Recently, The Grow Show turned its focus to acquiring new customers. This is more important than ever as the industry works to rebound from some hard hits over the past two years. Basic to gaining new customers is preparing great proposals.
This segment of the Grow Show, from the Harvest Group, is part two on proposal writing. Follow the strategies and tips below and your proposals won’t fail you.
Listen to the podcast here and follow along with the outline below. Part one of the series is here.
10 reasons why proposals fail
1. They’re too long. Proposals aren’t meant for “shock and awe.” Don’t try and overwhelm the prospect into submission. Edit and cut; cut and edit. There’s no perfect length for a proposal, but how many of your prospects really read the whole thing? They scan and skim till they get to the price and timeline. Keep it short.
Solution: Make proposals crisp and to the point. Don’t fill them up with non-pertinent stuff that the client really doesn’t care about.
2. They don’t reference the prospect’s pain. Why did the prospect ask you for a proposal? You better have a crystal clear answer to that question. Too many proposals don’t reiterate the pain properly. Skipping that makes the prospect feel like you don’t get it.
Solution: Solve their pain. Make them look good. Make their job easy. Suggest multiple solutions to their needs, but always give the best solution first.
3. They’re too technical. They already know you’re the expert in your field. You don’t need to inundate your proposal with buzzwords and industry jargon. A prospect only knows a little of what you know about your business, and they don’t really want to know more. Your proposal fails when it sells industry mastery using language they won’t understand.
Solution: Speak in simple understandable terms, not in landscape speak
4. They’re not selling benefits. If you’re not selling benefits you’re sunk. Please, spell these out as clearly as possible. Always think so what? When you are stating things pretend they are going to ask: So what?
Solution: Your proposal must state, “here is what the benefit is to you.” It will save time, save water, promote less wear and tear on the hardscape, etc.
5. They’re not well-structured. Proposals are stories, and every story has a beginning, middle and end. Think of your proposal as a story and write it accordingly.
Solution: Make sure it’s well-organized and boldly stated: Here’s where you are now, here is where you want to be and here is how we are going to get you there.
6. It’s full of spelling and grammatical problems. A proposal with spelling errors is unacceptable. It’s as simple as that.
Solution: Read it out loud. Write short sentences. Have someone else read it. Watch out for synonyms like there/their, your/you’re, were/we’re, where/wear, etc., because spell check won’t necessarily pick it up, write/right?
7. They’re poorly formatted and packaged. Style counts! On top of that, your proposal isn’t the only game in town. You want to stand out right? Take some time to format things nicely. Add some pictures. Use bigger headers, smaller paragraphs, and color where appropriate.
Solution: Think sizzle. If you’ve got substance, sell it with nice packaging. Use quality paper with nice photos of their jobs, not just a bunch of pretty pictures of other jobs. They care about their job. Consider having it in a horizontal format to be different from your competitors.
8. They’re missing testimonials and client references. Add in a few testimonials to spice it up and add a feeling of success. Add in some client references with contact information to give your prospect a clear message, “you know what you’re doing and you can prove it.”
Solution: Before listing a reference make certain they are a reference. Check out the job site and talk with your team regarding the client status. Call your client and ask them for a reference. Reward your references for giving good testimonials.
9. They’re missing a thank you. Proposals are personal. You’re not writing installation instructions for IKEA furniture. Unless you’re sending a proposal unsolicited (which makes little sense) someone’s given you that opportunity.
Solution: Be sure to thank them for the opportunity to submit the proposal and be grateful.
10. There’s no call to action. You submit the proposal. Now what? Put in a crystal clear call to action.
Solution: It could be a follow-up meeting, contract signature or something else — it almost doesn’t matter. What’s important is that there is a next step and you’ve explicitly told the prospect what it is.