Crafting Proposals That Build Trust with Clients

"Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get the Milk for Free?" is a horrible mindset... when it comes to building your business Too many worry that sharing too much insight upfront will eliminate clients’ need to hire them. But, in reality, holding back does more harm than good. Here’s why giving value freely brings clients to you. Building Trust, Not Dependence Clients pay for more than knowledge; they want unique insights and tailored guidance. Sharing valuable information builds trust, not dependence. By freely offering actionable insights, you establish yourself as a knowledgeable and generous expert—qualities clients remember. Action Step: Share part of your process, like a checklist or framework that solves a specific problem. This builds initial trust and allows you to filter in for your ideal client. 1) Information Isn’t Implementation Clients don’t just want information—they want your expertise in applying it to their unique challenges. They seek transformation. Offering valuable information lets clients experience your approach while highlighting their missing personalized support. -> Action Step: Host a webinar on a common issue, then share case studies that showcase your hands-on impact. 2) Free Value Creates Bridges to Paid Services When clients experience your expertise they are more likely to seek your deeper guidance. Giving valuable insights for free builds familiarity with your methods, making the transition to paid services natural. -> Action Step: End each piece of content with a call to action—invite clients to connect or share a success story. 3) “Free” Expands Your Reach and Credibility Freely sharing expertise increases your visibility. As your content circulates, it introduces you to new clients. This isn’t lost revenue—it’s marketing. -> Action Step: Encourage sharing in your posts to boost reach and credibility. 4) The More You Give, the Stronger Your Brand “Why buy the cow” suggests that giving devalues your work. The opposite is true in consulting: the more you share, the more clients see you as a go-to expert. People remember the problem-solvers. -> Action Step: Consistently publish content that answers questions and offers solutions. In Consulting, Giving is Selling By freely offering value, you aren’t “giving away the milk”—you’re showing potential clients why you’re the right partner. Clients aren’t buying your information; they’re investing in your ability to deliver tailored solutions and guide them through challenges. Generosity is your best brand-building tool.

A client emails asking for a proposal, but you'd rather hop on a call to break it all down. Sending a price without context feels risky, right? Wrong. Send. The. Quote. Nobody - nobody - wants to sit through a dramatic reading of your proposal. If you’ve done your homework, nailed the value prop in earlier conversations, and built trust, dragging the process out with one more call isn’t helping. In fact, it might annoy your client. The move? Send the proposal, but make it irresistible to follow up. Add context that tees up the next conversation and keeps the momentum going: - Break down how the quote could flex depending on priorities. - Suggest incentives tied to their feedback. - Flag sections that might need clarification or expansion. - Highlight areas where they have choices to make. Finally, don't forget to include a timeline: “I’ll check back next week to answer questions and schedule a call to finalize.” This isn’t about skipping steps. It’s about respecting your client’s time while showing confidence in your value. If you’ve done the work upfront, sending numbers should feel like a natural step. It shouldn't feel like a risk. Ditch the outdated sales tactics. Put the buyer first. PS - the extra gangster move would be to send a brief ( < 2 min) video of you walking through the proposal. Remember that it will likely be forwarded internally...often to people with little or no context. Make sure you can provide that context for them in a format (a short video) that's easy to consume.

I looked at over 100 proposals worth over $500K as a B2B buyer. I only remember a few. Here are 4 ways you can set yourself apart (and why most proposals never get looked at): 1. Built for the buying committee - not just the champion Most proposals assume one person makes the decision. That’s rarely true. The best ones were written with execs in mind. Mobile-friendly, easy to skim, and structured like a story, not a spec sheet. The kind of doc I could forward without rewriting a single thing. (like Qwilr!) 2. Helped me sell internally The proposals that stood out made me look good. They included visual slides I could screenshot into a board deck. Framed the problem. Showed the cost of inaction. Made the ROI feel obvious. They gave me language to use with my CFO, not just the vendor’s pitch. 3. AEs tracked engagement and followed up with a purpose Great sellers didn’t “check in.” They followed up based on what I actually did. They knew when I viewed the proposal, which sections got read, and what was skipped. Every email felt relevant—because it was. They weren’t guessing what mattered. They had data. 4. AEs pre-empted objections I hadn’t even voiced yet Before legal asked for terms, I had a friendly breakdown of the key clauses. Before procurement jumped in, I had a clear explanation of how pricing scaled. It felt like the AE knew my internal process better than I did - and helped me get ahead of it. TAKEAWAY: Most proposals are written to present. The best proposals are built to sell. Qwilr turns your proposal into a selling tool—one that’s interactive, trackable, mobile-ready, and designed for the whole buying committee. It helps your champion make the case. And it helps you win deals - even when you’re not in the room. If you want to stand out, build proposals that do more than inform. Build proposals that close.

