Sales proposals 'need an effective opening to succeed'

For a sales proposal to be successful many different factors must come together and one of those is opening in the correct way, which is an area where the expertise of a sales consultancy could come in useful.

Kelley Robertson, a sales trainer, speaker and author, wrote on his Fearless Selling blog that in many cases, sales professionals make the mistake of beginning a proposal with general information about the company.

He stated that this is a waste of time, as the prospect will have little interest in learning about the firm's workings and will be more concerned with finding a solution to their problem.

"Effective proposals always highlight the problem that the prospect is facing and the impact that problem has on their business. And they do this early. Not on page two, three or nine. On the first page," Mr Robertson said.

Part of this strategy involves identifying a prospect's motivation for buying certain products or services and understanding this is vital to any success, JF Corporation chairman Jonathan Farrington said on his personal blog recently.