Customer Centric Proposal Writing

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Tremendously improve your business acquisition through

Customer Centric Proposal Writing

SPIN, Chennai Talk on 4 May, 2013

About the Speaker

• More than 20 years experience in Quality Management and Process Improvement.

• Process improvement consultant, who helps clients in countries like India, USA, Japan, China, Taiwan, Brazil, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, etc.

• Earlier jobs include Vice President of Corporate Quality at HCL Technologies and Manager, Quality at Oracle India.

• Visiting faculty to many Universities and Business Schools including Anna University, Chennai & Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai.

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Raja M. Rajamanickam

[email protected] http://in.linkedin.com/in/rajamrajamanickam/

Managing Partner, ProXL Consulting, Chennai – 600 101

• Defined end to end sales process, including the Proposal Preparation Process, in the earlier corporate role.

• Prepared / reviewed more than 200 proposals covering all major verticals and clients in all 5 continents

• Lean Six Sigma Corporate Champion, Certified Scrum Master, Certified CMMI Lead Appraiser, Trained Management Consultant and a passionate trainer.

• Holds ME (Industrial Engineering) from PSG College of Technology and Exec. MBA from Great Lakes Institute of Management.

Agenda Why do Customers need

Proposal? & Why shall we prepare

proposal?

Major Challenges of Proposal Preparation

Seven Golden Rules of Proposal Preparation First Three Rules in detail…

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Gather and clarify complex information

On the possible solution to their problem

Compare offers from various vendors

To make decision makers job easy

Get the maximum value for their money

To make sure they are not exploited

To provide the customer with right information • To persuade them to give the

order

Prove your capabilities on the required solution • To make decision makers job

easy!

To close new business & customers • To remain competitive & grow

To Slow down the aggressive sales people Some times!

To become responsive sales people Always!

Why do Customers need Proposals?

Why do we prepare Proposals? or, Why should we?

Major Challenges • Close business by “putting it �

in writing”

• Your audience may know nothing �about you

• Sell a complex product or service to non-technical buyers

• Most decision makers are extremely busy: – they are already bombarded by lots of messages

• Complete the proposal that has to be submitted yesterday!

• Effort involved - Lots of mid night oils!

• Work from a “virtual office,” or the road

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The Final Challenge:

And the results usually

reflect that fact!

Most people

HATE proposal writing

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The “Seven Deadly Sins” of Proposal Writing *

Failure to focus on the client’s business problems and payoffs – contents sounds generic

No persuasive structure – The proposal is an information dump

No clear differentiation compared to others

Failure to offer a compelling customer value proposition Key points are buried—no impact, no highlighting

Difficult to read because they’re full of jargons, too long, or too technical

Credibility killers--misspellings, grammar and punctuation errors, wrong customer name, inconsistent formats, etc.

* “Persuasive Business Proposals” by Tom Sant

Sev

en D

eadly

Sin

s

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The Business Impact

Longer sales cycles Low sales force productivity Loss of credibility with customers

Lost business Failure to penetrate new accounts and new

markets Wasted effort Low morale

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SEVEN GOLDEN RULES:

How to consistently write Winning Proposals?

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Seven Golden Rules

1. Your proposal shall love your customer; not

you!

2. A Proposal must sell; not

just tell

3. KISS your proposal; big is

not better

4. You lose on communication;

not on price

5. Investigate more; write less

6. Repeat your success; don’t be happy with just

one

7. Check your health; often

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Rule # 1 : Your proposal shall love your customer;

not you!

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Unfortunately, Most Proposals Create a Wrong Impression

“It’s all about us.”

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Broadcast on WII-FM

What’s In It For Me? People are most interested in their own issues and their own business

They trust people who understand those issues and put them first

Customers buy benefits, not features…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNyMrtsK96k

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4Ps of Marketing is dead !

Product

Place

Price

Promotion

Solution

Accessibility

Value

Education

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What Does This Mean For Your Proposals?

• Focuses on client’s needs

• Presents solutions to business problems

• Looks toward long-term relationships

• Partnership orientation

• Analyzes payback, ROI, impact on business

• Integrates value-added offerings into strategy

• Focuses on products, technology, etc.

• Presents information in reaction to a request

• Short-term focus

• Vendor/buyer orientation

• Builds on profit margin

• No controlling strategy--line-item selling

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Seven Questions * to Help You Create a Client-Centered Proposal • What is the client’s problem or need?

• Why is this problem a problem? • What goals must be addressed? • Which goals have the highest priority?

