Three Myths of the Sales Proposal

By Michael W. McLaughlin

When he came up against assumptions and conventional wisdom, Arthur C. Clarke, the noted British scientist and writer, was fond of the old saying “Rules are meant to be broken.”

In the consulting business, we have implied rules for much of what we do, from pricing to project management. Unfortunately, many once-helpful ideas about operating our businesses morph into unquestioned prescriptions for how we should do things. Few things spread faster, and have a shorter shelf life, than these so-called best practices.

“Rules” for Sales Proposals

Clients award very few consulting projects, regardless of the size, without a proposal of some kind. When you sit down to write your proposal, you’ll likely run through a mental checklist of the basic “rules” for a winning one.

For everything we do, though, some accepted wisdom serves us well, while some just gets in the way. Sales proposal development is no exception. So, with a nod to Arthur C. Clarke, here are three myths of the sales proposal process.

Myth 1: There’s One Right Way

If there’s one certainty in the professional services business, it’s that we rarely sell the same way—or face the same situation—twice. We do encounter similarities in selling situations, but each client project has its own goals, influencers, decision-makers, and approval process.

If you believe in a single, “right” way to write a proposal, you’ll mistakenly use strategies that work well for one client but fall flat for others. If you assume, for example, that writing a three-page proposal is the way to win, you’ll falter in client situations that demand a more extensive presentation of your solution. You can try to force the three-page rule on clients, but it’s a better bet to stay flexible with your approach, especially if you really want the work.

Naturally, you must cover specific topics in every proposal, such as the project objectives, scope, results, timing, team, assumptions, and fees. And you should include an executive summary. You also have to avoid blatant buzzwords. But adhering to a set of rules about proposal length, content, and a prescribed purpose for the proposal is a mistake.

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