Proposals Never Persuaded Anyone Of Anything.

A proposal need only do three things.

- It should play back what the reader has already told you,.

- it should reassure the reader of your capability.

- It should place the reader behind the wheel.

When we want someone to buy something from us we make a common mistake. We think we’re the important party. We’re not. They are.

People buy for their reasons, not yours.

They buy because buying you feels good, feels safe, will help their career or their project. They might buy because they like you - we’re social beings, after all - or because they want to learn from you. They decide emotionally and justify rationally. And all this has happens before they see a proposal. The proposal can do no more than talk to the justification. It doesn’t persuade.

The buyer must see themselves in the proposal. They want to know they’ve been seen and heard. That little child hiding inside us all - am I good, have I done well, have I been seen and heard?, our inner six year old - is calling the shots.

Their inner six year old is calling the shots when they’re deciding to buy from you. Or not.

Talk to the six year old in the proposal. The reader wants to see their words, their concerns, not yours.

Use their words before you use yours. It’s more important.

They do of course want to know you’re safe. So reassure them. Let them know others, like them, have worked with you. This isn’t done with pages and pages of case studies - just few and small references to others with a description of the problems you’ve solved - which must look like my problems.

When we buy a car, the salesman wants us to get behind the wheel because when we’re behind the wheel we see ourselves driving the car. We’ve made the emotional, mental, psychological leap to ownership. That’s half the challenge. When we buy something we need to see ourselves in the hot seat, doing the work, driving the car; when we see it, we do it.

What will our journey together look like? Get me behind the wheel.

A proposal doesn’t persuade. It reassures.

If you do three things, do these only.

- Let me see my words, my concerns, my worries.
- Reassure me you’re safe.
- Get me behind the metaphorical wheel.

There is no need to persuade. That judgement has already happened.