The wit to woo

If you want to win your girl, or your sale in this case, you have togo about it in the right way. You can't go charging in with your finaloffer, you have to woo your potential customer with an old-fashionedproposal. Annie Gurton takes a look at how Vars can win a sale with thewrite stuff.

Making a proposal is a clear part of the sales cycle and as crucial as identifying the prospect and closing the sale. The proposal can win or lose you the customer, and has to be written and presented in just the right way to clinch the deal. A Var which thinks that sending out a few details about the company along with a one-page quote will suffice, will not stand much chance of winning the business and yet they might never realise why they didn't get any further.

Sales and marketing consultant Ian Farmer of Ian Farmer Associates says that most proposals are not proposals at all but are just quotations.

"A quotation tells the price while a proposal sells the benefits," he says. "People buy benefits."

The first requirement is brutal honesty, according to John Jones who was the bid director responsible for making proposals to customers on behalf of a consortium of ICL and some of its Vars. It is very easy for a Var to make claims which exaggerate its skills and resources, yet giving in to that temptation is the quick way to disaster, he says. "The Var must be able to stop at any time in the sales process and say: 'No, we are actually taking on more than we can manage here,' and pull out if necessary. This can be an extremely difficult thing for any company to do, and it is easy to think that they will find the skills or resources if the bid is accepted.

Overstating your abilities is nearly as bad as underestimating what you should be charging, says Jones. "The reseller has to have the mechanism and maturity to stand back frequently throughout the pitching and proposal process and say: 'Should we be doing this?' If it is beyond your capabilities or you think the margins are too tight, you should stop before you get any further involved."

The alternative to stopping the proposal and withdrawing from the bid for the new business is to seek out new partners with whom the proposal becomes feasible. Jones again: "Very few resellers and Vars can offer every service at the right price, so the way to make a proposal attractive to the customer and make it worthwhile and achievable to the reseller is by building a group of partners."

It is also worth including prospective vendor suppliers in the proposal activity, because they are likely to have a useful contribution to make.

Martin Sexton of Unisys says that the company has a special department given over to producing proposal documents, and it is available to Unisys resellers who want to take advantage of it. "Many reseller businesses are made up of technical or practical people," he says. "The vendor companies often have executives with MBAs or other highly trained business management skills, and at Unisys we want to make those skills available to our Var third parties and resellers." Vars can to go to its North London headquarters if they wish to receive practical assistance in building, developing and producing the proposal documents. "It is an art," says Sexton, "although not a black art. There is nothing really secret about the right way to do it, but many Vars feel better if they get help so that they make sure they are getting it right and don't let a sales prospect slip away because of some simple oversight in the proposal document."

Farmer says: "A proposal takes more effort and requires more information than a quotation but the extra work involved pays rich dividends. A well structured proposal will tell the customer that the sales person understands his problems, can solve them and what the financial payback will be, not just the cost."

According to Jones it is vital to emphasise the value not the cost: "Cost is just the price and you are telling the customer how much they will be out of pocket by buying the product or service from you. If you tell them what the value will be and what they will save by buying this product or service, you are taking a more positive and affirmative approach," he says.

Farmer continues: "Salespeople often fall down in developing a proposal because they do not get enough information to deliver an attractive document.

So they take the easy way out by submitting a product description with the price attached - in other words a quote."

Beverley Brooks, practice leader with distributed systems at Platignum Solutions agrees that there is a tendency among technically-led Var companies to deliver a list of product features. "The prospective customer says 'So what?' The product features have to be put into context and the potential benefits and value spelled out," she says.

On the other hand some people preparing a proposal document feel that they should put in everything they can think of, but the scatter-gun approach can be counter-productive, says Kevin Draper of Computer Associates. "An awful lot of trouble goes into preparing some proposal documents which is not reflected in the trouble taken to read them," he says. Draper, who has many years experience of preparing proposals, believes that because so much time, and therefore money, is invested in requesting, submitting and sifting through proposals, unnecessary costs are built up which have to be incorporated somewhere down the line. "If the supplier and the customer were a lot smarter and more succinct about the proposal process, it would work out a lot cheaper and cut out a lot of waffle," he says. Draper adds that few customers read all the detail which is written into many proposals, and for many the bottom line is the most important and influential.

