Sales Proposal Assignment Handbook

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Sales Proposal Assignment Handbook

• Dear Sales Student
• This handbook serves as a guide for the required
  elements of your sales proposal for professional
  selling. It is intended to answer many of the
  key questions surrounding the assignment.
  However, be mindful that it should be used in
  conjunction with your course syllabus and your
  instructors directions. Absolute requirements
  are solely at the discretion of the instructor.
  Although the handbook was created to offer a
  one-stop shopping venue for creating your sales
  proposal, there are many additional sources of
  information referenced throughout the
  Johnston/Marshall Relationship Selling and Sales
  Management book that will help you build the
  proposal.
• Enjoy the assignment you should find it helps
  you grow as a professional!
• Mark Johnston
• Greg Marshall
• Credit These materials were provided by
  Professor Victoria Panzer at the University of
  South Florida.

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A Sales Proposal What is It?

• A sales proposal puts on paper your plan for
  ultimately developing and delivering the best
  possible sales presentation. Sales proposals vary
  a great deal based on the product or service and
  type of buyer. You will have more success if you
  spend some time to really think through the value
  proposition before deciding on your product or
  service use Chapter 3 as a guide to this
  thought process.
• The pages that follow in this handbook give you a
  generic approach to sales proposals. Of course,
  there is no one right way to put together a
  sales proposal. This course, and the proposal,
  ultimately are designed to initiate critical
  thinking on your part. Your instructor will
  likely customize the assignment for you.
•  
• If the proposal is going to open the door for
  your presentation, it is best for it to be well
  organized, appealing, relevant to the situation,
  and no longer than is absolutely necessary.
  Buyers are too busy to wade through information
  overload.

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Choosing the Buyer for the Sales Proposal
Assignment

• Advice on how to choose an organizational buyer
  as the subject for your proposal
• Pick a company you know well (i.e. you work
  there, you want to work there)
• Ask yourself what is the payoff (value
  proposition) to them of your product/service.
  Where is their pain?
• Decide how you will quantify the value/payoff to
  them. Do this first!
• Make sure they dont already carry the
  product/service.
• You must sell to a business entity (B2B), not a
  individual consumer (B2C) see Chapter 2 for a
  discussion of the differences in these.
• Options include
• Retailers (who will resell your product)
• Organizations (who will use your product in the
  context of what they do)
• Industrial buyers (who will use your product or
  service as an element of their production process)

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Choosing the Seller for the Sales Proposal
Assignment

• Advice on how to choose a company to represent as
  the seller in your proposal
• You must represent a business
• You must sell a real product
• Your buyer can not already use/carry the product
• You should concentrate on the value proposition
  to your buyer of your product/service.
• Advice on how to pick a product/service to sell
• Pick product/service you love
• Pick product/service you know
• Pick a product/service that is truly needed,
  think what is in it for them?
• Pick a product/service that you can find basic
  cost or markup information
• Pick a product/service that you can actually
  bring to class and demonstrate
• Pick a product/service that you will want to keep
  as part of your portfolio of assignments to show
  potential employers

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Tips on Formatting the Written Sales Proposal

• For a truly professional look, the proposal
  should be spiral or staple bound with a clear
  cover. (Absolutely NO 3-ring binders or plastic
  covered pages!)
• Do not use dark background colors, especially as
  you turn in the parts during the semester.
• Keep format (font, layout, background, logo,
  colors, etc.) consistent throughout.
•  
• It must have either a table of contents with page
  numbers, or tabs.
•  
• Since you will turn in each part of the
  assignment for feedback progressively as the
  semester unfolds, the final proposal only
  includes the corrected versions of your Seller
  Profile, SPIN, FAB, and Financial
  Analysis/Spreadsheet. Each of these elements
  will now be discussed further.

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Sales Proposal Elements
  You will be handing in the four essential
elements as we progress through the semester. See
your syllabus for due date on each section. They
are due during class on the prescribed date. The
earned points on each section will not change
upon final submission. However, all required
corrections should be made in order to contribute
to the overall proposal score for the
persuasiveness dimension.  
 
I. Seller profile
II. SPIN (Situation/Problem/Implication/Need
Payoff) III. FAB (Features-Advantages-Benefits)
IV. Financial analysis/spreadsheet V.
Persuasiveness
Possible point earnings for each element
will be determined by your instructor.
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I. Seller Profile

• How long does it need to be? Not more than one
  page.
•  Is bullet format OK? No, this should be a third
  person narrative. Do not use I or we.
•  What is the purpose? Your profile should build
  trust with your seller by educating them as to
  your skills and talents, goals, and purpose.
  It is not a resume.
•  What must be included? Your job here is to make
  a positive impression on your potential buyer.
  In one page, you need to briefly introduce
  yourself to them. Include a short paragraph
  about your fictional position with the company
  and identify what you want to sell to your
  buyer.
•  Does appearance count? Yes, it will be evaluated
  on eye appeal and content. Remember, this
  is your attempt to approach the buyer.
  Chapter 6 provides ideas on maximizing the
  success of an approach.
•  Do I attach a cover page? Yes.

