Creating a commercial proposal

A commercial proposal should be comprehensive but not overloaded with facts and targeted - this will ensure its effectiveness.

Preparing a commercial proposal is quite challenging work, the quality of which strongly influences sales. In an era of information saturation and simultaneously increasing professionalism of decision-makers, it's important to combine detail and brevity in a commercial proposal. Achieving this goal is possible if we clearly understand who the commercial proposal is addressed to. We'll discuss this below.

First and subsequent contacts - different commercial proposals

A commercial proposal prepared by a sales specialist or company marketer can be aimed either at a person who will first get acquainted with the enterprise and its products through this material, or at someone who is generally already aware of who and what they're dealing with.

Of course, these two situations require completely different commercial proposals in terms of meaning and content.

If we're preparing a commercial proposal to ensure "first acquaintance" and generate interest, then it's important to entice the person with the presented material into our circle of communication, make them think and reflect about us, and ask questions. After all, if there are questions, they're more likely to be asked, meaning we'll get that very dialogue that underlies any sales communication.

Such a commercial proposal shouldn't be too voluminous or difficult to perceive. In its structure, it should be closer to an advertising format of data presentation - illustrations, graphics, short texts, emphasis on the company rather than its products and services, and so on. It's important to indicate the advantages of cooperation, to create the impression that we genuinely want to build a system of long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation, even if the purchase is a one-time transaction.

If we're targeting our commercial proposal at a recipient who is somewhat familiar with our company, its products, work system, and main interaction parameters, then it would be more appropriate to quickly move to formulating those specific points in the commercial proposal that should provoke the purchase of the product or service. If in the previous version we mostly wanted the recipient of the commercial proposal to have thoughts and questions they're ready to address to us, then here it's desirable to anticipate existing queries and needs and provide answers to them in our material.

This type of commercial proposal is better tied to objective events that could become the basis for the need to purchase our products - season change, changes in the competitive situation in the market, existing production problems at the buyer, and so on. It can also be said that this type of commercial proposal should be hyper-targeted and "not beat around the bush."

At the same time, the emphasis in such a proposal should be shifted to the product (ideally - the need satisfied through it), advantages of the pricing proposal (acquisition and operation of the product), issues of post-sale interaction and product servicing.

Profile of the commercial proposal recipient

No less important for preparing an effective and selling commercial proposal is the profile of the person who makes the purchase decision (or is an active participant in this process).

This aspect is especially important to consider when working in B2B and B2G markets, where the decision-making process for purchasing a product is stretched over time and depends on a large number of employees.

In the sales process, for example, of a technically complex product that integrates into the production system of an enterprise, there may be options for interaction with a wide range of decision-makers. Here is an incomplete list of "situations":

- owner,

- enterprise manager (general director, director),

- head of purchasing department,

- chief engineer,

- chief technologist,

- financial director,

- workshop manager,

as well as various combinations - when the sale needs to be coordinated with 2-3 persons from this list.

Logically, the perception of material about a potential equipment acquisition by the owner, director, head of engineering service maintaining the equipment, or workshop manager who will operate this equipment while fulfilling planned indicators is completely different. And this concerns not only the visual aspect but also the content of the information, as well as the messages embedded in it - about which needs the acquisition of our conditional "machine" is aimed at satisfying.

First, you need to honestly answer yourself - what objective advantages of our equipment relative to competitive offers can form the basis for creating a CP. Rarely are we superior to competitors on all fronts - purchase price, operating cost, after-sales service, delivery speed, operational reliability (the list can and should be continued). By identifying our strengths, we clearly understand who might be interested in them - perhaps the engineering service or operator, or maybe the financial director. Then we'll get an idea of who the commercial proposal should be prepared for and what to emphasize in it.

If a situation has developed where we clearly know about the mismatch between the decision-maker's interests and the advantages of our "machine," this doesn't mean that preparing a commercial proposal is unnecessary. Firstly, you can choose a strategy of working with strengths and address the CP to someone who needs them, understanding that they will become a conduit for our interests in the buyer company. Secondly, you can work with the form of material presentation to "hide" shortcomings and present the commercial proposal in the most favorable light specifically for the decision-maker. There are other options, but in any case, these will be different commercial proposals - both in content and form.

