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If you’ve got through all the initial stages of the sales process (getting through the gatekeeper, making the initial introduction, demonstrating how your services can benefit the client), then chances are that you’re already fairly familiar with your prospect. However, there’s a few key things that the majority of prospects want to see in a proposal at this stage:

The People Behind The Business

Regardless of how well they know you, and whether you’re offering a tech solution or a professional service, most prospects want to see what your team is like – who the business owner is, who are the people who handle the delivery of the service and will be working with them, who will their point of contact be.

Keep it brief, but go into core responsibilities, and key experiences that are in line with the project/service being pitched.

Appropriate Detail On What You’re Going To Deliver

It can feel like overkill after you’ve already been through what you’ll do for your potential new client, but this is your chance to put the meat on the bones of what you’ll do, and how you’ll do it.

Proposal analytics often show that prospects skim this section, but it’s often referred back to later on, or shared with other decision makers.

Explain what you’ll do and make sure you under-promise and over-deliver based on this section.

Case Studies

Adding your formal credentials and client success stories allows you to give credibility to your proposal, and add the social proof that you need to close the deal.

Make these visual, detailed, and focussed on the value your product/solution has brought to other businesses that are similar to your prospect.

Pricing & Timescales

The vast majority of proposal readers head straight for this section, so make sure it’s easy for them to find, and even easier for them to understand. As frustrating as it may be, your prospect is likely to navigate to this section, understand what they’re dealing with in terms of price and time, and then go into detail if they feel that’s a fit with their business.

Make your pricing transparent and clear, and easy to explain to others especially if your prospect has to share the information with others.

Relevance

Across all of these content sections, the key thing that makes a proposal stand out is relevance. Ditch the one-size fits all template, and focus on proposal content that will strike a chord with your prospect. Put your examples into the context of their business, and tailor every sentence to make your business really stand out.