Learn how to create powerful proposals that win more business, and make more money for you in the process!

1. creative thinking, reimagined
Creating
Powerful Proposals
John A. Sexton, Ph.D.
Founder and Creative Director
Groupmind, Inc.

2. The Connected Business
Free Workshop Series
THURSDAY
May 2nd Building a Culture of Innovation
6:30pm
THURSDAY
June 6th Business Speed Dating
6:30pm
3 MORE DATES JUST ADDED
THURSDAY THURSDAY THURSDAY
July 11th August 8th Sept. 12th
6:30pm 6:30pm 6:30pm

3. heyjohnsexton.com
@heyjohnsexton
#proposals

4. What do you do?
Why did you start doing it?

5. Need Money Must write
Proposal :(
Stuck with same
kinds of jobs, or
the same rates
Write proposal...
or maybe rush
through it.
Don’t win the jobs
we really want
http://www.flickr.com/photos/migulski/2273289856/sizes/o/in/photostream/

6. Let’s vent.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dhilowitz/4351445649/

7. Bad proposals...
* lose jobs
* leave money on the table
* keep you stuck.
http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/261745/slide_261745_1729771_free.jpg?1352278486043

8. The Real Problem

9. The skills you develop by
doing the work you love...
...are not the same skills
that help you get
better jobs in the future.

10. Unscientific Graph Time!

11. Unscientific Graph
Skills /
Product Quality
Income
Ability to
Communicate Value

12. Unscientific Graph
Ability to
Communicate Value
Income
Skills /
Product Quality

13. Joshua Bell Story
http://youtu.be/hnOPu0_YWhw

14. Joshua Bell Story
* One of world’s best Violinists in DC Subway
* Handcrafted 1713 Stradivarius Violin worth $3.5 M
* Played 6 pieces in 45 minutes
* Previous night, sold out audiences of $100+ tickets
* Over 1000 people walked by
* ~ 20 people gave a total of about $32
* No applause, no recognition
* Similar experiment occurred in 1930s, similar results

15. Joshua Bell Experiment
Skills /
Product Quality
Value Communicated Income

16. Apple
Income Value Communicated
Product Quality

17. Snuggie
Income Value Communicated
25+ Million sold (Fabricated?)
$500,000,000+
Product Quality

18. http://www.flickr.com/photos/oscar805/8590961651/
What is the purpose
of a proposal?

19. Purpose of a proposal:
communicate the value
of your product or service
in solving a problem
important to your client

20. Estimates vs. Proposals
Estimates Proposals
What, How Much What, How Much, Why
Focused on Price Focused on Value
Persuades &
Treats work as commodity
Builds relationship

21. Effective Proposals
You Client
More wins Feels understood
Higher pay Gets good value
Better clients Appropriate solution
Less wasted time Trust you can execute
You are uniquely well-suited
to help the client achieve their goals.

22. Simon Sinek
http://www.startwithwhy.com/About.aspx?n=1

23. Emotion drives Decisions.

24. People don’t buy what you do,
they buy why you do it.
People want to work
with people that
believe what they believe.

25. • Demonstrate that they can trust you
• Show the client you understand their needs
• Be honest, be yourself

26. Web
Designer
Distrust
Indifference
Approve
Like
Love
Inspired by: http://chasingthestorm.com/brand-relationship-onion-people-and-brand-relationships/

27. Clients want to trust you!
Unfortunately, many of them
have broken hearts.

28. And other bad people are out there... just waiting to do it again.

29. It’s All About Them

30. Clients only care about you
to the extent that you can
help them achieve
their goals.
Embrace that.

31. Listen

32. Demonstrate Understanding
& Communicate Value

33. Share your best ideas

34. OK.
Enough with understanding stuff.
Give us TRICKS!

35. Uncover Root Causes
& Determine VALUE
Dig deep to find the reasons behind the requests.
What’s the Real Problem?
What’s the VALUE of solving it?
How are you uniquely qualified to solve it?

36. Situation Appraisal:
Current vs. Ideal Situations
Get them to imagine the gap
and show how you can close it.
Problem Statement
You
Goals & Objectives

37. Get Personal
Make a personal connection
in your cover letter.
Hi Katie,
Dear sir or It was great
madam speaking
with you
Tuesday...

38. Provide Data,
But Not Too Much
Just enough to satisfy the rational brain that
seeks to justify our decisions with facts.
100
75
50
25
0
2009 2010 2011 2012

39. Give Options
Change the conversation from
“yes” or “no” to “which one?”
$15,000 $10,000 $7,500
Reach Best Value Budget

40. Loss Aversion
Reduce the price by taking things away.
$15,000 $10,000 $7,500
Winner’s - Social Media - Website
Package! - Branding - Self Respect

41. Goal-Gradient Effect
Showing progress that has already been made
motivates people to continue.
Fill out Review Review Project
Find us!
questionnaire Proposal Prototypes Complete!
YOU ARE
DONE! DONE!
HERE

42. Make Accepting Easy
Explicitly spell out next steps & make it
possible to accept the proposal immediately.
1
2
3
Accept Proposal

43. More Proposal Writing Tips

44. RIGHT PERSON
Make sure you build a relationship
with someone who can say
YES.

45. FAST
2 Business days
or less.

46. MEANINGFUL TITLE
“Building a Modern Web Presence
for NextDoor Chicago”
not
“Web Design Proposal”

47. BRANDED TEMPLATE
for layout and generic sections
...but your proposed solutions
need to be unique for each client.

48. SIMPLE LANGUAGE
No Jargon.
Write for your audience.

49. SHORT
5 Pages or less is ideal.

50. SKIMMABLE
Use headings, subheadings,
bullet lists & callout boxes, to
break up long passages of text.

51. VALUE & OUTCOMES
...NOT DELIVERABLES.
“Increased exposure to & influence
with your target audience...”
not
“Mock-up with 3 Revisions”

52. STICK TO YOUR PRICES
If you need to go lower, take away
some of the VALUE.
Avoid dropping a deliverable or
reducing revisions for
a discount of X.

53. FOCUS
Show that you are
uniquely suited to understand
& solve the client’s problem.
Cut anything that doesn’t
directly support that.

54. Proffread

55. Proofreed

56. Proofread

57. GET BIZNUS RESULTS!!

58. Thank you!

59. The Connected Business
Free Workshop Series
THURSDAY
May 2nd Building a Culture of Innovation
6:30pm
THURSDAY
June 6th Business Speed Dating
6:30pm
3 MORE DATES JUST ADDED
THURSDAY THURSDAY THURSDAY
July 11th August 8th Sept. 12th
6:30pm 6:30pm 6:30pm

60. heyjohnsexton.com
@heyjohnsexton
#proposals