Proposal
Proposal Transcript
[00:00:00] Sarah Noel Block: Next up is proposal. So we have moved from prospecting to discovery call to proposal. So if you had a successful discovery call, they will likely ask you for a proposal. You don't need to overcomplicate the proposal. Just an fyi. Keep it simple. People do not like those overcomplicated proposals that are bustling with information.
[00:00:27] Sarah Noel Block: Give three pages about the company. Nobody cares about that. You just need a few key elements to sell and it's all about them. That's what you need to understand. It's all about them, so they wanna know how much it costs. , what were your past results with this package? Anytime you can give statistics to show them it's overcoming objectives before they have them.
[00:00:58] Sarah Noel Block: So they might have [00:01:00] an objection, mom, but is this really gonna work for me? You're already ahead of that. What's the timeline? They need to know when the project will be done. what your process is, when the milestones are. They need to know all the details of the timeline and what is your process? What should they expect when working with you.
[00:01:23] Sarah Noel Block: That's something that you should have on your website too. If you don't have it already. You need to have an easy three step process on your website so it's super clear. This is the experience you'll have when you're working with me.
[00:01:37] Sarah Noel Block: What do you not include in your package? This is incredibly important because having wiggle room in your proposal will mean clients will be like, okay, I'm gonna scope creep like crazy. No, you need to include what's not included in your proposal. [00:02:00] So a big example would be Revis. So let's say you don't take revisions after 10 days.
[00:02:08] Sarah Noel Block: You have a five day turnaround, and if they don't give you the revisions by them, then that is considered approved. Things like that, and anything after that, there's an extra charge. Be super clear about what is included, how long you're willing to give for revision time, and what they need to pay extra for, and what they would be paying if they did pay.
[00:02:33] Sarah Noel Block: what is your revision policy? What is your payment policy? Do you require 50% deposit upfront? Do you get paid by the milestone? Things like that.
[00:02:45] Sarah Noel Block: And that's all. That's all you need. Prospects don't want lengthy proposals. They want it as easy as possible. It could even be an email if you're not in a super complicated situation. It could be a simple email with, [00:03:00] with this information and that would suffice. If you're looking for templates for proposals, I use boni for mine because one, I can create a template that has all of the information that I needed included for my packages right in there.
[00:03:17] Sarah Noel Block: And then I could just delete or tweak as needed and they can accept their proposal right in there. So I have a contract that is legally binding, and I like that
[00:03:30] Sarah Noel Block: Here's my biggest secret sauce when it comes to successful close rates, and that would be don't send the proposal. Don't send the proposal before you have a proposal conversation. So what I do, it's my secret, so don't tell anybody, but. I, before I even put the proposal together, I set up a proposal call with them, and then once they have agreed to that [00:04:00] proposal call, then I set up their proposal because it can take hours if it's a complex project to put together the proposal and you don't wanna spend all that time and then have them just ghost you.
[00:04:12] Sarah Noel Block: So that's one reason that I always do that. But another one is you can't address those objections if you're not there. So if you send out the proposal and just leave this prospect to their own devices, they're just gonna be like, Mer, I believe this is too expensive, or this doesn't include this. While in the moment if you're on a proposal call, you can abre, you can address any objections right there on the.
[00:04:42] Sarah Noel Block: And two, you can tweak the scope as needed. So as you're going through this proposal, they may say, okay, I actually, now that we're looking at this, I think I need this added. And you could just make those adjustments on the fly. You're gonna have [00:05:00] a much higher success rate if you have proposal calls. Now you might be wondering, but Sarah.
[00:05:10] Sarah Noel Block: What if they ask for the proposal ahead of time? What if they push back and they don't want to wait, or they don't want that extra call? One that's a red flag. , that's a red flag. If they don't wanna have that call. . But the biggest reason that they will do this pushback is because they wanna know the cost and their price shopping, and that's what's happening.
[00:05:36] Sarah Noel Block: So before you even get on the discovery call, have a transparent conversation about money. Ask them their budget. Sometimes they don't have a budget because they've never done this work before and they have no idea how much it should cost. So give them a range on what they should expect and get the okay on that range before you have the conversation [00:06:00] because you don't wanna waste your time and money and resources when they can't afford the services.
[00:06:06]Sarah Noel Block: So have that money conversation ahead of time, and that'll also eliminate the, I'm not waiting for my proposal because that's all they really care about is how much is it gonna cost. Everything else can be talked about right there in the moment.
