{"id":5991,"date":"2012-03-20T20:37:31","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T20:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/?p=5991"},"modified":"2021-04-08T20:46:28","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T19:46:28","slug":"sales-proposals-good-bad-and-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/de\/blog\/sales-proposals-good-bad-and-ugly","title":{"rendered":"Sales proposals: The good, the bad and the ugly"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As an IT Managed Service Provider looks to grow their business, bringing on-board new small business clients is often the highest priority.<\/p>\n<p>By building a strong Marketing plan and consistently following it, you will build a steady stream of incoming leads who are interested in your services.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve engaged with a prospect, the next step is often to visit with them to assess their needs.<\/p>\n<p>At the end of that meeting you will hopefully have begun a relationship with a new client, but more typically the answer from the prospect can be \u201cOk, we\u2019ll be in touch\u201d or \u201cThat sounds great. Can you put that in a proposal?\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Giving the prospect time to mull over their options is fine. You probably aren\u2019t the only IT company they are speaking to. Politely ask them if there is any other information you can provide them with, and set an agreement for follow-up. It\u2019s important to agree a follow-up at a certain date as if the prospect doesn\u2019t want to work with you, they may struggle to understand how to break this news to you \u2013 and then keep putting off the \u201cSorry, you\u2019ve not won the business\u201d call indefinitely, leaving you in limbo.<\/p>\n<h3>Prospects can lie, cheat and steal<\/h3>\n<p>But the \u201cCan you put that in a proposal?\u201d line is one that many MSPs struggle with. The instinctive response is not to run the risk of annoying the prospect and to agree to write a proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Writing sales proposals takes time and effort on your part. You can automate the process, using tools like\u00a0<a class=\"ext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.quotewerks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">QuoteWerks<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a class=\"ext\" href=\"http:\/\/www.quosal.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Quosal<\/a>, but it\u2019s still using time you\u2019d prefer to use elsewhere.<\/p>\n<p>And what if the prospect saying \u201cCan you put that in a proposal\u201d isn\u2019t as honest a request as it seems?<\/p>\n<p>On many occasions, MSP\u2019s are called in to speak with prospects under the illusion that they are in a fair competition for business. But consider these scenarios:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The prospect has an incumbent IT supplier they have no intention of moving from, but want to batter down on price. Your proposal provides the perfect ammunition to do that.<\/li>\n<li>The prospect has been asked to get three quotes for IT support. Yours, a competitor of yours and the IT support company run by the bosses nephew. Who do you think will end up winning the business?<\/li>\n<li>The employee you\u2019re speaking to has been asked by his or her boss to investigate the potential of a new support contract. They\u2019ve got no idea of costs and want to get some research done. They go back to the boss with your quote and the boss turns a shade of pale before shoving your proposal into a drawer.<\/li>\n<li>The prospect knows they have an aging server, but doesn\u2019t know what specification they need to replace it. They don\u2019t want to pay for somebody to spec up the server, but do want it cheap. Your proposal is the perfect \u201cfree Consultancy\u201d to approach another cheaper provider with.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In all the above scenarios, the reality is that even though you\u2019re sat in front of the prospect, you\u2019ve got no chance of winning the business.<\/p>\n<h3>How to answer the question of a proposal<\/h3>\n<p>But what\u2019s the alternative? Well, if you are asked to put together a proposal, then politely ask why they need a proposal.<\/p>\n<p>Often, you\u2019ll get an honest answer. \u201cMy boss needs to see it\u201d. In this case, you\u2019re not speaking to the decision maker and so you can politely ask when is a good time for you to sit with the decision-maker to talk.<\/p>\n<p>If the answer comes back that the boss doesn\u2019t have the time to see you then tread very carefully. If he\u2019s not got time to see you, he hasn\u2019t got time to read proposals and he\u2019ll probably just go with the cheapest.<\/p>\n<p>If the answer is \u201cWe just need a price\u201d then you\u2019re competing on price, not value, and as you\u2019re not in a race to the bottom you\u2019re unlikely to win. Offer to write a bracket figure (\u201cWell, we\u2019ve worked with other clients similar to you;\u00a0some we costed between $1500-$3000, and others between $3500-\u00a3$7000\u201d) and if pressed, say you\u2019d be happy to schedule a second meeting to discuss the details.<\/p>\n<p>Again, the dishonest prospect is unlikely to agree to this and you\u2019ve saved yourself time.<\/p>\n<p>Other times, the answer to your question might be the evasive, \u201cThat\u2019s just the way we work\u201d. To this, your answer should be \u201cUnfortunately we don\u2019t write proposals. Too many times in the past we\u2019ve written a proposal only for the prospect to use it to batter down his existing supplier on price. I\u2019m not saying that\u2019s you, but I hope you understand I need to be careful with my time.\u201d Be brave. If you\u2019ve struck a nerve, you\u2019ll soon see it and have saved yourself time.<\/p>\n<h3>When to write a proposal<\/h3>\n<p>There are times when writing a proposal is a necessity. Charities and Non-Profit organisations often need to put spending in front of a committee. In this case, you can agree to write a proposal but never, ever, ever simply send the proposal by email.<\/p>\n<p>Always schedule time to hand-deliver the proposal and for you and your contact to run through it. You can help them to understand what you\u2019ve written in your proposal, and how they might best present it to their decision makers.<\/p>\n<p>If the prospect genuinely can\u2019t make time for you to hand-deliver, then schedule time for you to email the proposal across whilst you are chatting on the phone. Again, the goal is to coach the prospect on what they are receiving.<\/p>\n<h3>Overcoming \u201cthe fear\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>Even after reading this article, many MSPs will continue to write proposals.<\/p>\n<p>This is what I call \u201cthe fear\u201d.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>\u201cIf I don\u2019t write the sales proposal, I\u2019ll *never* win the work.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0I\u2019m sorry, but you were never going to win the work anyway.<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cThe prospect will be put off by my reluctance to write a proposal.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>If the prospect is a good fit for you, they\u2019ll understand that your time is valuable and work with you accordingly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>\u201cI\u2019m not getting enough leads, so I don\u2019t mind writing proposals\u201d<\/strong>. Stop wasting your time writing proposals and instead concentrate on delivering more good quality leads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Questioning why you should write a proposal isn\u2019t obtuse or aggressive. It\u2019s valuing your own time as a professional.<\/p>\n<p>By meekly agreeing to provide a proposal when you\u2019ve not explored the real reasons why, you\u2019re agreeing to provide free consultancy for the prospect \u2013 incurring the cost of your time with no chance of a reward. That tactic isn\u2019t going to help you grow your business.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As an IT Managed Service Provider looks to grow their business, bringing on-board new small business clients is often the highest priority. By building a strong Marketing plan and consistently&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","topic-msp-business"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sales proposals: The good, the bad and the ugly - N-able<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As you grow you business, bringing on-board new clients is essential\u2026 so writing proposals is something you need to get right.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.n-able.com\/de\/blog\/sales-proposals-good-bad-and-ugly\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"de_DE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sales proposals: The good, the bad and the ugly - 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