It's all too easy for sales people to get carried away at the prospect of a new customer signing on the dotted line. But all their hard work courting a new customer - researching the business, following up sales calls, going to exploratory meetings, understanding the customer's needs - could easily be undone with a flippant or untargeted sales proposal.
Many a contract that was supposedly ‘in the bag' has been lost at this important stage. Writing a sales proposal isn't just a formality once you've done all the relationship building. Quite the opposite. In fact, it may be the first time that the key decision-makers in the business are introduced to your company. So you need to make a great impression all over again.
Where is your prospect at?
Most importantly, you need to make sure that your proposal addresses your readers' requirements. And that means finding out where your potential customer is at now.
A lot could have happened since you last saw or spoke to them. A rival supplier may have approached them and they may now be questioning whether to give you the business. They may have reviewed their financial situation and be considering reining in their spend. Or simply it may be that the person who first reads your document has had a terrible night's sleep or a bad journey into work.
Whatever the situation when your document is received - and you can't possibly foresee every eventuality - you need to take your customer through a logical and compelling sales argument again. Even if you feel you've already done so. And to do that effectively, you need to start from where your customer is now.
So don't start blowing your own trumpet about how great you are as a company, even if you do have lots of testimonials to back up your claims. Likewise, don't start outlining your terms and conditions, as this is a sure-fire way to turn your customer off.
Understand your customer
Start your sales argument from where your customer is now and illustrate that through your discussions to date, you have understood your prospect's business issues and can give compelling evidence for how your product or service can meet those needs.
If you achieve this, you'll have your customer nodding in agreement while reading your sales proposal, as they see that you have truly understood where they are coming from.
That's what people want when they buy a new product or service through a new supplier: an understanding of their business to form the basis for a positive ongoing relationship. After all, that's what doing new business is all about and your sales proposal is crucial to achieving this.
Don't forget the influencers
Understanding your customer's needs is even more important if your proposal will be read by influencers or decision-makers who have never met you before and don't have the experience of all that relationship building you did with their colleague (s). It's important that you get these people on board too if you are to stand any chance of winning the business. In short, it's only once you've convinced your readers that you clearly know what your talking about that the crux of your sales argument can work its magic. Do that and all your hard work during the sales lead stage won't be in vain.
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