Sales Proposals -  The Sales Pro Method

Sales pros never submit a proposal willy nilly. And here is why. The sales proposal, considered a Sales Stage in the sales process, is a collaborative exercise with both prospect and sales pro inputs. Standard sales loser behavior is to spit out boiler plate proposals and warming the couch with satisfied butts waiting for signed copy to darken the mail box. Keep on waiting sales loser, but the pink slip will arrive sooner. 

I need to cut back on my tech reading. Let's skinny down what is meant by collaborative; talk it out with the person that counts, the guy that can say OK and write the check. Go over details together. Delivery date, training schedule, specific deployment methods, plan the project, pull in the best PM you got to talk about the services piece, hash out details together. 

Now you are working fledging sales pro. Move your prospect through a proposal sequence. End result, wrapped up with your input and your prospects, is an agreed to package. The sales pro does this. The sale loser just says great I will spend hours and my companies cash to send out our boiler plate proposal right away. 

Now push back on the proposal request. Tell him how it is done to benefit both parties. Tell the prospect that the best proposal is, for the prospect is done this way and detail the steps. And if the prospect does not cooperate. Burn the lead and move on and thank me for all the time I saved you.