Sales Proposals: How to Begin with the End in Mind

The goal of every sales presentation is to move the audience toward your objective. In the sales proposal, you want to move your audience from where they are at the beginning of your presentation to Point B.

At Point B, the prospect understands their situation, believes in your capabilities, and finally accepts the call to action. In order to make this transition, we need to know what Point B is and how to get there.

The idea of Point B addresses the most common mistake in the sales process, the error of having no clear purpose. We avoid this situation by never giving the prospect the opportunity to ask, “So what’s your point?” Our purpose in the sales proposal is to move the client to provide a response him or herself.

Beginning with the End in Mind

The purpose of every sales presentation is to persuade. Remember, presentations themselves usually merely convey data, but our job is to help you create and deliver a persuasive solution every time. The most effective way to do that is to begin with the end in mind. Before your audience can understand your purpose, you must understand your purpose.

Creating your presentation begins with the development of your story. This is often where one of the biggest mistakes happens: sales professionals tend to believe that for anyone to understand anything, they must be told everything.

The Brainstorm

In reality, the data dump—or brainstorm—has to be part of the preparation, not the presentation. By the time you present your story, you should know exactly where you are going and how to get everyone there.

However, the best way to tell the story is seldom the first way you tell it. In order to get the first few bad stories out of the way, do a brainstorm. In the brainstorm there are no bad ideas. Just remember that not all of your ideas are finalists. The trick is to keep thinking and not let your mind stop once you have built momentum.

Once you have all your ideas out in front of you, it will be much easier to form them into a narrative. The brainstorm provides a panoramic view by spreading out all of the raw materials of your presentation. Then you can choose what information to utilize and in what order.

In Summary

The first two ingredients you need in order to craft the story of your sales proposal are the destination (Point B) and all your ideas on how to get there (the brainstorm). This first step in the process provides a means by which you can begin creating the full story or presentation.