Salespeople spend long hours carefully writing proposals to potential clients. Their disappointment is then more intense when a potential client ignores or rejects their offer. Nevertheless, written sales proposals still remain one of the most powerful tools for closing deals. The way you write a proposal can have a significant influence on whether you manage to get the client. It may even open the way for you to get a far more lucrative deal than you originally imagined.
Let's take a look at how to write sales proposals effectively. The following practical recommendations for improving your sales proposals were recently published on Entrepreneur.com.
1. Focus on customer needs and objectives
Sales proposals often focus only on describing the benefits of the product on offer without considering the specific needs of the potential clients. Do not write what you can offer, but how you can solve the customer's key problems. Summarize what you anticipate the client needs at the very beginning of the proposal. Remember that customers pays for results and continue from there with the solution you are proposing and a brief description of the results the customer can get thanks to your solution.
2. Remain brief
The problem with many sales proposals is their excessive length. If you give a potential client a bundle of several densely written pages, he will be far more likely not to read your offer at all, or to miss the most important points. Therefore, your offer should be at most two pages long. Only mention information that is important for the customer and relevant for closing the deal you are working on. There is no need to attach your biography or a lengthy description of all the activities and achievements of your company.
3. Offer three options
Another mistake many proposals make is offering only one option. This is an absolutely wasted sales opportunity. Give the prospect a choice of more opportunities for cooperation to choose from. That will gives you two advantages. The first is the ability to offer a more expensive option compared to what you usually offer and thus get more money from the client. The second is that by offering a choice, the client is less likely to look for other proposals from your competitors.
4. Make proposals contracts
This is a very simple but also a very practical solution that significantly increases your chances of success. Create a space to sign a contractual agreement or order at the end of your proposal in accordance with your offer. If your business is more complex, you can always follow up with a separate contract. In many cases, however, the customer's signature on the proposal will be enough and you can issue an invoice to your new customer for your services.
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