Sales Proposal: Types, Checklists, and Executive Summaries

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of sales proposals, exploring different types such as sales proposal letters and sales proposal documents, and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. The report delves into the essential components of effective sales proposals, including titles, executive summaries, introductions, pricing strategies, and conclusions, supported by research data on what business professionals actually read in proposals. It also outlines pre-proposal and post-proposal checklists, detailing critical steps for ensuring compliance, addressing client needs, and maintaining a professional appearance. Furthermore, the report discusses the use of client content libraries to streamline the sales proposal process and addresses common challenges faced when preparing sales proposals, such as focusing on client objectives and avoiding lengthy documents. The report highlights the significance of executive summaries, pre-proposal checklists, post-proposal checklists, and the creation of client content libraries to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of sales proposals.

Running Head: SALES PROPOSAL 1
Sales Proposal
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Course Number:

SALES PROPOSAL 2
Task 1: Types of proposals
It has been observed that there are various types of sales proposals that are used by
various companies all across the globe. A sales proposal is mainly a business proposal that is in a
written form from a seller to their prospective consumer. Furthermore, the sales proposals are
always regarded as one of the main elements in the complicated sales process for example:
whenever a consumer considers more than a price while purchasing. There are two of the sales
proposals which I have personally come across till now both of the sales proposals will be
closely examined and evaluated. The two types of sales proposals are A sales proposal letter and
a sales proposal document (Coley and Scheinberg, 2013).
1) The main purpose of the sales proposal letter is to address a particular person as the
company is going to sell a specific product and they need to demonstrate it and show
them that they are quite familiar with the company. It has been observed that in this letter
that the language used is quite formal, concise and it has also explained how the services
and the product of the company will help the other company to whom they are addressing
their sales proposal letter. For instance, the company that is offering the sales proposal
letter is assumed to be the cleaning services firm so they approached a company whom
they thought to be quite messy hence they also mentioned in their particular letter if it has
impacted on the overall productivity of the firm. It is the document which I personally
think that the prospect will get accepted as their presentation and writing tone is quite
good and attractive. Furthermore, it is also designed quite neatly and main points have
been covered for attacking the potential competitors in the marketplace. The particular

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sales proposal letter has addressed in a detailed manner how their cleaning service will
solve the particular problem of their client. For example in the letter they have included
the following elements:
 The company will regularly send the commercial cleaners and they will take care of the
office with utmost care
 The company also mentioned that they provide professional cleaning services at the
lowest price
 The company also promised that there cleaning services will reduce the accidents and
enhance the safety
 The employees will also be a lot more productive because no one likes to work in an
unhygienic workplace no matter whatever the salary is provided to them.
 The title of the sales proposal letter was also quite attractive “ Cleanliness is next to
goodliness- Hire ABC services and experience the best”
Overall the above-mentioned sales proposal was quite easy to read, and it is exactly the
thing that prospect asked for. Furthermore, this sales proposal letter also covered the
following points that were a bonus like The letter clearly stated that they can solve the
problem of their client, the cost was also quite low when it is compared with the other
cleaning companies present in the marketplace, the spelling was also correct and the to
highlight the key words they have also used capital letter and highlighted the same, and
personally I found it not at all getting bored as it was short and crisp and definitely there are
high-chances that the prospect felt the same way I felt.

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1) The second sales proposal was the sales proposal document and the main proposal of it
was to introduce a company to the client company and there was also a section stating
what is needed by the client specifically. Contrasting with the sales proposal letter it can
be said that the sales proposal document is quite weak. The reason for which the sales
proposal document is not as good as the sales proposal letter will be highlighted in the
following segment:
 The sales proposal document does not contain a clear executive summary or
introduction that might attract the prospect. For example: The sales proposal
document mainly praised their company rather than talking about the services that
they will be going to offer
 The company also failed to highlight how their services will cater the need of the
client. For instance, the XYZ said their product is quite costly but it can be best
among others and the missing point in this segment is the services that are offered by
them.
 It has been observed that in the good sales proposal document there is a section why
the prospect will choose that particular company over other companies. In this section
also the XYZ Company scored negative marks because they only told that they are
the best in the marketplace without stating the reason behind it. Other missing
elements in this section were the payment terms and the budget plan
The overall impression after going through the entire sales proposal document is negative
because it has been witnessed that the sales proposal document lacks a lot of elements that could

