Tweet

Six Rules For Doing Proposals

Written by: Will Turner

Article Overview: Do you ever do proposals for prospects? If you do, follow these six rules to dramatically increase your odds of getting the deal.

Six Rules For Doing Proposals

Most salespeople get excited when a prospect says, “Can you get me a proposal?” Beware, this is not only one of the oldest tricks in the book to get rid of salespeople, it’s also one of the biggest time wasters. Before you jump at the opportunity to put together a proposal, review these six rules.

Rule One: Never offer to do a proposal. In the past, you may have thought that getting to the proposal stage was an indication that you were one step closer to the sale. Go back and review your success in advancing past the proposal stage. If you aren’t doing business with 80% or more of the prospects you propose to, you are probably doing proposals inappropriately.

Rule Two: Ask the most important question. Before you do a proposal, ask your prospect, “What would you like in it?” By clarifying, you’ll be able to put together something that meets his expectations. You also may find that by discussing it, your prospect no longer needs a proposal.

Rule Three: Present your proposal. While this isn’t possible 100% of the time, it’s important that you make the effort to get in front of the decision maker(s) to discuss, review or present your proposal. The easiest way to do this is to simply set up a review meeting with your prospect when he asks for a proposal.

Rule Four: Make sure your prospect doesn’t get sticker shock. While your prospect may not know your exact price before getting your proposal, pricing should not be a surprise element in your proposal. If it is, you haven’t done a good job on the front-end. It really doesn’t make sense to spend tons of time on a proposal only to find out that your fee and the prospect’s budget are too far apart. Get that information upfront so you can explore options that will best fit their needs.

Rule Five: Refer to your fee or price in your proposal as an “investment.” You are establishing value for your product or service. Your price should not be perceived as an expense. It’s an investment to help and benefit your prospect.

Rule Six: Don’t reduce fees without reducing value. If your prospect wants to negotiate to reduce your price, you can look at other options if you so choose. Never reduce fees solely to reduce the cost. If you offer a lower priced option, then you should remove product features or services.

You should be offering a fair value for a fair price. There’s no reason why your margins should be sacrificed. If that’s the only way you’ll get the business, it’s probably not a good fit. Ask yourself, “Is this really the kind of business I want?”

Related Articles
  Impact and Influence in Negotiation - There's More Than One Way to Float Your Ideas
  Impact and Influence in Action – There’s More than One Way to Float Your Ideas
  Stress-Free Selling® - Do Your Proposals Sell?
  Ten Tips For Writing Successful Business Proposals From Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach
  Rule 20 Rules are Made to be Broken

Article Tags:



Related Forum Posts
Trump and Stewart - I really enjoyed Trump: The Art of the Deal and The Martha Rules. I think the best advice you can get is from people who have made it and not just consultants who haven't been there. Evan's site is great because of all the famous entrepreneurs and their advice directly from them. Donald Trump and Martha Stewart are 2 great examples of successful entrepreneurs and the books are written in their own words which I find extremely valuable and motivational.
AFL + Soccer Athletes - In Australia one of the most popular sports is Aussie Rules Football, but the principle I'm about to talk about is the same in all sports. The reason athletes get paid so much is because of competition between clubs. For example Club A will offer $1000 a week for an athlete to play for them but then Club B will offer $2000 until one club reaches a figure that they consider to be "reasonable" and obviously higher than the other club is prepared to pay. In saying this if a soccer athlete is worth the $4,000,000 transfer fee and $7,500 a game the management of the team obviously believe they are going to gain more revenue for the club in terms of more wins, supporters, media spotlights and higher morale in the team.
How She Does It - Interesting to see what are the most popular threads in this folder, judging by how many hits each thread gets. There must be a lot of moms out there who want to start businesses. I'm currently reading How She Does It: How Women Entrepreneurs are Changing the Rules of Business Success, by Margaret Heffernan. Some interesting statistics: Between 1997 and 2006, privately held businesses owned by women grew at 3 times the rate of all American privately owned firms, women's companies are creating jobs and growing profits at twice the rate of all firms and are responsible for more payroll than all of the Fortune 500 companies combined. This book tells the stories of a few women who have made it big...recommended reading so you know that "you can do it, too."
She Wins, You Win: The Most Important Rules Every Businesswo - She Wins, You Win: The Most Important Rules Every Businesswoman Needs to Know Gail Evans, 2003 Also author of Play Like A Man, Win Like A Woman Inside jacket: Every time a woman succeeds in business, every other woman's chances of succeeding in business increase. Every time a woman fails in business, every other woman's chances of failure increases. Gail realized that one of the most important elements of the men's game, which was missing from the women's, was support: The boys know how to take care of one another. In order to create lasting success, women need to help one another and band together as a team. TOC The Woman's Team Why you must play on the woman's team How to join the team Tips for the team 1. Be a mentor 2. Rainmake 3. Uncover and share information 4. Keep quiet 5. Unite with all women at all times 6. Make team-related choices 7. Weave a female web Challenges of the Team Twelve team members to watch out for The eleven most common team questions (and answers) Conclusions Acknowledgements My own view Haven't read this yet, but it seems like she's advocating an "Us against them" mentality. Neverthless, networking with fellow women - and men! - only makes good sense.
Protect yourself from Hackers - I received this from a newsletter from FXpro that I subscribed to. Please read and apply In the 21st Century internet is widely used for everyday job. Despite the "ease" and free time offered from internet use, one should be aware of the dangers and be prepared to avoid and safeguard him/herself from any attacks his/her computer may accept or even from the "unwanted" e-mails received. Golden Rules of Protection When using the internet make sure you have an antivirus program installed in order to avoid intrusions in your Computer, If you are using wireless internet connection make sure you have your connection locked, Do not save any official documents on your Computer, such as Copy of Passport, ID, Bank account numbers, copy of cards in case your Computer is hacked or even stolen, Keep all access codes/passwords in a safe place, Do not share an e-mail address with any person, Do not reveal any access codes, passwords to any person, If you are using a public Computer, ie in an internet cafe, make sure you log out any internet sites you have visited before leaving and deleting the cookies in order to minimize the risk of someone following your tracks, Regularly change your passwords on your e-mail accounts, or any other account that requires passwords, Be careful of e-mails received. Always check the e-mail address and in case you believe that this does not come from a person, Company, Organization you might be dealing with always send an e-mail to an e-mail address stated on the person's business card, Company's, Organization website requesting them to confirm that the e-mail address on the e-mail received belongs to them, before you reveal any information, Always have in mind that an established Company/Organization never uses an e-mail address such as g-mail, yahoo, hotmail etc thus always be careful when you are receiving such e-mails, even if it appears to be from a Company/Organization you are dealing with, Always remember that a Company or Organization will never require you to send them your login/password/access codes, When using a website that requires an access code, do not allow the browser to remember your passwords


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Angel Investors Where Are You?

Why Small Businesses Don't Survive

Life, Conflict and Work

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.