It’s no secret that writing consistently successful proposals is an art.
Used well, however, a proposal can be a great marketing tool. In fact, if you really play your cards right, you can even sell your proposals as a service.
It’s easy (especially when you’re starting out) to work with any and all potential clients. You don’t think to screen your clients when you need the money to stay afloat.
But in my experience, it’s not always beneficial to “dog it out” and work with clients that might not pay on time, even if the alternative is no business. Of course, this principle is even more important if you’re selling a product that costs you money.
If your organization has clients, you’re eventually going to have to fire one. It’s inevitable.
As much as we’d like to believe it, none of us is perfect. We can’t get along with every single consumer, and there are consumers that are just never happy. But there’s a fine line separating those clients who are unsatisfiable and those who just need some extra attention. And we all have different tolerance levels for those people.
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between a salesperson and a marketer? Don’t they have the same goal? Well yes.
By the way, just so you don’t get confused, every business has salespeople. They just sometimes happen to be in disguise. For example, a restaurant has salespeople in the form of servers. A grocery store has salespeople in the form of the cashiers (have you every been asked if you want one of the specials from the “bin” at the checkout?). If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re a salesperson yourself.