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EP 21: 5 Tips for Putting Together a Winning Proposal
90 Plays10 months ago
This week, Lindsay and Betsy walk you through their top 5 tips for putting together a winning proposal. Sending a proposal to a potential client can be pretty intimidating and overwhelming, but we've figured out some key ways to make it really hard for the client to say "no".
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- Betsy Moorehead's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/betsymoorehead.biz/
- Learn more about Lindsay's marketing program here: https://lindsaywhite.co/
- Learn more about Betsy's marketing services here: https://betsymoorehead.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Hosts and Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Business Playdate, a podcast hosted by Lindsay White and Betsy Moorehead, two internet strangers turned business besties. We're two marketing professionals living across the country, raising our kiddos while running our own individual businesses.
Balancing Business and Family
00:00:15
Speaker
We built these businesses based on our experiences working in corporate management roles with the end goal to be able to show up for our families first. And we did it. We're so happy you're here with us. Now let's get into this week's episode.
Setting the Episode Tone
00:00:30
Speaker
Hello, Betsy. How are you doing today? I'm good. Good morning on this lovely Friday. Lovely Friday. When y'all are listening to it, it'll be a Thursday. A Thursday. Welcome back to the business play date. Yes, welcome back.
Crafting Effective Proposals
00:00:46
Speaker
Today, we are talking about something that's really relevant. I think, I mean, Betsy and I both had kind of a situation this week.
00:00:54
Speaker
Talk about proposals. So today we're going to be diving into proposals and when you should send a proposal and how to ensure that your client resonates with your proposal. So ultimately you can get it accepted, which I think is always the goal.
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah. And I think when I first started my business and even still now, like putting a proposal together together can be pretty intimidating. Um, and one of those things where you're always second guessing yourself. Oh yeah. Yeah. A hundred percent. Like, and then, you know, am I putting in too much information? Am I putting in not enough information? Like what are they going to, you know, so there is a lot of like anxiety inducing things when it comes to putting a proposal together, at least for me.
00:01:33
Speaker
Yeah, no, for sure. Me too. I mean, I've been doing it for a long time and I still, every time I do it, I'm like, oh gosh, is this going to be okay? I sent out a proposal this week and I think this is actually one of the first proposals where I was like, yeah, this is great. This is fine. I feel good. I'm like, that's good. I like to mull over mine for several days or weeks before I hit send, much like everything else I do. Yes. Decision fatigue, all time high. I know, I know. But yeah, so we were going to break down like,
00:02:00
Speaker
couple of key points to put into your proposals, make sure that they have. Um, and then also like, like Lindsey said, like, when is it the right time to send a proposal? You know, like you don't want to just go in blind, like what kind of that process looks like before you put the proposal together and send it off to the client to yeah, get it accepted and bring on a new project or client. Yeah.
00:02:22
Speaker
And I think that's really the most important thing is when you send the proposal, to be honest. I mean, what's included in your proposal, which I think we have five really strong tips around, but before we dive into those tips, I personally think the most important thing is to make sure you're sending that proposal at the right time. And for me, that has always been after you're very solid in what the client wants and what you can provide them and what value you can provide them in order to help reach their needs and their wants and their goals.
Understanding Client Needs
00:02:52
Speaker
Yeah, because you want to make sure it's a good fit. I mean, theoretically, you've already had your discovery call. Maybe you've already been working with them in some other capacity or this will be your first time, but your proposal is like the first deliverable that they're going to see from you too. And so you want to make sure that
00:03:11
Speaker
It's really like your first impression of what kind of deliverables you put forward for them. Yeah. I remember like back in my corporate days when I was internal in marketing and we were getting bids and proposals like sent to us. I mean, there were some like we didn't even look at it. It's kind of like a resume, right? Like you just, you kind of want to like skim them first and put your yeses and nos together. But also like.
