Most people find their closing rate is much higher when they are in front of the decision maker than it is if they have to email in a proposal. This is pretty normal and happens for all the reasons you already know about, not least of all that you have their attention when you are in front of them whereas your email will land somewhere in their things to do list and probably not near the top!
Well let’s break this down for a minute and look at why it is easier to close when you are in front of the decision maker. Invariably this will be because…
- You have built rapport with them,
- You have understood their needs, and because of that
- You have articulated the value your product or service can deliver to them.
In my opinion, the reason why conversion rates drop off when you rely on a proposal to do the job for you, is because you fail to achieve the same 3 points in the proposal. Too many people underestimate the power of a well written proposal; don’t be one of them!
So how do you accomplish those key three elements in a proposal?
Step 1: Use all the info you gathered when you spoke to your potential client. You need to show you understand their needs by building rapport with them in the proposal. You can do this by…
- Showing you were listening and that you understand their situation describing it. This is how I start all of my proposal emails. It works by reminding them of the “pain” they are in.
- Using their language. What words did they use to describe their situation? Use the same words in your description of it. Don’t be tempted to over-intellectualise this or to use loads of jargon as that will have the opposite effect.
- Describing the transformation they want to achieve. This is a great way to define value (we’ll mention this again in a minute) and is absolutely vital in helping you secure the sale.
Step 2: Describe the transformation your product or service can achieve. This can be a bit tricky depending on your particular product or service but they will only make a purchasing decision if they believe you hold a/the key to helping them achieve their desired transformation. You need to balance the content between features and value as features alone won’t do the selling for you as people buy the transformation. They want to know the features as they will want to understand exactly what they are getting for their money but don’t labour the point.
Step 3: Put yourself in their shoes. It is likely that they are thinking “how do I know it’ll be good enough” or something similar, so you need to cover off those type of objections before they utter them. These would also include the classic ones re “too expensive” and “not enough time”. A great way of doing this is to include case studies and/or testimonials in your proposal as standard. Let your existing clients do the work for you.
Step 4: The price. You need to position this carefully. I would suggest you do a small repeat of the transformation they want to achieve and then list your price, as usually your price is only a fraction of the value they will achieve from the overall transformation they will get from using it.
Step 5: Call to action. You want to drive their buying behaviour so you must include a call to action. What this should be will depend on what it is you are selling and the logical next step. It could be a time limitation on the price or a simple “please phone”. I often say I will contact them by XX.
Step 6: Include your standard Terms & Conditions.
Most of these steps can exist in a preformatted template that only needs to be tweaked to make it tailored to your particular prospect. Too many people assume a straight forward quote will do the work for them as they got on fine with the decision maker when they saw them. The challenge with that is the decision maker will have probably been focusing on plenty of other important things since they saw you and may have even slept more than once, so your meeting with them may no longer stand out in their mind so you need to re-engage them through a well written proposal. To be clear I’m not saying to write War & Peace as no one will have the time to read it, but you do need to re-establish the rapport if you are going to close the sale.
This is no-cost marketing at its best. You have all you need to implement this so give it a go the next time you write a proposal. Once you get it right you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.