Sales · Intermediate · about 19 minutes

Proposals — writing the document that gets decided, not filed

You send a twelve-page proposal. It goes to the finance head, who did not attend any meeting. She reads the price, sees no stated outcome, compares it with a competitor's cheaper quote for something different, and asks for a discount.

You need

Their words: 'We're doing stock reconciliation across three plants in Excel and it takes my team two days every month, and we still find differences.' Current cost: 2 days × 3 people monthly ≈ 72 person-days/year, plus unquantified write-offs from unreconciled differences. Met: Operations director.

Tool

Any assistant, with your discovery notes

You get

PAGE ONE The problem — In our meeting on 14 March, you described it as: 'We're doing stock reconciliation across three plants in Excel and it takes my team two days every month, and we still find differences.' What it costs today — Two days a month across three people is approximately 72…

Time saved

Proposal drafting from 4 hours to about 50 minutes, and — more valuable — fewer scope disputes later.