” Most people would rush ahead and implement a solution before they know what the problem is and a plan for solving it.” Mark W.Hardwick, Ph.D. Quality Selling through Quality Proposals, 1991, Minehan Quality Press. p 23.
Many business development and sales initiatives fail because the client’s needs and expectations were not met during the sales process. I call these events–sales pinches. Some of the pinches include: lack of information gathering and poor call preparation, poor analysis of the client’s problem, lack of information before writing a proposal, presenting solutions before listening and understanding, and presenting solutions from your point of view rather than the buyers.
Sales proposals can not be a cookie-cutter approach but needs to be experienced by the buyer as a sincere and customized approach to information gathering and problem solving. The solution we offer must be seen as a “valued proposition”. Here are a few of the missed steps and pinches that are inherent in a sales process: sales associates as pressing for a sale–often called the hard sell that is experience as insensitive to customer needs. Such an ego-centric process usually involves boiler-plate proposals and misaligned sales presentations. These efforts primarily focus on the sales professional’s and the selling organization’s goals of what the buyer needs, while the customer-centered process presents information, solutions and proposals that understand and are empathic to the buyer’s goals and expectations. When a sales step such as a presentation and proposal doesn’t close the “Needs and Expectations Gap” – the alignment between the buyer’s expectations and the seller’s sales approach – the potential client has little reason for listening and buying your pitch. We can’t be successful if this happens to often in our selling efforts.
Writing a Customer-Centered Proposal Facilitates the Sales Process
A customer-centered sales process provides the sales professional an opportunity to help the buyer understand clearly the solution proposed and benefits of buying from you. The writing process itself adds clarity to the sale. It helps the sales professional through the sales process because it:
- Prompts, and in some cases even forces, the sales professional to gather sufficient and accurate information about the buyer’s current situation and organization; through this process, the sales professional builds a rapport with the buyer and identifies and comprehends buyer expectations, needs, wants and problems
- Requires and accurate description of the product or service being sold and defines its specific financial and non-financial benefits for the buyer; here the integrated presentation and proposal can eliminate reasons not to buy and meet buyer needs or offer solutions to difficult problems.
- Includes a complete explanation of how the product or service will be installed, produced, implemented , delivered or introduced for the buyer; here the sales professional can use the presentation and proposal to answer the buyer’s questions and show value of the seller’s solutions.
- Describes the business aspects of the deal, the buyers of the deal, the buyer’s expectations relative to such things as the seller’s staffing levels, roles, responsibilities, timeframes, fees/prices, and in-voicing schedules.
- A customer-centered communication process meets and often exceeds the buyer’s expectations.
Writing activities are integrated with selling activities. Activities in which the buyer partners with the sales professional by providing information, confirming needs and objectives, and evaluating proposed solutions and strategies.
How Important Are Proposals?
An increasing number of buyers are becoming more sophisticated and want to see specific, concrete proof points supporting the claims made by marketing literature and sales presentations.
For these buyers, there is simply too much at stake to take a risk on anything less than the best possible solution. In spite of these buyer attitude changes, many salespeople and organizations continue to discount the importance of integrating sales proposals and presentations. They view proposals as minor
Obstacle compared to building relationships and face to face communications. The truth is that an integrated communication strategy will include an excellent presentation and proposal. Creating this integration is not any easy process. In reality, aligning sales activities is extremely difficult process which includes strategic thinking, asking good questions and understanding client’s goals.
A proposal is critical to the success of the sales professional and the organization. It represents the culmination of all selling activities—rapport-building, sales calls, demonstrations, negotiations, and presentations. A sales process generates revenues to cover the cost of sales, creates a profit, and continues the existence of the organization.
Furthermore, the content and quality of a sales proposal is equally important because it:
- Stays in front of a buyer long after the sales professional is gone
- Sells in the absence of the sales professional
- Communicates all aspects of the sale
- Gives the internal contact a document to sell within the client’s organization
- Reaches the final decision-maker, even when the sales professional cannot
Every step of the sales process directly reflects the sales professional’s and the selling organization’s abilities and the concern for delivering excellence. In today’s competitive world, can anyone afford to jeopardize even one sale with poor communication processes; such as an excellent proposal and presentations.
Process with Structure: The Strategic and Winning Sales Proposal
Everybody, it seems, is selling a twelve-step program guaranteed to help us become successful in some aspect of our lives. The problem is that most of us rarely get past step number five. The good news for those of us in sales is we don’t have to go past that fifth step to craft a winning sales proposal. Many proposals drift from point to point, and yet might never hit upon the issues that drive a potential customer to a buying decision. With a well-organized and strategic proposal, broken down to five proven sections, you can go from offering cookie-cutter solutions to providing customer-driven solutions that significantly enhance your chances of closing big deals.
These five sections in a strategic sales proposal are interrelated and customer-focused. They categorize information and provide a logical sequence of information and ideas.
In summary, the structure for a strategic and winning proposal contains five main sections:
1. Background Information
This section identifies the buyer’s current situation-related strategy and improvement opportunity—the buyer’s unresolved problem or wanted opportunity. This section must reflect your empathy for the buyer’s situation and pain. It must demonstrate a thorough understanding of the buyer’s business, particularly the function or functions associated with the improvement opportunity. More importantly, the section must document the findings of the buyer-seller improvement opportunity or pain removal analyses. It must include the buyer’s key performance indicators; such as– current revenues, cost, and productivity levels as they relate to your proposed product or service solution.
2. Proposed Solution
This section presents the buyer-specific product or service application—how you can add value by helping the buyer achieve the improvement opportunity. This section must provide the buying decision makers with a clear understanding of your proposed solution and describe how it will help achieve the profit improvement opportunities identified in the Background Information section. It must also demonstrate your ability to define a realistic application for their proposed products or services to fit in the buyer’s business. Further, this section must present the decision makers with compelling reasons to make a change.
3. Implementation Management
Section Three discusses your company’s methods for implementing the proposed product or service. This section should describe your standard implementation methods or project management practices. It should define the steps, phases, and activities that your company normally follows when implementing the proposed product or delivering the proposed services. This section also should include estimated project or engagement resource requirements and timeframes. It provides an ideal opportunity for you to overlay the buyer’s unique implementation requirements with their standard business methods or quality assurance issues. The result is a custom project plan that indicates you have thought through the how, who, and when.
4. Why Us?–Seller Profile
This section discusses your company’s qualifications and business practices. Of the five proposal sections, this section contains the most standard wording. However, it does not mean the section represents boilerplate; rather, it means that its contents will require the fewest changes for use with different accounts. Much of the information contained in this section requires considerable thought and effort to develop. However, once developed, you will find that you can easily tailor this section to fit each unique sales situation.
5. Business Issues
This section groups all business-related items for ease of review and reference of prices, expenses, and in-voicing schedule. One of this section’s primary goals is to avoid buyer surprises after the sale. Therefore, you should clearly document all the business issues regarding the proposed solution.
Finally, while it may take twelve steps to quit drinking or lose 150 pounds, you can significantly enhance your sales proposals in only five concrete and responsive sections. When you put those five sections together, you have the opportunity to open eyes and move your prospect into seeing the value your team brings to the problem or opportunity and move this sales campaign into the win column.
