Free Proposals vs. Paid Discovery

Why I stopped writing free proposals (in most cases) and switched to paid discoveries for e-commerce projects. 

How we used to write proposals 

Throughout my entire career as an agency owner, I’ve always had to write really long, boring and comprehensive proposals. The process was the same. It went something like this. 

• Qualify lead
• Research
• Many phone calls
• More phone calls
• Write long proposals
• Stuff it with a bunch of slides 
• Present and/or send a PDF 
• PRAY

Sometimes we win and sometimes we lose. That’s how it goes. Right? Well, I got really sick of presenting the same old thing and putting in a ton of work just because an RFP was asking for it. The fact is that neither side wanted, needed or cared about 99.9% of what was in the proposal, other than the timeline and price. So what was the point? 

The majority of what was presented in the proposal would end up being scoped differently and the decisions made during pre-sale were likely not right for the client. This led to changes in scope, scope creep, misquoting and various other problems. 

Revelation 

What would presale engagements look like in an ideal world? What if we can have straight forward conversations about goals, metrics, scope and investment? Do we really need a 50 page deck to talk about these topics? 

What if we could actually help solve problems and create a real strategy before kicking things off?

So our proposals started getting shorter and shorter and conversations longer and longer. This started to bleed into the realm of consulting, which should never be free. 

The new way 

The approach that works out best for both sides is to engage in a paid discovery. Allowing the client to properly forecast budget, have a deeper understanding of their business goals, the project and their brand. It also allows our agency to map out technology, resources and have a clear scope in front of us. 

Our clients are never locked into a big investment without knowing exactly what they’re getting. And more importantly, what RESULTS they’re paying for. 

How does it work? 

We go through the following steps with most of our new clients. 

• Intro calls to make sure we are a good fit and can solve their problems. 
• Pricing guidance to make sure we are aligned on a budget range. 
• Walk through some case studies to show what we have done. 

Basically, can we solve your problem and can you pay us to solve it? Yes? Great, let’s move forward. 

• Let’s talk goals and metrics. 
• How long and what’s our options? 

Are we aligned on what we are both trying to achieve? What’s the deadline and what’s included? 

Now that we have our goals, metrics, timeline, let’s present a few pricing options. Our clients can see what the investment looks like and we can now move into discovery. 

Discovery 

During this time we take a very deep dive into your business, analytics, goals, brand and everything else surrounding the project. We help make decisions, we scope and plan the entire project from start to launch. Once we are all aligned and we have a clear vision, we rescope the project around the budget ranges we presented.

This helps our agency provide the best possible solutions and reduced costs and increases ROI for our clients. It’s a win win for everyone involved. 

What is included in our discovery phase?

• Ecommerce UX audit
• Behavioral analytics
• Customer experience strategy
• Creative inspiration
• Technology planning
• SaaS planning
• Conversion funnel review
• Stakeholder interviews
• Content planning
• Timeline planning

Why we do it this way?

The number one reason is because this approach just works better for everyone involved. If an agency comes to the table with a proposal that claims solves all of your problems, without a discovery phase, it’s too good to be true. 

Now, there are some cases where a full proposal is required, and a discovery is out of the question. Sometimes with larger organizations or the project doesn't call for it. However, the majority of the time a paid discovery phase is mutually beneficial and helps to produce superior results. 

If you want to learn more about our discovery phase, message me or visit https://avexdesigns.com