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Do Your Proposals Sell?

Guest post by: Roger Bostdorff

Article Overview: What are you doing to increase your odds of winning the business when you delivr a proposal?

Free Download - Do Your Proposals Sell? By Roger Bostdorff

Do Your Proposals Sell?

Recently I was hired for a Client Engagement to review many things relative to their sales/marketing materials and programs. I reviewed my client's brochure, website, customer follow-up process as well as their proposals. This engineering firm's proposals included project deliverables, any assumptions, the price, payment schedule and the standard Terms and Conditions. My evaluation and comments to my client was that if they had already secured the agreement of the customer mentally or verbally, and they were dealing with the decision maker and not just an influencer, this proposal approach might be satisfactory.

I suggested to my client and I submit to you that in most cases this is not reality. First, most customers request a proposal from multiple solution providers. Secondly, many times the person who you or your sales team are interacting with may not be the final decision maker. He may subsequently need to take your proposal (price quote) to the person who has the authority to sign the check. If that final decision maker is evaluating your quote as compared to your competitor's, don't you want your prospective customer to understand what makes your company and your solution the BEST answer for their needs? Otherwise, the item that gets the most focus is the price and only the price. Now if you always have the lowest price then maybe that is fine. However, if you have the lowest price but your competitor uses a selling proposal, you too are at a disadvantage.

A selling proposal should have the information that was in the previously described price quote plus the following:

1. What is the customer's problem that needs to be solved or addressed?

2. What is the current situation and why does the status quo need to be changed?

In other words, what is the customer's problem and why does it need to be fixed?

-If the current situation is changed to the process or product the customer has in mind-what $ benefits will be derived?

-If the current process is NOT changed, what negative ramifications financially will occur to the customer?

3. How does your solution address all of #2?

4. What makes your company unique?

5. Why do business with your company?

6. Customer references

Items 4-6 are boiler plate, meaning they should be created and used with every proposal.

If you deliver a selling proposal and your contact needs to take your proposal to the decision maker that you have not been able to connect with, your odds of getting an audience with that decision maker increase immensely. Thus your odds of getting the business increase dramatically as well.

What are you/your sales team delivering to your customers? Could utilizing a selling proposal increase your sales? Are your competitors reading this article?

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Article Tags: Selling, Selling Proposals

About the Author: Roger Bostdorff
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Roger is the President of B2B Sales Boost. Before starting B2B Sales Boost, Roger had over 30 years experience as an executive with IBM. He then became President and COO of a small internet security firm. While with IBM, Roger had responsibilities in Sales, Sales Management and General Management. He has held positions that covered both Domestic as well as International territories. His branch was in the top 5 for Five Consecutive years relative to revenue produced/headcount. His General Management position covered the State of Ohio, Western Pennsylvania and Kentucky for Small and Medium Business. This organization finished #1 for 4 Consecutive years in % of revenue attainment. His International team improved from 74% of YTD attainment in September to over 115% after Roger joined the leadership team. While at Gateway Defender, Inc. Roger was responsible for all operations, this included sales, marketing, managing the technical staff as well as Customer Satisfaction. Roger directed the efforts to create Gateway Defenders, Inc.'s Sales Channel. This channel delivered 36% revenue growth in Roger's first year. One of the channel partners was Qwest. Gateway Defender private labeled their service for Qwest to sell worldwide. Roger drove a customer satisfaction program where Gateway Defender's customers rated Gateway Defender's service a "9" out of a possible "10." Roger has experience in all aspects of business management, including: strategic planning, sales and marketing management, operations management, customer service, human resource development, project management, acquisitions, and training. He has extensive experience in working with key business executives to successfully identify and analyze business problems, define strategic solutions, and implement these solutions. Throughout his career, Roger has demonstrated the ability to quickly achieve positive results in both top line revenues and bottom line profits. E-mail Roger at roger@b2bsalesboost.com Call Roger at (419) 351-4347

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