Proposal Writing Articles
PROPOSAL WRITING:
HOW TO
SQUEEZE THE MOST PROFIT FROM YOUR PROPOSAL WRITING EFFORTS
Proposal writing can either create increased profits or drain your
resources, time, and budget.
Squeezing profits from your proposal writing efforts demands paying
attention to three significant disciplines.
PROPOSALS
The most significant distinction in proposal writing is the difference
between how you define a proposal and how your clients do.
Your clients may want a price quote and you send them a 20 page synopsis
of your capabilities.
Your clients may simply want to know why they should select you over
your competitors and they receive a photo gallery of your previous
projects.
Your clients want to be assured you can deliver on what you promise, and
they receive a catalog of specification sheets.
Proposals are not price quotes, company brochures, or spec sheets.
Proposals are carefully crafted vehicles that take clients from where
they are now to where they want to be. Proposals become magic carpets
that easily and comfortably transport clients to the land of "That's
exactly what I want and need."
To achieve that, successful proposals must meet 17 quality standards
that measure your skills and abilities in making dreams come true.
WRITING
Proposal writing is business writing. The purpose of business writing is
to help people make important business decisions.
A business letter, memo, report, request, or e-mail should contain
business content. The most important detail of business writing remains
a constant focus on supplying readers information that help them make
sound business decisions.
What all this means is that business writing needs to focus on a
specific purpose aimed at a specific audience.
With a clear purpose and audience-focus, your writing must then display
expected and required attention to spelling, punctuation, grammar,
structure, approach, language, and tone. Business writing, and therefore
proposal writing, must be clear, concise, correct, complete, consistent,
conversational, and graphic.
Business and proposal writing is not an academic exercise. Academics
read for one purpose; business people read for a completely different
reason.
SELLING
Selling is, most often, the element most proposals lack.
Most proposals contain great information. Some proposals do a great job
of marketing.
Information and marketing tells.
A well-written proposal sells.
Big difference.
Selling is a skill, an attitude, and the behavior.
Selling requires the skill of getting inside your clients' heads to
uncover the differences between what they want, need, expect, and say.
That requires skill, practice, and patience.
Selling involves an attitude that customer-delight is more important
than profits, plaques, or pride. Delighted clients should become your
best form of free advertising. That's where positioning, preferred
vendor status, and profits come from.
Selling depends on specific behaviors on the part of salespeople.
Successful salespeople listen with focused attention. They ask the right
questions at the right times. They use information important to clients,
not important to them or their companies. Successful salespeople pay
attention to what clients mean or want, not what they say or write.
And, successful salespeople follow up.
They follow-up with individuals within their own companies to ensure
that what they promised in their proposals are on track to meet client
expectations.
Successful salespeople follow up with clients to keep them informed of
order or contract deadlines. They are not afraid to pick up the ten-ton
telephone to call clients if deadlines are going to slip.
They know how to use earlier-than-expected deliveries or completions as
a sales tool to cement a business relationship that leads to further
business.
They follow-up after the completion of the order or contract to ensure
that clients are satisfied and delighted.
And, they follow-up to seek endorsements and referrals from their
delighted clients.
The sales skills required to sell on paper, however, differ vastly from
the skills mentioned above for selling in person.
When selling in person or on the phone, sales people can benefit by
observing body language, tone, and verbal and non-verbal cues.
Selling on paper or via e-mail, without these benefits, must rely on a
keen sense of client priorities. In proposals, sales people must match
what clients see in their heads with the pictures the words paint...
Matching these pictures in a normal business letter that informs is
tough enough. The job becomes much tougher when you are trying to
influence or persuade someone.
The words you use, the structure of the document, the flow and rhythm of
the text, and the approach you take to the task must parallel the goals,
objectives, and desires of the clients.
One mistake many proposal writers make is the one-size-fits all
approach. They cut and paste elements from other proposals, brochures,
or web site copy to create proposals that do not match the pictures in
the clients' heads.
Another big difference between selling in person and selling with words
is accessibility.
In person, clients can ask questions. Sales people can ask questions or
make comments. With the written word, you must anticipate the questions
and include the correct answers.
Thus, selling on paper versus selling in person or on the phone demands
a whole different skill set.
Proposals, writing, and selling all need to align properly for proposals
to be successful. Stated simply, what you write in your proposals, must
sell for you when you're in the front of your clients. Your proposals
become your on-site sales representative, good will ambassador, and
constant resource for reliable information.
Contact Al Now
|
|
Al Borowski,
MEd, CSP, PP
Certified Speaking Professional
Professor of Positivity
al@proposalwritingsuccess.com
|
Proposal Writing Success
PO Box 24505
Pittsburgh, PA 15234
412-561-7628
877-902-3314 Toll Free
|
|
