How to Use Storytelling to Set Your Proposal Apart and Close the Deal

Welcome to The Contractor's Daughter, your go-to podcast for eliminating random acts of strategy and marketing in your highway construction business. Hello, friends. I'm your host, Jeani Ringkob. I'm a third-generation asphalt contractor and an absolute brand strategy and marketing geek.

Welcome to the Contractor’s Daughter, I'm your host, Jeani Ringkob. Today we're talking about something that gets a little bit micro in terms of a deliverable when we are working with our clients on their larger strategic planning.

Almost always within even just the quarters, there's an element of a strategic plan that is heavily based on sales, sales and marketing. At least sales, but usually a combination of sales and marketing.

I'm a huge proponent that you can make your sales more efficient, especially in the times that we live in when people are looking to find most of the answers or educate themselves and they expect to have content available to them online, they want to be most of the way to the decision before they sit down with us. No matter what product or service you sell, this is true. How do we make our sales more efficient? We add some levels of marketing.

One of the things that once we get into the meat of this and we start talking about the tools that a sales team is using, that may be a marketing team is helping them craft and using some of their skills and their creativity to make better and amplify, maybe reduce the time the sales cycle for your sales team to make it easier for them to increase the percentages of closes they get, when they get to the proposal phase, is how do we elevate the proposal?

This is something that right now we have a long-term client that part of our strategic planning partnership with them is they get a certain amount of deliverables. One of the things that we've identified we really want to boost is their estimator's ability to close.

We want to increase that close rate once they get to that proposal phase. For the number of proposals that they're putting out, we want to see a higher percentage of them close.

How do we optimize that and also reduce the sales cycle time? Can we actually put the proposal in there sooner? Can we help the sales team think about extracting the information that they want, that needs to go into a super effective really, really nailed it proposal earlier in the process and really dialing that in?

This is one of the ways that we see marketing and sales coming together. Really having a strategy and then figuring out how these real simple tactical day-to-day functions of those two roles can come together.

What is it that makes a proposal unique? Depending on your products or services, maybe it's estimators going out there and it's a lot about taking measurements, types of products, depth, square feet, square yards, all of those kinds of things, lane miles, whatever it is.

There's a large component of this that is really just the numbers, the measurements, the mix design, the process, whatever is, the equipment that's going to be on-site, mobilization costs, there's all of those things.

Those are what we call in the marketing world, when we're putting stories together, they're the problems. They're the very immediate obvious things that we need to address, that we need to tick the boxes and put in there.

But what about the emotional things that actually trigger and make people make decisions? It doesn't matter if it's an agency, employee, representative who's making decisions that are going to write a purchase order off of the contract that you have.

It doesn't matter if it's the asset manager for a huge portfolio of commercial sites. It doesn't matter if it's a large distribution center asset manager that's making decisions. It doesn't matter if it's somebody making a decision about a driveway.

It's still people and individuals that make decisions and they make decisions based on how we make them feel. This is where some of the elements of the story that we weave into messaging and we use this in so much of the strategy work we do and it's how we craft internal communications to get our team bought in.

It's how we roll out compensation packages. It's how we build proposals. It's how we build a website. It's how we come up with a content strategy for marketing on our social platforms that actually moves the needle in a measurable way for that strategic plan.

Messaging is so important and the best and most effective way to create messaging that gets people to take action and connects you with the right people is by knowing the elements of the story and telling a story.

Really marrying those really well with the tangible things, the numbers, the measurements, the equipment coming on site, the product or the service that you're actually going to be putting down.

That's what I want to talk about. You probably have a great dialed-in system for all of those more tangible pieces. A lot of the proposals that we look at are that. There are a lot of numbers put down in the paper and it doesn't really tell a story.

If you think about how could we differentiate in that moment, in that actual interaction, that tangible piece of the customer journey, how can we differentiate ourselves from everybody else who is giving them a proposal?

How can we really sell, “Yes we do all of these other things, but we do so much more. We understand your pain points. We understand what success really means for you on the other side. We've really, really listened and we're not going to just tell you our story with numbers, but we're going to invite you into a story that makes you feel good. You want to be part of what makes you know us, like us, and trust us to be on your project, to handle your asset, and to deliver you with the best possible outcome”?

We're going to talk about some of the things that we can actually weave into a proposal to really set it apart. We're going to talk about this from a story standpoint and I'm going to give you a couple of ideas and going to give you an order in which you should think about crafting this and weaving this in.

We want to start with the problem. This is not your story. This is not, in general, the problems you solve. You want to start with a specific example that you heard what they were telling you when you did the assessment of their site when they called you up and they said what they were needing.

Why were they wanting to take action right now? Maybe they have potholes, but what was it right now that made them move and take action? What is it that is really causing them a lot of pain about this specific problem?