"If you are a reseller company which is including or charging for various services and extras, you need to be fairly smart about how those costs are included in the proposal," advises Ac's Draper. "Many customers still go straight to the back page and check the bottom line first, and if there are lots of caveats and explanations about why the price is high, the customer may never get to read them."

Some salespeople feel inhibited about asking too many questions of the customer, says Brooks, thinking that the customer expects them to know everything or is afraid of appearing inefficient. "No customer minds answering basic questions which will help the supplier get the solution right," she says. It is also worth getting any information about the company and its threats and problems from other sources. "Most prospects come from recommendations, so you might ask whoever recommended you to tell you more about the prospect," says Brooks. "It is crucial to do this, otherwise the proposal will not hit the mark. You have to demonstrate that you understand their problems and have a solution to fix them, and you can't be expected to know those things intuitively."

Most invitations to tender also come with at least two contacts within the company, says Brooks, and it is not only politically a good idea but it also makes sense to make sure that you contact those people. "One will tell you about the commercial requirements of the prospect and the other contact will tell you about the technical requirements and expectations.

You should definitely speak to those people rather than just send in a proposal cold," she says.

Farmer says: "A proposal does not have to be a large diatribe of a document.

It's the structure that is important. Follow the right structure and the proposal can just be a couple of pages, if that is all that is needed." Brooks agrees. "Few senior managers read beyond the first three or four pages so it is crucial that the management summary at the beginning is simple, clear and comprehensive. Often the senior managers will read the first pages and then pass on the rest to their technical people, so you have to sell the concept and the value proposition to them first."

This is also Jones' experience. "The actual format and structure will be determined by the customer, when they specify their requirements. But it is important to have a clear summary at the beginning," he says. This management summary has to include a statement of capability, he adds, which indicates that you are capable of delivering what you are proposing.

"There is nothing like a couple of satisfied reference sites in their own vertical market sector for establishing that you are a reliable supplier who will deliver what you are promising," says Jones.

The preliminary management summary should also include the price, says Farmer. "Some buyers do want to go straight to the bottom line and so this should be contained in the summary at the beginning. However, once their appetite has been partially satisfied they will read to the end of the proposal, where they should find a full breakdown of the cost and contract details," he says. "If the prospect goes straight to the bottom line and just finds the bald quote without any supporting justification the decision will be based on cost not payback." In that case a competitor with a worse proposition which has been more cleverly presented, may win the business.

Computer Associates' Draper believes that proposal writing is similar to CV writing, "and so is proposal reading," he adds. It can be a waste of time dressing up a proposal with fancy DTP and glossy paper. "Most of the managers reading proposals see a lot and know what they are looking for. Often it is best to keep things as simple as possible, like a good CV." It is better to be honest, factual and simple rather than including a lot of irrelevant information as padding.

At the same time, Draper says, it is crucial to give the customer everything they have requested. "Many customers, especially in a formal tendering situation, have a predetermined list of questions that they are seeking answers to. They have a basic framework and rules, and it is important that all their questions are properly answered to provide them with their required set of responses."

It is easier to be 'creative' when the proposal is for informal situations.

Draper explains: "Consider who is going to read it and decide what level to pitch it at. Should it be more technical or strategic? Good design is important because it helps make the proposal more readable but design should not dominate over content."

Sexton believes that the company is offering significant benefit to its resellers by helping them with their proposals, although Draper points out that the larger resellers are probably fairly experienced with proposal preparation. He says: "We are in the background if the reseller needs us, but typically they don't need much help from us. Also, often there are several other suppliers involved and the reseller might be acting as prime contractor pulling everything together, so it is not appropriate for us to want to become too involved." Sexton disagrees, saying that the purpose-built proposal centre which the company offers its resellers fulfils an important function which most other vendors choose to ignore.

"We are there to help the reseller develop their own style and a consistency of presentation," Sexton explains. Unisys has a library of fonts, images, pictures and information which resellers can incorporate into its proposal, plus a library of completed proposals and best practise materials.

