Not only is your executive summary the first thing your customer reads about your proposal, it’s also the most closely scrutinized. As a result, the executive summary is the most important part of your proposal. The executive summary is a fantastic tool for directing the proposal team because it concisely states your primary proposal strategy topics for satisfying the client’s needs. The main aim of an executive summary is to persuade the reader to choose you, your team, and your solution. Why Us? must be addressed in the executive summary. Therefore, you should see it as a summary of the reasons the consumer should select you rather than a summary of the technical features of your product.
Customers seek benefits when making purchasing decisions. A benefit is a positive outcome or advantage that a product or service provides to the customer. Understanding the benefits that customers are looking for can help businesses create products and services that better meet their needs and ultimately increases the sales.
One of the most important benefits that customers seek is functionality. Customers want products and services that will meet their needs and perform well. For example, a customer looking for a new car will want a vehicle that is reliable, efficient, and has a good safety record. A customer looking for a new phone will want a device with a high-resolution camera, long battery life, and a large storage capacity. Another benefit that customers seek is convenience. Customers want products and services that are easy to use and make their lives easier. For example, a customer seeking software implementation related work will want one that is easy to implement, is easy to understand by the employees of the firm, and is easy to work/operate with. Finally, Customers also seek value for their money. They want products and services that offer good value for the price they are paying. For example, a customer looking for any IT service implementation would look at what are the monetary benefits of those services, and its ability to benefit the firm in terms of cost, labor, time or money.
In conclusion, customers seek a variety of benefits when making purchasing decisions. Understanding these benefits can help businesses create products and services that better meet their customers’ needs and ultimately increase sales. By providing functionality, convenience, value, and emotional benefits, businesses can create a competitive advantage and attract more customers. The same goes with the proposals which is often among the 1st impression that your company is going to make on the minds of the prospect. It is very much important to put yourself in the shoes of the prospect before beginning to write the proposal.
First impression lasts longer
A prospect’s first impression of a product, service, or business is referred to as a first impression. Whether or not the customer decides to conduct business with the organization might be significantly influenced by this image. Executive summary helps to create a positive impact to the mind of the prospect. Therefore, starting the executive summary’s attention on the most important hot button at the beginning is frequently recognized as one of the finest practices. This will not only assist to make a good first impression, but it will also make the prospect more eager to read the rest of the executive summary. It is crucial to highlight the issues the customer is encountering, the likely solutions, and the benefits the prospect expects from the bidders at the beginning of the executive summary. Since everyone reads the executive summary, it is best practice to keep it straightforward and avoid using any technical jargon that can be difficult for non-technical reviewers to understand.
Starting with benefits, features and discriminators
When making a proposal, it’s important to focus on the benefits that the product or service offers to the prospect. This means highlighting how the product or service will meet the customer’s needs and provide them with a positive outcome or advantage. Having said that as a best practice before starting to write a customer centric proposal it is very much important to list down all the benefits that the prospect is seeking for and try to align those benefits with the features that your firm offers. It is important to align the benefits that the prospect is seeking with your value proposition statement. This will not only help your proposal to be more customer centric but also will also ensure that you are actually addressing the pain points in the best possible way. While addressing the hot buttons, do not forget talk about the benefits that the prospect can expect out of that feature in the engagement. It is very much important that the executive summary pointers that is used should be a strong discriminator and no other firm can claim points similar to that of yours.
The best way to finish is by starting again
Remember that your executive summary is a condensed version of your proposal that highlights your unique value propositions, advantages/benefits, and next steps. In order to re-energize your consumer with all the benefits you can offer, your proposal’s concluding section needs to further condense your executive summary. While closing the executive summary one needs to close it by using three Rs i.e., Restate your unique value proposition, Recap the customer hot buttons and associated benefits that you would be providing and Reinforce the need to act now. This will not only ensure that you have recapped all the key pointers in one place but would also send a clear and distinct message to the prospect why they should choose you rather than choosing anyone else.
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