How to write a winning proposal

Electric Perspectives, Jul/Aug 2001 by Sant, Tom

A price quote isn't enough. Here's how to get your proposal moved to the top of the stack. By Tom Sant

AS THE ELECTRIC INDUSTRY has become more competitive and complex, customers have become more confused and demanding. As a result, they are likely to listen to a presentation, nod their heads, and mutter those dreaded words, "Sounds good! Why don't you put that in writing for me?"

From the salespersons point of view, writing proposals is one of the most time-consuming and difficult challenges he or she faces-it's about as much fun as getting a tooth pulled. And customers say that reading them isn't a whole lot better. So why do customers ask for proposals?

One reason is that the customer wants to compare offers from various suppliers to make sure that they buy the highest-value solution based on your differentiators (what differentiates your company from your competitors) and your value proposition (what special value a particular solution offers to the customer). At a simpler level, the customer may just want to compare prices, clarify complex information, and gather information. Then the "decision team" can review a nice, neat package. And let's face it, sometimes the customer just wants to slow down the sales process, figuring that asking for a proposal will keep the sales rep busy for a few weeks.

Whatever the customer's motivation, proposal writing has become a common requirement for closing business throughout the utility industry. Today, salespeople who are working for energy producers, marketers, consulting and contracting firms, or service providers all must write proposals as part of their sales process. And the proposals need to be good. A simple scope of work or a price quote isn't enough. Customers expect comprehensive proposals. They will evaluate them all, comparing offers and suppliers, looking for differentiators among them, and struggling to make the best choices for the business. Proposals are a fact of modern business life, and treating them as just a formality or simply regurgitating some old, tired proposal language is a dangerous strategy.

Become Customer-Focused

Your objective in writing a proposal is to provide your customer with enough information-persuasively presented information-to prove your case and motivate the customer to buy your services or applications. That sounds pretty straightforward. But often that isn't what proposals present.

Why, for example, do the vast majority of proposals start out with the supplier's company history? Does the proposal writer believe that there is something so fundamentally compelling about the company's origins that clients will immediately be persuaded to buy from that business?

And why do a huge number of proposals focus entirely on the supplier's products and services but never mention how those products and services will help the customer solve a business problem or provide a much needed resource? Does the proposal writer believe that facts alone are enough to motivate a prospect to say "yes"?

Winning proposals are customer-centered, not company-- or product-centered. Most people buy because they're looking for solutions to pressing problems; additional resources to close gaps in personnel, equipment, or services; or the means to cope with difficult issues. Being customer-centered means that a proposal is not a price quote, a bill of materials, or a project plan. Each of those elements may be part of a proposal, but they are not sufficient to make a winning, customer-centered case.

Four components make up a winning proposal:

Evidence that you understand the customer's business problem or need. People view major buying decisions with anxiety. The bigger the decision, the greater the anxiety. They know that even a well-intentioned vendor may end up wasting their time or money or both. One way to reduce that anxiety and minimize the customer's perception of the risk of moving forward with you is to demonstrate that you clearly understand their problems, issues, needs, opportunities, objectives, or values. Whatever is driving the client's interest, you must show that you understand it and have based your solution on it.

One sales executive at an energy consulting and construction firm once asked me, "Why should I tell them what their problem is? They already know they have a problem. Otherwise, they wouldn't have contacted us."

It's true that they already know they have a problem. What they don't know, until you demonstrate it in your proposal, is whether or not you understand the problem correctly. And they know that most projects fail not from incompetence but from misunderstanding.

A compelling reason for the client to choose your company over all other competitors. This component is your value proposition. Remember, you can write a proposal that is completely compliant with the customer's requirements, that recommends the right solution, and that even offers the lowest price-and you can still lose. Why? Because a competitor made a stronger case that their approach offered a higher return on investment (ROI), a lower total cost of ownership, a faster payback, or some similar measure of value that matters to the customer. Most proposals, unfortunately, don't contain any value proposition at all. They contain pricing but no estimates of the rate of return that the customer will get if they choose Company A over Company B. Failing to address the customer's needs and failing to present a compelling value proposition are the most serious mistakes you can make when writing a proposal.