00:03:36
Speaker
they're visually appealing, you know, like there needs to be, you need to know the client, you need to know who you're putting this in front of, who you're talking to. It's like kind of like, it is kind of like an application for a job. It's your resume, it's your cover letter, all of that. So, um, you know, I think you and I have the perspective that maybe a lot of people listening do too. They were, we were maybe seeing proposals from, um,
00:03:58
Speaker
contractors or agencies or whatever when we were back in our corporate days. I try to take some of that mindset into when I'm putting proposals together for my clients. Would you say yes to this? Right, exactly. I think too, you brought up a good point of making sure it's a good fit. I don't want to put a proposal forward that
00:04:19
Speaker
I don't know if the client is a good fit. I mean, sometimes I'll have two, three, four phone calls with a client before even putting together a proposal because I know that I need more information. I need to know what are their goals? Why are they coming to me? What is the catalyst that's making them come to me? But then you kind of have to dive into it deeper where a lot of people know what they want.
00:04:43
Speaker
But you might have a better idea of what they actually need. So you need to be able to discern what they want, but be able to give them what they need in the deliverables that you're providing. Because if you're not giving them what they need, whether they know what they need or not, they're not going to want to continue working with you because you're not going to hit the nail on the head for them.
00:05:02
Speaker
Yeah. And you may spend a lot of time putting a proposal together and you want to make sure that that effort that you've put in putting a proposal together isn't wasted, right? Either. So, um, yeah. And I agree when you're having those conversations on the front end.
00:05:18
Speaker
thinking about, okay, I would rather spend my time having conversations and diving deeper, doing discovery, if you will, than putting time into a proposal that will be my first impression of the kind of deliverables that I put together and it not hitting the nail. I want to put together the proposal and send it over to them when I know they're going to say yes.
00:05:37
Speaker
Yeah, I've seen some proposals in this space that are very like cookie cutter. Like you can tell that they just kind of took a template and made it their own and ran with it versus like catering it to the client. And that's another thing that I.
00:05:52
Speaker
I don't like, we're not jumping into the tips yet, but like, you know, I've tried to do is like, I sometimes will put it in their brand colors or, you know, add like their logo to it. And it's more about the client and like what they feel versus my brand and my business. Um, and whatnot. Yeah. I tried to cat make a kid. I know I'm in a different space today.
00:06:18
Speaker
I try, I use the word bespoke a lot within my business and especially when I'm talking with clients. And when it comes to my offers, I guess I have offers that are pretty standard offers on how you work with me, but every single time I put something together for a client,
00:06:34
Speaker
It is a bespoke offer. It might be a marketing strategy and content strategy plan, but it is a bespoke proposal put together for them. And it is tweaked and tailored to what they need. You know, every marketing strategy plan shouldn't always be like cookie cutter exactly the same. So the proposal shouldn't be cookie cutter exactly the same. Like it is bespoke to the client. It is in their branding. It is in their colors. It is in their voice. It is I'm talking to them how they would want to be spoken to rather than how I might
00:07:02
Speaker
how I talk to a corporate client is going to be totally different than how I talk to a food blogger client. Yeah. Yeah. So for you, so when is the right time? Where in the process have you sent proposals to people?
Two-Step Client Call Process
00:07:19
Speaker
Yeah. So if someone reaches out to me and they have a project or a need, we jump on a call. First thing we do is jump on a call. Usually, I'll have two calls before I even put together a proposal, mostly because the first call, I feel like I'm gathering
00:07:32
Speaker
the information of what they need and what they're looking to do. And then the second call, I need to get an understanding of who the stakeholders are. And sometimes that can all be done in one call.
00:07:44
Speaker
Generally I have 30 minutes on the first call and 30 minutes on the second call because I want to get an understanding of what, so now I know what their wants and their needs are, but then the second call, I'm like, okay, I know what your wants and needs are and I know what needs to be accomplished, but I need to know from my side, from pricing it out, how many meetings do I need to have in order to accomplish the end deliverable? And I mean, I do a lot of marketing strategy, growth marketing type of plans, and it requires me to have a call with every single stakeholder within the firm.
