Check 1: Customer Details
Always check the details and spelling of the recipient's names. A misspelled name makes an indifferent impression. Especially when you have had a fascinating conversation, exchanged your business cards and said goodbye enthusiastically. If you are asked to send the proposal to multiple recipients during the interview, ask directly for the correct spelling or do so afterwards via an email. That is not unprofessional nor clumsy. On the contrary, you show that you take the prospect and proposal seriously.
Useful here are the personalization tags in Offorte. Add these tags in your texts and they will automatically be replaced by your customer details. This way, you keep your customer data central and you don't have to worry about accidentally copying a different customer name.
Check 2: the introduction
The introduction is a perfect means to build trust. You show that you understand what it is about, what people are running into and what factors influence. Check your notes to see if you've included all the points in your introduction.
Check 3: the (persuasive) power of your proposal
We'll go into that a little deeper. After all, this is all about. Not the price, but the what and how.
Convince by visual appeal
You reinforce your proposal with a powerful cover and attractive visuals. For such a cover, you prefer to choose a high-quality image. Add a head and subtitle to it. Keep the title short and to the point: up to 7 words for the main title and no more than 10 words for the subtitle. Try to incorporate the problem, the desired situation and possibly the solution in your cover and title. You visualize, as it were, the desired situation.
Persuade with words
Assess your proposal by persuasive power. Do it yourself or let a colleague look at it. Two always see more than one. Is the tone positive and do the solutions have sufficient (persuasion) power? And if no, spice it up with “power words.” Power words are words that unknowingly evoke the right feelings from the customer or prospect, making a yes closer and closer.
In proposals, customers and prospects are unconsciously looking for words that:
- reassuring (guarantee, certificate, proven method, success assured)
- get you excited (sensational, simple, unique, authentic, saving)
- warn you or respond to fear of missing out (limited availability, exclusive, risk, complex).
One side note. Use these words only if you can live up to them. So, if you indicate that the operation of your product has been endorsed by all kinds of agencies, name these instances. For example, via a foot rule or link to a recent study. That is (persuasion) power!
Also interesting to read: social proof in proposals
Check 4: cross- and upselling
No one likes to be printed in a corner. The time of take or leave it is long gone. And luckily, because if you give your customer or prospect something to choose, it's much more likely that an order or order will roll out. Therefore, check whether your proposal offers the customer or prospect different options, for example via cross- and/or upselling of services or products.
Check 5: attachments to the proposal
Except for the general, delivery and other conditions, you can also use the attachments for a company presentation or About Us page, product specifications, brochures, references, white papers or case studies. When you make your proposals with Offorte, like me, you don't have to do time-consuming copy-paste actions. You save frequently used attachments in your settings and they are simply added automatically.
Bonus tip:
What always helps me make and check proposals is to look at it from the perspective of the customer or prospect. I move into the customer and ask myself questions such as: what should be in it, makes me warm, who do I work with, are they experienced and reliable, are the rates and agreements clearly defined or what do others think about this service or product?
