Page 207 - Writing Winning Business Proposals

198 Writing Winning Business Proposals

Benefits are important to buyers. True False
Buyers buy if they perceive that their organization will True False
benefit.
Buyers might select one firm over another because one True False
communicates benefits more effectively.

FIGURE 12.1 A true/false quiz about benefits s
t

IGURE
F

12.1
A true/false quiz about benefi
except for one or two perfunctory closing statements (“Thanks for the opportu-
nity, please call to clarify, blah, blah, blah”), I am left at the end of your proposal
with the distant, the formal, and the official. Your proposal not only ends with
straight information (on costs and terms of payment), it concludes with the most
distasteful information (unless, of course, you happen to be the low bidder).
A good many proposals don’t end with timing and costs; they conclude with a
section often titled “Why [Your Firm].” These are really qualifications sections,
and, like sections on timing and costs, they are also problematic (see Figure 12.2).
What’s most strategic is not to end with “Timing and Costs” by telling me how
many pounds of flesh you will extract or to end with “Why [My Firm],” which
also focuses on you instead of on me. Focus instead on the benefits, the value I
am going to get for the money you’re asking me to spend. Your proposal’s last

tion
with a benefi
g

ts sec
es of endin
F
FIGURE 12.2 The advantages of ending with a benefits section
IGURE

12.2
advanta
g
T
he