[00:00:00] Fiona Johnston
I spoke with that graphic designer, got a pretty good feel for her over the phone, and then I asked her to send me through a proposal or a quote, and she sent me a Word document. Yep. A graphic designer sent me a Word document as her quote. I did not end up working with this particular graphic designer, and I really hope that they are now creating banging proposals that sell what they do to their clients. From the first moment.
Intro
If we want to be able to tip the scales towards the favor of marginalized people, we need to understand the secrets to making money in small business. The more we talk about money and the secrets that usually. Stay at the golf club, the more likely we are to be able to make money.
My mission is to get more money into the hands of good people, specifically good business people like you. This is Money Secrets, the place to learn about the money secrets of successful small business owners. Let's go. [00:01:00]
Acknowledgement of Country
This podcast episode was recorded on the lands of the Wie people of the KO nation, and I'd like to acknowledge them as the traditional owners and custodians of this land and water that I live, work, and play on. I'd like to pay respects to elders both past and present, and notes that sovereignty has never been seeded. This always was and always will be. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land.
Hey, it's v Johnston here. I'm the host of the Money ERs podcast, and this is episode three in a four part series called The Sales Sprint. It was inspired by a mini program that I built inside Good Money Club in October, 2025. What happens in the club is that because it's such a small group. I know what everybody is working on and struggling with at any time, and so I developed training and programs to meet the needs of what people [00:02:00] are telling me they need.
So we went through a challenge together where we actually worked on the elements of our sales process that actually help us to get paid the first session or the first episode, which you can go back to if you haven't already listened. It is about how to bring the right ideal client into your universe.
The second episode was about what to do on a discovery call. Discovery calls are such an important part of the sales process for service providers. Some product businesses also have discovery calls, especially when they're creating something really unique or custom, like a wedding ring, for example.
Discovery calls are this really important tool in making money, but we never talk about them. So I really hope you've enjoyed the first two episodes in this four part series. And today, episode three in this series is about [00:03:00] proposals. So let's talk about how to actually make our proposals absolutely banging.
I wanna tell you a little bit of the story about something that happened to me a few years ago. I was looking for a graphic designer to help me with a particular project, and somebody who I was working with recommended their graphic designer to me. I spoke with that graphic designer, got a pretty good feel for her over the phone, and then I asked her to send me through a proposal or a quote and um, she sent me a Word document.
Yep. A graphic designer sent me a Word document as her quote. Now I might be okay with a, I don't know, an accountant sending me a Word document, but a graphic designer sending me a quote as a Word document really did not land. I did not end up [00:04:00] working with this particular graphic designer, and I really hope that they are now creating banging proposals that sell.
What they do to their clients from the first moment. So what I'm getting at here is our proposals are an incredible selling tool, so we need to make sure that they are as amazing as they possibly can be. It makes no sense to go through all of the efforts of attracting a really great client into your universe, having the discovery call with them.
And then sending them a proposal that just does not sell what you do and isn't actually showcasing what you can do for that client. So the way that I like to think about proposals is there's two sections to a proposal. There's the part of the proposal, which is a template, so it's the same for every client.
And then there's the part of the proposal, which is customized for [00:05:00] that particular lead. So let's first talk about the template part of your proposal. What we wanna do is, first of all, we need it to look amazing. So this is one of those times where it really is worth investing in some graphic design. If you are not a designer yourself, to make sure that the proposal looks amazing.
We wanna talk to things like what's in it for me. So thinking about the lead. Who's come into your universe, they've had the discovery call with you, and now they wanna see this proposal and they want to start to imagine a future where they are working with you. So you wanna explain to them what's in it for them, why should they choose you?
You want to explain about other clients you've worked with who were similar to them and what happened for those clients. You wanna explain your process, your specialization or your [00:06:00] niche, and do you want to explain why you love working with that particular type of client? We wanna make sure that this template part of our proposal really.
It's like a CV coming to life through this document. So we don't just wanna put the price, we actually wanna sell what it is that you do long before we get to the page where the price is. So what's in it for your client? Why should they choose you? What is it that they might expect to happen if they work with you?
What does your process look like? What do you love about what you do and who you work with? This is going to mean that you can actually get this to your client really quickly because you've already pre-created this document, which might be a PDF, or you might be doing this in one of the online proposal tools.
