I’m going to share a strategy that has proven incredibly successful for David and Fred’s SEO company. It’s been so effective for them that I was even reluctant to share it, but David gave me the green light so here it is!

This is a sales strategy that will work incredibly for anyone who pitches any type of proposal for consideration in order to secure clients including consultants, SEOs, designers, and programmers – and plenty of others. All that is required is CD and any type of screencast software such as Camtasia or Snapz Pro X.

Here’s How They Turn a $0.19 CD Into a Profitable Contract

While their competitors were typing up long-winded mega documents explaining in mind-numbing detail all of the details of their proposal, David creates a full color screencast video with audio explaining the exact details of his execution plan. Using the client’s website as the example, David uses the screencast software to explain problem areas on the site and explain exactly what he will do to fix them and why each step is important to the overall goal.

Next, he burns the screencast to a CD and overnights it to the client. They can then pop it in their computer, sit back and watch the presentation without having to pour through pages of proposals. According to what clients say, this CD is often passed around to different members of the organization who can watch it over and over, as much as necessary.

Why This Proposal Marketing Method is So Effective

The prospects that receive these proposals often compliment them on how much they appreciate them – how do you get complimented on a proposal? The average proposal is a drag for the bidding company to put together and even more boring for the person receiving it!

According to what prospects/clients say, the screencast proposal is so effective because:

• David doesn’t use industry jargon
• It is very visual – most people prefer to receive information visually
• The human voice creates a connection with the prospect that just doesn’t translate on paper
• It is completely customized from scratch using their site – no “find (name of last prospect)/replace all with (current prospect name)”

David loves this method too – because it is actually faster, easier, and more intuitive to create a screencast than to create a lengthy document on paper.

A Not-So-Funny Story About The Traditional Proposal Method

Most people have a standard proposal document on paper. Then they go in and enter the information at prompts using the prospects information. I’ve talked to several people who will use an old proposal from the past, and then fill in the information for a new prospect. This can be dangerous! One client that we are working with told David that they received a written proposal that still had a section that related to a completely different business! The company submitting the proposal had taken the time to do a find and replace for the company name, but one entire section talked about a completely different industry.

I’ve made some bad mistakes with proposals as well.  Because I grew accustomed to sending out the same old document, I have sent out documents with outdated information several times!  Truly customizing a proposal or a quote for each individual client is (in my opinion) the way to go.  But until this idea, creating an entirely new written proposal from scratch was a nightmare.

With a screen capture video from scratch, you won’t run the risk of giving the prospect cookie cutter information that doesn’t pertain specifically to their business. For the type of proposal David and Fred offer, every single video uses the prospects website to point out exactly what they will do to improve it. What you choose to highlight on the CD will be different depending on the types of services you offer, but there are probably a variety of ways that you could completely customize a visual screencast using information that specifically relates to that prospect.

Your Thoughts

Have you used this proposal method? How could this method work in your business? Do you have any proposal nightmare stories like the ones above?