August 12, 2016

How to write proposals that close

If you follow my advice about how to respond to common questions in your initial meeting with a prospective client, you will end with everything you need to put together a concise and powerful proposal using value based prices.

I’ve written and spoken about this extensively in the past, so instead of reinventing the wheel I’ll just link you to two popular resources:

My chapter on proposals from the Independent Consulting Manual: https://jstark.co/2aZPz9S

My webcast on proposals on Crowdcast: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/jstark3

TL;DR:

Your proposal should be short, written in plain English, and focused primarily on outcomes.

• Keep It Short - I once landed a $200k project with a proposal that was five pages long.
• Use Plain English - Be conversational. Write like you talk.
• Focus On Outcomes - You’ll have to refer to deliverables that were discussed in the meeting in order to reassure the client that you heard what they said. But do not focus too much on these. Instead, constantly tie everything back to the desired outcomes of the project.

Here is the proposal structure I use for project work:

• Cover letter
• Project Overview
• Project Options
• Risks & Assumptions
• Why Me?
• Pricing and Payment Terms

I’ll leave it at that for now. Please visit the links above for the gory details :)

Yours,

—J

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