00:08:14
Speaker
And so because of that, it could be one person, it could be a one man show. Great. That's totally different than me needing to wrangle up six different stakeholders and have meetings with all of them. So I feel like the second call or the second half of a call is going to be so much more.
00:08:32
Speaker
in the weeds of, okay, let's talk about process. Let's talk about what this looks like together. And it's like we're having these conversations, but before they even see a proposal, we're having these conversations of this is what it's going to look like to work with me. And so they're getting a feel for the professionality of us working together and that process and they know what to expect. So then when I do put together the proposal, I can highlight out what's needed,
00:08:59
Speaker
what the meetings are going to entail, what the timeline looks like. And they're like, oh, we talked about all of this. This isn't easy. Yes.
Post-Proposal Client Discussions
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Cause that's what you want, right? I mean, you want, you want to put a proposal in front of a client knowing that they're going to say yes. I mean, that's the idea. And generally I also, so we have, you know, the friend calls of just gathering information. Then I put together a proposal, I send it over to them and then I always have a call going over the proposal.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah, very rarely will just be like, okay, here's your proposal. Here's your contract. Go ahead and sign and pay. Like I will almost always send them the proposal and be like, let's schedule a call to talk about this.
00:09:33
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. I think that's a great idea. I do this sometimes, depends on what the project or the client need is, but budget-wise, does the client tell you what their budget range is? Or do you just say, we price based on X, Y, and Z, and it'll be what it'll be? How does that work for you? Because I think I'm more of the front end. I know what their budget range is, and so I try to work within those parameters versus they don't have a budget.
00:10:01
Speaker
I think it differs client to client. So some of my clients will be like, I don't even know what something like this costs. And I'll say, well, you know, for these projects, generally my clients are paying between X and Y. Right. Give them a range. Given whatever, you know, we decide this process needs to entail again, like one stakeholder versus stakeholders, et cetera. Um, so I have general pricing and the pricing will be bespoke based on what they need.
00:10:26
Speaker
Other times I like this proposal I put together recently, they came to me like, Hey, some, and this actually happens to me a lot. I'll have potential clients come to me saying, Hey, I've had a quote from XYZ agency and it was $25,000. Does that seem right? And it's almost, I've had people come to me being like, I just need a second opinion. Is that too much? Is that too little? Like, I don't know enough to know if this falls in the spectrum or not.
00:10:54
Speaker
And then at that point, we'll have a conversation and be like, okay, well, this is what you're looking for. This is what they put together. If you wanted to work with me, this is what it would look like over here. And it's generally a pretty organic conversation.
00:11:08
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I would agree with that. That's I think because you've done the front end work, right? Like you're, you're getting to know the client, your, or, you know, in my instance, the reason this whole came up was because we've both been working on proposals. Like in my instance, I'm working on a proposal for a current client for something else. And so it's like, I already know her. I know their brand, like, you know, I know it, but I didn't want to like, I told her, I said, I want to talk through this a little bit more because I don't want to just throw something at you. And you'd be like, what the hell? Like, well, I don't
00:11:36
Speaker
What is this number, you know, and maybe so I wanted to talk through like, here's what I'm thinking. Here's what I feel like you need. Let me know if you agree. And, you know, then we can go from there and I'll pull to put a proposal together. So, yeah, I think it's just a lot of good open communication up front. And, you know, I think
00:11:55
Speaker
to get to the meat of like what this episode was really about is like the five key things to make sure you're including in your proposal that we've both experienced and have had success with. And so, you know, do you want to start on kind of what some of those
Personalizing Proposals
00:12:11
Speaker
tips are? Yeah. So the first tip we have is to always start with an introduction. So I always use kind of like a letter format like dear Betsy.
00:12:21
Speaker
I write my letter. I highlight their marketing objectives. I explain why I think I'm a good fit for them. I provide some proof about how I've been successful with other people. And I write this letter for, even if I'm like Betsy right now, who's putting together a proposal for a current client, that's just an extra, I would still be putting together.
