Proposal — The 9th Thing You Need to Accelerate Sales
’Tis the season of proposals! So when do you pop the question to your buyer? If you’ve been a good co-driver, then tying up the business should be a nice, pleasant ride.
AREN’T YOU GLAD WE DID OUR SHOPPING BEFORE THE MAD RUSH OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON?!?!?!?!
I AM!!
I hated all that shopping and talk about shopping, but it had to be done.
What I see when I look back is that it took us 19 blog posts to get from the very, very beginning of our first roadtrip with your buyer … all the way to today.
I’ve flown back from the Caribbean, and today we are starting out from Québec City for Cape Breton. It is the last leg of our first roadtrip with your buyer and, somehow, I always knew that this trip would end on the Cabot Trail at Keltic Lodge.
(I wish we could transplant Wikinninnish Inn in Tofino on Vancouver Island but nobody asked me!)
So, there is lots of white snow on the trees and on the ground, the sun is peeking out of the clouds and we are crossing the Pierre Laporte bridge in Québec City toward Lévis where we will make a left onto Autoroute 20 toward New Brunswick, then Nova Scotia, then Cape Breton (which is still Nova Scotia but has its own identity, somehow).
What are we going to DO on this last leg of our trip with your buyer?
When to submit a sales proposal
It’s a 12-hour trip, give or take, and we are going to do it in one day. Just like a drive home for Christmas. Trunk is packed with the goods from our shopping trip with your buyer. How appropriate.
If you are in the business of submitting proposals, this is when you would submit a proposal.
And not a minute before.
I can’t remember, did I tell you the story about when to submit a proposal?
It is worth repeating and it goes something like this:
When did you propose to your spouse?
No, not the date and time.
When did you know the TIME WAS RIGHT to propose to your spouse?
Because they TOLD YOU TO?!
Nah, that’s not the right answer.
Try again …
Exactly.
YOU PROPOSED TO YOUR SPOUSE WHEN YOU KNEW THEY WERE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR YOU, AND WHEN YOU KNEW THEY FELT YOU WERE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THEM.
And they accepted, right?!?!?
Pretty fool-proof formula, not intended to be a pun.
That is when you submit a proposal to your prospect …
Not right after a first meeting, not if you don’t know them from Adam and they ask you for one, not because you are trying to rush the deal along.
YOU SUBMIT A PROPOSAL TO YOUR PROSPECT WHEN YOU KNOW THEY ARE THE RIGHT FIT FOR YOU AND WHEN YOU KNOW THEY FEEL YOU ARE THE RIGHT FIT FOR THEM.
And not a minute earlier.
But I’ll challenge you even further.
Why bother with a proposal?
Why not go straight to a draft contract?
I always go for a draft contract. A proposal sounds wishy-washy. And they usually have a lot of fluff in them.
When I look a prospect in the eyes and ask if they are ready to review a draft contract with me, there is nothing wishy-washy or fluffy about my request. They know we are serious. It is a point of decision for them. And I’ll know by the look in their eyes.
This is like a “verbal committment” that they are going to buy from ME.
So what are we going to do on this long, pretty roadtrip through the Maritimes with your buyer today?
We are going to review the draft contract together.
There should be no surprises. You had lots of time to ask all of the questions you needed to ask.
You set expectations about what you do and how you do it.
They understand your product or service.
You asked all of the questions along the way like whether they needed certain services or help with this or that, or whether they wanted Option A or B.
So the draft contract shouldn’t have any surprises.
Should be an easy decision for them.
All I expect is a few questions or a bit of negotiation on payment terms.
Not even any pushback on price.
It should be a nice, pleasant ride.
BUT WHAT IF?, you say. WHAT IF THEY PUSH BACK ON PRICE, SAY THEY CAN’T AFFORD IT, NEED TO INVOLVE MORE PEOPLE, START ASKING ME LOTS OF NEW QUESTIONS? WHAT IF THEY DELAY THEIR DECISION? WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF?
If the buyer is still hesitating, you probably lost them a while back
If there’s no easy yes, then we aren’t in the car in Québec City heading across the Pierre Laporte bridge to Lévis, and we aren’t ready to turn left onto Autoroute 20 toward New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Cape Breton.
Then your buyer really isn’t in the HOW stage of the buying process.
They aren’t just tying up loose ends to satisfy themselves that there is no risk buying from you.
They are still back in their earlier stages of the buying process involving stakeholders, figuring out if you are the right solution, etc.
And maybe you grabbed the wheel and started driving because you are in such a rush to finalize this deal and get home for Christmas.
Or maybe you feel asleep listening to iTunes on your phone while you were in the passenger seat instead of co-driving and assumed some things were settled that weren’t.
I get it. It has been a long trip. I’ve dozed off a time or two too.
My point is that this last leg of the trip with your buyer shouldn’t be hard.
If it is, you haven’t done the co-driving that needed to be done before today.
And I suggest you go back and re-read the previous 19 blog posts to remind yourself of how your buyer buys and what you need to be doing along the way as a co-driver.
My point is also that you don’t lose now. For price, or for whatever reason.
If you lose now, it is because you lost earlier but you didn’t find out until you asked your prospect if they were ready to sign the contract.
But let’s assume all is well. It is the season to assume that.
And you are reviewing the draft contract with your prospect on the way to the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton.
But other than driving and reviewing the draft contract with you, what is your DRIVER doing?
A good sales process helps your buyer get ready to say yes
In the quiet moments on the drive, your buyer is reviewing a list of question in their head.
How do I know it will work?
Is it as easy to implement as they say?
How happy were their customers?
Am I sure this is the right solution?
Did I get the input from everyone?
And is this the best price?
Hopefully, your buyer will smile to themselves as they go through each of these questions.
Knowing full well that they have the answer to each and every one of these questions.
And that they are satisfied.
Because you helped them ask the questions if they didn’t think to.
As a good co-driver should.
So, all is well.
Your buyer reaches over and tunes the radio to some classical holiday music and smiles.
You all listen and relax as the car flies down the curves of the Saint John River Valley in New Brunswick, across the Tantramar flats of the provincial border, climbs again through the Wentworth Valley of Nova Scotia and takes a sharp turn left toward Cape Breton.
The car will stop at a good coffee shop, somewhere that serves Anchored Coffee from Dartmouth. And you’ll sign the contract.
And it will seem so natural.
And when the car stops at Keltic Lodge at Ingonish Beach on the Cabot Trail, you’ll say good night and part ways.
Knowing that this trip is over but that a new one is about to begin.
Good night.
Merry Christmas.