Successful Consulting Proposals: How To Avoid Sending DOA Proposals

If you want to avoid sending a proposal which is 'dead on arrival' - there are some key steps to know.

Welcome to my consultancy newsletter. If you want to build a thriving consultancy practice in your niche, I want to help. Please subscribe to my newsletter and check out my other articles.

---

The $62k Proposal (which was dead on arrival)

Last year, a client forwarded me a proposal from a consultant in response to an initial solicitation for a branding service

The proposal was one and a half pages long. It contained nothing personalised to the client. And it quoted a fee of $62,000.

We were both shocked at how little effort had been put into the proposal. Yet, creating a quick, short, proposal is exactly the advice given to a lot of consultants.

The problem, I suspect, is confusion about the purpose of a proposal.

What Is The Purpose Of A Proposal?

To understand the purpose of the proposal, it’s perhaps best to distinguish a proposal from a contract.

• A proposal is a persuasive document. A proposal is a document that you present to show you understand the needs of a client, showcase the services you offer, and how you will address each of their needs. It's a persuasive document meant to convince the client that you are the right person(s) for the job.

• A contract is a legally binding agreement between the consultant and the client. It formalizes the terms and conditions of the engagement, specifying the obligations, responsibilities, and rights of both parties.

The difference between the two is going to become more important as we describe the best approach to proposals later.

For now, just remember that the purpose of a proposal is to persuade.

The Problem With A Short Proposal

The benefits of a short proposal can be summarised by ConsultingSuccess here.

A proposal is not an RFP. I don’t know any buyer that wants to receive a 30+ page proposal when they can simply get a 2-3 page one.

If your proposals are over three pages, take a close look at what you’re including in them.

You want to get a signed proposal in the shortest time possible. Keep your language clear and simple in a short proposal.

A proposal, in this philosophy, is simply a summary of what you’ve agreed on in your previous discussions.

In theory, your proposal should never be rejected because it only contains information you and your prospect have agreed to. And if it is rejected, it’s not because of the proposal itself but because you haven’t properly engaged the right decision-makers in the process.

I adopted this approach when I began my consulting practice. I used Alan Weiss’ proposal template (aside - it’s very similar to ConsultingSuccess’ proposal template).

I quickly realised this approach had three problems.

1. It’s often not possible to engage every stakeholder who needs to approve the proposal. Sure, you can refuse to submit a proposal until you can set up a call with a senior stakeholder, but you’re going to lose a lot of time (and a lot of business) doing that. People are busy and some stakeholders (like procurement teams) aren’t about to hop on numerous calls with multiple vendors to clarify their needs. Remember, you might not be the only person they’re speaking to about getting support. Waiting to engage every stakeholder can see the opportunity slip away.

2. You don’t have the time to gain full alignment on everything. I’ve lost track of projects where speed was critical. You can’t set up several calls to agree on every detail prior to submitting the proposal. Sometimes people need to move faster (often when they have a budget to spend by the end of the year). They have a deadline to hit and if you can’t get them a proposal they can approve quickly, you might lose the deal.

3. You lose to the competition. If you send a two-page document using the template above and your competitor sends a more personalised and detailed proposal which includes examples of their past work and successes, there’s a good chance you will lose the deal.

This doesn’t mean the philosophy of short proposals is wrong, it just means you should understand when and if it makes sense to you.

If You Have Agreement, Skip To The Contract

Short proposals are often recommended when four conditions were met:

1. Everyone who needs to approve the proposal has been engaged in the process and has given verbal agreement to the project.

2. You already have an agreement on the fee, deliverables, and timelines.

3. You’re not in competition with any other consultant.

4. You’re working with a smaller organisation or smaller budget (i.e. without procurement teams).

But here’s the thing. If you already have support from all your key stakeholders, there’s no need for a proposal at all - you don’t need to do any more persuading - you can simply jump to creating the contract

You will notice in the templates above, there is a space for the signature.

This makes no sense. A proposal and a contract are two different documents serving completely different purposes.

Back when I used the template above, no client ever signed that document.

That’s because it lacks the basic requirements of a consultancy contract.

If you’re sure you have an agreement to move forward, you can jump straight to the contract.

This happens with about half of our clients today. Sometimes it’s a repeat client, with a clear budget and scope of work in mind. We can jump to the contract and get started. That’s a win for us both. Other times it’s simply someone who specifically wants to work with us and doesn’t need much persuading.

This saves everyone a lot of time. If it’s clear we’re both keen to move forward I can say:

It sounds like we’ve aligned on everything here, so would it be ok for me to draft up a contract for you to sign and send it your way by the end of tomorrow?

These are great situations to be in. But it’s not going to happen with every prospect you’re working with. Sometimes you simply need to take more time and send a longer proposal.

When Should You Send A Proposal?

In my early consulting days, I used to rush the process.

