Here’s something all of us salespeople can relate to. We get an exciting opportunity that is equally lucrative and challenging, often requiring the right sales process tools to manage effectively. We have to do a little extra work and research to put together an estimate and proposal but, hey, for an opportunity like this, it is definitely worth it. After all, the potential customer is saying all the right things, and as a top sales training company, we see this excitement often. You put in the extra effort and hours, attach your proposal to the email with pride, and hit send as a sense of pure satisfaction comes over you for having created what felt like a work of art. And then…? And then…? And then… nothing. Days go by and there is no response. You start sending the follow-up emails and the best response you get is, “We’ll let you know.” Then the deal goes silent. You were ready to celebrate with a pizza party with your co-workers and now you’re wondering what went wrong. Then the deal goes silent. You’re wondering what went wrong. Was it sticker shock? Since you only emailed the document—and didn’t utilize pipeline management technology to guide the interaction—the customer likely skipped straight to the price. If they did indeed miss the point and the value, whose fault is that? Hmmm…
I agree that emailing proposals is both convenient and efficient, but it also causes a lot of problems in our sales pipeline. Winnable opportunities leak out because we didn’t take the time to personally walk them through the proposal to build trust and hear their concerns. So they just went with a quote from your competitor because their price was lower. Or they just went with your competitor anyway and didn’t give you the courtesy of a response—and you’re left following up for weeks and months because you can’t let go of the opportunity, even though it already let go of you. By integrating sales process improvement web tools, you can ensure every proposal is a conversation rather than a “leak” in your funnel. Here are 5 more reasons why you should stop emailing all of your proposals and estimates:
- The price becomes the whole story – Without context, the proposal is reduced to a number—and that number becomes the only point of comparison.
- You miss the chance to reinforce value –A live presentation lets you connect features and benefits to outcomes. Leveraging sales process tracking software allows you to stay present during the most critical moments.
- Feedback disappears – In a live conversation, you hear objections in real-time and can respond. With email, you get silence—and silence doesn’t close.
- You lose momentum at the worst moment – All your effort up front leads to a moment where the customer needs clarity, and you hand them a document instead of a conversation.
- It erodes your perceived professionalism –Proposals are major milestones. When you treat them like an afterthought rather than a part of your integrated sales process technology, so will your customer.