But either way, you've [00:07:00] thought about these particular topics. You really want your lead to feel listened to. Understood and taken seriously. So you wanna make sure that during the discovery call you are taking notes or you are taking mental notes so that in this custom part of the proposal, you might include things like the goals or the circumstances of the client you spoke to.
You wanna explain what makes them the perfect client for you. You want to showcase what the inclusions, the details, the scope or the brief might be. You want to explain the timeline that they can expect for either your availability or for the goals that they are looking for. You want to give them a next step and a deadline.
You don't wanna quote or a proposal to be out in the world forever. You want your lead to know that there is an end [00:08:00] point. After that time, the proposal no longer stands because we need people to be able to take action. What we wanna do in the proposal is we wanna make a recommendation about which option you think that they should choose.
So what I see a lot of people doing is putting 14 different options on the proposal and then saying, Hey, um, Jane, let me know which of these options you'd like to go with, and then we can get started. No, Jane doesn't want to have to choose from 14 options. Jane wants you to tell her exactly which option is the right recommendation from you.
You may choose to show some of your other options. But nothing makes it easier for Jane to say yes to that proposal than you having one option. She already knows that you've taken into account her circumstances. You've heard the goals that she [00:09:00] had. You listened and remembered things about her that you've included in the proposal, and she knows exactly what the next step.
Or the next action that she needs to take and by when. Another thing that you wanna think about with your proposal is that you want to think about how complicated the proposal needs to be based on the price of the product or service that you are recommending. So for example, if you are selling something that's.
I don't know, $500 or less. The proposal should be quite simple and straightforward. It might literally be an email with a link to book the product session, whatever it is. If it's a $5,000 proposal, you wanna put a little bit more skin in the game, and obviously the dollar amount really depends on the scale of your business.
You also wanna think about [00:10:00] how does that investment sit in the scale of the client that you are talking to? So is this a really big investment for them? And if so, you want to treat that decision with respect. So you want to make sure that your proposal actually goes into enough detail. To help them to make the decision, but also for them to see that you are genuine and that you care, and you listen and you understood what it was that they were trying to achieve.
It's also worth noting that you're allowed to have a second discovery call with a client. So it might be that their project or their scenario is actually quite complex. What you want to do is give them a kind of a couple of guardrails, or we might do something kind of like this, but let's get on a call and talk about it again, and then that's going to then be the next step in the sales process.
So going [00:11:00] back to the start of proposals, so you've got the client into your universe, you've made sure that that is the right client for you. You've been through the discovery call where you helped them feel that you were the expert in solving their problem or bringing their desire to life. Now, when it's time to send out the proposal, you want it to absolutely showcase what you can do and sing your praises.
You want to have a template, part of the proposal that you create once, and then you can actually get that part of the proposal out really quickly. You also have a custom part of the proposal. It might be that it's two documents that you then stitch together before it gets emailed, or it might be that it's a template where you got the first four pages perfectly designed, and then the last two pages is where you edit for their particular circumstance.
Another thing that I [00:12:00] want to put forward here is that you never know who is going to see that proposal. You need to make sure that if somebody who was not on the discovery call saw the proposal, that they would have everything they needed to make a decision. This actually happens a lot. We might talk with somebody on, on the discovery call and we may or may not realize that there's actually another person involved in the decision making.
That person is going to receive your proposal, and it might be the only time that they have seen you or your business. So consider whether somebody coming in brand new would have everything that they need to make a decision based on that proposal. I hope this has been a helpful episode around how to make the most of your proposal.
Remember, it is a sales tool. It is not just an accounting document. It's not a quote. It is something that [00:13:00] is there to sell what it is that you do. It is kind of like a wedding proposal, maybe not quite as emotional or as long term, but we are proposing something to that potential client. It's a really good introduction into what working with you is going to look like for that client.
So you want it to absolutely sing your praises and help them understand you. If you go to the show notes, you'll see that there is a sales sprint workbook that you can download, and you'll be able to go through all of the four lessons that I've talked about in these episodes. This is episode three of four, and next week you will hear a episode about how to follow up your proposals.
So really looking forward to that and I will see you there.
Outro
Thank you so much for listening right up to the end. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Money Secrets, where we talk about the money secrets of successful small [00:14:00] business owners. If you enjoyed the episode, I'd love it if you subscribe to the podcast, but leave us a review or share this episode with one of your friends. I hope you learned something. I hope you got a new perspective and I really hope you enjoyed the listening experience.
