Prepare a Proposal

The process of preparing a proposal is fairly universal in all industries. Every company will have different guidelines directing the creatation of proposals, but this article hopes to provide a general template that could be used in almost any organization.

Steps

 * 1)  The Inside Sales Representative coordinates with the Sales Manager to determine proposal type, the different types of proposals should be defined in the Sales Manual.
 * 2) The Sales Administrator the selects a proposal template with help from the Sales Manager. Templates are found in the proposal template library.
 * 3) The Sales Administrator populates the template with prospect data using the CRM (Customer Relations Management system.
 * 4) The Sales Representative customizes Boilerplate text. Refer to the company’s Sales Manual for directions on how to do so.
 * 5) Sales Representative works with the Sales Manager and the Team Leader to write new proposal text. Refer to the company’s Sales Manual for directions on how to do so.
 * 6) Sales Representative and Team Leader determine pricing using the price book as a guide.
 * 7) The Sales Managers approves pricing based on values from the price book. If insufficient information was provided the Sales Manager sends the proposal back the step 6, where the Sales Representative will add the required information and resubmit. If the pricing proposal is rejected the proposal is sent back to step 6 for reevaluation.
 * 8) The Sales Administrator and Sales Manager determine whether a pricing override required. Refer to the company’s Sales Manual for guidelines. If a pricing override is required go to step 9. If no pricing override is required continue to step 10.
 * 9) The VP of Sales decides whether to approve the pricing override.
 * 10) The Sales Representative and the Team Leader finalize the proposal document.
 * 11) The Sales Administrator send proposal to all whom need it. The proposal could be sent via FedEx, email, USPS, UPS…

Sources and Citations

 * Prepare Proposal Process - Original source of this article. Shared with permission