Five Business Proposal Mistakes You're Probably Making Today
There are many mistakes you can make in a business proposal which will cost you business. Here are five of the most common.
It could easily be 10 to 15 mistakes, but here are five of the most common I’m seeing with my coaching clients.
Mistake 1: Writing Your Proposal In Word
Writing your proposal in MS Word isn’t the worst idea, but sending an A4 word document to a client certainly is.
People aren’t going to print out your proposal anymore. They’re going to read your proposal on a screen. Therefore, your proposal should fit the width of the screen.
This means your proposal should be in presentation format - and it should be professionally designed.
Too many people download a free A4-style proposal template and use that. This is a mistake. You want your proposals to reflect the quality you bring to a project. The form matters a lot. Worse yet, word documents greatly restrict your ability to present concepts and ideas creatively.
Don’t use word processors to create your proposals.
Mistake 2: Not Using Diagrams
People don’t remember most of what they read - especially if the writing is dry (see below). This is why you make liberal use of illustrations and diagrams.
In my proposals, I often take screenshots of what our prospects are doing today and highlight the specific areas we would change. Sometimes, I even mock-up what the future will be like after working with us.
I want prospects to be able to taste the difference.
I use models and diagrams to accompany the writing and illustrate the points we’re trying to make. Diagrams are your friends in proposals. If you can make it easier to understand a concept, then use a diagram.
Trust me, this step alone will make your proposals stand out from the crowd.
Mistake 3: Sending Short Proposals
A common piece of advice given to consultants is that your proposal should be only two pages long because ‘no one wants to read a long proposal’.
This is terrible advice.
Trust me, if you’re selling a $20k+ project, prospects will expect more than two flimsy pages to explain why they should hire you. You need to detail your methodology, the deliverables, and more. It would be best if you showed the client you genuinely understand their problem and have the best way to solve it.
Your level of effort and personalisation in the proposal will definitely impact your success.
(Also, consider what happens if you send a simple two-page doc and a competitor sends a comprehensive one. Which do you think the client will be more impressed by?).
This doesn’t mean you should make your proposals long for the sake of being long. Your proposal should be concise but comprehensive. Our proposals tend to range from 15 to 50 slides, depending on the project's scope.
Many argue against this using the logic that your proposal should only include everything you’ve agreed’.
This works fine in theory, but in practice, you may not always be able to engage every stakeholder who needs to approve the project.
Sometimes, you need to get a proposal done quickly in time for an internal decision. Sometimes, procurement cannot personally talk to every consultant they’re considering. This means your proposal has to be comprehensive and explain the rationale behind some of your decisions.
Assume someone who has never met you will judge your proposal. Do you really want to send just two pages?
(Besides, if you’ve already agreed on everything, why must you send a proposal? You can skip the proposal and send a contract.)
Mistake 4: Using Dry And Boring Copy
Too many consultants write their proposals in the style of a technical manual.
Proposals often become dry, factual documents instead of engaging, persuasive reads.
Your proposal should be engaging for the reader. This begins on the title page and continues to every page below.
You can see an outtake lesson from my Proposal Mastery course below.
Once you’ve finished the proposal, start applying the persuasive techniques we cover in the course to your proposal.
Remember, you need to sell with trust here. What will make your proposal stand out?
Mistake 5: Duplicating Past Proposals
It’s common for consultants to save time by duplicating 90% of their proposals and then changing the names to suit each new prospect.
This does make intuitive sense. If you deliver the same service, why must you rewrite the copy?
But there are two significant problems with this.
It’s far too easy for errors (especially past client names) to slip through the cracks. If you mistype a client name in one place and later use a ‘find and replace’, you’ll likely leave the typo in. It’s hard to earn respect when you make mistakes like this.
You’re not personalising your proposal enough. It’s nuts to expend such an incredible effort to attract clients and then get lazy at the proposal stage. This is the moment when you need to customise everything to the client. Even if you have a standard set of services, make sure you adapt and customise it to the specific unique requirements of this client.
Learn To Write Better Business Proposals
If you want to learn how to write better business proposals, you can now enrol in my Proposal Mastery course.
The course includes:
Over five hours of content to upgrade your proposal skills.
Access to the templates we use to write proposals for clients.
Interviews with real buyers from large organisations about what they want to see in proposals.
Detailed pre-proposal meeting agendas highlighting what questions to ask.
Clinic sessions - watch me write a real proposal in real-time.
The chance to get feedback on your proposals.
This course includes everything we’ve learned about writing successful proposals for many of the world’s largest organisations over the past fifteen years.
The introductory fee for this course is $500 (it doubles on Nov 18).
You can sign up below.
If you have any questions, email richard@richardmillington.com
I look forward to seeing you on the inside.