When it comes to writing proposals, many of us need a new perspective.

You can end up wasting a lot of time and energy focusing on the wrong things in proposals. You might even lose business because of it.

Let’s take some time to rethink proposals. What are they for? What should they do? What should they include?

If the answers to these questions seem self-evident, then why do so many people get proposals wrong?

Don’t Put a New ‘Ask’ in a Proposal

A proposal is not an ask. A proposal is an affirmation, and it comes at the end of the selling process.

After you’ve spoken with a client, discovered their needs, and discussed solutions, you can write a proposal. But if that proposal includes new ideas the customer has never seen before, you have a problem.

The client has to think about it. They may need to ask questions, get more information. And instead of your proposal being the end of the selling process, it launches you back into a new sales conversation.

Some salespeople think that writing a proposal is a great opportunity to “Wow” the client, to showcase clever new ideas for them to consider. But that’s a new ask for the client — and it’s a proposal that’s not going to be signed. The time to introduce new ideas was during all your previous conversations with the client, not at proposal time.

New asks extend the selling process when the proposal is designed to close it out.

The proposal should simply outline what you’ve already agreed to deliver for the client at a budget that they already understand.

The only details you’re still negotiating at this point are the Terms and Conditions.

Reduce the amount of heavy lifting your proposals have to do. Don’t rely on the proposal to do the things that should have been done before the proposal was written.

Don’t Make Your Client the Expert

When you provide clients with extensive detail about how you will deliver what they want, you place an unnecessary burden on them.

Your client isn’t the expert. You are.

How does the client know that your detailed list of equipment will meet their needs? You know that, but they don’t, and they shouldn’t have to.

When you give the client too much technical detail, you ask them to trust that everything you put in the proposal defines what they need. It’s unnecessary.

The proposal should simply affirm that what you’re providing matches what the client asked for. The rest is just details.

For example, maybe a client comes to you and says they need 1,000 people to fit in a ballroom, some big screens for PowerPoint presentations, and the capacity to record the event. Oh, and maybe they’ll have a streaming audience as well.

You discuss the project and reach an agreement.

Your proposal should then affirm that you will do what you discussed with the client — in the language they used — and nothing more. So, you’ll set up a ballroom for 1,000, provide big screens for PowerPoints, and include an option for recording and streaming capabilities. Maybe include a sketch of what it will look like.

The proposal doesn’t need to include a line-item list of all the equipment you’ll provide for the event. The client just needs to know you’ll make their goals a reality.

Think of it this way: if you hire a plumber to fix a leak, you’re paying for a fixed leak. You don’t expect the plumber to give you a list of the tools he’ll bring with him. He’s the expert, and you trust him to bring whatever he needs to get the job done.

You don’t write a proposal to create trust. You develop trust during the conversations that take place before the proposal is written.

When the client trusts you, the proposal simply affirms that trust. They trust you’ll get the job done, and they don’t need to know which “tools” you’ll bring to do it.

Discover, Affirm, Propose

The objectives of an affirmative proposal are as follows:

• It clearly communicates the client’s ask using the client’s words.
• It informs the client what they’re going to get — not how it will get done.
• It validates the buyer’s trust in you.

When you understand what the client wants and then mirror it back to them, they feel heard and understood. They affirm that you got their ask right and then move to the next step in the process.

The idea is to create a series of affirmations through discovery calls, demonstrations, and floating ideas past the client. This doesn’t have to be time-consuming. It can all actually take place in one phone call or a short series of communications.

Then it’s time to write the proposal — at the end of the selling process.

If the proposal contains only affirmations and no new asks, then the client will sign, and you have a deal.

The selling process is a series of affirmations. The proposal serves as the final affirmation that ends the sales process.

Not only will your buyer be happier, but proposals will close more quickly, client expectations will be easier to meet, and your options to deliver profitably will be more flexible.