The system you use This is bad news. The first thing you should do is consider moving to a web based platform. At the very least, send a PDF. It's okay to send an email to go with your proposal but make sure the details are in an actual document.

The system you use There's a lot of drawbacks with PDF files. You can digitally sign them but most don't know how. They get caught in spam filters a lot and they work terribly on mobile phones. Stats tell us over 71% of proposals are opened on phones compared to desktop devices.

The system you use Is there a very good reason for you printing it off and physically sending it to them? Even the most old-school of bankers and insurance companies have most of their documentation electronic now. What's your reason for not at least PDFing your proposal? Ultimately you should use an online system like Better Proposals to send your proposals even if you need something physically signed.

The system you use This is great. Linking your client to a web based proposal is perfect. This is the present and the future.

The system you use Physically presenting a proposal and dealing with objections there and then is a great way to go. However this is only suitable for bigger deals. What do you do when the deal size is slightly smaller or when you can't physically get there? Our suggestion is sending a written proposal based heavily on a template.

Speed you send your proposals Amazing! Keep this up. You obviously recognise the importance of sending proposals quickly and you have good systems in place to pull this off. Don't let anything get in the way of this. Well done!

Speed you send your proposals Good stuff! Try to keep it closer to the 2 days if possible. Leaving it 4 days isn't great. Look at why you're not able to do this quicker and try to improve that. Getting a good editable template in place would be a great start. Using something like Better Proposals will remove all the editing grief and it makes proposal writing easy. All in all though, 2-4 days is pretty good if you stick to it.

Speed you send your proposals What's taking you guys so long? This allows your potential client to get distracted and excited by other things. Getting a good editable template in place would be a great start in speeding this up. Using something like Better Proposals will remove all the editing grief and it makes proposal writing easy. You ideally want to be sending within 24h but if you can't then at least get it to them within a few days. 4-7 days isn't really doing you any favours.

Speed you send your proposals You're 100% losing business because of this. People lose excitement for projects. They forget the amazing things you've said on calls and in meetings. You ideally want to be sending your proposals within 24h but at least within a few days. Look at what is causing this to take so long. Getting a good editable template in place would be a great start. Using something like Better Proposals will remove all the editing grief that makes proposal writing annoying. All in all, speed this up.

Design Good stuff! Having a professionally designed proposal will always make you look more professional, more capable and more trustworthy. There have been plenty of studies that suggest that good design means trustworthy. Nice work.

Design Having a professionally designed proposal makes you look more professional, more capable and more trustworthy. There have been plenty of studies that suggest that good design means trustworthy, so what does bad or unprofessional design suggest? If you want examples of good design, look at some of the templates in the Better Proposals Marketplace. Good design doesn't mean over engineered. It means good spacing, good font choices and everything in the right place. This isn't stuff you can guess, it needs to be set out by a professional.

First Impressions Great stuff! It’s always important to visually impress your potential clients immediately upon opening your proposal. Studies suggest humans have an attention span of 8 seconds. The bigger your impact at the start, the higher your chances of getting read. For bonus points, keep it relevant to your client’s industry.

First Impressions We’d recommend that you use an attractive cover page on your proposal so the first thing your client sees is something that’s visually impressive. Humans have an attention span of 8 seconds. This means the bigger the impact at the start, the higher your chances of getting read. For bonus points, keep it relevant to your client’s industry.

Opening Statement Awesome! You always want to remind your potential client why they engaged you in the first place. The best way to do this is by stating back to them in their words what they’re trying to achieve.

Opening Statement Your clients will spend most of their time on the introducion page of your proposal. It’s important to use this attention wisely. Reminding them in their own words why they engaged you in the first place is a great way to do this. The introduction is not a place to tell your potential client about your company or how you’re going to do what you do.

Imagery Well done! This isn’t likely to ever be a deal breaker, but it’s nice that you’re making them feel like you’ve put effort in and made their proposal more personalised to them. It also makes it more visually engaging and can break up text heavy pages.

Imagery This isn’t likely to ever be a deal breaker, but relevant imagery will make them feel like you’ve put effort in and made their proposal more personalised to them. It also makes it more visually engaging and can break up text heavy pages.

Proof and Evidence This is really good. Any proof you can provide your potential client with is always going to be a bonus. If you do high value work, then you should really look to use case studies as well as testimonials.

Proof and Evidence This is really good. Any proof you can provide your potential client with is always going to be a bonus. If you do high value work, then you should add more of an explanation to the project and make it into a mini case study.

