Why bespoke proposals are confusing your customers

Welcome to the Thought Follower, the savvy Solopreneur's guide to building a business on LinkedIn.

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“When we first met Joe, our business was struggling in every area. We’d made $0 in the months prior, with no work on the horizon.”

Ouch.

Ash & her husband Josh build awesome websites for small biz owners & couplepreneurs.

But last September, they were struggling to sign clients. “It felt like we were banging our heads against the wall, and getting absolutely nowhere.”

In our first session together we drilled into Ash’s marketing & sales process to see where things might be going wrong.

Early on, I spotted something I knew was holding Ash back.

Ash was getting onto discovery calls with prospects, uncovering their need & explaining her credentials. She’d share a general overview of how she might be able to help.

Then, she was drafting tailored proposals & emailing them to prospects, often with a 7-10 minute Loom video, and then…

Crickets.

Throwing an email proposal over the fence like this is a surefire way to get ghosted. It works against you in 3 ways:

• eliminates the possibility of a fast ‘yes’ on a call

• leaves the customer alone to figure out what they need

• adds unnecessary complexity to every project, with no standardisation

If you're selling services worth $15K or less, emailing custom proposals to prospects is costing you deals. 

You’re putting barriers extra steps between you and the sale.

What if you could turn those proposals into live, collaborative conversations that close deals on the spot?

Imagine a sales process where prospects say ‘yes’ before you even leave the call. That’s exactly what Ash achieved by replacing her bespoke proposals with a simple offer stack.

This is a simple structure you can walk through on a call (if the prospect is a good fit, and they give you permission).

Here’s what Ash’s revamped offer stack looks like:

This menu format gives a starting point for discussions in real time. A few things to note:

• It’s possible to mix & match, add or remove, different aspects of each offer.

• Before discussing price, it’s crucial to ensure the customer sees value.

• These are only the ‘Features’ of your offer - you need to describe how they help the prospect achieve their dream outcomes.

Of course, you can email this detail across to the prospect after a call if they don’t say ‘yes’ on the spot. No more customised proposals!

Why do it this way?

Having a simple structure like this up your sleeve will help you build confidence in what you’re pitching.

Plus, it gives you an opportunity to get real-time feedback on where any gaps might be.

It simplifies the decision-making for the prospect as you’re right there to answer any questions they have.

Plus it’ll make project delivery easier on the back end, as every project is standardised - increasing your effective margin + hourly rate.

What about Ash?

Ash started showing prospects her offer stack on calls, instead of emailing proposals. She followed my simple playbook to:

• lead calls with prospects

• ask great discovery questions

• seek permission to explore a partnership

• present an offer

“By our second month of working with Joe, we hit our highest-earning month yet. The following month, we surpassed that again.”

I couldn’t be happier for her!

Thanks to her new approach to presenting her offers, Ash:

• gained confidence

• built a system she trusts

• spends less time on proposals

Ash now feels in control of her business, spends less time worrying about where the next client will come from, and has more freedom to focus on the work she loves.

Want my help 1:1 to sign a new client?

Book in a free Solopreneur Strategy Call. I’d love to help!

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