92. How to create proposals people WANT to buy
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I was helping someone in the group win a proposal recently using the proposal template in the Templates section.
I asked why it worked better than their old way of selling their services and got some interesting feedback.
Here are a few lessons that stood out from the experience.
I was helping someone in the group win a proposal recently using the proposal template in the Templates section.
I asked why it worked better than their old way of selling their services and got some interesting feedback.
Here are a few lessons that stood out from the experience.
- People don't buy deliverables, they buy outcomes.
- People will only buy outcomes they want for the reasons they have.
- They only buy those outcomes when you re-articulate them in your proposal and clearly state the problem and context.
- You need to actually talk to people to get clear on what end results they actually want, why it matters, what the value is, and then create a proposal that maps precisely (or closely) to those expressed needs.
- Later you can turn it into a productized service after going through this exercise successfully a few times.
Our tendency as consultants is to sell what we think people want: time, deliverables, plans, strategies, hours, etc.
What people actually want is solutions to their unique business challenges and aspirations.
Talk to people, understand what they want, then put that right in your proposal with 1-3 options for getting there.
Sell the destination, not the journey.
Listen in for more!
