TSOS Tip #8 Give the customer the Pen FINAL

Topic: have the prospect “help” you create a winning proposal.

Presenting a quote or proposal to a prospect is a delicate time. I call it the 0-60 moment or a moment of truth. You are actually “closing” on the opportunity. Just emailing it or dropping it off may be easier but not very helpful.

It may be the first time the prospect has seen “the number” – or the first time they seriously paid attention – after all, they now need to explain this to their boss. The good news is that instead of being nervous, this pivotal session can work to your advantage.

• How do you determine if you have written a proposal that meets their needs?
• How can you “coach the witness” so that they can be convincing with their boss and other hidden Economic Buyers?

The answer” Give the customer the pen. Create an opportunity to collaborate with your prospect and explore the elements of the proposal together. Here’s how:

Preparing for the Proposal meeting:

• Review the particulars of the opportunity as you progress — In your process up to this point, you’ve collected the necessary info on the opportunity and determined there is a fit.
  • Before you present, make sure you are familiar with the data that confirms yur proposal is a good fit. I used to prepare Discussion Outline to summarize my findings ad conclusions and recommendation. A cover letter or email, or at the end of a call or meeting as part of the wrap-up. Make sure that your prospect as reviewed the data points with you. or with a few check in calls along the way. You do not want any surprises when you are presenting your proposal.
  • You can now prepare the estimate/quote/proposal.
• Do not engage in premature elaboration: Set a date & time with the prospect.  Your goal is to create an opportunity so you can walk through it together – real-time. and You can then make adjustments during the session.
• Do not deliver a copy or email – one major objective I held was to minimize the distribution of multiple versions where the prospect loses track and they see a range of numbers. You want to minimize this.
• You can always ask to be present when your contact presents – but its most important that they are comfortable and they have made it their ow.better to have the prospect involved to “make it their document”.
• The First Sale is to yourself: make sure you can deliver the number without hesitation: confident that you can help the prospect.

In the old days , I’d print out the proposal and I always stamped it  “DRAFT” with large type and red ink. (Today you could add a watermark or a footer with the word DRAFT in it)

“Give the pen” makes ti possible to create the collaboration by editing together. etc. The stamp just reinforces the fact that it is open to adjustment — or acceptance. You just need the prospect’s help.

At the meeting:

• I’d present to the client as follows: “I want to get this right – can you help me edit this using your terms and words?” We’d then discuss it and I’d let the prospect poke holes, ask questions. My goal was to have a proposal that matched what my sponsor at the account needed
• This would be a great time to give the prospect an actual Pen – if it had your logo on it all the better – a leave behind – -but make it a nice one.
• Start with a review of scope and why this project is important to the prospect and how you propose to help.
• After reviewing the proposal ask for changes:
  • “What would you add or delete? And Why?
• Have the prospect verbalize aloud – saying it out loud is a key element in helping the prospect “own it”.
• Mahan Khalsa had the closing I liked: “is this a proposal that meets your needs?” or from Max Sachs: “If this proposal meets your needs do you see any reason why we couldn’t move forward?”
• Don’t Spill your candy in the lobby – don’t offer up concessions or discounts right away —  have a walk through all the way and then go back. You want agreement on the overall approach and then you can get in to nitty gritty detail. Make sure that the prospect knows the value
• On pricing, if you need to offer, by discussing the value as part of the proposal process you may be able to offer a lower discount or offer non-cash items instead e.g., a free training session.
• As you wrap up, ask if there are any questions that the prospect has – and what questions will management ask.

When you are done, here is what you can accomplish:

• Get approval from your prospect
• Hae a marked up document with agreed upon changes –including word choice etc.
• The  prospect is now able to explain the proposal to others.
• Promise to prepare the FINAL Draft. This hopefully eliminates the confusion of multiple documents.  

<<END>>.