Selling IT Maintenance – How To Write the Perfect Proposal

If you’re selling IT maintenance services, you’ll probably find that you rarely “close the deal” during an initial client meeting. Usually, a potential client will want you to send them a formal proposal, detailing your services and prices.

The quality of your proposal will often determine whether you win the business, so it’s essential to get it right. Here are some tips:

1. Know your audience. Every client is different, so every proposal should be different too. While you may decide to work from a proposal template, it’s essential to tailor every proposal based on what you have learned in phone calls and sales meetings. Some clients like detail. With others, it may be very apparent that their eyes will glaze over if they have to read more than a few pages. Try to tune in to what your customers want and make sure your proposal reflects it.
   
    

2. Include Terms and Conditions. Providing IT maintenance for a company is a serious responsibility and should be treated as such. Develop some standard terms and conditions and include them with every proposal. Professional businesses will expect this.

3. Make the Pricing Clear. Let’s be honest—the pricing is the thing that the client wants to know more than anything. They’ve probably begun to form a decision based on your meeting anyway. Make your pricing very clear and prominent in the document, and avoid “hidden costs.” Customers will find them eventually, so you should be transparent from the start.

4. Include Testimonials. Hopefully, you have a few pleasant quotes from other clients who use your IT maintenance services? Don’t go overboard, but don’t be afraid to include a few to strengthen your proposal.

Do you have any good tips for preparing IT maintenance proposals? If so, share your ideas in the Comments box below. 

And to follow-through on the tips introduced in this short article, be sure to download your free copy of the special report on IT Service Contract Secrets for Getting More Repeat Clients and Recurring Service Revenue. 

Creative Commons Image Source: flickr syed_ikhwan