Most vendors will provide reference sites which show products in use, even if the reseller has none. "Reference sites are an essential addition to every proposal," says Sexton. "Customers are looking to talk openly with others in their own vertical who have experiences they can relate to. It underpins the sales chat."

Phil Northeast, the UK sales manager for ROCC, a systems integration Var, says not to forget that the primary objective of the proposal document is to end up with a signed contract.

The point of a proposal is:

- to help sell the business

- to be an unofficial quotation making a legally binding offer for sale

- to be an absentee and silent salesman

- to document conclusions and action plans

- to be a two-way insurance policy of what is offered and what is accepted

A standard proposal always contains:

- a management summary

- a mandatory notice limiting liability and quoting an expiry date of the offer

- a description of the products and services without specific promises, assertions, claims or commitments.

The management summary is the most important part and should include:

- objectives and scope of the proposal

- prime considerations/criteria as agreed for the basis for decision

- positive recommendations which are firm, concise and clear

- major advantages in answer to the 'why' and 'how' questions

- the financial implications: costs and benefits

- ask for the order

Configuration and pricing should be in a separate section and without any attempt to hide any associated costs. It should include:

- delivery

- installation

- training

- documentation

- long-term support and consultancy

THE FINE ART OF PROPOSAL WRITING

Ian Farmer Associates runs training courses for sales people and managers wanting to learn the finer points of the art of proposal writing. Farmer says: "Proposal writing is fairly logical but needs to be tackled as a specific subject. It is no good thinking that writing a proposal is straightforward because there are certain things you should know to do and not do."

Farmer offers these hints and tips: 'The proposal should be designed to logically present the prospect's needs and how you may satisfy them.

The proposal should be written from the prospect's point of view. By definition, the proposal should make specific recommendations for the prospect to install a specific solution to be used in a specific application or function at a specific time for a specific price.

The minimum sections should be:

A covering letter directed at the appropriate executive, thanking him or her for the information and the opportunity to make the proposal.

A title page which states accurately the prospect's company name and address, together with your name and office location and the date of the proposal. This page should include a specific title, such as 'A Proposal for the Installation and Integration of IT system for Customer Management.'

A table of contents should list the number of each page and the contents, to allow anyone reading the proposal easy access to information relevant to them. Many proposals run to several hundred pages, so this is key, and is expected even on shorter documents.

The executive summary should be directed at the executive reading it, and should review the contents of the proposal and make a basic statement requesting the implementation of your recommendations. The executive summary should also include a recap of the pre-determined objectives of the proposal.

A section of requirements and objectives should detail in clear terms the objectives that the prospect wishes to meet by the installation of your solution. You should use the customer's own terms and words in this section, and outline the threats and problems as you see them.

A section covering the present situation and the methods and proposals the customer currently has for dealing with the challenges it faces. These outlines should be listed and numbered, and your tone should be neutral.

You should then outline your proposals, with at least one alternative if the main proposal is not accepted. This gives the customer a choice and puts them in the either/or position when you ask for the order. If you have done your homework well the customer will choose one of your alternatives. Each point in this section should correspond and provide a solution to the corresponding problem in the previous section covering the present situation. Here you can be more critical of the proposals the customer may have for resolving its problems.

A cost justification section will discuss in real terms the cost of the implementation, providing tangible costs and savings. Make it clear that the customer cannot afford not to go ahead. Include all ancillary costs and savings, including training, upgrades and long term consultancy, even if you do not provide those things yourself. It is important to give a fair and broad picture.

Service and guarantee arrangements. This section should contain all the details of the installation and implementation of hardware software and details of long-term support and servicing.

A conclusion should provide a strong ending to the whole proposal, summarising both tangible and intangible benefits of the system as well as pointing out and confirming why the prospect should be doing business with your company. This is the point to bring in any third-party referrals or reference site contacts.

Lastly, it is worth attaching a copy of the contract or agreement that you will be wanting them to sign. Never be afraid of offering the prospect a chance to go through the agreement - indeed, offer him or her the opportunity to do so.

Finally, make sure that you send in plenty of copies of your proposal.

They may become silent but effective sales tools even when you are not around.

CONTACTS

Computer Associates 01753 577733

Ian Farmer Associates 01763 260984.