Sales Proposals

Sales proposals are the moment of truth when selling service contracts. No new revenue, profit or jobs are created until a sale is made, and in our world that occurs when a proposal is submitted by the seller and selected by the customer. Here are a number of posts that can help you win more of your sales proposals.

A Proposal in One

What do you propose? We make proposals to: Get a meeting Qualify as a bidder Make a sale Start a business Form a new division Offer a new service Get a date [...]

click to continue → December 2, 2011

RFPs From the Unthinking: 3 Common Failings in RFP Development

Now that’s a little harsh. But if you’ve ever had to write a sales proposal responding to a badly written Request for Proposal (RFP) you’ll know where the sentiment comes from. These [...]

click to continue → September 28, 2011

3-Point Checklist for Persuasive Proposals

More than 70% of you who took last week’s survey (Selling in the Fear-based Economy: 5 Quick Questions) felt that “Winning bids is tougher this year than last”. This despite the Great [...]

click to continue → August 15, 2011

Sales Proposals, Persuasion & the Sphinx

Persuasion in sales proposals can seem like a myth. It sounds real but few know how to create a persuasive proposal. So let’s take a look at persuasion in sales proposals, specifically [...]

click to continue → August 9, 2011

Writing a Proposal: The Moment of Truth

Writing a sales proposal is the most critical moment in the sales cycle – because it’s the start of everything. Proposals lead to contracts, that lead to billing, revenue, profit and sales [...]

click to continue → August 3, 2011

Unsolicited Sales Proposals: Part 2 – The Upside

The upside for unsolicited proposals can be big – if used in the right situation. However, don’t forget the downsides, revisit Part 1 – The Downside if necessary and remember that unsolicited [...]

click to continue → May 5, 2011

Unsolicited Sales Proposals: Part 1 – The Downside

Desperate salespeople cling to unsolicited proposals like the last life jacket in a sinking boat. Unsolicited proposals do have their upside but their positives occur only in selected circumstances, as you’ll see [...]

click to continue → April 22, 2011

Walking Backwards: Timeline for Rebids

Why does rebidding a contract you already have come as a surprise? The time just slips up on you, and there it is, an RFP on your desk for one of your [...]

click to continue → November 12, 2010

Sales Proposal as Change Agent

Change is difficult. It’s difficult to envision, design, and implement. Ask anyone in organizational development. Then there is the sales proposal – the big bid one. Business document by day. Change agent [...]

click to continue → September 11, 2010

60,000 to 1

60,000 = a rough ballpark* for the number of words a customer will read when reviewing four to six contractors’ sales proposals. 1 = the number of contractors a customer will select [...]

click to continue → March 26, 2010

RFPs to Nowhere?

I asked a contractor-friend of mine what his biggest pain in contract sales was. His answer was “not getting the opportunity to make a presentation after submitting a proposal in response to [...]

click to continue → February 9, 2010

Crossing the Line

When internal sales talk crosses the line to become outside customer conversation, your perspective and word-choice can leave you fully exposed and vulnerable. The words used in customer conversations are a dead [...]

click to continue → November 5, 2009

Side-by-Side Competition

There’s always competition for service contracts*. You’d think contractor proposals were written with that in mind. Alas, not so often. During an RFP process Procurement will pull responses from contractors’ proposals and [...]

click to continue → October 12, 2009

Keep It Together: Thoughts on Proposal Binding

Service contractors have their reasons for choosing how their proposals are bound. Customers receiving those proposals have other needs. So, beyond keeping 100s of proposal pages from littering the floor, what’s the [...]

click to continue → September 24, 2009

Top 5 Reference Killers

Reference selection for a proposal can be like nitroglycerin – choose the wrong ones and start looking to the next bid because you’ve just obliterated this one. Who would have thought your [...]

click to continue → September 17, 2009

Self-Inflicted Proposal Wounds – It Shows

Service contractors can work long and hard, sometimes years, to get on customers’ bid lists. Yet when the Request for Proposal (RFP) finally arrives, contractors submit proposals that cripple their chances to [...]

click to continue → September 10, 2009

The Million Dollar Prep

This preparation is for contractors seeking to win a facility service contract of $1 million dollars annually, or more. Why a million? Just a nice number to say a contract opportunity is [...]

click to continue → August 12, 2009

More about Scenario-based RFPs

Our recent monthly Revenue-IQ article, Time to Change the RFP Game?, struck home with a number of service contractors and customers. Both sides of service contracts recognized the Request for Proposal (RFP) [...]

click to continue → November 5, 2008

To Bid, or Not to Bid

Now that’s a serious question. Whether you’re the contractor invited to bid, or the customer inviting bids, this can be a touchy question. From the contractors’ side, declining to bid invitations can [...]

click to continue → December 7, 2007

Doctor or Post-Hole Digger?

There are two approaches to writing proposals. The post-hole digger approach is about efficiency. I’m not putting down people who dig post-holes. They do have to space the holes evenly and dig [...]

click to continue → October 16, 2007

Hollow RFPs

Does this sound familiar? A contractor-client notes an increase in Requests for Proposal (RFPs). Normally lots of RFPs are a good thing. However, these RFPs aren’t what they seem. He feels many [...]

click to continue → August 20, 2007

Do No Harm

Doctors used to take the Hippocratic oath to do no harm to their patients, but sadly, they don’t anymore. Must have been the liability issues. On the other hand, proposal writers should [...]

click to continue → July 19, 2007

RFPs = Written Interviews

Imagine you’re in a job interview. You want the job. The interviewer needs to hire someone to fill an open position. Simple enough. In the beginning, the interviewer tells you lots of [...]

click to continue → May 17, 2007

Naming Names: Matching Customers’ Words

Tolkien created wonderful character names like Gollum, Gandalf, and Gimli. These names belong to a unique world. When you hear them you know where you are. Same is true for customers. They [...]

click to continue → May 10, 2007

Right Time for Rebids?

Anyone who’s had a contract up for renewal, especially of the 80/20 variety, knows the fear of losing it (80% of your revenue from 20% of your contracts). In Would You Rather [...]

click to continue → March 29, 2007

← Previous Entries