The main task at the beginning of any business, and when expanding it, is that potential customers know about the fact of your existence in principle and about the nature of the services provided, work performed, and so on.
In this case, it is difficult to do without using commercial offers. How to correctly and effectively draw up such an appeal, how and when to apply them is far from an idle question.
How to present your capabilities to a client
We will conditionally divide the types of commercial offers into two types - primary and final.
Initial proposal - from the term itself it is clear that we are talking about the first appeal to a potential client. Depending on the results of the initial submission, the final commercial proposal is formulated . Of course, the fact of sending such a document implies some kind of reaction of a potential partner to the initial appeal. This can be an initiative telephone conversation, a face-to-face meeting or a written response to a proposal expressing a certain interest in the subject of communication.
Initial appeal to a potential client
By the time of the mailing, samples of the commercial proposal for each treatment option should be thought out and developed. The initial proposal is a written analogue of the initial communication with a potential client, when something is known about him, and nothing is known about your capabilities. The task is to interest the future consumer of services in a short and unobtrusive way.
Such a commercial offer to customers is the subject of mass mailing. Business letters are sent to a wide range of potential consumers of the company's services with the initial presentation of services or work.
Primary appeals are characterized by a number of advantages:
- The development of commercial offers is carried out according to a single model, designed for the target audience. This approach provides advertising without the high cost of money and time.
- Wide coverage of potential customers is quickly made - quick notification of a wide segment of consumers about the emergence of a new service or a new service provider in the market.
- It is possible to establish direct contacts with many customers as soon as possible thanks to personal telephone contact. The right to such contact gives an initial appeal.
However, the initial proposals have a number of disadvantages:
- The impossibility of a specific offer to the client, which can be generated only from an awareness of his personal needs and preferences.
- Most of the sent messages will not even be read by customers and will go to the basket. It is wasted money and time.
If you connect with five clients on fifty emails sent, consider your actions successful. Sooner or later they will become effective.
Final quotation
Such a proposal differs from the initial one in that it has the character of a strictly specific document sent to a specific person. Typically, the direction of the second appeal is preceded by:
- one-on-one personal negotiations;
- primary telephone conversation.
This in itself is an important advantage. It becomes unnecessary to “warm up” the client, discussions can already go on specific issues and clarify mutual further actions.
Several rules have been developed to make the design of a commercial proposal as effective as possible:
- Samples of the commercial proposal are developed on the basis of the collected information about the potential client, his needs for services or work. Therefore, during the first communication, one should find out at least as a first approximation what goods or services the client needs, what prompts him to accept the offer of cooperation, what goals he pursues, accepting the offer, what kind of information he expects to receive.
- The proposal for the text of the appeal should have the most specific content, it is better to work out several solutions to choose from.
Mixed offer
This is the most perfect form of initial appeal to a potential client. It requires a more rigorous approach and requires preliminary training. It is necessary to collect primary information about the client’s enterprise:
- determine the person to apply to (the appeal to the first person of the organization is not always effective, it is necessary to calculate the person who is interested in the proposals of your profile);
- collect information about the main activities of the enterprise, make it clear to the client about the interest in cooperation;
- if possible - identify the problematic issues of the future client, sort the ones that fit the profile of your specialization and pre-work out several options for possible mutually beneficial cooperation.
The developed samples of a commercial offer of this type will not be a haphazard appeal, they will demonstrate seriousness of intentions and interest. It would be wise to think through and pre-compile samples of commercial offers of each type.
How to make a quotation
To be able to sell a product or service is an art. The ability to correctly compose a business proposal for the performance of work or the provision of services is an assessment of the ability of a manager of any level to be successful.
It must be remembered that the human brain is able to store no more than a tenth of the information received during the day. In this tenth part there is a chance to interest the client. Poorly drawn up commercial proposal will result in loss of time, money and customer.
Ten principles for a successful business proposal
- Statement of benefits . The proposal should be started by indicating the benefits that the client will gain by buying a product or service. To do this, you need to understand what problems worry the client and pay attention to the ability to eliminate or smooth out their impact.
- Identify the benefits that the customer will gain from collaboration. Formulate 6-8 advantages, even those that seem fantastic, and arrange them in the sentence as they decrease in importance.
- Indication of uniqueness . A potential client must immediately understand that only the offered service can solve all its problems, that is, the offered service or product is unique.
- Not you for us, but we for you . You should not praise yourself, pay attention to your usefulness to the client - he is not interested in your advantages, but in his own problems.
- You need to sell the result . Relatively speaking, not a fishing rod is for sale, but the pleasure of fishing and outdoor recreation.
- Your customer is the best . It is necessary to convince the partner of its importance and significance.
- Evidence . The most convincing of advertising is the positive feedback from other customers.
- Build an action algorithm . The client needs to know exactly the sequence of actions for the acquisition of goods and services. No "turbidity" and ambiguities.
- The push . Three days after your conversation, the client will completely forget about you, so you need to gently prompt him to immediate action.
- Convenience of perception . Consider how to correctly compose a business proposal so that it is concise, extremely informative and specific.
Samples of commercial offer
Strictly speaking, giving concrete samples is more harmful than useful. When composing an appeal to a potential client, you need to take into account his problems and needs and his abilities.
A commercial offer for the performance of work or the provision of services should not carry some typical errors.
First mistake - you cannot be sure that the client will not read a long letter. If you managed to interest him in the first few phrases, he reads it. The footnote “PS” at the end of the text will also help, oddly enough, it is also read in the first place and it should also be interesting.
Second mistake - slavishly follow grammar rules. The text of the letter is best written in colloquial style, but without jargon.
The third mistake is to give the addressee an excuse not to read the letter. An interesting entrance is needed, up to shocking.
The fourth mistake - claiming that your product is the best, do not provide evidence of this in the form of reviews and recommendations.
Conclusion
One cannot underestimate the importance of a correctly drawn up and executed commercial offer. The success of the organization’s activities depends on this step, especially at the beginning of the journey. Samples of the commercial offer are easy to find, but remember: they must be personalized and specified for the client. I wish you success!