In commercial real estate today, the proposal that you provide to the client is at least 50% of your business winning strategy. The other 50% is your ability to connect and communicate the right message to the client about the property and the local property market.
This then says that your proposal structure should be carefully considered and crafted to suit the situation. Generic proposals are really a waste of time.
You need to make your strategy and offering stand out as the best solution to the client given the challenges that they face today.
Here are some ideas to help your client proposal structure in sales, leasing, or property management.
- At the very front of the document you should have an executive summary. That part of the document can only be inserted after the proposal has been put together, and after you have completed the necessary recommendations and strategies. That being said, the executive summary is perhaps the most important part of the document to focus the client on your ideas and recommendations. The summary should be no more than two pages in length and should be structured around clear dot points. The executive summary can make your sales pitch and presentation far more effective and relevant.
- The length of a proposal document can vary depending on property complexity. You should however give preference to simplicity in layout and a document that is easy to understand, read, and interpret. Many clients will not read past the first few pages of the proposal document. Most proposal documents should be no more than 25 pages in length. Many will be less than 12 pages in length.
- It is important to clarify the facts about the property and the challenges that the client faces. That should occur early in your document layout so the client understands that you are on their wavelength.
- Provide details of the local property market together with competing properties, prices, rentals, and time on market. This information will give you a solid base to recommend marketing strategies and sales or leasing alternatives.
- Every client likes to make some choices and have some control. For this reason your recommendations should have two or three alternative choices for the client to consider. Invariably they will usually choose the middle recommendation that is neither too expensive nor poorly structured.
- Some clients will have definite concerns regards the local property market today, and where their property sits in relation to that. Develop a question and answer process to insert into your proposal where you can handle those troubling factors that the client has raised with you.
- Provide a a graphing process to show the client the way you will take them as part of the marketing campaign. A Gantt chart is the best graph to use.
- The fee structure will form an important part of the document and is usually placed towards the rear. That being said, you should structure your fees competitively but also realistically for the amount of work involved in the listing or appointment.
There is always a basic structure to a proposal, but the main part of the document will always be focused on the property. In this way you show relevance to the client as the top agent with the right skills to help them solve the property problem.