00:12:39
Speaker
this letter. And then I sign it with my name and my email address, but I always include kind of those three things, those marketing objectives, or you know, if you're not in marketing, whatever your service line is, like what their objectives are, why you're a good fit and some proof on how you've been successful with others.
00:12:56
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. I think that's key. It's very, um, it makes it less like of a transactional thing and a little bit more like personal touch to it. So I think that's a great idea in the PDF. My proposals are all in PDF format and it's like a nice, pretty designed format. And I include that letter in the PDF rather than in the email, sending it to them. Yeah. I mean, my proposals aren't just one page. They're like three, four pages long.
00:13:27
Speaker
Oh yeah, there are a couple of pages long. And I also think, I mean, think about back when you were looking at proposals, you might not be the only decision maker. And so if someone's forwarding that proposal PDF to someone, having that little note within the PDF rather than in the email is going to ensure that whoever the multiple decision makers are, they're all reading that and they're seeing that you know what you're talking about, why you're a good fit and what you've done in the past.
00:13:53
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. Okay, the second tip. So after you've done your letter, then next you should break down everything that you're going to provide. You don't just want to detail out the deliverables, but you want to say, for example, I'm not just going to provide you an email newsletter, but with that, I'm also providing you a marketing strategy, a creative strategy, and a copy strategy.
00:14:15
Speaker
breakdown the collective components exactly to that line item, you know, and that can include a lot of other things aside from, you know, email, but I think too, as marketers, like, I don't know about you, but I always feel like I'm the, I'm the like herder of the cats. Yeah.
00:14:39
Speaker
I'm constantly hurting cats. That's part of the value that I'm providing as a marketing director is I'm congregating all these people on the team, whether it's their team or my team or whatever. There is project management that's involved and that costs money and that costs time and so being able to break down those different pieces. A lot of my clients have a compliance aspect, so it's managing
00:15:03
Speaker
There's going to be someone that has the final say, and it's not going to be someone on my team. And it's probably not going to be someone on their team. It's probably going to be like an external lawyer. And I'm going to work with that person and ensure that this project goes smoothly between all of the different parties.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And this is an opportunity to answer the questions before they ask them, but with like, you don't want to put like, I'm very wordy clearly. And so I tend to over word this and I can remember one time I sent you a proposal just to look at before I sent it to the client and you were like, Hey, like there's a lot going on here. Maybe like.
00:15:36
Speaker
like tighten up some of this, you know, like you want to give them enough detail in this second part of your proposal, but you don't want to give too much detail where there's going to be like a lot of questions about it, you know, like give them like the high level breakdown of what to expect, what they're going to get out of this and, you know, why like working with you is a really strong opportunity for their company and their brand and they're moving forward to reach their business goals.
00:16:02
Speaker
I thought of something which I've never actually done, but I think this would be a great idea for someone who is a little bit wordy. Run your proposal through chat GPT and have to type it up. That's a great, easy little chat GPT, quick run through. We should do a whole episode soon about chat GPT hacks. Yes. Positive of AI.
Proposals as Contracts
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:29
Speaker
Yeah, not getting too wordy is huge. I don't remember that proposal, but I'm glad. Oh, you saved me. You saved me and then they accepted it. So thanks. You're welcome. They just got the wordy me in person instead of on paper. It's so much, I'm very wordy in person. I feel like it's so much better to be wordy in person than wordy on paper. You don't want to talk yourself into a hole, nor do you want to write yourself into a hole, you know? And like you want to make sure you really are clear and concise without
00:16:55
Speaker
being a little overwhelming for the client, you know, because it can't be. I mean, we both do a lot of these like intensive first type of projects. And sometimes you don't know what you don't know. So you don't want to write down like something that you might not be able to fulfill then at that point within the project. Your proposal is what you're contractually obligated to provide them.
