Business Proposal (Commonly Misspelled Business Propsal) Follow-Up Tips

Following up with a potential client after submitting a proposal is a key step that should not be ignored. Doing it the right way can ensure that all of your client's needs and questions are addressed and that you land the project you want.

A business proposal is one of the most effective ways of communicating with your clients and informing them about the various services you can provide to help them with their business needs. Your business proposal demonstrates your abilities, expertise, and the level of service clients can expect when dealing with you.

When you send out a business proposal, you need to have effective follow-up strategies to ensure that potential clients have received it and to see if they would like further information about your products or services. Follow-up is an important aspect of business growth that virtually all companies follow to generate leads.

How Soon Should You Follow Up?

While it’s normal to follow up a commercial proposal after a week or so, this depends on the purpose of the proposal and whom it has been sent to. Government proposals may have slightly different procedures and you need to be aware of them to decide when is the right time to follow up. Usually proposals for the government take much longer, taking sometimes even several months, before it is even looked at.

When to follow-up is an important decision. You don’t want to annoy clients with your zealous persistence or on the other hand, lose out on a potentially profitable deal. This problem is more often faced by smaller businesses, as they don’t have separate departments for handling specialized tasks.

If you’ve sent a proposal in response to a RFP, you need to deliver it with a query asking them when to follow up. If you need to mail the proposal to a client, you can call them up to ensure that they have received it and use this opportunity to ask them when you should follow up. Usually, business owners choose to wait a few days, allowing some time for prospective clients to make up their mind.

Clients do not like being chased; however, it’s okay to contact a potential client once you send the proposal. The main objective behind following up is to find out if the proposal has been accepted or rejected. However, there will be clients who may have questions and may even request that you make some changes to the proposal so that they can consider it.

How to Follow Up

The preferred methods of following up are phone calls and email, as they are cost effective, convenient, and time efficient. One common mistake is to contact potential clients repeatedly if your calls or emails are not being answered. This is pestering and you risk turning off the client.

Usually, clients turn down a proposal politely if they are not interested. However, there are many others who may just not bother to get in touch with you or answer your calls. If you don’t receive a response in a reasonable amount of time, the best solution is to forget about them and move on in search of fresh leads. You can’t really afford to waste so much time on one client especially when he has shown practically no interest in your proposal.

Resist the temptation to call your clients repeatedly if all indications are that your prospect isn’t interested.

Why Should You Follow Up?

Delivering a proposal accompanied by follow-up is a standard sales methodology and there’s nothing unusual about people not approving it or not responding to you at all. It’s a part of every business and you shouldn’t take it personally.

One reason why follow up is so crucial for your business is that you need to know why your proposal was not accepted. Maybe they were not thrilled with your pricing, or they thought that the ideas were not practical or appropriate for their business. This feedback is important, as you can take into account these things when you devise a proposal in the future.

Having a follow up strategy in place can create a good impression about your business – and your clients may even appreciate you for your interest in their feedback.

Click here to view Sample Proposals

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