Web Proposal Template
Land Your Next High-Value Deal With This Copy/Paste Template
Your Proposal Template Is Here
You'll Get:
A real-world example of a $22,850 proposal
The exact process used to pitch and win 1000's of clients
The video implementation guide to start using it today
I landed a $20,000 contract with this proposal. Best thing I've downloaded in my entire life.
I used it this week for a $22,000 proposal using my SaaS with an additional 6k a year. It's really good. Thank you.
In my agency, we started with this 22k proposal. It's evolved, and a number of iterations later, we're landing 50k, 60k, and 100k projects.
This proposal has been a lifesaver!
I landed a $20,000 contract with this proposal. Best thing I've downloaded in my entire life.
I used it this week for a $22,000 proposal using my SaaS with an additional 6k a year. It's really good. Thank you.
In my agency, we started with this 22k proposal. It's evolved, and a number of iterations later, we're landing 50k, 60k, and 100k projects.
This proposal has been a lifesaver!
Every Substantial Project I've Won Required A Proposal
Every substantial project that I won required a proposal.
There were many times when my prospective clients would ask for a proposal before I even knew how to pronounce the name of their company.
So I’ve written a lot of proposals.
Are Proposals Overrated?
I think so. But hear me out…
Before founding UGURUS, I pitched over 950 website deals.
Each one of them included a proposal that took me at least a few hours to draft.
Sometimes I would spend a whole day carefully creating the business proposal.
I remember always thinking that I needed to redo my proposal template.
I'd think that the next version of the proposal template would help me sell better. I'd be able to sell more website projects with the perfect proposal.
The more website design jobs I pitched, the more proposals I crafted.
Eventually, I started noticing patterns. Patterns about what mattered with each deal I proposed.
Yes, it is important to know how to draft a good proposal, but your proposal does not sell.
I used paste proposals as proposal templates. I didn't have to start from scratch every time. But it was not down to a science yet.
I download a variety of free proposal templates.
Here's the truth: Your Proposal Doesn't Sell
None of the free proposal templates I'd downloaded helped me sell either.
It is merely a document—a tool if you will—that is typically required when selling.
Rarely will your proposal ever be the primary reason you win a client.
But, incorrectly created and delivered, your proposal could be the primary reason you don’t get hired.
The Typical Scenario
For the first 75% of my career, I did what I think most web designers do.
There comes a point in time when the proposal seems like the next logical step.
Don't get me wrong, a proposal template can be extremely helpful at this stage.
Here are some example sentences that were said when I was selling:
“Thanks, Brent, this all sounds great. Can you send us a proposal, and then we’ll let you know if we want to move forward or not?”
OR
“I think I have all of the information I need, I’ll draft up a proposal, send it to you by Thursday, and then follow up sometime next week to see if you have any questions.”
It didn't matter the proposal template I used.
I tried all the versions of proposal templates that I could find.
For a while, I scored my own personal performance on how many proposals I sent out.
This is how a lot of sales-oriented companies grade the performance of their sales staff (besides revenue).
It was a tragedy when I discovered what usually happened to my laboriously crafted business proposals.
When clients received my proposals, they would print them and place them nicely on the stack of other web design proposals they had collected, like trading cards, from my competition.
Imagining my proposal sitting there in the midst of all of those other documents is exactly why I spent so much time on my proposals.
I wanted them to think, “This proposal from Brent is the best—it outshines the rest of them.”
It Doesn’t Matter How Nice Your Proposal Is
Put it in a stack with all the others—and paper looks like…paper.
Worse (than the fact that your proposal will look just like the next one) is the realization that clients rarely even read proposals.
When you hear a company say, “yes, I’ve had a chance to look over your proposal—and it seems it is a little more money than we wanted to spend.”
Rest assured that they only flipped the document to the pricing page and closed it.
Sometimes I would have a bid filled with $10,000 of value, and a prospect would say:
“We have another bid for around $2,500—we think you are overpriced.”
What?!
How on earth could someone be offering the same exact thing for one-quarter of the cost?
Was it possible that, in my prospective customer’s mind, these two things were identical?
Absolutely.
In reality, I was charging $10,000 because I would offer this business a real solution and not some winky-dinky website template from a hobbyist web designer.
But did they know that?
No.
To them, my document was printed out on the same paper, in relatively the same typeface and size, it was about the same length, and had some of the same elements: Scope of Work, Terms, Process, and so on.
In their eyes, my masterpiece solution was identical to every other.
They believed they were comparing apples to apples.
So it always came down to price.
“You are too expensive.”
OR
“Can you come down on the price?”
OR EVEN…
“The other proposals we received are a better fit for us budget-wise.”
I still won projects, just not as many as I would have liked.
