From The Stimson Group

A Sales Proposal Checklist
(note: this is a reprise of an online article from 2006. It ties in directly to my Sales Seminar)

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have spent months courting a customer, touting your firm's expertise, providing demos, proposals, and elegant solutions to their biggest problems only to have the customer simply reject your bid on cost? Or have you aggressively sought a piece of business with low prices only to lose the job because the client didn't feel your firm could handle the business? Matching what you sell to what the customer is buying is one of the most basic and most difficult challenges faced by your sales force. Getting in touch with customer requirements is both a talent and a skill. It is a talent in that some people simply have an innate ability to sense another person's needs. It is a skill in that one can learn how to recognize some of these signs and make appropriate adjustments. Whether you are managing dozens of sales persons or just yourself, you need to continually review your Sales Checklist. These questions are designed to keep you grounded in your client's needs so that you don't miss the opportunity to complete the sale.

Who is the Decision Maker?
Knowing who makes the decision is as important as knowing what they are buying. That cost-conscious, detail-oriented, nit-picking purchasing agent is just doing her job when she qualifies your proposal and presents it with so many other companies'. You will have a distinct advantage if you know who the real decision maker behind the buyer is and know what is important to her. In general there are two types of proposals, qualified and blind. Qualified RFP's come from sources familiar with your product or services. They may be the result of your direct efforts at securing business or from passive marketing by your firm. Blind proposals seem to come out of nowhere from sources that do not seem to know much if anything about your firm. More importantly you may not know enough about the client to make a focused proposal. RFP's from corporate buyers are the most common unqualified lead and some may not be worth your firm's time. In fact, if you have to make a blind proposal you have basically two choices: One is to walk away because proposals are time-consuming and sometimes expensive. The second choice is to bid your greatest strength. Bidding your strength is your most efficient proposal because it requires the least amount of creativity.

What makes your customer profitable?
Your customer is in business to make money just as you are. What they do to make money does matter to your proposal. In fact it may hold the key to what kind of proposal you should make and to whom you should make it. Selling to a manufacturer that operates on 2% margins is different than selling to a service company. Does the service or product you are selling have the potential to increase their profit or will it simply add to their overhead? However, a successful shareholder's meeting or product rollout can have an immediate affect on your customer's financial position.

Is my firm ready or capable of meeting their current needs?
Or more simply, are they buying what we're selling? The obvious point is that we need to ask our customers what they need and try to meet that need. The hidden message is that as salespersons we need to understand what our firm can provide. Just because they are buying doesn't mean you have something to sell. No one wants their time wasted and you probably don't have resources to squander on dead-ends. If you can't align their present or future needs with your product, then say thank-you and move along.

What is this customer buying today?
Today means now, as in the encounter you are just about to have. It may be a phone call, an email, a drop-in visit or the delivery of a marketing piece. Before you execute, do you know what that customer is wiling or capable of buying from you? Sometimes today is not a "buying" day and you need to be selling the future by working on the relationship. If the proposal you are about to submit does not fulfill their current needs, then make sure that you are laying the groundwork for their future needs.

Have I addressed those needs in this proposal?
Sometimes in our excitement and basking in our success at relationship building we forget the basics. Sure, this customer may like you and think your firm would be great to work with, but is that what's in your proposal? Spell it out for them. Explain why your offering will accomplish what they want. It is entirely possible that your need to propose something different that what the customer is buying today. It may be that this proposal is an opportunity to build for future business. If so, make sure you are taking full advantage of that opportunity by pointing out your intentions. If not, then you run the risk of appearing unacquainted with your target.

Do I know what my assumptions are?
Contrary to a popular axiom it is all right to make assumptions provided they are grounded in reality and appropriately addressed. For instance we can infer certain things from an RFP such as intended outcome, level of quality, or importance of price. Take the time to review what you think you know about the customer and this particular proposal and look for hidden assumptions. Assumptions are questions we either forgot to ask or believed we already knew the answer to and therefore neglected to ask. Some assumptions are inevitable. Eliminate the ones that aren't.

Do I know what I am unclear on?
You will never know all the answers, but you need to understand what it is you don't know. For instance, if you are uncertain about the time frame in which the service or product will need to be delivered, will that affect your proposal's costs? Have you allowed for this uncertainty? Are there some contingencies you need to include in the proposal or perhaps do you need to list your assumptions to qualify your proposition? There is always risk in doing business. The higher your risk, the more profit you should be entitled to (in theory anyway). A well- defined RFP should give you a good idea of your level of risk in that project. Savvy customers will frame their RFP so that the level of risk they are willing to absorb (or pay for the privilege of avoiding) is clear. Evaluate the RFP for clues about the customer's assumption of who is taking the risk. Your strategy may be to absorb that uncertainty or it may be to define the level of risk you plan to admit. Make sure you haven't exceeded your absorption limit.

What questions will the customer have?
If you know the answer to this then perhaps that should be incorporated into your proposal? There may be compelling reasons to leave information out as well. Many executives will tell you that they would rather see a short one-page proposal than a three-inch binder of documentation. Corporate buyers on the other hand often prefer the thoroughness of a detailed proposal because it gives them more information on which to base a recommendation (and justify their involvement). Make sure you know who the decision-maker is and sell to that person. In either case, your proposal should generate one or two good questions. A good question would be "How can you finish this project so quickly?" to which you answer, "Hire us and I will tell you." A bad question would be "Why did you propose using this solution when the RFP specifically asked for something different?" That is a question that should have been addressed in the proposal.

Conclusion
Successful selling is more than winning jobs; it is about building relationships. The foundation of a good relationship is trust and it begins with listening. When you can show your customer that you have listened to their verbal and non-verbal cues, they can begin to trust that your suggestions and ideas are offered in their best interest. Missteps in your presentation can quickly undermine any trust earned over the preceding months or years. To avoid sending your customer a danger signal, always review your presentation against your Sales Checklist and remove those faith-busting errors.

Copyright Tom Stimson 2006. All rights reserved.

Thoughts? Comments?