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Any consultant can tell you there are umpteen ways
to blow it during the sales cycle. Many of those potential
pitfalls lurk in the proposal process.
Most consultants salivate on cue when clients ask for
proposals. After all, it’s exciting to have a
chance to show your stuff and move closer to the client
and the tantalizing prospect of a new, challenging project.
But creating a great proposal isn’t easy, and
the process will consume your time and energy.
So, first consider whether you can conserve your resources
with a letter confirming your services instead
of a formal document proposing your services.
That won’t always be possible, especially for
complex projects. But consultants seldom ask clients
to award them projects without formal proposals, so
dare to be different.
OK, so the client said no, and you do have to write
a proposal. What about those pitfalls? There must be
at least 50, but here are nine sure-fire ways to completely
botch your chances of winning the work.
1. Play the Lone Ranger
Some consultants do research about a client and the
project and think, right, I’ve got it. Then they
scurry off to create their proposals in “objective”
isolation. Big mistake. You can’t produce a great
proposal unless the client is an active participant
in every part of the proposal process, including research,
pinning down objectives, potential benefits, scope,
approach, and, of course, fees.
2. Start with Your Qualifications
Proposals that begin with a recitation of your firm’s
background and qualifications are a fast track to oblivion.
Start every proposal with a focus on the client’s
issues and objectives, not your firm’s illustrious
history.
3. Omit the Executive Summary
Many decision-makers only look at two items: the executive
summary and the price. Yet, amazingly, some consultants
don’t include executive summaries in their proposals.
What are they thinking? Decision-makers rely on the
executive summary to make sure you understand
what they are trying to accomplish. Fail to include
that executive summary, even in short proposals, and
you run the risk of having your proposal put at the
bottom of the pile—if it’s read at all.
4. Focus on Your Tools
Blah, blah, blah. Clients care about results, not the
tools, methods and approaches you’ll use to get
there. If the centerpiece of your proposal is a discussion
of your whiz-bang methods, you’re setting yourself
up for failure. Think about it: When you hire someone
to repair your furnace, you expect that expert to come
with all the tools to do the job. Well, so do clients.
You’re likely to need a discussion of your tools
and approaches at some point in the proposal, but let
it float back to the appendix.
5. Write a Phone Book
Studies show that, given a choice, clients will pick
up and read a shorter proposal before they’ll
wade into a tome stuffed with graphics and boilerplate.
Keep your proposals as short as possible, while meeting
the requirements your client has established. Consultants
who routinely write encyclopedia-sized proposals will
find their work moves very slowly from the pile of proposals
to the hands of decision-makers.
6. Use a Boilerplate Resume
Every opportunity is different in some way from every
other one. So you must take the time to re-write your
resume for every proposal. You may not have to change
much—maybe you just need to add emphasis in one
area or eliminate some text. It’s usually a quick
task that has enormous payoffs. Let clients see that
you have thought through how your experience matches
up with their needs.
7. Load your Proposal with Jargon
Too many consulting proposals are chock full of jargon
and buzzwords that make clients crazy. Reread your last
proposal. Did you use phrases like “world class,”
“organizational transformation,” or “seamless
transition?” If so, see the word doctor. Your
proposal has a greater likelihood of being accepted
if you write using plain terms without the bull.
8. Ignore the Devil
I recently read a proposal that got the client’s
name right, but had another company’s address
in the proposal. There are hundreds of stories about
similar gaffes in consultants’ proposals. Everyone
uses cut-and-paste. But the devil is in the details,
and clients will not forgive or forget errors. If you’re
not a detail person, make sure someone on your team
is. And make sure every proposal gets checked and checked
again—especially every time it gets revised.
9. Miss Your Deadline
Clients won’t buy that the dog ate your proposal,
so don’t even try that one. If you find yourself
asking the client for an extension of a proposal deadline,
or you submit your proposal after the deadline, your
chances of getting the project plummet. Just get everything
done on time.
A great proposal can be decisive in being awarded a
project; a poor one can cause you to lose, even if everything
else in the sales process has gone flawlessly. The nine
common errors above are not the only ones to watch out
for. But if you avoid them, your odds of winning will
soar every time.
Michael W. McLaughlin
is the co-author, with Jay Conrad Levinson, of Guerrilla
Marketing for Consultants. Michael is a principal
with Deloitte Consulting LLP, and has over twenty years
of consulting experience with clients in businesses
of every size, from small start-ups to some of the world’s
highest-profile companies. He is also the editor of
Management Consulting News. For more information,
visit http://www.guerrillaconsulting.com.
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