How To Create Power Proposals That Make Sales

A “power  proposal” is a strategic sales tool designed to bridge the gap between your sales proposition and your prospects purchase decision.

A Power Proposal adheres to three distinctive principles:  Speed.  Organization.  Presentation.

Speed – Power Proposals can be created in minutes.
For many landscape contractors writing a proposal is a laborious process and takes way too much time.  A power proposal is created systematically.  It let’s you fill in the numbers from your take-off quickly so you can focus your time and attention on the areas that have the most impact.

Organization – Power Proposals are cleanly formatted and strategically organized.
The key here is to provide the prospect with clear information organized in the way they are likely to process it best.  Can the prospect read everything without squinting?  Can they scan the page to find the information most important in an instant?

Does the proposal make them work too hard?  Is it confusing?  A Power Proposal reduces “friction” that frustrates prospects.  It uses proper font sizes and styles to enhance readability.  It uses bolding and subheadings to allow for easy scanning and it presents the information clear, logical progression.

Think Like A Restaurant
Restaurants know their menu’s play a big role in how the customer perceives the quality of the food they receive.  An attractive menu with professional photography and clear, compelling copywriting of food descriptions – creates a powerful impression on the customer.  Smart restaurants see their menu as a key part of the product offering and take great care to design it strategically.  Which bring me to the third part of creating a power proposal…

Presentation – A Power Proposal is presented as a product because it is one of the few tangible things you can provide a prospect.
When you sell your landscape services what is the Prospect really buying?  They are buying a promise – which is intangible.  Contrast that with buying a tangible product like a shirt or a computer.  You can hold a product, instantly assess its quality and can size up the value of what you are buying.  Tangibility makes purchase decisions easier.

A Power Proposal takes advantage of tangibility.  It’s one of the few physical aspects of your business.  Therefore  it’s one of the few tangible opportunities a prospect has to evaluate the “quality” and value of your business.  A Power Proposal is presented as a quality product.  It comes “Packaged” .  And you present it.  It is on high quality stock that has a design built around your company brand.

Putting It All Together
Step back and review your proposal process.  Does it leverage speed, organization and presentation?   If not – tackle each aspect individually to improve it.  Remember Power Proposals are not only about what you say, but how you say it.   Here’s to your success!