How to Write Winning Proposals
Using the science of
persuasion to win more
business
When The Economy Slows Down,
Selling Becomes More Difficult
People pull back from completing
“transactions”
But they are eager to find
solutions
Selling solutions requires:
 broad business perspective
 alignment with the customer's
objectives
 an ability to demonstrate value that
matters to the customer
Why Do Solution-oriented Proposals
and Presentations Fail?
Because they are NOT…
• Customer centered
– Sales people resort to “clone and go” proposals
– Boilerplate, “checkbox” proposals
– Focus on the vendor or the product
• Value based
– No value proposal
– No differentiation
• Decision oriented
– Wrong structure
– Wrong emphasis
Agenda
• Assumptions and observations
– What makes for a good proposal?
– The seven worst mistakes you can make
• Four principles to improve your win
ratio
–
–
–
–
Persuasive structure
Customer-centered persuasion
Value proposal
Personalize the message
• Summary
Assumptions and Observations
What’s a proposal?
And why are they usually so
bad?
The Function Of Sales Proposals
A proposal is a sales document
• A proposal is NOT:
– A price quote
– A bill of materials
– A technical specification
– Your company overview or history
What is a Good One?
• Evidence that you understand the
customer’s problems, needs, issues
• A recommendation for a specific
solution
• Evidence of the ability to deliver on
time and on budget
• A compelling reason to choose your
recommendations over any others
Why Do These Elements Matter
the Most?
• Because evaluators are looking for
three general criteria:
– Responsiveness: Am I getting what I
need?
– Competence: Can they really do it?
– Rate of return: Does the pricing
represent good value?
The Bad News:
Most People Hate Writing Proposals
So they start looking for escape routes…
and it shows!
Escape Route #1
Cloning previous proposals
Escape Route #2:
“Data Dumps” or “More is Better”
Escape Route #3:
Talking about what we know and
love best
Common Writing Errors
…That Can Destroy Your Proposal
1. Failure to focus on the customer’s business
problems and payoffs
2. No persuasive structure
3. No clear differentiation
4. Failure to offer a compelling value proposal
5. Key points are buried—no highlights, no
impact
6. Difficult to read—full of jargon, too long, too
technical
7. Credibility killers—misspellings, grammar
errors, wrong customer name, inconsistent
formats, etc.
Four Principles
Using best practices to create
proposals that win more
frequently
Doctor, Doctor Give Me the Cures!
• Use persuasive structure
• Create customer-centered
proposals
• Focus on the decision maker’s hot
buttons
• Write to the audience
• Automate
Principle #1
Build your proposals on
persuasive structure
How Do People Make Decisions?
The modern assumption
• Decision making is a rational
process
• Involves systematic weighing of
the evidence
• Franklin’s “moral algebra”
The Problem: Nobody Does It That Way
Making decisions in the real world
– Complex
– Confusing
– Huge amounts of information
– Conflicting evidence
– Tremendous time pressure
How People Actually Make Decisions
The process
– Quick
– Using the least amount of evidence
possible
– Seemingly impulsive or irrational,
to an outside observer
How Quickly Do People Decide?
Question:
How long does it take, on average,
for a person to decide if a proposal
is worth looking at in detail?
»Less than 5 minutes
»Between 10 and 15 minutes
»About half an hour
Factors of Choice
• Recognition
– Recognition is assumed to be a positive
value
• Single factor decision making
– Use any criterion and select first options it fits
– Use the last criterion that worked when
making a similar decision
– Use the criterion that has produced the best
results in previous circumstances
• Estimation
– Estimate the probable rate of return and
choose the option giving the best ROI
What Are the Implications?
• Persuasion is a process, not an event
– Continuous messaging is more effective than isolated
documents
– Importance of branding, advertising, repetitive contacts
• Structure is more important than style
– Using the right cognitive structure will produce the right
results
– Put the important point up front
• Show compliance with the customer’s requirements
and values
– This will facilitate selection when it’s “take the best”
• Demonstrate a high rate of return
– With no value proposal, there may be no persuasion
The Key to Persuasive Structure
• Needs: Demonstrate an understanding of
the customer’s key business needs or
issues
• Outcomes: Identify meaningful outcomes
or results from meeting those needs
• Solution: Recommend a specific solution
• Evidence: Build credibility by providing
substantiating details
The Trust Equation
Trust = Rapport x Credibility
Risk
What Should You Work on First?
Question:
Of the three elements of trust, which
one should you focus on first?
1. Rapport
2. Credibility
3. Risk
Principle #2
Create customer-centered
proposals
Proposals Should Be Customer-centered,
Not Self-centered
• Customer-Centered
 Focuses on customer’s
needs
 Presents solutions to
business problems
 Looks toward long-term
relationships
 Partnership orientation
 Analyzes payback, ROI,
impact on business
 Integrates value-added
offerings into strategy
• Self-Centered
 Focuses on products,
technology, etc.
