I recently took a look at Hubspot’s latest list of sales statistics and a few things really stood out. Surprisingly, nearly half of salespeople never follow up with prospects. Yet, a follow-up email can boost the reply rate by 49 percent.
Hubspot also found that buyers are more informed than ever. 71 percent of them want to do their own research before even speaking to a sales rep. 95 percent of buying decisions are directly influenced by quality content.
What do these seemingly unrelated statistics have in common? They all represent opportunities for a salesperson to put their company on a prospect’s radar and take control of the sales cycle by issuing a proactive proposal that provides the quality content buyers need to confidently make a buying decision. In fact, 78 percent of buyers say written proposals are the most important part of their sales process.
How is a proactive proposal different from an RFx?
Before going into what a proactive proposal is, I should probably mention what it isn’t. A proactive proposal is not an RFx. You aren’t going to send a prospect 100s of pages of specific and detailed information.
A proactive proposal is a relatively high-level, yet personalized, introduction to your organization. It is generally much more succinct than an RFx, but finding the right opportunity and familiarizing yourself with a buyer’s needs involves some homework — we’ll discuss that in a bit.
Proactive proposals are opportunities to get in front of your competitors by differentiating your company, showing prospective customers that you want to do business with them, and that you have the solutions to their challenges.
The best thing about proactive proposals is that, unlike RFXs, they typically go straight to a decision-maker. However, if a buyer is required to send an RFx (common in enterprise organizations and government agencies), your proposal may start with a decision-maker but they will have to funnel it to the procurement team.
If the customer likes what you’re saying in your proactive proposal, it might eliminate the need for them to issue an RFx. Sometimes, it’s a way of getting the prospect to take notice and perhaps add you to their RFx issuing list—and maybe even craft the RFx based on your proposal, giving you an immediate advantage. In other cases, a proactive proposal can help accelerate the sales cycle for a prospect that’s been sitting in your pipeline for a while.
To recap, here’s how a proactive proposal is different from an RFx:
- Proactive proposals are much shorter and more focused than most RFXs
- Proactive proposals get you a foot in the door
- Proactive proposals get you in front of decision-makers
- Proactive proposals accelerate the sales cycle
- A proactive proposal might eliminate the need for an RFx
- If an RFx is required, a proactive proposal might put you on the map & even influence the RFx requirements
Why not wait for an RFx?
RFXs are vital tools in a company’s revenue-generating arsenal. They account for about $11 trillion in revenue each year. However, they are highly competitive. If you passively wait for the customer to come to you with an RFx, you’re starting out in the middle of the pack.
As I mentioned earlier, RFXs typically end up in the hands of procurement professionals. In most organizations, they are not decision-makers, and your RFx may require several layers of approval before it is presented to a decision-maker. With proactive proposals, however, the recipient is up to you, meaning you can more directly reach decision-makers.
To reiterate, proactively sending a proposal can help set the terms for an RFx. For example, if your organization has direct experience within your industry, such as certifications or trade association memberships, or specific features or capabilities that particularly pique the customer’s interest, they may ask about that in the RFx.
Five ways to identify great opportunities for proactive proposals
As the word “proactive” implies, it’s up to you as a salesperson to find the buyers who might be most receptive to a proactive proposal. Work independently or with your bid and proposal team to send proposals to people or organizations you know can benefit from your products or services and have expressed some sort of interest.
Here are some of the best ways to identify potential opportunities:
- Take a look at your pipeline — Do you have prospects you haven’t spoken to in a while? Do you have a potential deal where the contact has gone dark? These are perfect opportunities because they’ve already expressed interest. A proactive proposal might get their attention and help move the deal forward.
- Impress new leads — If you have someone who has expressed interest in your product or service and you’ve only had a discovery call, a proactive proposal might provide them with all the information they need to present you to a decision-maker or take it to the next level.
- Look at existing customers — If you have a new product or service that an existing customer might not know about, if you could expand your reach within the company, or, if a customer is up for renewal soon, send a proactive proposal.
- Use LinkedIn—If you have leads with iffy contact information or non-decision-makers, head over to LinkedIn to find a company decision-maker. You may have to dig beyond your immediate contacts to second, third or even fourth-degree associations.
- Set up Google alerts for your current customers — Are any of your current customers planning a merger or acquisition, or are they being acquired? Is there a recent senior leadership change? This could be an opportunity to introduce yourself to the larger or changed organization. While that may sound like a long shot, it can work.
Pro tip: Research your prospect. Learn their pain points and needs and how they’re currently addressing them. Gain an understanding of their industry. You can learn a lot from LinkedIn, such as what brands contacts follow and what they talk about. Don’t shy away from looking at and connecting with their company contacts as well.
How to write a proactive proposal
Many, if not most, salespeople see proposal generation as a necessary nuisance. They want to finish it as quickly as possible so they can move on to the next opportunity. Slow down and take your time. Proposals should be beautifully crafted, branded, easy to read, well-written, accurate, and directly address customer challenges and how you’ll solve those challenges.
Fortunately, you don’t have to continually reinvent the wheel. There is proposal automation software that can help by scanning your content database for similar proposals and suggesting relevant content. The software may also have a library of branded templates.
Include:
- A cover letter — Your cover letter should be short but impactful. Make sure it fits on a single page. Be conversational and specific to the buyer. State why your business is uniquely qualified to address their challenges. Ask for a meeting before the closing.
- An executive summary — Think of an executive summary like a movie trailer. It summarizes the proposal in a way that entices the reader to read your proposal. To create that compelling executive summary, spell out customer needs, explore the solution and discuss outcomes and results (include relevant case studies if possible).
- The proposal — Looks matter. Organize your proposal in a way that’s logical and easy to read. Use color, images and tables. Word or PDF format is preferable over slide presentations. Don’t be too jargon-ey. Save the slide presentation for an in-person meeting. Include:
- An overview of your solution
- Something relevant and approved for the public about your organization they wouldn’t find on their own, such as information about company culture or your future roadmap
- If applicable, proposed timelines
- Your experience within the prospect’s industry
- Case studies for similar customers
- An introduction to the key stakeholders who will be involved in the project
- Include pricing information only if it is fixed
Pro tip: Target decision-makers with your proposal. Emphasize the strategic impact your product or service will have on the organization as a whole. For example, if you’re selling project management software, emphasize metrics like ROI and cost savings, with case studies and other substantiation, rather than more tactical benefits like workflow management and ease of use.
How to simplify proactive proposals
The average sales rep spends only about two hours a day selling. The pressure is always on to meet quota, and for many organizations, a minimum number of conversations per day/week/month/quarter…Spending time on manual tasks such as generating proactive proposals takes precious time.
AI-driven tools such as Responsive’s Proposal Builder will help sales teams create eye-catching and informative proposals to accelerate sales cycles. Responsive has the industry’s most robust content library, which means that properly vetted, accurate and up-to-date content, including images and tables, is just a few keystrokes away.
Responsive has a library of standard and customizable templates, which can be tailored by industry, business size and more.
Proposal Builder helps you maintain compliance by ensuring that proposals meet brand guidelines, including content voice and tone, styles, fonts and cover page design.
Some final thoughts
Convincing busy salespeople to spend even more time on tasks that take them away from phone or face-to-face conversations may be a challenge, but a proactive proposal is so much more than a foot in the door. It shows that you understand the customer, their industry, their challenges and how you can help solve those challenges.
Proposal Builder lets salespeople create stunning, accurate and relevant proposals in a fraction of the time of manual processes. If you’re curious about how that works, we’d love to show you.