If your clients had a dating profile…what would their 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲 be? 💘 We’ve all heard of love languages (words of affirmation, quality time, etc.) but here’s the truth: 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗼𝗼. And if you don’t know how they define value, then all your “best practices” will miss the mark. You’ll send the wrong follow-up. Build the wrong pitch. When clients feel like you don’t get them… they hesitate. they delay. they churn. Which leads to the renewal dying or the scope quietly disappearing. 𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟱 𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀? 𝟭/ 𝗥𝗢𝗜 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗔𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲) ↳ “Don’t tell me you care. Show me what you’ve fixed.” This client values action over promises - traction, initiative, and impact without having to ask. Ways to Win Them Over: ↳ Identify and tackle pain points fast ↳ Share updates without waiting for them to ask ↳ Keep things moving even in the gray zones 𝟮/ 𝗘𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗴𝗼 (𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗶𝗳𝘁𝘀) ↳ “I’ll trust you when I see the data.” They build trust through evidence (metrics, case studies, and concrete results). Ways to Win Them Over: ↳ Show previous success in similar projects ↳ Build dashboards or reports tailored to their KPIs ↳ Ditch vague claims—back everything up 𝟯/ 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗳𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻) ↳ “Make me feel like the visionary I’m trying to be.” It’s not just about executing the project it’s about showing that you understand their goals, pressures, and ambitions. Ways to Win Them Over: ↳ Personalize your approach with their language and KPIs ↳ Align deliverables to their broader vision ↳ Be a co-strategist, not a task-taker 𝟰/ 𝗗𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 (𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲) ↳ “Show me you care by making space for real conversation.” This client craves high-touch engagement: collaboration, discussion, and having a thought partner they can build with. Ways to Win Them Over: ↳ Schedule touchpoints with purpose ↳ Use meetings to ask—not just report ↳ Invite them into your thought process 𝟱/ 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 (𝗣𝗵𝘆𝘀𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗧𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 – 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹) ↳ “If I have to chase you, it’s already a no.” This client wants everything to just work. Efficiency, clarity, and no surprises are the name of the game. Ways to Win Them Over: ↳ Overcommunicate logistics, underdeliver chaos ↳ Build workflows that reduce friction ↳ Make the client feel like it’s being handled even behind the scenes Reminder: It’s not enough to deliver great work. You have to deliver it in the way your client feels and understands as valuable. Learn their language. Adapt your engagement. Watch retention, referrals, and renewal rates rise. ::::::::::::::::::: I’m building a quiz to help you identify your client’s value language — want early access? Comment “QUIZ” and I’ll send it your way first.

Most architects write proposals to impress...and then get ghosted. Here are the 3 rules of winning proposals: 01 // Talk more about them and less about you. Don’t start with your design philosophy. Start with their goals. What matters to them. What they’re afraid of. What they want. (You can always weave your story in later.) 02 // Focus on outcomes, not process. Your client doesn’t care about your SD → DD → CD workflow. They care about what that gets them: peace of mind, approvals, cost certainty, timeline clarity. Make those outcomes the hero of your proposal. 03 // Offer multiple options, not just one. Give them a choice. Even if you have a clear recommendation, anchoring your preferred option with a lower and higher tier helps the client feel in control. And it increases your close rate. Every time. What else would you add? 👇

Here’s how I write sales proposals that close deals. [it's not some complicated playbook - you can do it] You've done your discovery. You know how you can be helpful. What do you do next? Don't give them a “here’s what we offer” or “here’s everything we can throw at it.” But instead show them: “here’s how we solve your exact problem.” It is not the time to pitch. Now is when you reflect on the discovery. So the buyer sees their own words in the solution. Here’s how: 1. I restate the problem in their words. - “You said your team is great at relationships, but inconsistent with follow-up.” - “You said you're getting leads, but they aren’t converting.” I want them nodding before they even hit page 2. 2. I clarify what success looks like to THEM, not me. - “You said if you could fix this, you’d see X% more close rate and get your weekends back.” That goes right into the intro. This isn’t about what I offer, it’s about what THEY want. 3. I keep the offer tight and tailored. - 2–3 specific things I’d do. That’s it. - Each one maps back to the exact problem they named. 4. I include pricing options + a next step. - “Based on what we discussed, here are 3 levels of support I can offer." - “Let’s hop on a quick call, just to align and confirm the scope, then we can get started!” No long-winded, bullet-pointed slides. (this kills me) No menu of options and asking them to pick. Just confidence you can help & next steps. TL;DR Here's my Hot Tip: --> Start by making it more about the buyer and what THEY need than about your business and "what you offer."