• What solutions (products/applications/services) can we offer?

• What outcomes/results will each solution produce?

• Which solution is best? Customers (may!) mention what is needed,

but not why they are needed… * “Persuasive Business Proposals” by Tom Sant

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Rule # 2 : A Proposal must sell; not just tell

Diamond Rule of Proposal

Proposal is NOT a technical document

Proposal is a sales document

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You are NOT writing to Inform

But

you are writing to Persuade

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‘Sell the sizzle not the steak’ - Elmer Wheeler

Your Proposal must be written

to support decision-oriented

thinking

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How do People Make Decisions?

• The Assumption: • Rational

• Logical

• Systematically weighs all the evidence

• The Reality: • Fast and frugal

• Intuitive, personal, based on impressions

• Uses the least amount of evidence possible

• Seemingly impulsive

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• IT’S NOT ENOUGH to give the customer a company overview or history

• IT’S NOT ENOUGH to give the customer just a technical spec

• IT’S NOT ENOUGH to give the customer just a price quote

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Find out what Your Customer Worries About

• Keeping costs to a minimum

• Providing on-time delivery, providing good customer service

• Competing effectively against national and global competitors

• Minimizing overhead and staffing needs

• Generating profit

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So, how to create Decision Oriented

Message?

What do you see in common?

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What do you see in common?

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The Four Essentials of Winning Proposals - The Persuasive Paradigm

• Needs: Demonstrate the understanding of the client’s key business needs or issues

• Outcomes: Identify meaningful outcomes from meeting those needs

• Solution: Recommend a specific solution

• Evidence: Convince the client that you’re competent to deliver - A compelling reason to choose your recommendation over any others Hitting it on the N-O-S-E !

(Options: Provide some options (atleast two))

(Long NOSE !!!)

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Why Are These Factors Critical?

Because evaluators look at proposals in terms of: • Responsiveness: Am I getting what I

need? Or merely what they have?

• Competence: Can they really do it? Can they live up to their promises?

• Value: Does this offer return a high enough value to the organization to justify moving forward?

People buy from people they TRUST

Check your failed proposals

This could be the reason…

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Rule # 3 : KISS your proposal; big is not better

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“If you wish to persuade me, you must think my thoughts, feel my feelings, and speak my words.” --Cicero

The Cicero Principle

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• Audience Level (Speak my words)

• Audience Type (Think my thoughts)

• Audience Role (Feel my feelings)

• Expert • Highly informed • Acquainted • Uninformed

• Analytical • Pragmatic • Consensus-seeker • Visionary

• Decision Maker • User • Gatekeeper

Cicero’s Three Points

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Writing to the audience

Key tips: • Provide content specific to the

market • Aim for the right level of

expertise • Avoid business jargons • Prioritize your points in the

order of importance to the audience

• KISS--keep it short and simple

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Which One Would You Read First?

Proposal Proposal

For Jasmin Infotech

Your first ten words are more important than the next ten thousand words - Elmer Wheeler

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Effective Case Studies

Tips: • Keep them short • Use the PAR format:

• Problem • Business problems, not software requirements

• Action • Focus on your unique delivery process

• Results • Quantify results if possible • Use a quote from the key decision maker

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Present the Impact Graphically

Graphics and Color increase persuasiveness by 47%!

Videos are even better

Proposal FAQs

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• What is the ideal length of a proposal? • Isn’t it bigger the proposal, better?

• Is it better to submit the proposal earlier than the deadline? • to show our efficiency/effectiveness/interest/quick response

• Why don’t we start our discussion with our company background?

• After all the proposal is for informing about our company

• How to organise the proposal writing team? • Full Time or Part Time (shared responsibility) • Internal or External?

• What font is better? • What format is better? Word or PowerPoint or PDF?

Proposal FAQs…

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• Do we need to respond to all proposals that come in our way?

• How to decide, if not?

• How to identify ‘our’ Customer Value Proposition? • for this proposal?

• How much Value is enough? • Is it different in different scenario?

• What is the right structure of proposal? • Shall I use a standard template?

• What shall be the structure of Executive Summary? • How long shall that be?

• Where shall we spend more time? • Shuttling for information or structuring the information?

Contact Us For all your proposal solutions…

Raja M. Rajamanickam

[email protected] http://in.linkedin.com/in/rajamrajamanickam/

Managing Partner ProXL Consulting Chennai – 600 101

Training Consulting Handholding Proposal Reviews