Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants

Presentation Slides: Send Me a Proposal

The sales proposal is one of the most widely used (and abused) tools for selling services. It’s easy for prospective clients to request proposals, and many consultants are quick to agree, even if they think the chances of winning the work are slim.

Ideally, you would hold off writing any proposal until the client agrees to the terms of the work, but that’s rarely a realistic option. As a result, professionals search for the middle ground between jumping on every request for a proposal and holding back until the sale is confirmed.

This set of presentation slides helps you find that middle ground with client-tested strategies for a winning proposal—even if you’re facing an entrenched competitor.

People, People, People

Admittedly,this is a pet peeve.

Recently, I sat through a presentation given by a graphics design expert on the subject of “designing the perfect proposal.” I learned a lot during that hour, but I just couldn’t get behind one of the presenter’s key recommendations for designing a perfect proposal: include pictures of people, even if they are anonymous, in every proposal document.

“People love to see people in proposals.” He probably told us that five times.

I’d agree that it can be helpful to include photographs of the project team to breathe life into a proposal, especially if the client doesn’t know the individuals. But that use of images is not what the presenter was talking about.

He was referring to the stock images that already litter too many documents and Web sites. We’ve all seen these photos: a group of people huddled around a computer screen in a conference room, or two business people in suits and hard hats pointing at an unfinished building.

To me, that always seems fake and a waste of precious space. Now, I’m not saying there is no place for images in documents or on Web sites. But if an image doesn’t help clarify the value you’re providing, it’s an unnecessary distraction.

I routinely beat gratuitous images out of any document I create. Of course, I could be totally missing the boat—it wouldn’t be the first time.

The “Seven Deadly Sins” of Proposal Writing

The proposal is one of the most powerful, but misused tool, in a consultant's marketing arsenal. Look at your last proposal and see if you spot any of these seven deadly sins.

1. Lack of focus on the client's business problem and industry dynamics.

2. The "we, us, and our" syndrome. Does your proposal talk more about your firm than about the client's business?

3. No basis of differentiation. Focus is on weak differentiators such as quality service, price, responsiveness, and your firm's pedigree.

4. The expected value of the project isn't quantified so you can't use it as a baseline for justifying the proposed fee.

5. The proposal is laced with jargon, difficult to read, and doesn't include an issue-focused executive summary.

6. Reliance on a boilerplate resume.

7. Errors: misspellings, poor grammar, wrong client name, or inconsistent formats.

Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot

Every consultant knows that one false step during the sales cycle can mean the difference between winning and losing. And many of those potential pitfalls lurk in the proposal process.

Consultants start giving each other "high fives" when clients ask for proposals. After all, it’s exciting to have a chance to show your stuff and move closer to the client, and the prospect of a new sale is always tantalizing.

But creating a great proposal isn’t easy, and the process will consume your time and energy.

Nigel Edelshain, from Ivy Tech Partners, has been blogging on these topics recently. His posts on handling the RFP process and the proposal process do a good job of summing up the challenges we face in the business development process, and he has some good tactical advice. 

It Really Is About the Client

Jim Logan, founder of Accelerate Business Growth, suggests a valuable tweak to a recent post on proposals by Deborah Kluge. He'd change the second point in the post, "Recognize That It’s Also About Them," to "Recognize It's Only About Your Customer."

His post is a good one, so have a look at it.

Jim has a great perspective on how to think about your customers/clients, like this quote from one of his recent posts called Why Companies Fail to Grow Their Revenue:

"When you’re outwardly focused, you tend to speak to your prospective customers about their environment, their needs and opportunities, and the meaningful ways in which your products and services aid their agenda for growth and opportunity. You talk about the benefits your products and services enable. You engage with your customer in their world and set the pace for the sales opportunity."

The entire post is good reading. You'll find it here.

And thanks to Deborah for her guest post.

Make Your Proposal a Winner

Like it or not, most businesspeople have to prepare proposals at one time or another. For some, writing proposals is a routine part of their day-to-day business; for others, it’s something that only needs to be done on occasion. However often it has to be done, we want only one outcome: to win the client’s business.