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have been used for making it attractive in front of the prospect. It is needless to say that the
prospect will never consider this proposal as the essential elements are missing (Hornby, 2017).
In the case study, some of the research figures are provided from the business consultancy
arena that directly reflects the parts with regards to the sales proposal that the business people
actually read. Now the figures will be evaluated and it will be also highlighted what is the cause
for this prospect behavior and what it actually means to the individual who is writing the
proposal (Cassell and Bird, 2009).
 Title 100%- The 100% with regards to the title implies that it is one of the most essential
elements in the entire sales proposal. It may help to win a deal with a company because
the prospect will be attracted so their behavior will be positively changed. The title is the
not important component in the entire sales proposal as it has been already mentioned so
an individual must keep this in mind while writing the proposal (Tom, 2012).
 Executive summary 87%- It is also one of the important components in the sales proposal
but it is less important than the title. After the title, the prospect will look out for the
executive summary of the sales proposal as the potential clients will observe the real
evidence with regards to unique abilities of the company. The writers of the sales
proposal must give it a quick punch by preparing an executive summary that can be sold
to the client
 Introduction 58%- A brief introduction about the company will do as in the executive
summary almost everything about the company towards the prospective buyers will be
completed. The writer of the sales proposal must include in the introduction about the
benefits that can be received by the product or services to the prospects

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 Discussion 17%- It is witnessed that the discussion is not at all important to the writer
must consider other elements for making the sales proposal attractive. The prospect
mainly look out for what the company has to offer
 Pricing 100%- It is also one of the most important elements in the entire sales proposal
and it is equally important as the title. A good pricing strategy can change the behavior of
the prospect instantly either negatively or positively. There are several pricing strategies
that can be included by the writer of the sales proposal: Project cost summary, the bundle
technique in the pricing strategy, and offering multiple pricing options to the prospects.
 Conclusion 55%- Conclusion plays not so important role in the sales proposal but the
writers of the sales proposal must follow some of the tricks for writing powerful
conclusion so that the deal can be closed in a peaceful manner and the writer should also
remember not to make the proposal lengthy.
 Appendices 9%- It is the least important element in the entire sales proposal. However,
the writer must include graphs, charts, and tables with regards to the company and also if
there is any agreements or contracts that the company has with other vendors
Task 2: Pre-Proposal Checklists
The pre-proposal checklist for the organization is as follows:
 Compliance- Does the sales proposal comply with the all of the administrative
requirements? Is it responsive to the needs of the prospect?
 Themes- Does the sales proposal address the issues of the client? Emphasizes on the
strength of the XYZ organization? Mitigate the weakness? Does the sales proposal in an

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effective and efficient way sell the offer? Are the main sale message of the company is
crystal clear to the prospect? Does the sales proposal clearly state that why the prospect
will choose the XYZ company over any other company?
 Company- Do the sales proposal has summaries? Do all the sections have the
introduction, headings, and subheadings with regards to the topic? Are the main ideas
stated first?
 Appearance- Do the sales proposal has a professional and clean appearance? Does the
sales proposal use double-column text, space, and headings?
 Appearance- Do the sales proposal has professional and clean appearance? Does the sales
proposal uses double-column text, space and headings?
 Clarity- Is the writing by the writer is concise? Clear? And to the point? Are there are
some words that may hurt the sentiments of the prospect?
 Costs- Are the costs specified by the XYZ Company is clearly presented and competitive
in nature? And also justified?
 Visuals- Does the sales proposal contains attractive visuals? Do the main visuals reflect
the strategy of the company? Do they also highlight the main benefits and features that
are offered by the company?
 Consistency- Does the writing style match? And are all part of the sales proposal is quite
consistent with each other?

