Imagine you’re going somewhere to meet up with friends. You’ve plugged the location into Google Maps, you know what time you need to leave, and your friend is waiting for you to pick them up. You get in the car and turn on the ignition.
An hour later, your friend calls you. “What’s up? Where are you?”
You’re still in your garage because you forgot to drive the car. You went nowhere.
It’s a ridiculous scenario, but what if I told you that I see agencies and consultants forgetting to drive every single day in their proposals?
Here’s what I mean.
I’ve helped a lot of agencies and consultants improve their sales processes. One of the most common things I see the ones struggling getting wrong is that they forget that they are still selling during the proposal process.
Look at these two proposal sections:
Deliverable: content strategy
Includes:
- Content audit
- Keyword strategy
- Content calendar
- Content briefs
- Cost – $7,500
Compare that to this:
Deliverable: content strategy
A content strategy that drives business results involves the following four elements:
- First, we’ll conduct a content audit to identify what’s currently working on your site and with your competitors, to identify areas of opportunity.
- Next, we’ll conduct keyword research to align content with search intent, so your content is also found through search engines.
- Then, we’ll create a content calendar so content is produced on schedule. Consistent content is the best way to guarantee results from content.
- Finally, we’ll provide content briefs for your first 12 articles, so that you can just hand them to writers and get back content that will perform.
Your investment is just $7,500 all-in.
Which one would you agree to, thinking as a prospect?
And which one are you sending?
My guess is that you’re sending the first but you also said that you’re more likely to sign the second.
Don’t forget to keep selling during the proposal process.
Notice I said selling, not upselling. Nothing you’re proposing here should be new things you haven’t already discussed with the prospect.
But you must keep reminding your prospects throughout the process why you are proposing what you are, why every part is needed, and how it maps to the greater whole. Otherwise, you get people wanting to trim out certain sections that you know are important, and removing them will harm their results and your reputation.
Don’t forget to keep selling through the proposal process. Your business and results you get for clients literally depends on it.
PS: I’ve decided to open up a few slots for private agency coaching. If your agency is stuck and you need help with lead generation, sales, and pricing, and you are coachable and willing to do the work, let’s chat. Email me at dohertyjf at gmail dot com and we can set up a call.