As a professional proposal writer, I’m often asked to “fix up” proposals that my clients want to submit to their current or prospective clients. Some of them are very good, while others are truly awful. When “fixing” or writing a proposal for a client, I focus on the things that can make your proposal a winner:

• Tailor It. Too many proposals are generated automatically using pre-prepared  text (aka boilerplate) that may or may not be appropriate for a particular client. With a little tweaking, you can transform your boilerplate materials so that they specifically address your client’s needs and environment.


• Recognize That It’s Also About Them. Our proposals are naturally about us-–the products and/or services that we provide and how wonderful we are. But we sometimes forget why we are preparing a proposal (in addition to wanting to win the business). In essence, we are preparing a proposal to help a client meet a need or solve a problem. But clients’ needs and problems often go unmentioned in our zest to tell them what we can do for them. This goes hand-in-hand with the tailoring mentioned above.

• Be Concise. Drop the fluffy stuff and meaningless jargon. Get to the point in the first paragraph of each section. Use short, bulleted lists to highlight important information. Don’t make the client read through pages and pages of boring text to figure out the point you are trying to make. They may never read to the end.

• Be Businesslike. It doesn’t matter if you are a one-person show or a multinational company. In my view, proposals should never be casual; they should be formal business documents that use businesslike language. Proposals must incorporate good grammar and perfect spelling. If you’re not a good writer (and many people aren’t), get someone to review and edit your proposal before you send it. You never know-–the person who receives your proposal might be a grammar freak. Remember those teachers with red pencils?


• Be Straightforward. Don’t beat around the bush. Clearly explain what your product or service is, what its features and benefits are, and how it can help clients achieve their objectives or solve their problems.

• Make It Attractive. Attractive doesn’t have to mean fancy. But your proposal should be pleasing to look at. That means having margins that are even, headings or subheadings that stand out from the text, and good use of whitespace throughout your document. Use black and white or color graphics, when appropriate, to break up the text. Put a header at the top of each page that incorporates a small version of your logo. Be consistent in your use of fonts and formatting.

• Don’t Bash Your Competition. A comparison of the features and benefits of your company’s product/service with those of your competitors is fine, but negative language isn’t--it’s tacky and unprofessional.

                              

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Deborah Kluge helps clients prepare business proposals, as well as proposals for government grants and contracts. Visit her Proposal Writing Blog and main site at www.proposalwriter.com for more tips and resources.

Words to Avoid in Proposals

Proposals brimming with consultant-speak drive clients to the competition faster than you can say "paradigm shift."

Scrutinize every word in a proposal and strip out empty phrases like "seamless connectivity," "strategic convergence," or "we deliver unparalleled solutions that create leverage for the enterprise." In the war of words, your most potent weapon is your computer's delete key.

Of the three ailments likely to infect a proposal--tired superlatives, buzzwords, and the plague of pronouns--superlatives are the most insidious.

Superlatives are like weeds in a lawn: Unless checked, they tend to take over. Avoid prose such as "Our unsurpassed commitment to client service ensures your needs will be our highest priority." Does that mean the needs of other clients are a lower priority for you?

Consultants hope to get an edge by claiming to be the fastest, best, or most experienced. Clients routinely ignore such claims as unproven hype. Unless you can quantify your claims beyond a doubt, dump superlatives from your proposal.

Tired superlatives to delete or justify in every proposal include: Most, Superior, Best, Maximum, Optimal, Minimum, Fastest, Unsurpassed, Shortest, Unrivaled, Easiest, Highest, Least, Unique.

Nothing is intrinsically wrong with any of the preceding words, and we all use them in spoken and written communication (for example, "This is the fastest way to do that.") But in proposals, they are suspect, and you should use them sparingly, if at all.

Instead of promising an "optimal solution for reducing customer complaints," say, "We will reduce customer complaints by 9% in 90 days." Then amplify in the proposal exactly how you will achieve that reduction.

Since proposals are often used to justify unspoken decisions made earlier in the sales process, include in your proposal facts that validate your supporters' desire to hire you. Give them powerful ammunition to advance your firm's credibility and convince others in the organization that you are the right choice.