I started analyzing the deals I did win to see if I could crack the code.
Was there a secret key to creating the best proposal to win over my clients? There had to be.
An Awakening
One day I took out every proposal I had delivered over the last twelve months.
I created an excel sheet with all of the client names and began to input little notes.
Here are some soft data points I used for each deal
- How much time did I spend with the customer?
- Did they bring up the price as a factor?
- What was the cost of the project?
- How many pages was the document?
- Did I email or present the proposal?
- How many interactions did I have before submitting the proposal?
- and so on…
I then analyzed the data to see if there were patterns.
It turned out that a few things mattered and others didn’t.
What Mattered:
- How much time I spent with the prospect.
- Whether I emailed a proposal or presented it to the prospect.
- How many interactions I had before submitting a proposal.
What Didn’t Matter:
- Price
- Pages
- Format
I found that the prospects that I spent a lot of time with—building value and reviewing my proposed solution—were more likely to sign on the dotted line, and they were more likely to pay more.
Then I realized proposals don’t sell, I do.
The proposal templates were merely a review of everything I should have spoken to the prospect about.
Nothing should be in the document that attempts to sell the prospect. That is my job—not some ten or twenty-page document.
I am a value-builder.
I am the question-answerer. I am the closer.
Don’t expect a proposal (or proposal templates) to sell a deal on your behalf.
You must learn to sell.
It's your job to earn business at the highest value possible for your company.
And no proposal template will do that for you.
Use This Proposal Template As A Selling Tool
1. Download the proposal template
Get your own copy of the proposal template to get started.
Enter your name and email below. Check your inbox (sometimes it lands in promotions) to get started.
2. Join the Profitable Digital Agencies Community Group
There you can connect with other agency owners who are using this proposal template.
You can ask questions, get specific advice, and learn exactly how to integrate this proposal template into your sales process.
3. Learn the components of the proposal template
Remember, you'll be selling differently now with the sales process we'll teach you. The proposal template focuses on the value you're selling.
We're not focused on individual pages, features, or components of their project. You're selling outcomes.
The outcomes that only your expertise can bring to the table.
List Out Key Proposal Outcomes
Use this direction from the proposal template:
-
- Develop a conversion-focused web strategy to promote your business.
- Design your website so it is professional, engaging, and matches your brand vision.
- Create an email opt-in program to increase conversions and leads.
- Drive traffic to your site using search and social media
- Train you and your staff on how to manage the site.
- Timely turnaround and reasonable budget.
Project Scope of Work & Deliverables
For web projects, use this structure from the proposal template:
Proposal Template Component: Planning
Your website begins with a thorough, up-front process of discovery.
Through interviews and surveys, we develop a series of deliverables
that allows us to work efficiently throughout production.
Your project's success depends on a solid foundation, this work is crucial.
Proposal Template Component: Conversion Content
Your website needs to convert traffic into qualified leads. We will help develop and refine your sales letter and site layout into several deliverables that will be used to convert traffic into leads.
Deliverables:
- Sales letter development
- Homepage, Services, Products, About, & Contact Us
- Content download opt-in's
- Customer opt-in
- Vendor opt-in
- Auto-responder series
- Customer-focused 6 part email series
- Vendor focused 6 part email series
Proposal Template Component: Additional Content
We know that you will have additional content that supports the primary conversion pages that we are helping you with.
We will help you organize and load this content into the content management system when ready.
You will have the ability to change the content in our system as often as you like, but we will provide the initial proofing and loading of up to twenty (20) pages.
List your deliverables in your proposal template:
- Content inventory
- 2 Rounds of professional proofing
- Load content into CMS and format
- 2 Rounds of on-site revisions to the content layout
Proposal Template Component: Search Engine Optimization
In addition to your website needs to convert visitors into qualified leads, your site needs to attract more qualified traffic.
We accomplish this by optimizing the content of your website for a basket of relevant, traffic-rich keywords.
Add deliverables to your proposal template:
- Competitive benchmark three (3) top competitors
- Keyword research, target top ten (10) opportunities
- Optimize page titles
- Meta descriptions
- SEO copywriting / text optimization
- Image optimization
- Google XML
- Robots.txt
- Optimize up to three (3) locations' Google Local, Bing, Citysearch, and Yelp profiles; one (1) round of review and revisions per profile
Proposal Template Component: Design
We will create a custom website design based on your branding, colors, functionality requirements, and best usability practices.
Your design will be unique to your company and set up for maximum conversion.
Your website will consist of a combination of convention and creativity to ensure that your visitors can find the content they need and inquire about your services. We design and code to the highest standards and keep up with industry trends.
