Do Your Sales Quotations Leave a Positive and Lasting Impression?

I recently purchased a new car and found it mind-boggling how many different makes, models and options there are.  Keeping everything organized was something of a Herculean task.

What struck me through the process was the huge discrepancy between the quality and style of the sales quotations I received.  I received everything from a computer generated report listing the year, make, model, features and multiple payment options to literally a year, model and price written with a Sharpie on the back of a folded up piece of paper.  In the latter experience I asked for a price on an earlier model year and had to write it down myself.  It wasn’t all bad - the sales rep did let me use his marker.  (I’m not even going to mention the sales rep who wouldn’t even write prices down – I had to do it myself but he too did let me use his pen.)

Crafting a well-written and eye-catching quotation or proposal is a vitally important part of the sales process.  Here are some points on why your sales proposal or quotation is so important and why it needs to look perfect and read flawlessly:

• It may be your first impression.  While you have hopefully built a good rapport with some of the decision making team, there might be others involved who you have never met.  Your proposal will be the first and only impression that your organization makes and will need to engage and convince them on it’s own.
• Convince your prospect that you understand their needs and that you are fully capable of meeting them.  This is not the same as describing how great your product is – sure, you have a great product but your proposal should be all about your prospects need and how you can satisfy that need.  If you don’t someone else will and you’ll be left on the outside looking in.
• Make your proposal about your prospect.  Too many times companies want to talk about themselves.  They describe their long and illustrious history, describe the plethora of awards they have received, name-drop some of their prominent clients.  Before you know it, they’re pushing onto page 7 without even a mention of the prospects need and how they can meet it.  Good proposals immediately address how thoroughly the vendor understands the prospects problem and how their products or services can address that need.  All of that other stuff might have a place near the end of the document as an appendix.  Better yet, keep the document concise and precise by holding this type of information on your corporate website where the whole world can see it and include links in your proposal.
• Think benefits, not features.  Proposals that are framed from a benefit viewpoint are far more impactful than those that list product or service features.  Your prospect might be interested in your feature list but they’re definitely going to be more interested in how you can help grow their revenue, reduce their expenses, or benefit their business in some other way.  Always keep the commercial value as a central theme in your proposal.
• Make sure it looks great.  As vain as it sounds, appearance makes a huge difference.  In his best selling book “Blink”, Malcolm Gladwell argues that a person’s mind makes a series of conclusions within two seconds of them seeing something.  If your proposal doesn’t look appealing, or worse looks unapplealing, then there’s a good chance that’s how it’s going to be perceived even if it describes the best product or service that the prospect is looking for.  Adding colour, using a clear system of headings and subheadings, including pictures, flowcharts and other graphics and making sure the document contains a balance of white space are some ways to ensure that your proposal is going to read well and look great.
• It may be your last impression.  Chances are your sales team has impressed your prospect – they’ve shook the appropriate hands, smiled at the appropriate people, made a great pitch and feel great that they’ve won the prospect over.  But every bidder has probably done the same and unless you are really, really good all of this feel-good will fade as the prospect gets closer to making a decision.  You want to make sure that your proposal is well written and formatted beautifully so it stands out on its own.

Conclusion

Sales quotations and proposals are the centerpiece of your entire sales process and you should go to any lengths necessary to make sure that your quotations and proposals stand out from the pack.  Fering Communications has crafted hundreds of well written and eye catching proposals.  Visit our website, fill out our a contact form or email me directly to find out how we can help you.  We offer a no-obigation review of your existing material and we’d be happy to offer some points for consideration or other helpful feedback.

Got something to say? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you! Got a question that we can address in our blog? Contact us through our website or email me directly and we’ll put our crack team to work and let you know when we post a reply.

Steve Hartley, Managing Partner
Fering Communications Inc.
Website: www.feringcommunications.com
Email: steve.hartley@feringcommunications.com