So, the salesperson comes to my office, wearing khakis and a yellow shortsleeve shirt and hands me his proposal for our new $52,000 client server network system to run all of our business.

The first time I met the sales guy, he actually wore a suit. But I guess now, since we got the first impression out of the way and have built a “relationship”, it was ok for him to come to our office looking like he was on his way to his daughter’s softball game.

So I eyeball the proposal — all two pages of it — and it looks kind of like a book-of-the-month club order form or a checklist for a kids’ birthday party at a bowling alley.

Hey — it’s $52,000 . . . at least try to sell me.

Do you think he got the deal?

To sell and market your products and services better, you must understand how your offerings are dissected by the prospect and then ultimately chosen as the buyer reads your proposal.

So, whether you are a marketing manager, a salesperson or a CEO, you need to create proposals that act as an “invisible salesperson” that sells when you are not in the room.

Does your proposal just list installation, equipment and software modules being purchased or does it have 30 boring pages of the scope and installation schedule of professional services the client is going to buy?

If so . . . then that’s a problem.

Your proposal should be an invisible salesperson who sells for you when you are not there. It should communicate your value three dimensionally so the prospect understands why they should buy from you – not the other vendors who are also trying to validate their value. Even more important, it should educate all of the other decision influencers and decision makers who are making a judgment on your offering. Hoping that your primary contact is going to precisely communicate your value and correctly answer all of the questions that may arise about your offering is naive.

If your proposal does not scream “I am the one”, then you have a problem. If you sell your products and services in a complex, multi-layered decision process . . . then it is even more important for your proposal to work as an effective business tool.

When a proposal is reviewed, it must explain “why” they should buy from you, not just “this is what you get.” You need to include, at a minimum, the following information:

• What is your company philosophy?
• How do you handle client special requests?
• What does the prospect need to know that they are not educated enough to ask you or your competitors?

All important questions that if you don’t address will reduce your firm’s success and cause you to lose deals that should be yours.

To double your closing ratio in the next 60 days, follow these three steps.

Three Proposal Tips You Can Use Right Now

1. On the last page of your proposal, include a summary on “Why you should invest with us.” More than a written conclusion, this section should succinctly describe why the prospect should select you specifically. In your soliloquy, list the potential consequences to the buyer (in a professional way) of what will happen if they don’t buy from you . . . or if they don’t buy at all.

2. Create a F.A.Q. (Frequently Asked Questions) section in each of your proposals to answer the most asked questions your targeted buyers may ponder. This allows you to always give the correct response to a sales objection or question that your buyer and their teammay have, even when you are not there.

3. Keep a client dialogue book and write down detailed notes that include the prospect’s name, title, date of comment and positive observations the client and their team make about investing in your products and services during your conversations and discovery. As long as a prospect doesn’t say “this is confidential”, list all of the positive comments inside the proposal under a heading called ” Comments Made By Your Team.” References by your current clients are always good, but positive statements of why the prospect should buy made by their own team is always better.

Selling is a premeditated sport. You must invest time, money and effort into a precise process of how to communicate value continually while managing the buyer process of acquisition.

Your proposal can be an invisible salesperson that keeps selling — or it can be a book-of-the-month club order form that describes what you buy . . . not the reasons why the buyer should buy.

It’s up to you!

To your corporate revenue growth,

Kevin A. McCann
President & CEO
Executive Strategy Group, LLC
603-319-1736
www.executivestrategygroup.com
“Value Defined, Value Delivered” ™

About The Executive Strategy Group, LLC

Kevin McCann is President & CEO of The Executive Strategy Group, LLC. We are a managing partner of the Value Forward Network and have consulting partners in five countries making us one of the world’s largest management consulting groups focused on helping companies increase corporate revenue capture.

We work with senior executive teams to integrate sales process, marketing methodology, corporate strategy and financial management into one outbound revenue capture program to increase corporate revenue. We do this by assessing the value your customers see and the value you think you have and then measure the “Value Variance” gap between the two. Once we have identified the “Value Variance” between the two, we then make appropriate strategic and tactical recommendations on your corporate strategy and marketing programs to close the gaps. When this is completed, we then train your sales team to sell to management more effectively using techniques that are linked to our recommendations.

Top-performing organizations are increasing their company’s revenue and valuation within a constricted economy by investing in our business growth acceleration strategies. For more information, visit:http://www.executivestrategygroup.com or
call Kevin McCann directly at (603) 319-1736