What are Your Proposals Saying?

In the course of coaching my MSP clients, I regularly review their proposals.

The proposals that are being published today by our industry really are not good selling proposals. Sorry folks, I don’t mean to be blunt, but that’s the truth. Most proposals that are being circulated today do not address the comparison in a quantitative fashion of the businesses operating conditions.

In other words, your proposal should tell your prospect that as a result of implementing a relationship with you (whether it’s break, fix or MSP) it will result in them having a permanent and measurable improvement in one or more of their businesses operating conditions.

If your proposal, tragically like so many, only talks about technology then you must make sure that the people you sell to have as many Microsoft certifications as you do.

If you are selling to people who do not have as many Microsoft certifications as you do (and you certainly should be selling to non-certified people) then your proposal must be in English.

Your proposal must compare and contrast in a quantified fashion the impact on your prospects businesses operating conditions. This would include but would not be limited to:

  • Reduction in Overtime

  • Increased Office Space

  • Increased peace of mind due to the lack of bootleg software

  • More production from existing white collar work force

  • Dramatic reduction in the number of errors that impact customers

  • Improved customer retention due to reduction in errors.

You see, I think the days of succeeding by selling to men and women who have equal or in some cases superior technological backgrounds are coming to a close.

Obviously, they’ll always be involved in any decision. But, you must approach business owners with a business argument that stresses that a relationship with your organization will produce permanent measurable improvements in one or more of their businesses operating conditions.

  • Take your existing proposals, the ones that you’re hoping will close soon, to a friend who is not a technology expert.

  • Have him or her read the proposal, and then asks them for a candid opinion as to what the proposal is actually saying.

  • If they can’t tell you what good your proposal presents (from a prospects point of view), then your proposal is a telling proposal, it is not a selling proposal. Selling proposals describe in writing how you’re going to solve problems.

Take a look at what you’re publishing because the proposal can be “the secret sauce” that stands between you and infinite success as an IT services provider.

What suggestions or issues are you seeing with proposals?