Projections Vs. Proposal For Clients
It's always exciting when people are interested in your services. The nerve wracking part is moving the client through the sales funnel from prospect to payment.Is it better to use projections or a proposal to do this?Clients don't care how accurate your projections are or how pretty the proposal is. They choose you because of how you make them feel and what you make them believe.Every decision maker has a different decision making process. For these processes you have to present solutions differently.As the presenter of the solution it is your job to determine which approach is best for them.How do you determine which approach is right for them?You determine which approach to use through asking the right questions. During the qualifying phase you ask open ended questions to see if they are qualified to benefit from the offer. During the rapport phase you ask open ended questions to see if they are interested in working with you and your company. While getting answers to these vital questions you have to pay attention to how they answer.
Does your client seem ready to get started? Are they asking about what is needed to get started? Are they waiting on you to do some research and present your findings? Are they waiting on the buy-in of another decision maker? Do they have to get budget approval before they can move forward?For a decision maker that is the sole decision make and seems ready to purchase NOW, I would present projections on the metrics that matter to them. They are ready to get started and you are ready to start helping. Putting together a proposal that they won't look at won't help them. Instead put together some visuals on a 1 sheet of what your service could do for them. For example, for advertising you could show them how many potential people they could reach in their target market at 3 different budget levels. This way they can quickly see the potential results of their investment. It gets straight to the answer of what you service can do for them.For a decision maker that needs buy-in from other decision maker(s) or budget approval, I would present a proposal. This is an opportunity to present yourself as a good fit to work with them as said by Spruce Rd. in her article about design proposals. I like my proposals to be more about them and less about me. I show them what I can do for them with some projections, but the samples of my work are relevant to their industry. I present what is important to them. For example, if they are interested in Social Media Management I focus on the benefits of that and do not mention web design at all.Whether I'm using projections or proposals I make it short and sweet. The client only takes a few seconds to glance at it as said by Andreea-Lucia Mihalache in her article about proposals. I proofread everything and make sure it is aesthetically pleasing, but I don't stress over perfection.I give the client just enough visual stimuli to ask "How much do you need to get started?"I ask a question to make sure key parts are in place and then it is time to draft the agreement and SEND it. :)When I was working at big companies I took these steps for granted. All I did was get people interested, close the sale and lead them in the direction they needed to go. Now that I'm a solopreneur I have to create and streamline all the steps in the process.Share this with any designer, marketer or side hustler you know that is just getting started!<3 EricaFollow me on Periscope for daily business insights: @ericaravonFollow me on Instagram for daily inspiration: @epartnersmarketingLike the Facebook Page to see a mix of everything: facebook.com/epartnersmarketingFollow my blog with Bloglovin