Editors note: cut down on the time between sending a proposal, receiving feedback, and getting that contract signed using text messaging. Petra from Better Proposals demonstrates how you can create simple no-code automations, allowing you to win more business and get paid faster 😎
We’re sure we can all agree that the worst part about creating and sending business proposals is waiting for your clients to respond. In a perfect world, you would send your proposal and the client would instantly agree to all of your terms and pay you.
Sadly, this is not the world we live in and clients will have a number of changes they’ll want you to implement before you sign a contract. The alternative is sending a proposal and never hearing back, without knowing what went wrong.
In this article, we’ll explain how you can keep up with the opinions of your clients and get them to answer and agree to your proposals quickly. Because the quicker they respond, the quicker you’ll get paid.
Why Instant Feedback is Important
Many people have a problem with receiving any type of response from their clients once they send their proposals. The only way you can combat this without losing your patience is by integrating some type of instant way to receive feedback in your proposals.
For example, integrating live chat lets your clients message you as they read it, making it easy for them to reach out. When it comes to proposal feedback, you really have to make it extremely easy for the person on the receiving end to reach out.
Sending proposals and then having to follow up without knowing why the other person hesitates to sign your deal leaves you in an unfavourable position. Sometimes they just get too busy to respond and drafting a long email detailing everything they would like you to change feels too overwhelming.
If your proposal software offers any type of analytics, you’ll have some sort of idea why your client didn’t respond, because you’ll be able to track them and figure out where they encountered a problem.
Even if this isn’t the case for you, the ball is still in your court to reach out and figure out if you can persuade your client to agree to the terms you wrote. A good way to do this is by sending your client additional content.
This could be a case study you’re very excited about that shows how fast your other clients achieved ROI. Showing them successful examples from the past will speak to them more than any projections you prepared for them. Since most clients have a problem with the budget, this will ease them into trusting you with their resources.
It is believed that feedback received through social media can be an effective way to monitor the effectiveness of your business. This allows you to gain information about what customers are saying and even who they are, as well as respond appropriately when necessary. Social media tools are being integrated into daily life especially in regards to popular communication platforms and reach out quickly on matters concerning service delivery problems without having any difficulties, thus resulting in faster resolutions from these complaints.
Having an easy way to reach you, through a channel that is integrated into your proposal takes things to a new level because it gives your clients the incentive to reach out and share their opinions. A great way to do so is with integrated text messaging.
Let’s jump right into the easy integration process.
How to Integrate Text Messaging in your Proposals
ClickSend allows you to track, receive and send SMS online messages. You can send individual messages, bulk messages, and automatic ones. The one thing you need to choose is how you want it set up.
Email marketing services can help you reach out with your message in multiple ways that include newsletters, sales proposals, or other types of digital content.
You can choose between an online SMS gateway, which allows you to send and receive messages from your computer, an Email-to-SMS gateway which is perfect for those of you that use email as their primary communication tool, or an API.
For this example of integrating text messages into a proposal, we suggest that you use the SMS gateway. All you need to do is create a free account and add credit to your account. From there you can add users and upload contacts.
You can do it manually or you can upload an Excel sheet with all of the contacts. The last step is to choose a dedicated number from which you want your texts to be sent and you’re all done.
ClickSend can easily be integrated with over 800 different apps and tools, making it easy to choose the right one for your needs. We’re sure your proposal software allows Zapier integrations. Here is how to proceed with that type of integration.
Log into your Zapier account and click the Make a Zap! button. Search for your proposal software and choose it. Then click Save and continue. From there, link your proposal software with Zapier if you haven’t already. All you need to do is allow Zapier access to your proposal software account.
From there, go back to your Zapier set-up page and select your action app, in this case, ClickSend. Select send SMS and click save and continue. Once you click Connect a New Account button, a popup will appear and ask you to allow Zapier and ClickSend to link up.
Once everything is linked up, you only need to set up your SMS message. To test it out, in the To input box, enter your mobile number and send yourself the desired message. You can send it right away, or schedule it for later.
These few easy steps are everything you need to do in order to integrate text messaging into your proposal.
Conclusion
The more work and effort you put into your proposals, the less time you’ll have to spend communicating with your client afterward. That is why creating an easy way for them to reach out and share their feedback speeds up the process of agreeing to your proposal and the overall time it takes them to pay you.
ClickSend has a great solution for this problem that is easy to use and track, both for your team and your client. With the actionable steps, we laid out for you, you’ll quickly be able to integrate ClickSend with your proposal software and get started on receiving comments as your client is reading your proposal.
A bonus tip is to ask your previous clients for reviews or quotes you could use to gain new ones. Seeing actual people you helped before is one of the strongest arguments you have when it comes to acquiring new ones.
Author bio:
Petra Odak is a Chief Marketing Officer at Better Proposals, a simple yet incredibly powerful proposal software tool that helps you send high-converting, web-based business proposals in minutes. She's a solution-oriented marketing enthusiast with more than 5 years of experience in various fields of marketing and project management.