Sales proposals and bespoke sales documents often enjoy a love-hate relationship with most salespeople. 

At their best they can be hard yet enjoyable work where you might showcase some wonderful writing. At their worst, they can tie us up for hours and nights, keeping us from our loved ones and making us truly regret ever getting into sales!

Here are my Top 3 Reasons Why Sales Proposals Fail - and how to avoid them:

a. Offering a full proposal to prospective customers on a whim
I think all of us at one stage or another of our careers have been guilty of offering a prospect a proposal on a whim.

Sometimes we offer them to prospective clients with the enthusiasm of a five-year-old: “I’ll tell you what – let me shoot you a proposal!”

Before too long we have five proposals to write, no-one to help us and we haven’t seen our family for a month. It is at this time we regret our enthusiastic promises!

This wouldn’t be so bad if we knew every proposal was a winner.  But of course, when we offer them on a whim, there’s a good chance all 5 won’t work.  Why?  Because we haven’t properly qualified.

The key is of course to qualify at le with the prospective client, such as:

b. Too much detail!
Human beings have an overwhelming desire to add detail. It’s in our nature. If there’s a blank space in the conversation we have to fill it. If there’s a blank page in our documents, we also have to fill it.

Recently I consulted to a web design company where I reviewed their sales proposals and gave them some pointers for the future. What I found was that they were over-worked: long-winded and highly detailed.

We know that people usually only buy for one or two reasons, yet this company was giving them 25 reasons to buy. If the prospect asked for a web design, they invariably got 3 pages about their Search Engine Optimisation products too.

When you write sales proposals, assume you are going to have a long-term relationship with the client. In the fullness of time, they will learn about your other products and services once they come on board. Until then, just give them what they need to know for now.

Think of the cat with the bit of string. You keep the string out of the cat’s reach, and they will try for hours to get hold of it. Drop the string, and the cat walks away in disgust.

Do the same with your sales proposals. Don’t pack them with too much detail. Save some stuff for next time.

c. One size fits all
I’m sorry if this is the first time you have heard this, but your prospects can tell if you give them a standard “search and insert company name” proposal.

Have you ever got a postcard in the mail at home from a real estate agent with blue scribbly writing on it as though it was handwritten by a real person? Of course you can see the blue writing has been printed – it’s not personal, so why do they pretend?

This is a similar effect that clients feel when you do the famous Control F and replace with their name. They can tell – truly!

Spend extra time customising the most important bits:

The bottom line:  There are more reasons why sales proposals fail, but they are definitely the top 3 in my book.  Do you have any others?  Let me know by leaving a comment or call me to find out how I can make your sales proposals come to life!