What are the best ways to close a consulting proposal deal?

I disagree with the 24-hour follow-up tip. You may come across as too eager if you follow up too quickly. Instead, it's a good idea to ask the client when it would be convenient for them to discuss your proposal or provide feedback. This way, you can agree on a timeline for a follow-up call or email reminder, and you can even send an invite for the call. The goal is to avoid crowding the client or making them feel like you're desperate for feedback. Another approach is to ask, 'May I check back with you by [specific day] for feedback?' In the midst of a busy schedule, nobody wants to commit to a 24-hour review, especially if they have multiple proposals to consider.

Follow-ups are important in order to showcase to your clients that you are dedicated to offering your services. Also, it showcases that you care about their goals and needs which in turn brings more opportunities.

Make your follow-up message focus on the parts of the proposal that match the clients' goals. Show your keen understanding of their needs and how your proposal addresses them.

Understand the Client's Needs: Before crafting your proposal, thoroughly understand your client's needs, challenges, and goals. Conduct in-depth discussions and gather as much information as possible to tailor your proposal to their specific situation. Craft a Compelling Proposal: Create a clear, concise, and well-structured proposal that outlines the scope of your services, objectives and deliver

Every proposal has timelines mentioned in the RFP document or in the invitation email, post-submission of the proposal we should wait for the next course of action mentioned in the RFP document. In case we are an existing vendor working in another area, can propose a demo from earlier implementation that can make our proposal more positive. Follow-up with in 24 Hours of response submission is a bit shorter duration to weigh the proposals received.

I heard it loud and clear from an executive at an event last night - he said don't ask me about my problems, know what they are what you can do to help solve them. DO YOUR HOMEWORK before you meet with a potential client.

The best place to highlight the value proposition is in the Executive Summary of the proposal. It’s an opportunity to explain in brief the problem and recommend proposed solutions with the value it will bring to the client’s business.

Proposals should show that you understand the problems of the clients and detail how your solution can offer tangible benefits to them. Offer specific examples, testimonials, and case studies from your experience to further demonstrate your credibility and track record in delivering these valuable results. Only send the proposal after you have had calls with the client, understood the scope, spoken to the decision-maker, and are sufficiently confident that your proposal hits a sweet spot for the client. Offer pricing options and flexibility of feature inclusion from the least attractive package to the most flexible.

In my experience, proposal has always been a co-crafting involving the customer. Partner your customer and feel in the same boat is a basic of consulting. Of course, you keep the right for the creativity and inspiration from your other experience but collaborating during the proposal build ensures a tailored approach and solutions that align with their unique needs. It not only defines value but also builds trust, strengthening the relationship. Finally, it leads to proposals that are not just accepted but embraced as solutions designed together for success.

Highlighting the benefits should address the functional job-to-be-done AND the emotional-job-to-be-done of your prospect. For a revenue growth consulting, an effective value statement should go like this - "Our clients who're at similar situation as you at the start, stabilized their qualified lead-flow to 20-30 leads per month with 6 months of starting the engagement. This means no more dry pipe-line and end-of-quarter sleepless nights to make your quota". It's important to focus on the benefits in a simple language. This focuses the conversation on the biggest and most central challenge. Including the details of approach and USP, however tempting, often distracts the narrative. First the prospect must be mentally sold to the benefit.

Consider replacing the traditional urgency with creating a storyline of undeniable impact this prospective client stands to gain by partnering with you. Identify in your initial consultation -- through a series of questions -- the *most valuable outcome for the prospective client (capturing previously missed opportunities, increased employee retention, cost savings in production, etc.). In your proposal, and any followup, clearly name how you can help them achieve their desired outcomes, using impact-focused narrative.

To enhance the sense of urgency, incorporate a narrative into your proposal that exemplifies the transforming landscape of your clients' industry. It is imperative that businesses highlight recent market shifts, emerging trends, or regulatory modifications that may have a favorable impact on their business if they promptly respond.

If you are pitching to leadership, especially the CEO, you have to place a (respectable) amount of pressure. Stay top-of-mind, and give the offer a window. Exec may recognize the proposal is "important", but if it's not urgent, you will (understandably) fall on the laundry list of other important to-dos that may or may not ever get done. Knowing that the offer can leave / change in a specific timeframe (urgency) will naturally increase the value of the proposal and bump it higher on the list to resolve in a timely fashion.

Authenticity is key. The goal is to emphasize genuine value and potential missed opportunities rather than instill fear or force a rushed decision. Clients value partnerships that are built on trust and genuine concern for their best interests. So, while creating urgency can be a powerful tool, it’s important to use it in a way that upholds the integrity and reputation of your consulting services.