Include a list of deliverables in your proposal template:
- 2 Custom mood board concepts
- 1 Custom website design concepts (based on mood board feedback)
- 2 Rounds of revisions
- Templates & interface code for:
- Homepage
- Inside pages
- Standard page elements (headers, paragraphs, images, videos, links, etc.)
- Form elements
- Cross-browser tested in Internet Explorer 6+, Firefox 2+, Safari, & Google Chrome
Proposal Template Component: Mobile Design
Visitors browsing your site from other device types account for up to 20% of your website traffic. We will create a separate mobile and tablet design of your site that will make browsing from these platforms an enjoyable experience.
We will accomplish this by making your site “responsive” to various browser sizes.
Add deliverables to your proposal template:
- 1 mobile concept
- 2 rounds of revisions
- 1 tablet concept
- 2 rounds of revisions
- Device testing - iPhone, iPad, Android, & Blackberry
Proposal Template Component: Website
We will create your website with about thirty (30) pages. Content will be created and provided by you. Content can range from text, pictures, galleries, PDF/PPT/DOC downloadable files, embedded video, forms, and any element supported by our Platform. All of our websites include dynamic menus as well as sitemaps to control site navigation.
Custom Modules: We will create the following custom modules as part of your website...
- Forms: contact us, customer feedback, and franchise opportunity; all form data will automatically be collected in our database
- Blog/News: you will be able to post new content and articles; your blog will include an RSS feed, categories, and an archive; comments are optional; your blog will be integrated directly into your website; your blog supports categories, tags, and RSS; we will implement Facebook comments for additional shareability of blog content
- Homepage Hero: we will use mobile-compatible technology (jQUERY) to create an innovative homepage hero slideshow so that you can feature new products or information; each slide will have the following assets: title, subtitle, short description, link, image or video;
- Locations: we will create a dynamic content database that will serve as location "landing pages"; each location will have the following assets: name, short description, full description (HTML-enabled), primary image, supporting images (up to 10), address with Google Map embed, directions, hours, services (up to 10 checkbox fields), phone number, email contact; we will create a "reviews" app that will add the ability for web visitors to rate their experience at a specific location - this information will be pushed to Google Reviews for higher local search placement.
- Add additional custom modules, e-commerce, and plugins here
Add deliverable details to your proposal template:
Add deliverables to your proposal template:
- Fully functional website
- Google Analytics install
- Google Webmaster tools setup
Proposal Template Component: Email Marketing
Create one (1) branded newsletter template. Set up three (3) email marketing lists that will have easy signup via the website for news and special offers. At the point of every purchase or inquiry, the customer will be prompted to add themselves to this marketing list.
Include a list of deliverables here in your proposal template:
- 1 Custom email marketing template
Proposal Template Component: Social Media Setup
We will integrate social media widgets into the site in the appropriate places.
Additionally, we will customize your various social media properties to have a consistent look & feel and desired functionality.
Add your list of deliverables here in your business proposal template.
- Facebook commenting on-site
- Social media links
- Social sharing ("like" and share buttons)
- Twitter feed + hashtags for product/service page feeds
- Facebook tabs for opt-in & products/services
- Facebook & twitter RSS tie-ins
- Customize the Facebook page icon & cover image
- Customize the Google Plus page
- Customize Twitter page design
- Customize the Foursquare page icon
Proposal Template Component: Completion
Before your website goes live we will do a quality assurance review of each web page to make it meets scope specifications.
Also, we will help you transfer your DNS to point to your new website.
Finally, we will provide a thirty (30) day warranty period from the day the website goes live to make sure the website meets your specifications.
Proposal Template Component: training
Included in this initial project will be three (3) one-hour system webinar training covering the following topics:
- Basic website management & blog
- Custom Modules & Plugins
- Email Marketing
- Analytics
The training will be recorded and presented for future use.
Additional screencast training might be delivered to support specific processes included in your website project.
Additional elements to add to your proposal template
Include ongoing offerings here. Here at UGURUS we have in-depth training on recurring revenue.
Recurring revenue packages should be baked into your proposal template or set as its own business proposal template after the main project is underway.
Here are additional packages to consider adding to your proposal template:
- Search engine marketing
- Social monitoring
- Social media training
- Post-launch analysis & iterations
- Photography
- Video
- Additional content
Project Investment in your Proposal Template
Break down the cost and timeframe for each section mentioned above.
Use the same section headers as you've used throughout your proposal template.
Include the following sections on the last page of your proposal template:
Additional billable
Our team & about us
Methodology
Contact info
The Proposal Template In Summary
An in-depth proposal put together in a value-forward detailed manner can be a helpful selling tool.
However, no amount of proposal templates will sell projects for you.
You must have a proven sales process in place to close high-value deals.
Learn more about the UGURUS proven sales process on an upcoming live training with Brent Weaver: How To Close High-Value Deals