Let's use an example of, we're going to use an out-of-industry example, but kind of a shoulder industry example. Let's say landscaping. It can be that maybe in the conversation if somebody showed up at somebody's home, was going to propose that, “We're going to take care of your landscaping needs,” what is it that they really told you that they want?

Maybe they want to keep it free of weeds. Maybe they want a design that really sets their house apart from their neighbors. Maybe they want it to be easy maintenance. What is it that they're telling you?

If we take it back to our industry, are they really going to extend the life of their pavement and that's their priority? Are they really wanting to get a better foundation? Are they really wanting to just address an aesthetic need more than anything else?

Is there a drainage problem that they know is costing them money and repairs over and over every year and they finally just don't want to be dealing with this again the next year?

What is the actual problem that they're articulating to you? If you think about this, and you know that you have a process in place that when your estimator, your sales team goes and crafts a proposal that they have to be able to communicate that problem back, it's actually going to help them be better at sales because it's going to make them listen for that pain point and that problem and make sure that they take notes and they really make sure that they're going to be able to articulate that back.

This is almost what we call a “hook,” in a story, because they go, “Oh, wow, they listened to what I said. It's like they're inside of my head.” Well, guess what? They are, they actually listened during that sales conversation. Then you take it back to marketing and marketing helps you craft that problem as the beginning of the story.

Then you can position your product as the solution. It's the medicine for the pain that they're having. It's the surgery that's going to save them from a possible outcome. It is the landscaping—if we go back to the other example—that's going to set their yard apart, but yet be super low maintenance for them that every time they pull into their driveway, they're going to be so proud of their home and the curb appeal and everything that's going on out there. Now you position yourself as this.

If we go back to that example, I might be saying, “Here's how we can help.” This is where you start introducing your mill and fill process, or your overlay, or your striping process, whatever it is that is going to be the solution that's the best fit for them, here's where then you lay it out.

The next step is that you want to make sure that you include somewhere in your proposal and it would come after those two things, somewhere in between the two, you might have the pricing but likely you might even put this before the pricing and the pricing would come next.

But you want to give them a clear path to take action. We call this a process, which is what we call it in storytelling when we think about elements of storytelling because people will take action if we make it easy and very clear what that action is.

I cannot tell you how many proposals I have looked at where it's great, “Okay, looks like what I need. It's within my budget.” Maybe they haven't told me a great story, but it ticks some of the other boxes, but I'm still looking at it going, “Okay, what do I do? Do I call you? There's no clean care. There's no QR code. Do I call you? Do I send you an email? What's the next step?”

If we confuse people and they're looking at another proposal, and it's super easy, “First, we're going to do this, then this is going to happen, and then this is the success you're going to get,” what are they going to do? One of the examples I use for this often is two realtors coming into your house because everybody can relate to this.

You want to sell your home or you need to make a move. Maybe you're just thinking about it because you've seen some stuff on the market that you think you might be really interested in. You can get a prime price for your home. You're thinking that maybe it's time because your family might be growing, but you could be making this decision now or you could just wait a few more years. It's not urgent.

Two realtors come in, and one says to you, "Well, you're so lucky that I'm here because buying and selling a home is so complicated. There are 27 steps and this can go wrong here, and this can happen here and then there's this step and then there's this step and then we'll do this,” and you're overwhelmed. This is one example.

Then you have another realtor who comes in and listens to your problems, relays those back to you, and says, “Great, I'm going to go find only the best homes that match what you just told me is going to fit your dream home. We're going to go look at just a few of the ones that we know are going to be a great fit for you and then I'm going to get you a great deal on your dream home.” Which one are you going to do?

If you're thinking about the first one, you might be thinking, “Hmm, I'm just not going to sell. This sounds really terrible. I've got a stage, I've gotta do this, I've gotta clean, I've gotta make repairs, and we're not even listing it yet where I have to leave my house and show it.”

How can we make it super frictionless and easy? Another example of this is I tell people that I don't let my kids get on the Tesla website because they could buy a car in three clicks. Super streamlined, super easy. Yet when I order my groceries, I've actually shown up there and they go, "Wait, we don't have an order for you, Mrs. Ringkob." It's because there are like 27 people to order my groceries.

I've got kids and clients and things going on. Somewhere I forgot to click that last confirm your payment for the third time button. I'm like, “Seriously, it's my groceries. I come every week.” Why is this so much harder? I could go buy a Tesla. I could have bought several Teslas in this time if I could afford them. There's that example too. But the same is true if somebody does give them a plan and you just don't tell them. You leave it vague and you leave it confusing.

