a HUGE impact.
Our research shows that online proposals are accepted 60% faster
than traditional proposals, and theyre 18% more likely to be
accepted overall.
Why does this work so well?
There are two reasons.
First, with online approvals, like Bidsketch, your clients dont need to
print, sign, scan, and email or fax your proposal back to you.
Everything is online, in one place, and simple to execute.
Second, and more important, by making the next step a click away,
you turn your prospect's laziness into your secret weapon. You're
actually making it easier to accept your proposal than it is to keep on
worrying about the problem or even read the next proposals.
You're striking while the iron's hot.
Include These 5 Elements
and Youll Win Proposals!
_________
Good luck with your proposals!
You can definitely see immediate results if you implement even one of
the elements covered in this book. Of course, your results will improve
even more when you implement all five!
To nd out how Bidsketch can help you land 18% more clients
while earning 32% more on each project, visit the link below:
http://www.bidsketch.com