Price and propose to close, not to inform
Price and propose to close, not to inform
The proposal is where deals go to stall. A buyer who was warm on the call goes quiet the moment a document lands, because most proposals are written to inform rather than to close. They list features, hedge on price, and leave the buyer to do the hard work of deciding. A proposal should remove friction from the yes, not add a fresh round of internal debate.
Send the proposal live whenever you can, not as a cold attachment. Walk the buyer through it on a call, watch their reaction to the price in real time, and handle the objection while you are still in the room. A proposal emailed into silence is a proposal you have lost control of. The moment of pricing tension is exactly when your presence is most valuable.
Make the proposal easy to say yes to by deciding things for the buyer. Recommend one option clearly rather than offering a confusing menu. Anchor the price against the cost of their problem, not against your costs. Put a reason in the document for why now beats later, whether that is a start date, a capacity limit, or a price that holds only this quarter. Urgency that is real and stated beats urgency that is faked or absent.
Watch for the silent killers that live in the fine print: vague scope that invites endless negotiation, payment terms that trigger a finance review you did not anticipate, a signature process that needs three people you have not met. Each of these is a stall hiding in plain sight. Pre-empt them by asking, before you send, what would have to be true for this to be signed by Friday.
The proposal is not the finish line, it is the last and steepest stretch. Treat it with the same intent as the first call, and far fewer deals will die on the doorstep.
INTERVIEW EWOUD: How do you present a proposal, and what do you do differently to keep control of the close instead of emailing it and hoping?
INTERVIEW EWOUD: What is the most common reason a proposal stalls for your clients, and the specific change you make to fix it?