Writing powerful proposals

Sending information vs. Sending a proposal

Prospectus –

use this to communicate information when you have not fully uncovered the client’s explicit needs, or when you do not have insight into the criteria of other decision makers. As this document does not contain a tailored solution, you should not consider it a proposal. Your next step is still to investigate & uncover explicit needs or understand their criteria. THEN you can send a proposal…

Proposal -

once you have uncovered a good range of explicit needs, understood key decisionmaking criteria, and agreed approximate investment ranges, THEN you should send a proposal to the client which contains one or two options, and has benefits focused on meeting the explicit needs of the prospect.

REMEMBER

Our “proposals” should be focused on meeting the needs of individual customers.

For any proposition you send to count as a proposal you should have:

Spoken to as many of the decision makers as we can: certainly at least one or a significant influencer	Assessed the customer’s needs and objectives, and identified one or more explicit needs we can meet
Discussed an appropriate range of investment	Written a tailored proposal introduction that explains how the solution will work

You may have to send out a prospectus at times without having fulfilled the above. This is often the right thing to do so long as you understand that you have sent information, rather than a proposal. In this case, recognise you still need to assess the rospect’s needs, so you can move through the cycle towards a tailored solution.

Best practice proposal structure

Using the IMAPAC's proposal template (see toolkit). Our proposals should have a simple structure to be effective and powerful.

Summarise the key background facts about the client’s situation (eg. what they offer to the market, key points about their product or message)
State their business objectives, challenges, opportunities and needs in this space.
Use your T Form! Highlight the explicit needs that have been uncovered and the value that would come from meeting them.
State how the proposal will meet these needs. Describe the benefits and emphasise their value to the customer.
Describe the elements of the solution in detail along with the required investment.
Attach additional relevant information from the prospectus –highlight any pieces that are especially important for your prospect’s criteria. Don’t forget to take out the other packages!

Emailing Proposals

When writing an email to accompany a proposal bear in mind:

Spelling mistakes look shoddy at the best of times but particularly when you are asking somebody to invest.

Mention the 3 or 4 headline benefits delivered by the solution. Focus on the value!

Ask them to contact you straight away if anything in the proposal is not clear or does not reflect their understanding of the discussions so far

Highlight an agreed date on which you will next speak to review and move forward

In some instances, especially very high value deals, you should post a copy of your proposal to the client. This will demonstrate real professionalism on your part and mark you out from the competition.