Personalising Proposals
I get to read a lot of sales proposals in my role at ProposalGenie, and it never ceases to amaze me how so many businesses think personalising their proposal means inserting the customers name in a few places and, maybe, putting the customer’s logo on the front page.
Then I talk to the customers and they all say the same thing; they don’t see substituting their names on a standardised document as personalisation.
They want to see a document addressing their specific problems and providing solutions to those same problems. They don’t want to see a list of generic issues, half of which do not apply to them.
Many say this is a reason why they don’t buy from a supplier bidding for their business. They seek suppliers who have demonstrated that they really understand their customer and their problems and who take the trouble to write a proposal focused specifically on that customer. They feel that it’s those suppliers in whom they can place their confidence.
Writing proposals like this takes time and it sure is a lot of hard work. But it pays off.
Tags: Personalisation
