How is the use of video conferencing impacting how your presentations are going? Are the same slide presentations and proposal documents working well? When we were all presenting in person, we could leave certain aspects of the proposals for conversation because it was easy to read the customer’s interest level. Spending some time reviewing your current approach for potential improvements will be worth it. Take a look at the following approach.
How to “test” your current approach/documents
- Evaluate
what is in your documents and what comes up in conversation? Let’s assume your current proposal template
typically includes:
- Solution overview
- Value of solution for customer
- Timeline for implementation
- Investment review
- Now think thru what questions are common in a face to face proposal review and are handled thru conversation, for example:
- Customers will frequently ask about the following:
- Resources the customer must provide during implementation
- References
- Security concerns (e.g. building access and IT)
- ACTION: Decide what additional information you want to include in your proposal. Remember, body language is harder to read on video conference and conversations are harder to manage.
- Evaluate effectiveness of your document for someone not participating in the video conference. Here is the test:
- If your document is handed to an executive who was not in the proposal review on video conference, how well with that senior executive understand your solution, value for his company, level of risk involved in implementation and required investment?
- ACTION: Review your proposal with a co-worker or manager who has NOT been involved in the proposal development and ask for honest feedback.
Show your customer you are thinking ahead for them
Customers will appreciate your taking the time to think ahead about their questions and concerns. Taking this approach will differentiate you from competitors and make it easier for them to buy from you!
Feel free to contact me directly for ideas and/or help on this topic.