Proof and Evidence Amazing, this is perfect! Any proof you can provide your potential client with is always going to be a bonus.

Proof and Evidence Oh dear. If you’re providing any level of service, you need to provide proof that you can do what you say you’re going to do. If you don’t have any testimonials, before and after shots or case studies, then use anything you can. You could use private work, your own portfolio, free work for friends and family. This shows that you’re a competent professional and you know what you’re doing.

Pricing Good stuff. Some businesses have more complicated pricing. If you’re conscious of this and make efforts to simplify it where possible then that’s all that can be asked of you.

Pricing Some services are more complicated than others and therefore have more complicated pricing. It’s worth checking in with someone unrelated to your business and seeing if there’s any way of simplifying it. Sometimes it’s a case of grouping some of your pricing together. If you’re providing a solution then there isn't much need to offer a breakdown unless you absolutely have to.

Guarantee Nice work. It’s not common people do this. It shows you’re aware of their thoughts and feelings when they’re reading your proposals. It’s an obvious thought someone is going to have. Pre-empting it by having something that relieves this thought is a good idea.

Guarantee We suggest you come up with the perfect pre-planned response to “What happens if you don’t do what you’re suggesting after I pay you all this money?”. Try not to think of what’s actually viable. Step 1 is just coming up with the perfect response. Afterwards, try and make that viable. Once you’ve done that, present it as a guarantee in your proposal. Be sure to give it its own page.

Timescales Good job. It’s vital to explain the situation to your potential clients so they know what’s going on and what to expect.

Timescales You absolutely need to get this in your proposals immediately, unless you have a very good reason not to. It’s so important to tell your potential clients how long it’s going to take you to do your thing. This is often one of the biggest reasons that companies buy.

Explaining Next Steps Nice. This is good. It shows you’re considerate in letting them know what’s next.

Explaining Next Steps It’s important to get this in. We recommend creating a page called ‘Next Steps’ and detailing the next 3 steps. Usually Step 1 is to agree the proposal however you’re going to get them. Step 2 would be something like arranging a call to discuss kicking off the project. Perhaps Step 3 would be invoicing them a deposit. These are all standard and normal things but explaining them just reassures your potential client that you have everything covered.

Telling them how to approve the proposal Good. Telling them what they need to do is so important. So many people close the proposal out with things like “Let me know if you have any questions”. Awful. Offering a clear instruction in how they agree the proposal is massive.

Telling them how to approve the proposal Firstly, well done for being honest. Fortunately, this is a really easy fix for you. All you need to do is put something like “If you’d like to go ahead, just sign here”.

How your potential client approves your proposal Awesome. Love this. Getting your proposals signed using a digital signature is the most efficient way. It requires almost no effort on the part of your potential client.

How your potential client approves your proposal This is pretty weak. It looks super amateur. Although it shows your client has agreed to something, it’s pretty tricky in court to prove what they actually agreed. The best thing to do is get your clients to agree your proposal using digital signatures.

How your potential client approves your proposal Why would you do this to someone you want money from? LOL. This is a massive faff. If they're in a fully equipped office this might take 5-10mins or so. But if they're at the airport and want to approve your proposal, how exactly do you expect they do this?

How your potential client approves your proposal This is as good as useless. Get them to agree it in writing or you might as well not bother. Ultimately, all agreements are fine until they go wrong. If your deal goes wrong, no amount of pleading “But verbal agreements are legal” will make a difference. Yes, they are, but how are you going to prove what someone actually agreed to? You can’t. Your entire argument falls down after that. Also, it looks absolutely awful to the person you’re trying to convince you’re a professional outfit. Start using digital signatures in your proposals so people can sign by just typing their name.

Following up Perfect. Business to business sales is about intelligence. You need to rely on your software to give you the right information at the right time. You’re doing that which is great.

Following up Not bad. What might be worth doing is getting notified when your proposals are opened and read then following up in accordance with when they’ve read the proposal. Not much point leaving it when they opened it within an hour. Better Proposals notifies you when your prospect has read your proposal. We show you which pages they read and for how long. You can use this information to improve your followup.

Following up You need to at least be following up regularly. Even if it’s once a week for a few hours. If you don’t have time, make some. To have following up and closing deals being so far down the priority list is criminal.

Following up You need to at least be following up regularly. Even if it’s once a week for a few hours. If you don’t have time, make some. To have following up and closing deals being so far down the priority list you don’t even do it is criminal. Get this fixed immediately.