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pChances are, not all of the proposals you send out hit their mark.�Chances are, a good number of them get rejected at the first hurdle and don?t even get read. Imagine, the nerve of some people.� /p
pAnd there are really simple reasons as to why.�There is nothing worse than being given the opportunity to bid on a potentially ideal project, to craft a detailed, comprehensive proposal #8211; only to find that it hasn?t worked./p
pWhat are the most common mistakes consistently made in written proposals? Here are some suggestions on how you can improve yours.span id="more-25159"/span/p
h3Too Much Detail/h3
pNature may abhor a vacuum, but freelancers abhor a blank page.�Need to fill it, need to get more information in, need to flesh out that last point, need to embellish that concept, add a bit more #8211; no, just a little bit more #8211; another paragraph, another sentence, another couple of words. Oh boy, we love a bit of detail. It?s a rare freelancer who goes back through their proposals taking stuff out./p
blockquote class="pullquote"pIf your proposals are running into more than 4 or 5 pages, you need to get editing./p/blockquote
pListen: we don#8217;t need to overwhelm people with detail in our proposals.�It doesn?t help, and it more often hinders.�It can confuse (a lot of ?detail? in proposals is jargon #8211; mostly technical #8211; that is meaningless to the client) and it will hide all the wonderful benefits that are lurking in amongst all that detail./p
pInstead, focus on what the customer wants to know.� This isn?t the time for cross-selling your services. emYes, I know you?re an SEO expert #8211; but dammit, they just want a website #8212; for now./em�People usually buy based on 2 or 3 reasons only #8211; not the 30 in your proposal./p
pIf your proposals are running into more than 4 or 5 pages, you need to get editing.�Review each proposal with the project goal in mind: what have they asked for and are you addressing only that? If you just can?t strip anything out (although I?m sure you can), offer a ?Proposal Summary? up front, summarize all the main points in your proposal #8211; taking up 3 or 4 paragraphs at most./p
pClients will often want to make a decision quickly #8211; maybe not the final decision, but they may be cutting 10 proposals down to a shortlist of 3.�Make sure your#8217;s makes the cut./p
h3You Don#8217;t Propose a Solution/h3
pAll proposals are, in essence, an opportunity to provide somebody with a solution to their problem. Often though, we talk in terms of our services, our products, our ability to do the job #8211; all of which are important #8211; but are secondary to their problem. One of the greatest pieces of advice given to me was actually about copy writing, but it applies here too:/p
blockquotep?Don?t tell me about your grass seed, tell me about my lawn?/p/blockquote
pemi.e. I don?t need to know how great your product is, I need to know how great it?s going to make me./em /p
pWe need to tailor our proposals to the problem at hand. In my case, the proposals I write are ?web design proposals? #8211; over the years they?ve included all sorts of things from the scripting languages I?ll use to the database technologies my hosting plan will provide. None of it matters./p
pNowadays, my proposals include the briefest of paragraphs about technologies #8211; and that to focus on changes in methodology which reflect a shift to responsive web design. The rest of it focuses on how I?m going to solve the customer?s problem./p
pSo, the first step is to identify the problem #8211; which might not always be abundantly clear. Spend some time at the ?briefing? stage of the project really digging through the client?s needs and motivations. Beyond needing a website #8211; what is the website for? Lead generation? Online sales? Brand development? Then make sure your proposal details solutions for each of the requirements./p
h3Too Generic/h3
pWe all do it. We need to get a proposal out really quickly #8211; it?s a competitive market and if you can establish yourself as responsive and focused on the task then, well, that?s got to be an advantage. So you open up your most recent proposal, you scan it for any company names, change around a few details #8211; date (check!), brief project description (check!), price (check!), and send it off./p
pGood job! You turned that proposal round in half an hour and look like a superstar. However, the proposal likely stinks. It?s absolutely okay to use previous proposals as a starting point #8211; no sense in re-writing everything, but proposals where you?ve done a simple find and replace on key areas will be quickly found out by clients./p
pSo, be sure to completely customize the most important parts #8211; the executive summary, for instance, obviously needs to be tailored to the current prospect. The solution you propose will need more than the find / replace treatment #8211; you need to make the prospect feel special, like you?ve completely understood their situation, their unique problem, and you have a plan to deal with that. Customer testimonials too should be customized to match the industry of the prospect, or if you can?t match the industry, try to match similar solutions./p
pThere are many ways to use previous proposals as a basis for new ones without resorting to cookie-cutter techniques./p
h3In Summary/h3
pProposals are often the first formal contact with a prospective client. They?re the first time you get to put across your unique proposition, what makes you the ideal candidate for the job. You need to come across as professional, as capable, as compelling, and as the obvious choice. /p
pThis means you cannot rely on generic templates. It means you need to keep your proposal succinct and to the point. You need to communicate well your solution and your points of difference. And you need to make it specific to the problem at hand./p
pDo that, and your proposals will start to yield more results./p
pemWhat other tips do you have? Is there anything you?ve started to incorporate in your proposals that have helped seal the deal? Please share below the line?!/em/p
pemPhoto credit: a title="Attribution License" href="http://photodune.net/wiki/support/legal-terms/licensing-terms/"Some rights reserved/a by a href="http://photodune.net/item/stapler-and-document/995113"IS2/a/em./p
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