00:17:22
Speaker
So that's why they're all bespoke too. You know, like every client is going to be a little bit different. Um, so you don't want to, you don't want to provide them with it. Say you're doing a marketing strategy plan and say, Oh, I'm going to give you an email template at the end of this. But then you discovered throughout their marketing strategy that emails, not even something that their clients are doing. That's not an appropriate tactic for them. Yeah. Yeah. Again, you don't know what you don't know. I think that's really smart.
00:17:47
Speaker
All right. Tip number three is to dive into your client's brand and figure out what their values are so that you can include that in your proposal. So we talk about values a lot for yourself when you're creating your own offer, but look at your clients, go to their website and figure out what they're about. You know, are they about family? Are they about whatever? Like what are their kind of pillar words that they're standing on and include that in your proposal, make your proposal incredibly
00:18:16
Speaker
customized to them. Like you want it to feel like a piece that's a partnership between yourself and your client or potential client.
00:18:24
Speaker
Yeah, it goes back to what we were talking about in the beginning, like of not making it come from your business and be like a cookie cutter proposal template. It should really speak in their language. Speak to them. Yeah. Whatever their brand voices, whatever their values are, it shouldn't just be like every other proposal that they see. Right. Like I think my voice...
00:18:50
Speaker
Yeah, I take my client's logo, I put their actual logo on their proposal. I will, I won't necessarily use their fonts, but I will, you know, I'll look if it's a sans serif or what kind of general font family we're looking at and I'll tweak it from there. And then I also, my proposals have a kind of like a stock image on them, just visual appeal. And I will use a stock image that
00:19:16
Speaker
you know, kind of looks like what they're using, or I'll pull a stock image off of their website. And utilize that. I do that 100%. I put together a big proposal for now has been a client of mine for several years, but they were real estate. And like, I just went and like looked at
00:19:35
Speaker
their website and made it really catered to what they are used to seeing and that they want to see and that they put out into the world because that was a big value for them was like visual creativity. And so I think that's huge. Now if they're coming to you and they're like, we hate our brand, we hate what we're visioning. No, then maybe like don't do that. Maybe you don't. But that's why you need to have those pre-calls so you can figure that out before you send them a proposal. Exactly. Yes.
00:20:02
Speaker
Exactly.
Creating Urgency in Proposals
00:20:03
Speaker
No, I think that's a huge one. Okay. The fourth tip is to tailor your quote to their individual needs. So this kind of goes hand in hand with what we were just talking about, but having those pre-calls, knowing what they really need or knowing what they want and then also including what they need. So does the client need a VIP date? Do they need a one-time project or is it a monthly retainer?
00:20:23
Speaker
Do they need you to offer them multiple packages at different price points so that they can pick and choose like, oh, maybe we just need this and not all of these pieces, but maybe down the road we can add this in. Then also, you want to add, this is like a hot tip, add some kind of expiration date to your proposal. This creates a sense of urgency for the client so that they know like, okay, this proposal expires in two weeks, we need to make our mind up.
00:20:52
Speaker
so that maybe they don't come back in three months and say, hey, we're ready for this. And you're like, well, my pricing's changed or my structure's changed, or let me redo the proposal. You want that proposal to have some sort of expiration date. So tailor those to your individual clients, to the individual proposals, and that'll just kind of help you in the long run too.
00:21:12
Speaker
Yeah, I always do my expiration dates, like that month, like within, I like to pick easy numbers, like the 15th or the 30th, but like that range. Yeah. And you don't have to put it in like big bold writing. Like you can be like a little, like down at the bottom, like a little footnote, you know, this like proposal expires February 15th or whatever. And then the last kind of thing that we have is it goes along with that expiration date. Like this isn't big and bold or anything, but I always add something.
