The customer-focused salesperson spends a great deal of time learning the customer's business and needs. We must then ask ourselves, "How can I get a return on my time invested, or how can I finally ask for the business without jeopardizing the customer-focused positioning that we worked so hard to accomplish?"

The professional sales representative who is customer- focused, who adds value, who markets systems, who does minimize product and price and who differentiates himself from the competitor, does, in fact, ask for the business. But, he seldom asks for the business by delivering just a quotation to the customer or prospect.

Quotations are product-oriented. Quotations which emphasize price place the emphasis in the wrong places. Customer-focused proposals versus quotations are an emerging tool of top producers.

Proposals which focus on the needs of the customer and your organiations solution to those needs, rather than product and price-focused quotes, are needed to improve closing ratios, sell value, improve margins and grow sales.

Presenting value-added solutions in the form of a customer-focused proposal is the culmination of the Customer Needs Analysis and problem-solving process. This is the point in the sales process where you must gain the prospect's support for your recommendations which resulted from your needs analysis and value-added selling process. The prospect must understand and believe that what you are proposing will actually help him meet the identified needs.

This customer-focused proposal has three important parts:

1.  Carrier
2.  Commitment certification
3.  Proposal sections

Customer-Focused Proposal Component # 1:
The Carrier

The Carrier is a cover letter that accompanies the proposal package and communicates that we have worked hard to earn their business, that we are about to ask for their business and, more than anyone else, we have earned their business.

The carrier has three objectives which should be communicated to the prospect/customer in this document:

1.  What is being recommended is "more than product." A total, value-added solution is being recommended in which the product is only a part.

2.  The solution has been tailored for the unique needs of this customer.

3.  There is an expiration to this offer.

Click here to download an example Carrier cover letter in PDF format*.



Customer-Focused Proposal Component # 2:
Commitment Certification

The carrier is followed by the commitment certification. The commitment certification is an acknowledgment, by all internal personnel with responsibility for delivering the promise, of the commitment being made to the prospect. This includes signatures of each employee who either participated in the survey or who will participate in delivering the promised customer benefits.

The objective of getting the commitment certification signed by all internal employees involved is two-fold:

The signatures communicate internally the importance of this prospect's business and reinforces the promised deliverables each made to the proposed solution, and

Externally, the commitment certification communicates that there is a team-selling psychology at Berlin Packaging, and the promise for the deliverables goes beyond the sales representative. It builds confidence into the prospect's decision.

Click here to download an example Commitment Certification in PDF format*.



Customer-Focused Proposal Component #3:
Six Sections Of The Proposal

The customer-focused proposal has six sections which detail and justify the total solution being recommended:

1-Customer needs analysis
The objective is to detail, in-depth, how the assessment of need was conducted and how the ultimate recommendation was developed. You want to tell the customer where you looked, when you looked and what you were looking for.

By detailing when you were at the prospect's business, and who you talked to, you will accomplish the following:

You will let the prospect come to the conclusion that what they are about to see was not just dreamed up by some salesperson in need of a sale. A lot of work and thought went into this recommendation.

You will help the prospect conclude that what they are about to see is not just the idea of Berlin Packaging. The prospect's organization was, in fact, involved, and involved employees of the prospect contributed to the analysis and recommendations.

2-Identified Needs
This professional ingredient in the proposal lists customer's needs (from the customer's point of view) that you intend to address in the proposal.

The objective is merely to tell the customer what you intend to address and on what areas of need you plan to focus. With your stated focus, you must get commitment that these are truly needs and that they have been assessed properly. This ensures that the focus is on the same needs.

3-Recommendations
This is the section in which all the components of the proposed solution or system are detailed. The components will include, of course, your products; but it also includes, in detail, all those things you do for the customer beyond the product. When the products are discussed, they are merely offered as components of the system, not the system in-and-of-itself.

A total system is the real product. Each listed component of the value-added system includes the value to the prospect or customer and is related specifically to a customer need.

4-Supporting Documentation
The objective of this section is to provide "proof sources" which communicates to the customer that the promises you are making in this proposal are, in fact, deliverable. This is done with supporting documentation and visual aids. Supporting documents which may be included in this section include - testimonial letters from satisfied clients, process flow charts, graphs and charts, product specifications and their details and others.

5-Critical Path
The critical path is a series of dates, activities and responsibilities, which detail the comprehensive account activity. This listing begins with the first interview with the customer or prospect and continues through all of the assumed activities that the Berlin Packaging sales representative expects to take place. All activities, such as initial interview, customer needs analysis contacts, physical survey, pre-planning, design of tailored solutions, contract signing, proposal presentation, system trial, product delivery dates, planned value evaluation and should be included.

6-Investment
What's missing from the document? Most will suggest price. Not so! A customer-focused proposal has an investment component versus price! Price infers that the proposal is merely an expense to the company while an investment communicates that the recommendations being offered actually have a return to the prospect. Therefore, when the funds required to accept the proposal are discussed, they must be associated with the company's return gained as a result of acting on the proposal.

This section is also not a grocery list pricing of all the products being offered. A grocery list pricing minimizes the importance of all the non-product components or all of the things we "do beyond the product" and merely focuses on the product part of our solution. The prospect can then take this grocery list pricing and begin "shopping the price" because they have lost the value of the other important components of our proposed solution.

Conclusion
Although sales tools vary widely, from plain spec sheets to dazzling audiovisual productions, we find that a well researched and well written proposal is your best bet.

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