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Task 3: Post-Proposal checklists and actions
The post proposal checklist occurs just after the pre-proposal checklist. The post-proposal
checklist will reflect some of the questions that are already included in the pre-proposal checklist
but arguably it will also include some of the other questions as well. The following segment will
highlight the post-proposal checklist for the organization:
 Are the prospect questions and objections addressed in the proper manner?
 Did the consumer sign the contract?
 Correct service or product type is accepted and selected?
 Asked the consumer for any type of referrals?
 Did the salesperson report the sales to the respective sales manager?
 Is the order filled and processed in a right manner?
 Did the consumer service executives resolve any kind of problems and questions?
 Did the company send a thank you note to the prospect?
 Did the consumer service executives follow up to confirm the satisfaction of the
prospect?
The client content library is created by the company where the entire sales proposal is stored and
it also helped them to streamline the entire sales proposal process. The sales team of the
organization also became quite self-sufficient and they were able to create more customized sales
proposal contents for their respective clients. In this way the company also found out this

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particular method of storing and customizing their entire sales proposal saved a lot of time which
was otherwise taken if other storing method was performed.
The general difficulties that are faced by a company for preparing a sales proposal checklist are
as follows: The prospects objectives are not at all focused, only deliverables are viewed as the
main elements of the proposal that is absolutely wrong because in this case difficulties are faced
by the company when the ultimate result of the proposal is zero, and sometimes the sales
proposal also tend to be quite long that is why some of the clients lose their interest and later on
the company faces the difficulty.
Task 4: Executive summaries
The executive summary is regarded as one of the most important in the entire sales
proposal because for a lot of busy business individuals it is the only thing they read in a proper
manner as they want to know what is proposed by the other company.
SUBJECT
This particular executive summary is completely designed for the training manager of the XYZ
Company proposing that one of my colleagues need to be sent for covering all of the questions
covered that is listed in the previous tasks (Haag, 2013).
The main goal of the sales proposal is to help the prospective client not only our services will
help them to deal with the ongoing problem in the organization but it will also state how much
our services will cost them and how the bigger picture will work for them.
What- The client can expect us to deliver the best cleaning services

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When- The services will be delivered whenever we are informed without any delay
Where- The services will be delivered at the door-step of the client’s company
Who- It will be targeted to the all the employees present in the organization
Why- the Company needs our services because no one wants to work in an unhealthy
environment and with cleanliness the productivity will be increased
How- Our professional service providers will be going to the company whenever they are
informed by the client
How will we know that we are successful- By the genuine feedback received by the client?
The main goal of the sales proposal is to help the prospective client not only our services will help
them to deal with the ongoing problem in the organization but it will also state how much our
services will cost them and how the bigger picture will work for them.
What- The client can expect us to deliver the best cleaning services
When- The services will be delivered whenever we are informed without any delay
Where- The services will be delivered at the door-step of the client’s company
Who- It will be targeted to the all the employees present in the organization
Why- the Company needs our services because no one wants to work in an unhealthy environment
and with cleanliness the productivity will be increased
How- Our professional service providers will be going to the company whenever they are informed
by the client
How will we know that we are successful- By the genuine feedback received by the client?

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References
Cassell J and Bird T (2009). Brilliant Selling: What the Best Sales People Know, Do and Say,
New Jersey: Pearson Education.
Coley, S. M., and Scheinberg, C. A. (2013). Proposal writing: effective grantsmanship. New
York: Sage Publications.
Haag, A. B. (2013). Writing a successful business plan: An overview. Workplace health &
safety, 61(1), 19-29.
Hornby, R. (2017). Commercial project management: A guide for selling and delivering
professional services. New Jersey: Taylor & Francis.
Tom, S. A. N. T. (2012). Persuasive business proposals: writing to win more customers, clients,
and contracts. AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn.