Client proposal

Applies after a discovery call, when the firm knows what the prospect wants and has to put it in writing. Produces the proposal.

The play

1. Write the situation section first, in the prospect's own language, before anything else in the document. If they said they were flying blind on what works, that sentence goes in, not "attribution challenges". This section is what makes the rest of the proposal land, and it is the one competitors skip. Everything after it is read more generously when the prospect recognises themselves at the top.

2. Name the approach using the firm's own methodology, with the firm's own names for its stages. A proposal that walks through this firm's named process is differentiated by default. One that walks through a generic four-phase engagement is interchangeable with every other proposal on the desk.

3. Answer the objection they already raised, early and in its own section. If they complained the last firm never reported, reporting gets addressed before the scope, not buried where they will miss it. The objection they volunteered is the thing they are actually buying against.

4. Scope the work: deliverables, how many, how often, who produces each. Then write the exclusions explicitly. Vague scope is what turns a signed deal into an unprofitable one by month three, and the exclusions section is where that is prevented.

5. Set the timeline against the prospect's stated deadline, with real milestones on real dates.

6. Build two or three pricing options with a genuine difference in scope between them, not the same work at three service levels. Price from what comparable engagements actually went for. A guessed price is either leaving money on the table or losing the deal, and both are expensive.

7. Add only proof the firm can stand behind: results with periods attached, clients confirmed as nameable. If nothing in the library fits, leave a marked gap rather than reaching for something adjacent. A result the prospect checks and finds overstated loses the deal and the referral.

8. Close with terms and one specific next step on a date. "Let us know your thoughts" ends a proposal with nothing happening.

What good looks like

• First thing I check that most people skip: whether the document contains one sentence the prospect themselves said. If I can swap the name out and send it to somebody else, we have written a brochure and they will read it as one.
• The mediocre version: last quarter's proposal with the name replaced and the scope adjusted. It is faster, it is obviously faster, and it loses to whoever spent the extra hour on the situation section.
• I know it is right when the prospect quotes our own situation section back to us on the next call. That means they recognised themselves in it, and everything after that gets read generously.
• Second test: the scope has exclusions. A scope with nothing excluded means nobody has thought about month three, and month three is where the margin goes.
• Red flag: one pricing option. It forces a yes or no on the whole engagement instead of a conversation about shape, and it leaves the prospect nothing to negotiate with except the price.

Rules

• MUST write the situation section in the prospect's own words, first.
• MUST use the firm's named methodology rather than a generic phase structure.
• MUST answer the objection the prospect raised, in its own section, early.
• MUST write explicit exclusions alongside the scope.
• MUST give pricing options a real difference in scope.
• MUST attach a time period to every result cited.
• MUST end with one dated next step.
• NEVER invent a client name, a metric, a case study or a price. Mark the gap and ask.
• NEVER name a competitor.
• NEVER open with a capabilities tour.