We?ve got more than 90 response comments. After voiding spam and non-legit comments we have left with 78 valid comments. It?s really good [...]
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Friday, July 29, 2011
Announcement: Winners of Design TNT Giveaway
A weeks ago, we created a contest at instantShift called Awesome Design Goodies from Design TNT had announced the five winners of subscription to awesome design goodies from Design TNT to InstantShift readers.
We?ve got more than 90 response comments. After voiding spam and non-legit comments we have left with 78 valid comments. It?s really good [...]
We?ve got more than 90 response comments. After voiding spam and non-legit comments we have left with 78 valid comments. It?s really good [...]
Site5 - Web Hosting for Web Designers8 Lessons to Learn from Past Social Media Debacles
In many ways, social media represents a dangerous space. Customers have an easy means by which to share negative stories with millions of people and companies now have to communicate back, often publicly too. Customers themselves are appearing in brand spaces, and companies have to let them. In this process, through openness and an increase [...]
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Harnessing The Power of Proposals
Credit: Pressmaster on Photodune.
Being a freelancer by nature, I?ve learned early on that producing great work is only half the battle. I couldn?t tell you how many times I?ve sat idly by clicking the refresh button on my email client, waiting to hear from the prospective client that my bid has been accepted.
If you don?t get the job, you don?t have any work. Although confident that my portfolio could convince even the most skeptic decision makers, too many exiting and interesting projects were slipping through my fingertips.
Rather than continuing to allow great prospects to drift over to an unknown competitor, I put my problem-solving abilities to work to correct a flaw in my business structure. What I discovered is that while portfolios are a good start, a well written proposal is the icing on the cake that seals the deal on sales, turning that hopeful shot in the dark into a trusting client that is excited to hire you.
While a good portfolio peaks a prospect?s interest in your work, they can often be left with a feeling of uncertainty if that is the only basis they have in choosing you. A customized proposal will show the client exactly how your work history applies to their specific needs.
How to Structure a Proprosal
By beginning with a Purpose Statement, your client will know that you understand their needs, and by listing the Goals that the client has for their project, you are providing convincing evidence that you and your client are on the same page. For good measure, include any Background Information that the client has provided you, even if only to prove that you?ve been paying attention.
Rather than aimlessly trying to convince a prospect that you?re their best choice, your proposal will provide a focused draft of how you intend to complete the project by stating the Scope, Deliverables, and Schedule for the project.
The Scope will identify the services that you are providing, and the Deliverables section identifies everything that you will provide the client in order to turn the end product over to them.
By providing a tentative Project Schedule, your client will know when to expect the work to be completed, so that they may understand how the turnaround fits into their timeline. By providing these elements, you are demonstrating to the prospective client that you are organized and have already begun identifying the logistics of their project for them.
After impressing a prospect with your organization skills and demonstrating your interest in their project, you can provide them with an Estimate of the costs they will incur. By following up with a Benefits Summary, you quickly shift their focus from the dreaded pricing section to an uplifting note about the value they will be receiving.
Benefits of Creating Custom Proposals
You can also provide any additional information and appendixes that are relevant to the project, and feel confident that the extra effort you put forth will leave an impression that builds client confidence in your work. It’s helpful to understand more about the request for proposal process as well, especially for larger projects.
While it may require a bit more time than pasting your resume into an email, a customized proposal will ensure that you receive less rejections and start every project off on the right foot. You?re organized, your client is well-informed? Now all that?s left to do is what you do best.
Proposal Sample Download
Download a sample proposal package. What do your proposals look like, what format do they take? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
Photo credit: Some rights reserved by Pressmaster.
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10 Best Flickr Groups Featuring Original Toy Photography
Love toys? Love photography? Have you ever considered combining the two? Toy photography has been a major source of photo inspiration for years. The look of a doll or stuffed animal captured in a certain way can have a major emotional influence, and we have seen examples of that in the prevalence of abandoned or [...]
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10 Best Flickr Groups Featuring Original Toy Photography
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How to Design a Clean and Fancy Chat App in Photoshop
In this tutorial, I`m going to show you how to design a clean and simple, yet very fancy and complex chat window. Along the way, we`ll build different user interface elements, like buttons, fields, boxes and scroll bars, using a series of Photoshop designing tools.
What we`re going to build today:
First step is to open Photoshop [...]
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What we`re going to build today:
First step is to open Photoshop [...]
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