A prospect would contact me with an initial expression of interest. We would set up a 30-minute call. I’d ask a few questions and share some details about me. Then I’d offer to send them a proposal.

Sometimes the proposals were accepted, and sometimes they weren’t.

Either way, my success rate would have been far better if I had taken the time to engage the stakeholders who needed to be engaged, learn more about the prospect and their unique needs, and build a better level of trust between us.

One person being interested in your services doesn’t mean others will be too. I later discovered that many of these initial calls weren’t serious expressions of interest, but simply a prospect testing the waters of what a consultancy project could look like and the fees involved. Occasionally it was someone who was trying to impress me by pretending they were in roles where they could hire a consultant.

There are clients we’ve signed in the past few months which we would never have signed in in my earlier days. This is the direct result of slowing down the process, engaging more people, and taking the time to listen and adapt the proposal.

You shouldn’t send a proposal until at least:

• You’ve engaged all the key decision-makers you can feasibly engage. As noted, you can’t always engage every key stakeholder, but you should always try to bring as many people into the discussion as possible.

• You’ve had deep discussions about the challenges to resolve and the root causes of those challenges. You want to be able to describe the challenges and causes of those challenges as specifically to the client as possible. You want someone you’ve never met to appreciate how well you know their challenges.

• You have a clear understanding of why the client can’t solve this for themselves. You should be able to clearly articulate the amazing value you can add which organisations aren’t able to deliver for themselves.

• You have a deep understanding of the outcomes the client wants. You should be able to describe in your own words exactly what success looks like. You should also be clear about the role your deliverables will play in that success.

• You have shared an approximate cost and the client. You should have provided a broad range to work with and at least find the client is still keen to continue the process. This saves you from creating a proposal which is ‘dead on arrival’.

• You know approximately when the client wants the project to begin. This helps avoid prospects ‘testing the waters’ without having a serious beginning date in mind.

• You know when the results are needed by. You should know what’s driving the client to seek consultancy support now. When do they need the results by? What’s driving that?

• You know who will see the proposal and what they want to see. Always ask. Go stakeholder by stakeholder and check what each would need and want to see in the proposal.

You might not be able to get the full agreement that the short-proposal advocates desire, but you should always be able to get answers to (and alignment on) the issues above.

Creating The Proposal

The obvious problem with short proposals is they might be shared internally with people you’ve never met but might still have an influence on the decision to move forward. If you’re only giving them the summary of your discussions, you’re not giving them many reasons to say yes and plenty of reasons to say no.

This is why I strongly recommend writing a longer proposal which shows you’ve really done your homework and listened to the client.

This should include some combination of:

• Problem Statement.

• Unique Methodology.

• Deliverables.

• Timeline.

• Fees.

• About You / Your Expertise.

• Terms and Conditions.

A longer proposal is a persuasive document. Yes, you can write it as a Word document, but I’d suggest investing a few hundred dollars to have a professionally designed template which you can use indefinitely. 

If you can’t do that, at least get a subscription to Envato, Canva, or a similar directory with hundreds of professionally designed templates you can download and customise. By template, we mean something in presentation format (Keynote, Powerpoint, or Google Slides). 

Our typical proposals vary from 25 to 60 slides. We include a combination of examples, case studies, and more. 

Our goal is to ensure that someone who has never heard of us can quickly understand:

1. We truly understand their problem (and really care about solving it).

2. We have a unique methodology which is intuitive and makes sense to solving the problem.

3. We have an unbeatable track record of solving their problem.

4. The fees are reasonable to the scope of work involved.

This is a lot more work than sending a 2 to 3-page proposal, but in my experience, it pays off many times over.

Don’t Confuse A Proposal And A Pitch

A quick aside here.

If you’re asked to send your proposal, you’re working on a proposal. 

If you’re asked to present your proposal, you’re working on a pitch.

• A proposal is a detailed overview which people will take time to read. It’s text-based. You don’t want to be reading a text-based document in a live presentation. This isn’t the right format for a live presentation.

• A pitch is a visual presentation that zeros in on the most persuasive aspects of your service. It should look great but cut out 90% of the information in favour of the highlights someone needs to know. Focus on the unique methodology, your track record, and the outcomes you will deliver.

It’s important not to confuse the two. If you are asked to present the work, then make sure you only use about half of the allotted time. Use the remainder to respond to questions. If they don’t have any questions, then ask more questions of your own.

You want whoever is reviewing the pitch to have as much contact with you as possible.

Keep Proposals for $25k+ Projects

Proposals can take a long time to create. It doesn’t make sense to invest five hours into a proposal for a $10k project. You’ve just spent 10% of the revenue from that project to get sign-off. And if you consider your success rate might not be 100%, this cost can start eating a big chunk of your income.

So, unless you’re really strapped for cash, keep the proposals for the larger client projects.

Good luck.