When the decision is especially important to us, then when developing a commercial proposal, it's worth considering the personal characteristics of the decision-maker. For example, if we know that the final decision is made by a new young manager who has a specialized economic education and previously worked in a different industry, then the proposal should be made relying on the presentation form and economic advantages of cooperation, not containing information that would emphasize the decision-maker's incompetence and weaknesses. Through the commercial proposal, we should "help" the client make the "right" choice in their coordinate system and, remembering information overload, not burden them with the need to deeply immerse themselves in psychologically uncomfortable "foreign" areas of knowledge and skills.

Are we selling the product as a tool to satisfy an end need or as an object for resale?

Perhaps the most obvious and important factor to consider when preparing a commercial proposal. Despite the fundamental difference in the goals of acquiring a product for use or for earning from it through resale (leasing and in other similar cases), many manufacturers prepare identical CPs for recipients of both types, which reduces sales effectiveness.

The situation where we sell a product for its intended use is generally more common for manufacturers working in the B2B market. An example is the case considered above with selling a machine to a manufacturing enterprise where it will be used in the technological process. Here, through the commercial proposal, we should create in the buyer the understanding that acquiring equipment specifically from us will allow them to satisfy their basic needs and, as they say, "close the issue" for a certain period.

It's much more difficult to prepare a good commercial proposal for those who will further pass our product along the sales chain to the "end user."

Firstly, we're approaching a company with a commercial proposal that itself specializes in sales, and therefore is quite competent in matters of selling such goods. It's difficult to "mislead" them about sales and delivery terms, and quite problematic to hide the weak sides of our product.

Secondly, the trading company must clearly trace all the advantages of working with our product as a commodity and our enterprise as a supplier. There's no point in spending extra effort on describing technical advantages and company history; it's important to show that the proposal in terms of price and service parameters is at least not inferior to similar ones.

For preparing this type of commercial proposal, it may be appropriate to include a comparative analysis of working conditions with us and competitors - this will allow quickly forming value for the decision-maker. Especially if our potential counterparty's portfolio already includes competitors' products. It's also very important when preparing a CP to monitor the current market situation, identify problematic areas of interaction between distributors and manufacturers, in order to offer through the CP that format of work that is desirable for market participants.

For which geographic market is the commercial proposal being prepared?

When a company thinks about developing export activities and entering foreign markets with sales, the question arises of preparing a commercial proposal that will become the basis for prospective interaction with foreign buyers.

The first thought that comes to mind in this regard is translating the commercial proposal into a foreign language, which is logical. In addition to the basic language of international communication - English, it's extremely desirable to have a version of the commercial proposal in the business communication language of the country whose market we want to enter. This is about that very targeting of the proposal, and simply "good form."

At the same time, you need to compare the efforts of preparing the CP and the possible return, taking into account the characteristics of each country individually. For example, when working with the UAE, an English version of the CP will often be sufficient, but for Oman this is already undesirable. When entering the EU market, you can generally establish communication with partners from Scandinavia or the Netherlands by presenting information in English, but it's undesirable to approach Germany or, even more so, France with such a commercial proposal.

Sometimes you need to look deeper than the country level. For example, when going to an international exhibition in Switzerland, in addition to the basic English version, it's desirable to also have a commercial proposal in the local language, but four-language Switzerland requires considering which canton you're going to - conditionally German or French, and possibly Italian.

At the same time, you need to consider that by sending a commercial proposal in Italian to a potential partner, we'll most likely receive a response also in Italian, meaning all subsequent communication will be conducted in it. If the company doesn't have the competencies and ability to correspond in Italian, maybe it's better to start communication in English immediately?

However, the language barrier is far from everything. Different cultures, business ethics and practices, and specifics of information perception vary greatly across countries worldwide. It's enough to look at advertising materials from European countries, Arab countries, China, and Japan to understand the full spectrum of such differences.

When preparing a CP, in addition to linguistic translation of the material, substantive adaptation is also required. For example, for partners from China, it's desirable to minimize the text part and use infographics, while a German counterparty will more positively perceive a detailed product description.

Of course, until a company enters a specific country's market, it rarely has developed competencies allowing it to prepare an effective CP adapted for the country, especially an "exotic" one. Specialized marketing agencies can help solve this issue, offering this service considering existing experience with similar work.

Moreover, within the framework of developing regional export support institutions, many of them provide the service of translating and adapting commercial proposals for product supplies abroad absolutely free of charge. The quality of such work is not inferior to, and often exceeds, the option of direct ordering, since export support centers conduct thorough selection of their suppliers.