 Presents information in
reaction to a request
 Short-term focus
 Vendor/buyer orientation
 Builds on profit margin
 No controlling strategy;
line-item selling
Seven Questions to Keep You
Customer-centered
1. What is the customer’s problem,
need, or opportunity?
2. Why is this problem a problem?
3. What outcomes or results do they
want?
4. Which results have the highest
priority?
5. What solutions can we offer?
6. What result will each solution
produce?
7. Which solution is best?
The Best Place to Use
Your Customer-Centered Insights
• The Cover Letter
• The Title Page
• The Executive Summary
• Case Studies
Effective Cover Letters
• Make them persuasive and brief
• Highlight key points from the proposal
– The customer’s most important need or
issue
– The solution in extremely high level
– A couple of key competitive advantages
• Ask for the business
– Avoid closing with “If you have any
questions, please feel free to call”.
The Title Page:
Say Something Meaningful
• State a benefit to the customer in
your main title
• Use an action verb
• Put the decision maker’s name on the
title page
• Avoid letting your logo dominate the
title page
Which One Would You Read First?
Proposal Titles
Question:
What is the most frequently used title
for proposals in the English-speaking
world?
The Executive Summary:
Keep It Brief and Relevant
• Write simply and clearly
– Readability should be easy
• Focus on bottom-line issues and
outcomes
– Unless the buyer is strictly technical
• Keep it short
– Two pages is plenty for most proposals
Effective Case Studies
Tips:
• Keep them short
• Use the PAR format
– Problem
• Business problems, not software requirements
– Action
• Focus on your unique delivery process
– Results
• Quantify results if possible
Principle #3
Focus on the decision maker’s
hot buttons
FACT: If You Don’t Show Value,
Winning Is a Game of Chance
You must establish
superior value based on
technical, contractual,
managerial, quality, or
service differentiators.
Otherwise the customer
will choose based on
price or maintaining the
status quo.
Maintaining the Status Quo
Question:
How frequently do current vendors
win on re-bids?
•
•
•
•
50%
66%
75%
90%
Showing Value Is Always Important,
but Sometimes It’s REALLY Important
Your value superiority must be greater when•You are displacing an accepted incumbent
– Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t
•You are changing a process
– People resist changing the way they earn their living
•You are relocating control of a valuable process or
asset
– Control = power, prestige, and job security
•Doing nothing is a viable alternative
– Inactivity and passiveness sometimes seem safer than
taking action
Value: Improving Performance or
Eliminating Pain Where It Matters
• Financial gain
– lowest price, highest total value, lowest total cost of ownership
• Quality
– maintainability, ease of use, fewest problems/rejects
• Infrastructure improvement
– most flexible, most advanced, most open solution automating a
labor-intensive step
• Industry trends
– keeping up with market leaders
• Minimizing risk
– financial stability, solid management plan, relevant experience,
high ethical standards
• Competitive advantage
– simultaneous improvements across the organization
Creating the Value Proposal
Four basic principles
• The payback measurements must be
customer-focused
• The presentation of payback is more
persuasive if it’s quantified
• The value proposal is more likely to be
noticed and remembered if it’s graphical
• To bullet-proof your value proposal, you
must base it on your differences from the
competition
Principle #4
Personalize the Message
Good Advice From a Noble Roman
“If you wish to persuade me,
you must
think my thoughts,
feel my feelings,
and speak my words”
Cicero
Get Out of the Comfort Zone…
Information
Expert
Highly
Informed
Somewhat
Informed
Lay
Comfort
Zone
Evaluation
Persuasion
…And Into the Persuasion Zone
Information
Expert
Highly
Informed
Somewhat
Informed
Lay
Evaluation
Persuasion
Comfort
Zone
Persuasion
Zone
Cicero’s Three Points
Audience Level
- Expert
Audience Type
-
Audience Role
- Check signer
- User
- Gatekeeper
(Speak my words)
(Think my thoughts)
(Feel my feelings)
- Highly informed
- Acquainted
- Uninformed
Analytical
Pragmatic
Consensus-seeker
Visionary
Boilerplate Proposals May Do More
Damage Than Good
• How many times does
your name appear in the
Executive Summary?
• How many times does
your customer’s name
appear?
• Are your product’s
features linked to specific
customer needs?
• Have you used the
customer's terminology?
• Have you eliminated your
own in-house jargon?
Clear Messages = Convincing Messages
Use the KISS principle:(Keep It Short and Simple)
•Simple words and short sentences
•Use their name throughout
•Refer to the customer as “you”, never as
“it” or “they”
•Avoid using your jargon
•Aim for the right level of expertise
•Provide content specific to their market or
industry
•Use lots of graphic illustrations
•Highlight the text so your key points JUMP
off the page
Summary
• Customer-centered proposals are more
effective than self-centered proposals
• Selling solutions require clear and
compelling value proposals based on
your differentiators
• Personalizing the proposal to the
audience helps get your message
across
Our Understanding of the Issues
You Face
• Respond effectively to RFP’s
• Increasing sales force
productivity
• Improving the quality of your
proposals