You need to arrange to present your proposal face-to-face to the most senior individuals who will be deciding on the product your customer will ultimately purchase. When you have the appropriate people in the room simultaneously, you are going to simplify the negotiating process while enabling you to get immediate feedback from the decision makers themselves. You'll also be able to qualify the validity of your solution, the compelling event driving your customer and how it relates to their priorities, together with the timeframe in which they need to make a purchase. Many times your proposal will be distributed amongst other executives further emphasizing the need for it to live on its own when you are not there to support the value of your product. Do not deliver your proposal via e-mail and hope or assume your customer will examine and understand all of the essential attributes and the value you are offering.
Following are among the most important ingredients to incorporate in your proposal:
Executive Summary. This section should describe your customers priority, along with the challenge they are facing, and a brief, high level description regarding the uniqueness of your product or service and how it addresses your customers specific problems.
Solution Overview. The overview should further elaborate on your solution with some facts and examples of how it maps to the particular challenges and overall strategy of your customer. You should incorporate items such as the goals and findings of any proof of concept completed, along with the names of the people involved on your customers evaluation team, and results of any other customer site visits or reference calls completed. If you had a partner involved, share their findings and recommendation or endorsement to further substantiate your solution. You should also indicate the time your customer invested and the steps completed to prove how your product is a viable solution for their company. This would build substantial credibility for you and your company.
Implementation Plan. Show the high level project plan along with a timeline along with professional services needed for implementing your solution. For technical products, you should include a high level solution architecture. This will not just demonstrate the completeness of your solution, it will also show how you will get the job completed and validate exactly when the project needs to start to meet your customers deadline and will further confirm the compelling event. For example, if your customer needs a solution implemented in six months, and your project will take five months from start to finish, that leaves one month to negotiate a contract, allocate resources, and kick off the project. Showing that detail will help support the fact that you and your customer need to have a contract signed and begin the project at once.
Education Plan. The education plan should provide details for all of the instructional classes needed. This plan should be incorporated into the implementation plan above.
Financial Investment Summary. The investment summary should clearly represent the total financial outlay for your proposal together with a breakout of the fees of your products, services, any applicable training, together with the payment schedule. If there are any financial incentives or special discounts you are offering, be sure that you show precisely what they are, and the cost savings provided as compared to what the "normal" or "typical" pricing would be. It's also beneficial to show the estimated timeframe for your customers return on investment along with any hard dollar financial savings your proposal provides.
Proposal Conditions. If there are special conditions tied to your proposal, be sure they are documented and reviewed during your meeting. These would typically be items that would help you meet your targeted close date, or help you with future commitments from your customer, or other items that would help you generate incremental future business, and should always be considered for inclusion. For example, you may have a due date for a signed contract, or a condition your client must satisfy such as volume purchases needed to preserve special pricing, etc.
Agreement Framework. This is usually a description of the product names and quantities, along with professional services and education that are required for your solution and included in your proposal. Additionally, you should specify the contract vehicle to be used so that you can confirm the purchasing process, and the resources needed to get your agreement signed.
Proposal Benefits. This section is just about the most important element of your proposal and provides the opportunity for you to tie all of the pieces together. You should summarize and highlight the overall benefits you are providing and briefly recap each of the previously mentioned items while reinforcing the completeness of your solution and any other exceptional elements.
After you have gone through the presentation of your proposal, your customer should have a precise understanding of all pertinent elements of your solution and just how they relate to and resolve their business problem. Furthermore, you will have much better insight into what's required to close your deal. At this point you've demonstrated how you have earned the business, so be sure to ask for it.
By following these simple and repeatable steps, you will save time developing future proposals as well as increase your sales performance, while demonstrating your professionalism, reliability, and the unique value you provide to your customers.
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Check here for more valuable and free information about Proven Sales Techniques. By Paul M. Balzano
