How to Write Winning Proposals

1. How to Write Winning Proposals Using the science of persuasion to win more business

2. When The Economy Slows Down, Selling Becomes More Difficult People pull back from completing “transactions” But they are eager to find solutions Selling solutions requires: • broad business perspective • alignment with the customer's objectives • an ability to demonstrate value that matters to the customer

3. Why Do Solution-oriented Proposals and Presentations Fail? Because they are NOT… • Customer centered • Sales people resort to “clone and go” proposals • Boilerplate, “checkbox” proposals • Focus on the vendor or the product • Value based • No value proposal • No differentiation • Decision oriented • Wrong structure • Wrong emphasis

4. Agenda • Assumptions and observations • What makes for a good proposal? • The seven worst mistakes you can make • Four principles to improve your win ratio • Persuasive structure • Customer-centered persuasion • Value proposal • Personalize the message • Summary

5. Assumptions and Observations What’s a proposal? And why are they usually so bad?

6. The Function Of Sales Proposals • A proposal is NOT: • A price quote • A bill of materials • A technical specification • Your company overview or history A proposal is a sales document

7. What is a Good One? • Evidence that you understand the customer’s problems, needs, issues • A recommendation for a specific solution • Evidence of the ability to deliver on time and on budget • A compelling reason to choose your recommendations over any others ONE THAT WINS!

8. Why Do These Elements Matter the Most? • Because evaluators are looking for three general criteria: • Responsiveness: Am I getting what I need? • Competence: Can they really do it? • Rate of return: Does the pricing represent good value?

9. The Bad News:Most People Hate Writing Proposals So they start looking for escape routes… and it shows!

10. Escape Route #1 Cloning previous proposals

11. Escape Route #2: “Data Dumps” or “More is Better”

12. Escape Route #3: Talking about what we know and love best

13. Common Writing Errors…That Can Destroy Your Proposal • Failure to focus on the customer’s business problems and payoffs • No persuasive structure • No clear differentiation • Failure to offer a compelling value proposal • Key points are buried—no highlights, no impact • Difficult to read—full of jargon, too long, too technical • Credibility killers—misspellings, grammar errors, wrong customer name, inconsistent formats, etc.

14. Four Principles Using best practices to create proposals that win more frequently

15. Doctor, Doctor Give Me the Cures! • Use persuasive structure • Create customer-centered proposals • Focus on the decision maker’s hot buttons • Write to the audience • Automate

16. Principle #1 Build your proposals on persuasive structure

17. How Do People Make Decisions? The modern assumption • Decision making is a rational process • Involves systematic weighing of the evidence • Franklin’s “moral algebra”

18. The Problem: Nobody Does It That Way Making decisions in the real world • Complex • Confusing • Huge amounts of information • Conflicting evidence • Tremendous time pressure

19. How People Actually Make Decisions The process • Quick • Using the least amount of evidence possible • Seemingly impulsive or irrational, to an outside observer

20. How Quickly Do People Decide? Question: How long does it take, on average, for a person to decide if a proposal is worth looking at in detail? • Less than 5 minutes • Between 10 and 15 minutes • About half an hour

21. Factors of Choice • Recognition • Recognition is assumed to be a positive value • Single factor decision making • Use any criterion and select first options it fits • Use the last criterion that worked when making a similar decision • Use the criterion that has produced the best results in previous circumstances • Estimation • Estimate the probable rate of return and choose the option giving the best ROI

22. What Are the Implications? • Persuasion is a process, not an event • Continuous messaging is more effective than isolated documents • Importance of branding, advertising, repetitive contacts • Structure is more important than style • Using the right cognitive structure will produce the right results • Put the important point up front • Show compliance with the customer’s requirements and values • This will facilitate selection when it’s “take the best” • Demonstrate a high rate of return • With no value proposal, there may be no persuasion

23. The Key to Persuasive Structure • Needs: Demonstrate an understanding of the customer’s key business needs or issues • Outcomes: Identify meaningful outcomes or results from meeting those needs • Solution: Recommend a specific solution • Evidence: Build credibility by providing substantiating details

24. The Trust Equation Trust = Rapport x Credibility Risk

25. What Should You Work on First? Question: Of the three elements of trust, which one should you focus on first? • Rapport • Credibility • Risk

26. Principle #2 Create customer-centered proposals

27. Proposals Should Be Customer-centered, Not Self-centered • Self-Centered • Focuses on products, technology, etc. • Presents information in reaction to a request • Short-term focus • Vendor/buyer orientation • Builds on profit margin • No controlling strategy; line-item selling • Customer-Centered • Focuses on customer’s needs • Presents solutions to business problems • Looks toward long-term relationships • Partnership orientation • Analyzes payback, ROI, impact on business • Integrates value-added offerings into strategy

28. Seven Questions to Keep You Customer-centered • What is the customer’s problem, need, or opportunity? • Why is this problem a problem? • What outcomes or results do they want? • Which results have the highest priority? • What solutions can we offer? • What result will each solution produce? • Which solution is best?

