Success in sales depends on building relationships. This is said and repeated often in the realm of sales – but how many people are actually making the effort to develop these relationships?
You have to be creative in the ways you connect with clients while finding ways to make your clients feel understood through every step of the process, including the proposal.
Blanket Sales Proposals Won’t Work Anymore
For the sake of time, most sales send one-size-fits-all sales proposals to prospective clients. Cookie-cutter sales proposals are not effective. Today’s consumers are more informed than ever and know other options are just a click away.
Sales reps may chat with their prospective clients about their family or favorite sports team, but then they turn around and send them a sales proposal that’s just like all the others. Instead, this should be used as an opportunity to stand out and cultivate customer relationships with a personalized sales proposal. It’s essential to make potential customers feel special while communicating that the products or services being offered are tailor-made for them and their needs.
Turning Personalization into Closed Deals
Studies have shown that personalization has a dramatic impact on business success. Businesses currently using personalization techniques have seen a 19 percent increase in sales. Research also showed that 94 percent of companies stated that it “is critical to current and future success.”
Failing to focus on the individual consumer may be your undoing.
While the sales proposal may not be the first contact with a prospective customer – it’s one of the most important. The proposal is the culmination of a series of conversations with the prospect, learning their needs, and helping them uncover reasons they need to change what they are currently doing to achieve the desired outcome.
The proposal must demonstrate how their problem can be solved, as well as reflect your company’s uniqueness. The sales proposal carries the customer relationship to the next step, a closed deal.
Use Sales Insights to Create Personalized Quotes
CPQ (configure-price-quote) solutions, integrated with your CRM, provide sales analytics data that monitor customer behavior and engagement with your sales outreach efforts. Use this data to tailor the approach sales reps use when making calls and creating sales proposals.
For example, using Sales Engagement software, you could track who in your prospect’s organization has viewed your sales proposal to measure the company’s interest level and determine the best time to reach out. Sales reps can then personalize their sales calls, discuss the products/services that are most in line with a lead’s interests, and build a personalized quote using the CPQ solution and Sales Proposal software.
Tips for Personalizing Sales Proposals
Customers can detect a one-size-fits-all sales proposal when they see one. It sends the message that they are a commodity and that they are undervalued. Make a genuine connection and rise above the competition by making potential customers feel special and unique by sending sales proposals that are tailor-made for them and their needs.
To save time and execute successful personalization, it’s helpful to develop multiple sales proposal templates that highlight products or services, features, and deals. Then use a CPQ solution to add in your prospect’s information, product configurations, price quotes, and other details to create personalized sales proposals. Finally, deliver a content-rich digital sales proposal that includes assets to help them make a buying decision. Your buyers will appreciate the personal touch and will have better information from which to make an educated choice.
Fine-Tuning Your Personalized Sales Process
Taking the time to add personalization to your sales proposals allows prospects to move through the sales funnel more efficiently, while also earning their respect and loyalty. Learn more about accelerating your sales process through personalized quotes, proposals, and contracts on the DealHub.io blog.
