After you finish your fancy proposal, it’s time to ship it! When compiling the email, be sure to:
- Thank them for their time. Show excitement, humility, and respect.
- Note that the proposal is flexible. If the client needs more services, we can discuss that and adjust accordingly. If the price isn’t in an ideal range, we can cut some of the deliverables.
- Give them clear next steps on how they can proceed. Tell them in simple terms what they can do next. They can either discuss the scope with us more and we’ll adjust it, or if they agree, we’ll send the contract and an invoice for a 50% deposit.
- Compress your PDF. If it’s too large, upload it to a file-sharing service and send them a download link.
- Invite them to discuss more. Just because they have the proposal doesn’t mean the conversation ends. Include a link for them to schedule a call if their team has any questions. Make it easy for them to contact you quickly.
Remember, your proposal represents the call you already had with them. It will not make a sale that was never going to happen.
After the proposal expiration date has passed or you have gotten an answer, keep track of how many proposals lead to sales and project’s progress
- If you are hitting around a 50% close rate, you’re doing great.
- If it’s less that 50%, this indicates sending proposals too early, having poor positioning, or simply not listening well to your leads.
- If you are closing higher than 50%, it’s time to raise your prices. You should be getting some resistance and if you close 100% of your projects, you are underpricing yourself.
We use Hubspot’s free Deal Pipeline to track our project’s progress. This also helps us not forget about proposals and follow up when needed. If we didn’t get the projects, we can leave a note explaining why so we can analyze ways to improve.
As time passes, you can start to look at when your busy months are, what type of projects you are closing, and why you aren’t closing others. With more insight, you can run a healthier business.
