We were extremely fortunate to have two great speakers at our May WiRE meeting.

Sam Warner of Get Your Message Across told us selling could be telling or sharing or advising. But the real art was actually to listen, to understand and to give back in the form of advice or feedback.

Once you understand the issues and have built up some rapport then you need to be able to clearly and concisely articulate what it is you can do to help, how you can solve a person’s pain.

You need to be confident, not cocky so you are approachable in the future or if someone refers you.

If possible practice your pitch to family and friends and get some constructive feedback, then the only thing to do now is get out there and practice!

Alison Reeves of Write to Win was keen to point out that a Proposal is an excellent way to follow up your face to face meeting when you are asked to ‘put that in writing’.

Less formal than a contract or tender, start by writing down clearly 6 key messages you want to get across somewhere in the Proposal.

The structure of the proposal should be:

1. Executive Summary – a short introduction or overview and how you can help; it’s not about you but the benefits you can offer.
2. Background – your understanding of the problem in your words, how you would manage it and the impact if the issue is not resolved.
3. The Solution – your approach and schedule (work plan); here you can put in evidence, and/or qualifications.
4. Milestones – by the end of …..the following outcomes will be achieved.
5. Price & Delivery – be clear about when and how you want to be paid, any terms or up-front payments.
6. Next Steps – how you move the project forward, what is the next stage?
7. Profile – here you can put your bio and photo.
8. Contact Details – make it easy for them to get in touch.

Just a brief overview if you want more information get in touch with Sam or Alison.

Blog written by

Kim Gilmour – Connect Consultancy