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II. SPIN

• How long does it need to be? Not more than one
  page.
•  
• What is the format? Subtitles and bullets. Each
  of the four sections of SPIN should be titled.
• What is the purpose? The SPIN technique is used
  to start the communication process with your
  organizational buyer. It should bring out the
  critical information to be used in your sales
  presentation. It is your opportunity to practice
  active listening and use probing questions.
  Think of yourself as a doctor trying to
  diagnose a patient. What are the most important
  issues to your buyer? SPIN is outlined in
  Chapter 6.
• What must be included? All four areas of SPIN
  should be addressed with a minimum of one
  open- ended question.
• What should not be included? Do not give answers
  to the questions. This is the exchange you will
  role-play in your actual sales presentation at
  the end of the semester.
•  
• Does appearance count? Yes, although this would
  not actually be included in a sales proposal,
  we are using it as a learning tool and
  therefore should conform to the overall idea
  that appearance matters.
•  
• Where can I learn more? Chapter 6 provides a good
  introduction to SPIN. You can find more at
  http//www.salesxcellence.co.uk/SalesSkillsArtic
  les/Spin_Selling/spin_selling.html

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III. FAB

• How long does it need to be? Not more than three
  pages.
•  
• What is the format? Subtitles and bullets. Each
  of the three sections should be titled.
• What is the purpose? The FAB should list the
  features of your product, the competitive
  advantages, and the benefits to the
  organizational buyer. It should not discuss
  benefits to end users rather, it should focus
  on benefits to your organizational buyer.
•  
• Does appearance count? Yes, this would actually
  be included in a sales proposal.  
• Is there a cover page? Yes.
•  
• Where can I get more information? Chapter 6.

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IV. Financial Analysis/Spreadsheet

• How long does it need to be? Not more than three
  pages.
•  
• What is the format? It should be set up like the
  spreadsheet example provided separately. The
  Relationship Selling Math Appendix to Chapter 3
  provides a detailed explanation for creating
  a financial analysis spreadsheet. Each section
  (financial analysis, graphs, notes, source)
  should be titled. You must have an actual
  spreadsheet, a notes page with explanations for
  each row, source citations, and graphs.
• What is the purpose? It is where you quantify
  your value proposition. It is the bottom line
  of your sales proposal. It might be the
  starting point in some instances. It should
  be eye-catching and (or course) financially
  persuasive.
•  
• Does appearance count? Yes, this would actually
  be included in a sales proposal.
• Can I make up the numbers? No, you must find
  sources and do your best to simulate what the
  actual numbers would be (be sure to cite the
  sources).  
• Is there a cover page? Yes.
•  
• Where can I get more information? Review the
  example spreadsheet provided. Chapter 3
  gives a great overview of sources of value.

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From the Sales Proposal to the Sales Presentation

• As you move toward finalizing your Sales
  Proposal, you need to begin moving toward
  preparing to give your sales presentation.
• This will be done in-class to another student who
  will role-play as your buyer.
• Use the Buyer Scenario Worksheet and instructions
  provided to make this a smooth process for you
  and your classmate.
• This aspect of the assignment challenges you to
  apply the key elements of the sales process from
  Chapters 5-9 of your book.
• Also included are some sample forms for
  evaluating the buyer and the seller.

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Buyer Scenario Information for your Student Buyer

•  The scenario is the information the student who
  role-plays your buyer needs to know in order to
  answer your SPIN questions. It should also
  include basic information about the buying
  company.
• The student who will be your buyer should work
  with you to contribute to developing a list of
  possible objections. Chapter 7 covers many
  possible types of objections.
• The objections need to start with a simple no!
• The objections are not to be in the form of a
  question.
• Three from the list must be used in the final
  sales presentation.
• The scenario you ultimately create for the oral
  presentation is to be typed and four copies
  brought to class on date indicated on the
  syllabus before the presentations begin.
•  You are NOT to rehearse the presentation with
  the buyer. A penalty will be assessed in the
  case of scripted presentations.

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Buyer Scenario WorksheetInformation for your
Student Buyer
Sales Presentation Date Class time   Student
Seller   Sellers product   Student
Buyer Buyers Company   Competitors/existing
product and price mix   Situation question
answers     Problem question answers Implicatio
n question answers Need payoff question
answers   Possible objections (reasons not to
buy, not open-ended questions)   1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6
.
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FAQ Regarding the Buyer Scenario

• How long does it need to be?
• One page, using the formatted Buyer
  Scenarioprovided. Bring four copies on the date
  indicated.
•  
• Is bullet format OK?
• Yes, in fact it is preferred
•  
• What is the purpose of the scenario?
• To give your student buyer information necessary
  to your sales call.
•  
• What must be included?
• ü     If this is a new product/service for the
  company, explain what is currently filling the
  need.
• ü     Any unique information that is relevant to
  your value proposition.
• ü     The answers to your SPIN questions.
•  
• How many objections must I write?
• You must have six possible objections, but you
  will only use three in the presentation.
•  
• Does it need to be in PowerPoint?
• No, it will not be included with your final
  proposal your are providing it only so that the
  student role-playing your buyer can proceed with
  that task.

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Sample Buyer Evaluation Form
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Sample Sales Presentation Evaluation Form