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Guerilla Marketing for consultants...The words, "Send me a proposal" are music to many consultants' ears. Even though they might not really enjoy writing proposals, most consultants jump at the chance because they believe that exciting, lucrative work might be right around the corner. The invitation to write a proposal is a milestone in the sales cycle — an opportunity to get one step closer to a client and a new project. The best proposal is one you don't have to write. Tip the competitive scales in your favor and try to eliminate the proposal process altogether. A competitive field reduces the odds of landing the business, so side step that challenge, if possible. It's less costly for you to write a letter confirming your services than to prepare a formal document proposing your services. Consultants rarely ask clients to award them the business without a formal proposal, so distinguish yourself and ask if you can start the work using a letter of confirmation. What do you have to lose? A confirmation letter differs from a proposal in that it describes specifically what you will do, not what you are proposing to do. The confirmation letter will describe the objective, scope, schedule, fees and results. But since it's not subject to competitive bidding, many other elements of a proposal may not be needed, such as a long list of qualifications, case studies and detailed descriptions of your firm. Most importantly, the confirmation letter approach ends the sales cycle in your favor. Explain to clients why they also benefit from skipping the competitive proposal process. Stress that you have the skills to get the job done, and that the longer the process takes, the more it costs them and delays the resolution of their problems. In one case, a client asked a consultant how to create a better process for communication between the client's engineering and manufacturing departments. The client intended to ask three other firms the same question and then solicit proposals. At the end of the meeting, the consultant asked for 24 hours to solidify the work of the group and prepare a letter confirming the work. The client agreed and awarded the work to the consultant the next day without a competitive bidding process. If consultants have done their homework in qualifying the project and the client, a request to confirm the project should seem natural. You have nothing to lose in showing the client exactly what you can do and then asking for the work. Worst case, the client will say no. Twelve Tips for a Successful ProposalA Public Relations consultant sent a proposal to a client for the design of a small PR campaign that was to be a test for additional campaigns in the future. The firm presented a beautifully packaged proposal with a description of their qualifications, their understanding of the project and their approach to completing the work. After reviewing the proposal, the client noticed that the document footer showed a different client name and in several places in the proposal, the previous client's name was also used. The client threw the proposal in the round file. To avoid this fate, follow a few guidelines before you send proposals to clients: The consulting proposal is a necessary evil. A great proposal can be decisive in winning a project; a poor one can cause you to lose a project, even if everything else in the sales process has gone flawlessly. Use these guidelines to a write a killer proposal every time. About the authorJay Conrad Levinson and Michael W. McLaughlin are the authors of Guerrilla Marketing for Consultants. Levinson is the chairman of Guerrilla Marketing International, a consulting firm serving large and small businesses worldwide and is the creator of the Guerrilla series, which is the best-selling marketing series ever published. McLaughlin is a principal with Deloitte Consulting LLP, and has over 20 years of consulting experience. Visit www.guerrillaconsulting.com. |