Never, assuming you continue to work in professional services.
But there are times when proposal writing is far less important or actually dysfunctional.
For example, there are many types of work you can choose to do on a “hand- shake” or brief email exchange after you’re successful, well known, and have long- term relationships with buyers. Sometimes a proposal becomes “overkill” or even insulting to long-term buyers.
Here are five occasions when you can stop writing certain kinds of proposals.
1. When the project is very short term. In this case the buyer wants you to come in for a day to brief some key people on how best to deal with a hostile client, or to provide a day of coaching for a key executive. Just cite a price and do it.
2. When the project is identical to one in the recent past. For example, conduct a strategy review for Unit B the same way you did for Unit A about a month ago.
3. When it’s a discrete task or deliverable: Provide a template for the steps all of our managers must adhere to in order to legally and ethically terminate a management-level employee.
4. Almost all retainers.
5. Singular “assignment events,” such as speaking for a half-day as a part of a conference.
In these and related assignments you’d actually be shooting yourself in the foot if you subjected yourself and your buyer to the rigor of a full-blown proposal. A real or verbal handshake is usually fine in these instances. You can always document whatever you need to in a simple letter or email.
Ironically, you should create proposals for most pro bono work, because you want a record of what was agreed on to prevent scope creep in a situation where you’re not getting paid to begin with, and you want documentation of your success because a testimonial and references are going to be your key dividends.
Remember that buyers change and conditions change, and no handshake will trump a changed board policy or the transfer and replacement of your buyer. We’ve talked about the utility of accompanying a dreadful RFP with your own proposal.
I continue to use my proposal template today for all major client work and all major coaching work. As a rule of thumb, any potential project involving more than $35,000 or so should have a written proposal. Both you and the client deserve that protection. Remember that one of the benefits of a proposal that we spoke of early in the book is that neither party can unilaterally change it. Thus, this is a fundamental good-faith agreement between you and your buyer in a trusting relationship, which no legal team should be able to tear asunder.
The size of the proposal’s project and its scope are not relevant to the size of the proposal itself—about 2.5 pages—so this simple document will ensure success and protect you while requiring very little labor investment to create and to track.
In summarizing this book, I’d like you to always bear in mind that if you leave $100,000 on the table each year—that could be as little as four proposals under- charged by $25,0000 each—you will lose $100,000 that will never, ever be recovered. That’s a million dollars in 10 years, total profit less taxes, that you’ll never see again. If you’re leaving more than $100,000 on the table and/or for more years, you could easily be losing millions of dollars that are vital to your family, life, and business.
I’ve heard from thousands of people who read my former book on the subject that they couldn’t believe that they “almost immediately gained $45,000 per proposal,” or “raised the hit rate to 85 percent from under 50 percent,” or “reduced time on each project by at least a third.” These methodical proposals can save you time and make you money. Ignore them at your own peril.
Above all, this is a relationship business, grounded on the trust generated between you and your economic buyer. Don’t be distracted. What’s your value, who can write a check for it, and how do you find or attract those buyers? You do that consistently and you’ll provide great value to your clients and continuing wealth for yourself and your loved ones. Don’t stray from that path. That’s my proposal to you.
Note
1. Within reason—several meetings are reasonable, but two years is not.