Increase Your Conversion Rate

If you’re very busy quoting for lots of business, but not getting the conversion rate you want, it might be a good moment to review your proposals. Having received many quotations over the years from potential suppliers, I continue to be amazed by the poor quality of many of them. What is it the vast majority of companies do? They send a very brief covering letter (usually written by a junior sales administrator) attached to their “offer”, which is usually a detailed, often very technical specification, with a price highlighted at the bottom.

So what should you do? Start with a hard critical review of what you currently do, preferably by someone outside your own sales team – perhaps your own buying department or a friendly client. You may be surprised to hear that you’re writing things or unnecessary highlighting terms that put potential clients off. Then consider making your covering letter the heart of your proposal, with the technical (often boring!) bit as an appendix or attachment. The style of proposal will obviously vary depending on what you’re selling and to whom, but I was taught a long time ago to include the following:

• Start by convincing the prospect you have fully understood their situation and requirements. This firstly shows you have listened to them and secondly allows any possible misunderstandings to be addressed before it’s too late.
  
• Clearly put over the specific benefits to them of your product or service and how it addresses their needs and requirements. Will it increase their sales, improve efficiencies, reduce waste, etc and can you give supporting evidence for this?
  
• Get across why they should deal with your company – what is unique about you and sets you apart from the rest and why they can trust you to deliver.
  
• When you get to the price, can you present this in terms of an investment and their return on investment? Consider how this could be broken down or presented in different ways, e.g. £X per day/week rather than a total price.
  
• Finally, finish either by asking their permission to do something or on an action point, e.g. I will telephone you early next week to arrange a meeting, discussion, or whatever.

If you could increase your conversion rate from 1 in 3 to 1 in 2, what would it mean to you?