By Steve Rovniak

If you are like many professionals I know in B-2-B sales and management roles, you have led or contributed to many sales proposal efforts over the years. Perhaps more than you'd prefer to remember.

Throughout nearly 20 years of working with scores of IT product and services firms, as well as design, branding and management consultancies, I have observed that at practically every one, proposals are a large, ongoing, and very painful problem.

The pain of proposals is a result of clear disfunctionality I noted at these firms. Unlike the other areas of their business, on proposal efforts roles are not clear, resources are inadequate, allotted time is insufficient, and even the most fundamental tools, skills and processes are lacking.

This all sounds like a recipe for disaster, and it is very often exactly that. The problem is so common, and familiar to many that the term "death march" has been adopted to describe the hopelessness and never-ending torture of doomed proposal efforts. In less melodramatic business terms, the pain comes in the form of disgruntled employees, higher costs of sales, lost revenue, and more companies partnered with your competitors.

In this and future articles, I will address different pain points in the proposal process -- usually one at a time -- and suggest tools and methods for improvements that I have used, and that can be implemented relatively easily.

I'll start at the beginning, where I feel most of the bigger mistakes get made.

Time and energy are often wasted in the race to finish a complex proposals or RFP on time, only to find that the client's objectives, interest level and budget have been significantly misjudged. When this happens, there isn’t a prayer to help you close the deal.

Mea culpa

I made this mistake myself on more than one past occasion. The step I now take to avoid this trap is very simple and powerful, and I recommend that all sale teams use it. I write a very short (pre-) proposal understanding document detailing the high level business information about the project, and make an appointment to review it with my prospect before I take any further steps on the proposal.

I have templatized this Proposal Understanding Document as a key tool in any sales toolkit (contact me for a copy). You can also use a 1 – 2 page business letter so long as the format and content are such that your prospect takes it seriously and gives it her full attention.

What to summarize and include in the Proposal Understanding Document:

1. What defines success to the prospect, in business terms.
2. Project background, initial observations, items needing clarification.
3. Key deliverables.
4. Client inputs and responsibilities (such as necessary access to people and information).
5. Target project start date and timetable.
6. Cost/fees estimation, payment terms.
7. Proposal format, length and delivery date.

Make these concise and to the point, and void of any business babble.

The most important step still remains, and that is to send the document to your prospect in advance and arrange to review it in person or over the phone. She or he should be expecting this, and should know that the information you are reviewing with them will be critical.

Benefits:

1. Demonstrate your professional approach, and how you will conserve their time and yours.
2. Gives prospect a feel for how it will be to work together.
3. Evokes early reaction to your approach and fee estimates.
4. Confirms your project understanding and fills information gaps.
5. Builds or strengthens your consultative relationship with the prospect.
6. Reveals more about the decision making process.
7. Leads you to an informed decision whether to proceed with your proposal, or gracefully decline before you have spent a lot of time and money on the proposal