Pricing Strategies in Proposals
00:21:41
Speaker
that kind of, it communicates my value, but it also is like a byline of like, this is why it's priced. The way it's priced is something along the lines of this figure is determined through an estimated amount of hours at a blended rate to include all marketing strategy, creative strategy, content creation, copy design, and backend process creation, or whatever your specific project is going to entail. But I always include that
00:22:05
Speaker
contractual kind of like language, disclosure kind of language. Yeah, because you don't want them to, they're going to, you know, they may come back and be like, okay, you've priced this out, making up a number at $6,000. What am I getting? Like, you don't want them to come back and be like, well, what am I getting for this $6,000? Why is this price this way? Um, yeah. What like ours is based on an hourly rate. Is this based on,
00:22:31
Speaker
You know, and that's, I think that's perfect. What you just said, the blended, uh, what'd you say blended rate to include X, Y, and Z figure is determined through an estimated amount of hours at a blended rate to include all marketing strategy, creative strategy, content creation, copy design and backend process creation. Because that's what I do for my clients is I do those things and it
00:22:50
Speaker
It kind of eliminates that question of why is this price the way it is or what is this pricing structure? How did you come up with this? I think every contractor on our side, every service provider has a different way of pricing things. I think it's the norm to add a little bit of percentage on top of things.
00:23:13
Speaker
don't have to explain that. You don't have to like line item out how you're pricing these things. But I think having that little disclaimer is really smart because it just lets the client know like you didn't just throw this number on paper. Like this is something that you calculated that you really thought through. Um, and it makes it look even more professional because if you look at like big, big agencies, like they have these disclaimers and they're like, I'm thinking I'm talking like, like
00:23:37
Speaker
Uh, Oh gosh, I can't even think of one off the top of my head, but like a big marketing or big advertising agency, right? Like they have these disclaimers and they're in their project proposals that they put in. So you should do, you should do, you should look as professional as you actually are. And also I feel like it helps kind of hedge that the price is the price and I'm not here to negotiate a price with a potential client. If it's not a fit, that's totally okay. Yeah, that's okay.
00:24:06
Speaker
No harm, no foul. Yep. Nope. It just is what it is. Yeah. Yeah. And I think too, like that's a, that's a good point. And that's an important like thing to remember when you're going into this, like unless you like desperately need to bring on another client, like price yourself at your worth price yourself, how you want to don't take like
00:24:29
Speaker
any negotiations, unless you feel like that's the right thing to do. Because taking on a new client is an opportunity cost. I mean, if I send you a proposal, Betsy, and you accept it, and we start working together, that's now taking over a quarter of my client, no stirrer, that I can't take on another client who might be willing to pay higher.
00:24:51
Speaker
So you have to, you know, that's the price. The price is the price and know your value and be okay with saying no, if it's not going to work out with, that's okay. Absolutely. I think that's so great. Um, I love these. I think these are five great tips. Um, you know, we'll talk through them real quick again. Uh, number one was start with an introduction. Number two is break down all that you provide, not just the marketing deliverables.
00:25:14
Speaker
And then three, dive into your client's brand, add that into the proposal, make sure you know what their values are, cater it to their company. Number four is tailor your quote to their individual needs.
00:25:27
Speaker
It's a one-time project. What does that look like? And then number five is communicate your value. Clearly add something in to the proposal that says a disclaimer of how you came up with the price, that that's what it is. And also just keep the client in mind throughout the entire proposal process.
Key Takeaways on Proposals
00:25:44
Speaker
Cause you want to make it hard for them to say no.
00:25:47
Speaker
I think that a lot of contractors get stuck on that, like keeping the client in mind. I think we all get like, Oh, well I started my business to be, you know, work the way I want to work. And that's totally great, but you got to get the clients and you got to, they want to say yes to people that get them and understand them. So taking a little bit of extra time to implement these tips into your proposals, I think will definitely help if you are having a hard time landing clients. Absolutely.
00:26:11
Speaker
Absolutely. Well, we hope you enjoyed this and you are in the process of putting a proposal together yourself and can use these tips or maybe use them in the future. But nonetheless, thanks for listening, guys. If you get a chance, please, please go leave us a review. Five stars with a little written review on Apple Podcast. That really helps. You can also do it on Spotify if you're listening there, too. I think you can just rate the episode. And we appreciate you all being here with us and
00:26:41
Speaker
We'll see you next week. We'll see you soon.