How To Present A Proposal Over the Phone Blog Feature
Molly D Protosow

By: Molly D Protosow on June 3rd, 2013

Print/Save as PDF

How To Present A Proposal Over the Phone

selling | sellers | customer's perspective | Sales Tips | Sales Training | sales strategy | buying process | deals | reaction | Pipeline Management

explain_group_computer_meeting_business

Today I want talk to you about presenting your proposal when you’re selling over the phone.  There are four: 


1. Verifying information. things to consider:

2. Strategizing how far in advance to send the proposal. 

3. Deciding how you will open. 

4. Preparing to defend why your proposal is right. 

 

1.  Let’s start with verifying information. 

What’s a proposal?  You write something on a digital piece of paper.  If you wrote “the right thing,” the customer will buy and if you didn’t, the customer won’t buy.  And so, there’s a lot riding on your writing the right thing.  So make sure you’re incorporating the customer in that process.  If your customer is not in some way involved in advising you as to what the right budget level is, the offer, and the timing of the delivery as well as any other specs that are important to know, then you’re guessing.  And the customer is less likely to buy. 

You don’t want to guess-sell.  You want to know for sure.  There’s a lot riding on this.  And by verifying information first, you could dramatically improve your proposal-to-closing ratio.  How do you start? Show an outline, one or two pages that explain, “Here’s what I’m thinking of pricing, selling, and delivering and all those specs” in advance of any proposal meeting.  By doing so, you are giving yourself a chance to obtain a reaction and adjust the proposal if need be.  Also, it’s important to show somebody your sale in writing before the proposal, whenever possible.  If the first time that the customer sees your sale in writing is the proposal, it tends not to reflect as well on you than if you had showed some kind of "friendlier" of document beforehand. 

2. Consider is how far in advance of the meeting to send the proposal. 

I would say that there are times that it makes sense not to let your client see the proposal until you’re going to review  it together.  This is because many times proposals are written in such a way that a customer can get concerned, confused, or thrown off.  Or the document is so big that the customer scans it very briefly and misses everything.  And so by going through it with the customer, we’re sure that we’re capturing every point.  If you send the proposal far in advance, they may have a chance to read it.  And there may be some benefit to that.  And so my advice to you is if you’re going to send it in advance, it should be a decision that you made (in your mind, you felt that the proposal could sell itself). However, if you don’t believe that the proposal itself is extremely well-written and a powerful communicator, my advice to you is this:

Go over the points in your proposal together with your client so that there’s a very small gap there.

 

 

About the Author:

Steve_Bookbinder

Steve Bookbinder is Co-founder and CEO of Digital Media Training, a training partner to some of the most successful sales organizations around the world.  DMT delivers training which treats sales as a competitive sport and changes behavior needed to help sellers consistently win.  DMT is a leader in M-learning training reinforcement with a proven track record of improving sales through training. Steve has delivered more than 500 keynote speeches at national sales meetings, conducted more than 3,000 training workshops and trained, coached and managed more than 35,000 sellers and managers from leading companies around the world for more than 20 years.

 

 

Was this post helpful? Please comment down in the box below and let us know how you felt!

 

About Molly D Protosow

Molly Protosow is the COO and Training Strategist for DMTraining. She manages the day-to-day business and training operations while helping research and develop new training programs as well as refreshing signature programs to reflect the newest sales trends, technology, and best practices. Molly utilizes her wide-range of skills to create sales and marketing assets focused on delivering value to DMT’s clients. Molly has a passion for learning and leveraging new knowledge and experiences. Outside of DMTraining, Molly is a hard core Pittsburgh sports fan, enjoys staying active by running and golfing, and unwinds by reading and playing the piano.

  • Connect with Molly D Protosow