How to Write Universe-conquering Proposals by Portent

[Linda Buquet]

In order to kick off our new "Consultant's Corner" Forum right, today I want to share with you an incredibly good post about writing marketing proposals.

I guarantee if you put some of these ideas in play your closing ratio & overall business success will improve!

How to Write Universe-conquering Proposals – Portent

The first half is hand-waving stuff about answering ‘Why?’ The second half is specific tips on doing proposals that build imputed value.

Writing a great proposal is hard. The question you’re trying to answer is “Why should I hire you?” But we spend a lot of time ducking and dodging around that question, instead. Typically, our proposals translate to ‘because I said so!’. Which really doesn’t work. So, I gave this presentation at Distilled’s most excellent SearchLove conference.

This post is seriously so good and filled with so many great images, whatever I try to say won't even do it justice! So head over and read the whole thing.

Then PLEASE come back and share your most important takeaway!

P.S. Check out other posts in the new "Consultant's Corner Forum" we just launched today.
Or start a new thread to share a tip or ask business related questions.

 

[Jason Kamara]

I came across that deck on Slideshare about a week ago and then links to this post started filling my Twitter feed. So I actually went through the deck twice. Yes, it's that good. Some of the excerpts taken from "bad proposals" are almost as funny as the animal photos. Portent addresses the need to put more creativity/pizazz into SEO, a theme that has also been echoed recently by Rand Fishkin and Joost de Valk.

My takeaway from this post would be to stay away from the technical side of SEO and focus on showing each potential client that you are sincerely interested and capable of growing her/his business. But don't waste time reading my comments, head over to Portent's blog and read or reread the post!

 

[ARKlady ARKtechCo]

We insert the client into the initial reports because it is all about them but when it comes to the proposals, I like the approach you shared but at the moment we outline what is actually going to happen in order to manage the client expectations.

I'd seriously like to come up with a nicer presentation/proposal...maybe a collaborative project?