MOVING FROM PROPOSAL TO CONTRACT

PART 1 – CREATING A PROPOSAL

Story: Example

• Writing a proposal
• When to continue to work with clients you know and when to cut off a freeloader.
• Learn as much as you can about the event on the phone before your first meeting
• For a corporate client, do your research
• Google search them
• What are their strengths, weaknesses
• If a bride
• Where do they come from and what are their expectations
• Get dates, times, places
• Get scope of services
• Ask why they have called us
• First meeting
• Understand who the decision makers area
• Previous events – strengths and weaknesses
• Understand culture and climate
• Discuss budget
• Observe details
• Even on a Zoom call you can pick up subtle hints
• Can often pick up budget hints without asking questions
• Know why they are having the event
• What are their headaches
• Why are they hiring us?
• Gather enough information to walk away and write a proposal
• Proposal
• Email us and we would be happy to share an example of our typical proposal with you
• Communicate that we understand the client and their needs – we include one whole page about the client and include their mission statement and contact information
• Talk about ourselves and our capabilities
• Scope description
• Fee
• How do we come up with a fee?
• Give price level options
• Delete scope if you have to but don’t reduce your feeWe like to communicate that we want longevity in our clients.
• List previous client references – people
• Also list previous event references
• Our proposals are more formal because our clients tend to want the details in an exacting format but you may want to have some fun with your proposal.
• Cut sheets – we include descriptions of our capabilities with each proposal because it’s a prime time to market yourself to the decisionmakers of the organization.
• Presentation of proposal
• We like to print on nice paper, maybe put it in a nice folder or even a cool box rather than just emailing.
• Story –committee member showed up with a bad black and white copy of our proposal that looked terrible
• We also like to present in person
• Be on time with your proposal!
• It’s your first impression
• Story: just missing or misunderstanding a major event proposal deadline
• Discuss preferred payment terms
• All up front, half now, half the month of the event, monthly retainer, hourly etc.
• Tell them you will draw up a contract and send it to them for review