10/29/07 - 75 percent plus proposal close rate formula

Word count: 542

Time to read: 2 minutes

Proposals that don’t close
If I had invested as much time in the stock market as I have in writing proposals I would be retired by now. Ever feel that way?

All I want for Christmas…
Is a proposal that will close. I don’t need perfection, 75% + would just be dandy.

Dang things these proposals
Janet couldn’t give it away. Here she was a young 35, dressed to the nines, great education, loved her customers and she couldn’t get more than about 25% of her proposals to close. Her husband was fed up with her devoting weekends to writing the dang things and her boss was beginning to think she was an airhead.

Proposal 911
Janet called and asked for help. If I couldn’t help her, she was going to quit; the frustration wasn’t worth it.

Better pay through a few simple distinctions
We helped Janet discover a few simple distinctions that changed everything. Practically overnight she was closing more and more of her proposals until she was north of that magic 75% close rate.

First, Janet started asking why; “why her company?, why this product and service, why hadn’t they done this earlier, why do it now?” If she didn’t get a good answer to one or more, she didn’t propose. Lesson one: if you don’t understand the why’s, you are probably going to lose.

Second, Janet started asking about the impact; “what will this mean to the buyer, the company, the sponsor, the team, etc.” Not only that, she asked what the specific impact in dollars were likely to be. Usually the target didn’t really know. Janet helped them work it out using their numbers until they got to an impact number that they agreed was real. Lesson two; buyers usually have not thought through the true impact of buying what you are selling and will need your help to do so.

Third, Janet quit trying to use the proposal to sell but rather to put in writing an agreement that had already been reached. We gave Janet a proposal format that she had to get filled out from discussions with the person at the target account who could get ink on the check (that was another little innovation – Janet was surprised to realize that at least of third of the time she actually hadn’t been dealing with a person who was responsible for solving the problem the proposal was intended to address).

No more proposal weekends
The rule was that Janet couldn’t submit a proposal until she had gotten all the details the proposal format required. If she couldn’t get the details down and in agreement with the real buyer at the target account, Janet couldn’t waste her weekend submitting a proposal.

Everyone seems to fight
Janet fought initially. Pretty soon the proposal rate started to go up. As Janet got better at following the process her close rate climbed. Now Janet closes about 90%.

Just three Ma’m
Yes, there were a few more details we covered with Janet… but if you just do the one’s in this newsletter, you should see a big improvement. Let clarity and agreement be your primary guide… and give up the wishful thinking. How many of your proposals do you really close?

Margin Boost Tune-Up
If you want to master the dynamics of building a great proposal, you have two options. The most comprehensive approach is to take our Margin Boost Class starting November 8th and running for 7 weeks. Go HERE for more detail or HERE to register. The class in $995 and is 100% guaranteed.

Mini proposal tune-up
Your alternative is to send me a blank email to eric@succeedinginbusiness.com and just put PROPOSAL in the subject line. I am putting together a two session class on building proposals that will cover the bulk of the critical components of successful proposal writing. An option for that class will be to get a proposal review for an additional charge.

Your personal ROI is the key
The key to both the Margin Boost class and the proposal mini class is that spending a little time on getting better at proposals should cut your investment in proposal writing time while giving you the tools to make a life long improvement in your ability to make more money while working less.

Cheers,

Eric