When the customer buys your
product, he is buying a thing. When he is buying your services, he is buying your time.
There is a fundamental difference between selling a thing and selling your time. That goes
for the proposals you have to write as well.
When you sell a product, the customer can
"test drive" it. He can take it for a spin, kick the tires, see how it
accelerates in the straight-aways. If you're selling a software application, for example,
he can load a demo, move the mouse around, click on some pull-down windows, get a feel for
the product. In a sense, a thing helps sell itself; the benefits are—or should be—self-evident.
For sure, your proposals for products have
to call out benefits to the user of the product. But it's easy to bolster the claim by
also saying, "Here, see for yourself." The product itself also serves as way to
differentiate itself against the competition. The customer can test drive two different
products and decide which is the best one for him.
It's not so easy when you're selling
services. When you sell a service you don't have the luxury of offering a test drive.
There is no "thing" for the customer to touch and feel. Sure, sometimes you can
show him the results of your services-a highway interchange you designed, say, or a copy
of a networking plan you drafted for a client. But it's not the same as selling a thing.
What you have to realize is that when you
are selling a service, you are essentially selling Value. You are saying, "Pay for my
time and my experience and my brainpower, and I will give you a higher return on your
investment." Then you have to convince them that you will.
And sometimes that's a tough sell.
What is value?
How do you sell value? What can you say in
your proposal that makes the case that you offer what the customer values? What the heck
is value?
The answer to this is simple: Value is
whatever the customer thinks is valuable.
Saving time may be valuable, and if that's
the case, your proposal needs to focus on how you will meet-or beat-schedule deadlines and
still give the customer the other services he wants.
Saving money may be valuable, and if that's
the case, your proposal needs to show how you will give the customer what he wants at the
price he can afford.
Knowing that you are using the latest and
greatest technical solution to a technical problem may be valuable. Reducing employees'
anxiety while you implement a new training procedure may be valuable. Making sure the
customer's customer is happy may be valuable.
Etcetera
You get the picture. The fact is, when you
are selling the value your services bring the customer, you have to find out what is
valuable to the customer! This means that you have to talk with your customer before you
write the proposal. Find out what is valuable to him. Then structure your proposal so you
can show how what you are offering will scratch his value itch.
Safford’s
First Law of Proposal Writing:
If you assume you know what the customer wants
without asking him, you will be wrong. |
You cannot make assumptions. Don't assume
that everyone is concerned about price, for example, so therefore you should low-ball your
services. Or don't assume that everyone wants the latest gee-whiz technical solution
because, well, it's 'way cool, man.
Don't assume that just because another
customer in the past saw value in something you proposed, that all customers wanting
similar services will find the same things valuable. That may be the case, but it the
minute you make that assumption, Safford's first law of proposals will kick in.
You also have to bear in mind that some
things may not be as valuable to the customer as others. For example, low-price is always
something a customer values. However, on-time delivery to help him meet a schedule may be
more valuable than price. That's why you will be able to justify a high price, if you can
convince him that you can meet that on-time delivery value. Of course, if the price is too
high, the customer may balk; you need to know what that threshold is as well.
Know what your customer values. Sounds
pretty basic, doesn't it? It is basic. And it's simply the most important thing
you can concentrate on while you are writing a proposal that is selling your services.
What to focus on in the
"services" proposal
So, what areas should you focus on when you
write services proposals? The best answer is: Whatever it is your customer is interested
in. But I realize that sounds a bit too easy. Here are some areas that may warrant special
consideration:
How you will do the work.
If the customer has released an RFP, he will often ask for this in a Scope of Work or
Scope of Services section. What he wants to see is how you will address each of the
elements of the project. You need to go beyond just describing what you will do, however;
you should explain how you will do it, and why you have chosen to do it in this particular
way. Then, of course, you need to make perfectly clear how doing the work your way will
benefit the customer.
How you will manage the work.
You are asking the customer to pay you to conduct some work. He may very well want to know
how you will manage the work so that he gets the warm fuzzy feeling that his project is in
the right hands and that you will manage it-and his expenditure of dollars-effectively.
The management section is one of the most important in a proposal. It is also the section
most firms pay the least attention to. Bad plan.
The people you bring. Who
will do the work is important to most customers. They want to know that you are bringing
aboard people with just the right skills to provide just the right service.
Special facilities and equipment you
have available. If you have specialized equipment or facilities that will make it
easier to get the work done, stress them. On the other hand, if you have specialized
equipment or facilities but they aren't appropriate to the job, don't dwell on them; no one
likes a show-off.
