I had a thought today that the longer it takes to get a client a proposal, the more you need from them, and the less prepared you seem, the less likely you are to get that client.
Here are some observations and pieces of evidence to support that:
- One of the main reasons a new potential client reached out to me was because, “The company we are currently working with has spent more than four weeks putting a proposal together. It seems like they don’t really have experience in this area.”
- Particularly for larger potential clients, they have been excited to work with me and have lost interest as time went on and I requested more resources from them. And that’s before I even sent over a proposal and price. They most likely just lost faith that we would be able to handle the project as well as a competitor.
I think it is pretty clear that making the proposal process as easy as possible for a client will make them more likely to work with you. That seems pretty obvious, and it makes lots of sense. But how to accomplish that may not be so obvious, especially with complicated projects.
The problem comes when there is ambiguity. When the client isn’t sure what they want but they want you to give them a proposal, it’s extremely difficult to give them a number.
In the past, I’ve done my best to work with them and try to narrow down what would be included and tried to quote that.
But now, I think that what I need to do instead is this:
In situations where there is a great deal of ambiguity in a given project, act as the consultant, figure out what would be best for them, and put together a proposal outlining exactly what you plan on doing even when most of what you’re proposing isn’t something you’ve talked about yet.
After writing it out, it almost seems obvious! We are the expert, we know what works, and clients are looking to us to provide these things to them. Make assumptions and suggestions as needed.
After all, why not? If they don’t like something you’ve included, they can and will ask you to change it. But if you give them nothing and instead spend tons of time trying to get them to make up their minds, you’ve lost the sale and now you’re back to square one.
Additionally, if you’re making the decisions, you can better steer them towards great solutions that will add value. If they are coming to their own conclusions, that will often not be the case.
So from now on, just do it! If you need more information, just make assumptions and state them explicitly. Just watch out for scope creep and you’ll be fine.
If you want to get in with bigger clients, you need to be the expert and not just the contractor.