As any businessperson will tell you, everything begins with a pitch. It is that pivotal moment when you communicate your ideas to others. How effectively you do this determines whether or not the door to opportunity opens up and leads you down the road to success. This, of course, sounds much simpler than it is. In reality, you need to penetrate through a number of defensive layers to be able to convince your audience that what you are proposing is plausible and profitable. Your business proposals must consider many factors that may influence how your audience responds to your pitch. Among these are the biases, preferences, background, fears and concerns of the persons who will read your proposal.
This is often a challenge, but not an insurmountable one. You have, at your disposal, a robust set of proven tools, tactics and strategies that will help you sway your audience's sentiments in your favor.
Following are three persuasion strategies you can employ in your business proposal to help you close the deal:
1. Organize Your Ideas
Nothing causes a businessperson to tune out more than having to wade through pages and pages of text, only to find that nothing makes sense. You need to structure your proposal so it automatically communicates what your reader needs (and wants) to know. For most business people, the crucial bits of information center around:
a.) What you want
b.) What problems you intend to solve
c.) How much it will cost and what's in it for your reader
d.) What are the next steps
Organize your proposal around these points, and it will automatically tell a story that your readers can easily understand. When things are clearer in the minds of your readers, it is easier for them to come to a decision.
2. Use the Right Words
Words possess incredible power. The right words can make the reader conjure up the right image and may evoke the needed emotions that influence his or her decision. Use positive words to express your positive attitude toward what you are proposing. Avoid words that may set a negative tone. Avoid superlatives that try to oversell your proposal. Instead, find useful adjectives that help reinforce a strong visual appeal. If your reader can see your vision, then there is a much higher chance that he or she will accept your proposal and become your client.
And don't forget to check your proposal for spelling! One of the quickest ways to get your proposal thrown out is to have spelling errors.
3. Use Social Proof
This has nothing to do with Facebook or Twitter, and is all about the psychological tendency of people to look to what others facing the same situation do. This is especially true when people are unsure of what to do next. Highlight the fact that what you propose has been successfully done by others; or that the idea is being considered by others. The reader will tend to subconsciously trust in the actions of others, and may decide to do the same.
Incorporating these tried and tested techniques into your next business proposal does not guarantee that you'll clinch the deal, but they do significantly increase your chances for success.
For information on how to create and manage amazing proposals using our cloud-based proposal management software, please call us at 888-972-7375.
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