How to Make Effective Business Proposals
I recently interviewed two extremely successful, multimillion dollar business owners. One sells industrial goods and the other sells marketing solutions. You see, when you own a business, you either sell or you starve. The two people that I met with this week successfully sold goods and services over many decades. After my interviews, I sat down and compared their sales success to my own sales experiences in various manufacturing roles.
In manufacturing we often think that "making a pitch" or selling is a sales persons job and not anything that a manufacturing leader needs to worry about, but that is simply not true. I once heard Mark Cuban say in an interview that "everyone needs to learn to sell." Mark is of course correct.
Anyone who wants a decision from someone else needs to learn to sell. A teenager who wants to go to a late night movie may need to sell their parents on the idea and a manufacturing leader who wants new tools, staffing or equipment certainly needs to sell their requests to the plant's decision makers.
I sometimes hear the analogy that "the squeaky wheel gets the grease." This means that the biggest complainer gets what the want. That might be true for a three-year old screaming for a cookie, but it is not true in the business world. In the business world, the person who is willing to "climb the ladder" gets what they want.
So what is this ladder that I'm referring to? The ladder represents the process of creating and delivering effective business proposals. Managers and executives are not interested in investing money, time and resources based on whimsical complaints. Instead, they want good information that is delivered to them in a concise manner.
When making effective business proposals, the rungs of the ladder include many easy to follow and well structured steps starting with prep work; things like doing research, creating timelines, outlining risks, calculating ROI and developing subject matter expertise. Then, when the prep work is complete a well structured presentation to the decision maker(s) is a requirement. Then we get our final decision! ...or do we? ...and this is where it all unravels.
Many manufacturing leaders are good at developing the structured aspects of business proposals but it takes experience and wisdom to see all of the rungs of the ladder along the way. Experienced salespeople do not expect a decision after their first pitch. They realize that their first pitch is only one rung in the middle of an organizations decision making process, it is not the top rung.
Experienced sales people know that they need to understand the perspective of decision makers and then proactively anticipate the decision makers' concerns. You see, a wise salesperson doesn't not get caught off-guard when a decision maker identifies a concern or puts up an obstacle. They expect it, anticipate it and prepare for it. Additionally, an experienced sales person will try to build consensus before giving a formal pitch because they know that everyone's perspective will be different and they don't want their formal pitch to get overwhelmed by meeting room debates.
I've come to realize overtime that many manufacturing leaders are great at completing the formal steps of a business proposal. They are hard workers and willing to put in the time and effort to research and structure solid proposals, but they are not experienced enough to see all of the hidden rungs of the ladder. When they pitch an idea, they expect a decision right away and when they don't get it, they get frustrated and usually give up on their project idea prematurely.
But manufacturing leaders can learn some great tips from experienced sales people and become much better at getting favorable decisions. Here are some important tips that successful sale people know that manufacturing leaders don't know:
- Put yourself in the shoes of the decision maker. Anticipate and address their concerns proactively.
- When it is a group of decision makers, you need understand everyone's individual perspective, gain consensus and build partnerships before you make a formal pitch.
- Think more globally. The main decision maker considers the best interest of the entire company so you can't be thinking in a department silo.
- Be in control, but let the decision maker(s) think they are in control. Do this by asking questions like; What are your concerns? What additional information do we need? What are the next steps? Can I schedule a follow-up meeting? - you see by asking these questions, you are controlling the process (your control), but they are answering the questions (their control).
- Don't expect a decision after your first presentation. Actually expect a nondecision. You still have rungs to climb. Keep asking questions to find those additional rungs that will eventually lead you to the top of the ladder and provide you with a favorable decision.
- Negotiate between meetings. When you are willing to adjust your proposal based on input from the stakeholders, you are building consensus and project buy-in. This will make for a smoother meetings and quicker decisions.
- Be patient and don't get discouraged. Experienced salespeople are patient and have thick skins. Often manufacturing leaders get frustrated by nondecisions, give-up on making pitches and eventually become complainers rather than solution providers.
- Commit to being a lifelong solutions provider. See problems, identify solutions and share those solutions with decision makers. Realize everyone at your plant is looking for solutions. Problems are no doubt real, however what the best solution is, is always up for debate and that is what makes selling so difficult. Whether you get a "Yes" or "No" answer, you did a great job of making your pitch. If it's a "No" answer, just move on and start looking for another problem and another solution.
Manufacturing leaders need to be good salespeople to get what they want and need for their operations. As manufacturing leaders, let's listen to successful salespeople and learn how to climb that ladder to achieve favorable decisions.
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