29. The Best Place to Use Your Customer-Centered Insights • The Cover Letter • The Title Page • The Executive Summary • Case Studies

30. Effective Cover Letters • Make them persuasive and brief • Highlight key points from the proposal • The customer’s most important need or issue • The solution in extremely high level • A couple of key competitive advantages • Ask for the business • Avoid closing with “If you have any questions, please feel free to call”.

31. The Title Page:Say Something Meaningful • State a benefit to the customer in your main title • Use an action verb • Put the decision maker’s name on the title page • Avoid letting your logo dominate the title page

32. Proposal for Norms Distribution Opening New Markets Through Remanufactured Parts Presented to: Norm Weathersby Vice President, Sales Norm’s Distribution, Inc. Presented by: Ivan Smith, CEO The Smith Group May 2002 Which One Would You Read First?

33. Proposal Titles Question: What is the most frequently used title for proposals in the English-speaking world?

34. The Executive Summary:Keep It Brief and Relevant • Write simply and clearly • Readability should be easy • Focus on bottom-line issues and outcomes • Unless the buyer is strictly technical • Keep it short • Two pages is plenty for most proposals

35. Effective Case Studies Tips: • Keep them short • Use the PAR format • Problem • Business problems, not software requirements • Action • Focus on your unique delivery process • Results • Quantify results if possible

36. Principle #3 Focus on the decision maker’s hot buttons

37. FACT: If You Don’t Show Value, Winning Is a Game of Chance You must establish superior value based on technical, contractual, managerial, quality, or service differentiators. Otherwise the customer will choose based on price or maintaining the status quo.

38. Maintaining the Status Quo Question: How frequently do current vendors win on re-bids? • 50% • 66% • 75% • 90%

39. Showing Value Is Always Important,but Sometimes It’s REALLY Important Your value superiority must be greater when- • You are displacing an accepted incumbent • Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t • You are changing a process • People resist changing the way they earn their living • You are relocating control of a valuable process or asset • Control = power, prestige, and job security • Doing nothing is a viable alternative • Inactivity and passiveness sometimes seem safer than taking action

40. Value: Improving Performance or Eliminating Pain Where It Matters • Financial gain • lowest price, highest total value, lowest total cost of ownership • Quality • maintainability, ease of use, fewest problems/rejects • Infrastructure improvement • most flexible, most advanced, most open solution automating a labor-intensive step • Industry trends • keeping up with market leaders • Minimizing risk • financial stability, solid management plan, relevant experience, high ethical standards • Competitive advantage • simultaneous improvements across the organization

41. Creating the Value Proposal Four basic principles • The payback measurements must be customer-focused • The presentation of payback is more persuasive if it’s quantified • The value proposal is more likely to be noticed and remembered if it’s graphical • To bullet-proof your value proposal, you must base it on your differences from the competition

42. Principle #4 Personalize the Message

43. Good Advice From a Noble Roman “If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words” Cicero

44. Information Evaluation Persuasion Expert Comfort Zone Highly Informed Somewhat Informed Lay Get Out of the Comfort Zone…

45. Information Evaluation Persuasion Expert Comfort Zone Highly Informed Somewhat Informed Persuasion Zone Lay …And Into the Persuasion Zone

46. Cicero’s Three Points Audience Level- Expert (Speak my words) - Highly informed - Acquainted - Uninformed Audience Type - Analytical (Think my thoughts) - Pragmatic - Consensus-seeker - Visionary Audience Role- Check signer (Feel my feelings) - User - Gatekeeper

47. Boilerplate Proposals May Do More Damage Than Good • How many times does your name appear in the Executive Summary? • How many times does your customer’s name appear? • Are your product’s features linked to specific customer needs? • Have you used the customer's terminology? • Have you eliminated your own in-house jargon?

48. Clear Messages = Convincing Messages Use the KISS principle:(Keep It Short and Simple) • Simple words and short sentences • Use their name throughout • Refer to the customer as “you”, never as “it” or “they” • Avoid using your jargon • Aim for the right level of expertise • Provide content specific to their market or industry • Use lots of graphic illustrations • Highlight the text so your key points JUMP off the page

49. Summary • Customer-centered proposals are more effective than self-centered proposals • Selling solutions require clear and compelling value proposals based on your differentiators • Personalizing the proposal to the audience helps get your message across

50. Our Understanding of the Issues You Face • Respond effectively to RFP’s • Increasing sales force productivity • Improving the quality of your proposals