Throughout the qualification and initial stages you need to build out a compelling event to act, but also a cost of not doing anything. Time kills all things.

Consider including a section in your proposal that anticipates and addresses potential objections. Throughout this section, you should outline common concerns and objections your client might have and provide detailed, tailored responses to each.

Handling objections is a critical skill, and one that can be practiced and developed. You should interpret each objection as a "cost" to the client, for example, too expensive, takes too much time, too complex, I don't know where to start, etc. In this way you can prepare, in advance, your response and show them how your offering addresses the objective and gives them value greater then the perceived cost of the objection.

The best way to close a consulting client is to be able to clear their resistance in the way that is favourable to both the sides. We have to convince the client in such a way that our solution is going to be a win-win for both of us. Once they learn their advantage , they will go for closing it.

Handling objections effectively in a consulting proposal is crucial to securing client buy-in. One powerful strategy to overcome objections is by leveraging letters of recommendation from satisfied clients that specifically address your expertise in the area of concern. These letters serve as compelling testimonials that vouch for your skills, credibility, and track record. They provide third-party validation and demonstrate that you've successfully tackled similar challenges in the past, thus instilling confidence in your capabilities. In essence, letters of recommendation serve as tangible evidence of your competence, helping to quell objections and reinforce the client's trust in your consulting services.

The proposal should be built with influences and supporters collaboratively, do this and they will handle the objections for you.

Consider including a moment of affirmation in your proposal, as well as a direct or indirect approach. This affirmation moment reinforces the value proposition and subtly guides the client towards a favorable decision, facilitating their ability to visualize the advantages and take the subsequent step towards concluding the transaction.

There is an old saying "You don't get what you don't ask for, 100% of the time. But if you do ask, and you get a Yes 50% of the time, your still better off."

Closing the deal in consulting is essentially getting the client to acknowledge that you have the skills, knowledge, and experience to solve a particular problem. Once they do that, and you both agree on the cost of the problem and the value of eliminating the problem, you have a deal. When you confirm all those points, you finish the statement by saying: "Would you like me to help you with this?"

In my experience, as you gain more experience you can sense the disposition of a prospect with high level of confidence. But even when a prospect is tilting towards a yes, you still need to nudge the prospect to a closure. What works well is to paint a detailed picture of 'what will happen immediately after we get started' and 'how the end state will feel like'. These two specifically connect with the need to derrick in the immediate terms and motivates by emotionally connecting with long-range outcomes. Post this just ask, when's a good week for kicking this off?

Utilising the assumption close and the soft close are both a solid ways to drive toward the outcome you want, it also reminds the client of the end goal. Assumptive - "Shall we start the process of getting this booked in and sorting any of the logistics while the PO is raised?" Soft - "If we are able to show xyz, when do you think you will be able to raise the PO?"

Deadline. In normal ad there is clause.offer open till the stock last. In consulting proposal I add The offer is open only till we are not engaged in an other assignment

Regularly update your skills, methodologies, and tools to remain competitive and relevant. Also, take time for self-reflection, evaluating past projects to identify what went well and where there might be room for improvement or new knowledge.

Understanding budget and timeline are two key (and basic) things that you have to answers to before progressing on the negotiations.

To successfully close a consulting proposal deal, follow this streamlined 5-step approach: 1. Good Positioning Present a proposal that illustrates a keen understanding of the client’s situation. 2. Target Condition or Improvement Highlight the achievable improvements and benefits your consulting services will bring the client. 3. Barriers Identify and preemptively address potential barriers within the proposal 4. Action Delineate the action steps 5. Engage in a dedicated follow-up, set a scheduled time and date to revisit the proposal This approach, coupled with a meticulous and client-focused follow-up, endeavors to be exceptionally client-centric and solution-oriented, enhancing your chances of successfully closing the deal.

In consulting world, most critical & difficult part of proposal closure is post fees submission. Assuming our proposal is perfect to client expectations. Fee is mostly the point of contest & deterrent for closure. When reply to proposal is delayed, you can't convince a client till they interact with you openly on their reservation, which deters to close the deal. As a consultant, to close, you can only, 1. Follow up persistently only for a certain period 2. Show sincere keenness with sample/pilot mandate pre-read 3. For fees find the middle ground, with win-win negotiation 4. In high competition & hard-bargaining clients, go for no-loss fee, else 5. Drop the opportunity, its not worth it your time.