Topic

proposals

A collection of 119 issues

Measuring Success

I’ve been forever refining my standard initial proposal format. Over the years it’s become shorter, punchier, ever-more written from the client perspective and, well, downright sexier. There’s always been a section entitled Return On Investment, or something similarly professional sounding. Then a delightful thing happened the other

Make Choice Simple

I’ve blogged before about my occasionally tormenting ‘Choice Paradox’. I believe in two strands that at first glance may seem mutually exclusive. At the one possible pole, I believe you can generate more sales by always thinking up one more product offering, yet at the other potential extreme, I

Are You A True Choice Architect?

I gained recent exposure to the current big-buzz right-wing think tank concept of Nudge. Rather than telling people to do things, it advocates instead that you let them make their own journey to where you suggest they go. Key to the concept is the use of influence as a Choice

Proposal Review Chuckle

I’ve always considered the proposal review meeting an essential part of decent-ticket solution sales. Getting key execs on board and putting yourself ahead of the pack is a must, and showing your in-depth understanding of where they want to go and how your usps alone can take them there

Remember The Business Case

Here’s a great line I got in an email from a customer. We were talking about how to create a better style of Proposal generation for a breakthrough new product of theirs. “…we can often win without a perfect [business] case. That said, a good case never lost a

What Makes A Good Proposal?

One of my clients is having an overhaul of how they present Proposals to prospects. They’re conscious that attempts at making production of such compelling sales collateral easy for reps have failed beforehand. A previous English regime spent many long hours creating a standard document, from which a 71-page

The Power Of One

One of my customer’s sales management team were recently summoned to a European conference where new solution sales techniques were passed down from a central corporate training resource. One particular topic I know they all liked was about talking credible numbers when it came to benefits. All too often,

Ever Seen A Baby Pigeon?

One of my friends in Cape Town hails from the mysterious luvvy infested world of advertising. A place filled with murkiness I cannot fathom, she told me of an event last week with a English speaker. He was a copy-writer from agency Young & Rubicon in London, who’d enjoyed success

Proposal Presentation Approaches

I’ve recently got delegated a new role, that of Purchasing Manager 🙂 where I’m poacher turned gamekeeper and am actually out buying some stuff. All a bit new to me, it’s looking to get some creative and technical work done. What’s interesting is that I’ve had