We always say that you should have a very clear plan in place. Normally we want to give them a few steps because if it's too easy, it feels a little bit weird and it may feel like you're not giving them enough, but yet people don't want things in more than three, or four max steps.

If we go back to the landscaping example, we might have a really simple plan that says, “Step one, we're going to do a site visit and we're going to kick off the project. Step two, we're going to conduct the install. And then in step three, we're going to do a 30-day check-in to make sure that you are loving your new landscaping, and we're going to touch up anything.” Something like that.

If you come up with a plan, it's probably something that you can actually use over and over in all of your estimates. It becomes the process by which people know that they take action with you.

This is a great place, thing that you can plug into your proposals and you can have a really nice template for all of these steps, but this is one of the pieces that you may not have to change, or it might be only slightly different for very different specific types of offerings that you have.

Then another tip that you can use in your proposals is why don't you position it as an investment and not a spend? Oftentimes when we just talk about the numbers and we're just listing them out in a chart or a graph, we're not actually talking about it or using words, or even titling that page as an investment.

The words we use, investment versus cost, mean very different things and subconsciously have a very significant impact on decision-makers when it comes to our business.

The investment in their asset, the investment in their property, their investment for taxpayers on this highway, whatever this is, it is an investment and it should feel like they're making an investment that is going to benefit them, that is going to make them look good in the eyes of their boss, of the tenants that are driving in and that are prospects, of the driving public, whoever it is.

How do we make sure that it's an investment that is in their favor and kind of circles back to some of their internal pain points that they're trying to solve on a personal level?

Then, and only then, do you tell your story. Sometimes there's a lack of any story at all in the proposals that we see. Sometimes people go on and on and on about “Here's who we are. This is how we started. These are the awards we won,” and there's hardly anything about the problem, the solution, the steps, and the process.

Only towards the very end have you earned the right to tell your story. Even then there are two effective ways that you want to present your story. You want to position yourself with authority. This could be where you talk about how long you've been in business or awards that you've won, or use testimonials which are great in proposals, and you could have a bank of testimonials and you pick one that's relevant to that particular customer or that project but that's when you actually tell your story.

It needs to be brief and still directly related to them. The other way you can do it outside of authority is by using empathy. We understand that you don't want to drive into your retirement home's facility and be dodging potholes and wondering how many prospects are just turning around and leaving because your parking lot is in such poor condition.

Or we understand what it's like to every single year be looking at this asset and wondering why you have to address it every single year. You really need a long-term solution because you have so much to do.

Those are examples of how we create empathy. That can be a really strong component in a proposal as well. Then it's time to close the deal. Then you make sure you give them that really strong call to action. You gave them a plan earlier.

It probably alluded to your call to action, “Sign this proposal now. Email this back to me.” But how can you make it easy and effortless? “Click this button right now to schedule your kickoff meeting, to schedule, get on our schedule,” whatever that is, make it as easy as possible, but give them a final, very strong, very clear, it is not ambiguous at all, “This is the next step. Take action.” People actually do what we tell them to do.

Then, and only then, and this is going to feel strange going to be like, “Wait, but this comes first.” After you do all this, you can craft a cover letter. If you're delivering this via email, your cover letter might be the email that you send. That's what it looks like.

It's, “Hey, here is that proposal that you requested. Thank you so much for your time. Here, you're going to find A, B, and C.” It’s ”Dear client. We're alluding to the problem. Here's my contact information when you sign off. Don't waste another day stressing. You're going to love what you find in this proposal,” whatever it is.

Then and only then do you craft that. Once again, it can be templated and then your team can just quickly go and make changes. I love having a well-crafted template or a few templates in place to really amplify and level up proposals for my clients. It saves time for their sales team.

We can actually track metrics, so show that they get more yeses when they are submitting proposals, and it helps them think through that sales process better when they know that this stuff also needs to go into their proposal in order to set it apart from all the competition, especially when you start to feel like you're getting into a market where it's just low bid all the time, how can you differentiate yourself, set yourself apart?

A proposal like this can be the difference between being able to charge a little bit more premium, not having to play the low bid all the time for all of your projects, and really showing that you are level up, and you provide better service, you're more trustworthy with such a big investment.

Think about your proposals. This is my call to action for you. I want you to really think about your proposals. Are they really setting you apart? Do they look like everybody else's proposals? Are they putting you in a position where you have to compete on price and nothing else? Does it really show a customer why you're a better choice than what they might be looking at? Their alternatives or the competition around you.

Think about your proposal. If you're thinking about how this might fit into a strategic plan, is the sales part of the business hierarchy of needs where you need to be focusing?

Should you be aligning some of the assets that your marketing team or an advisor could be making for your company to help support your sales team? A great tool that you can go check out is our Growth Strategy Assessment Tool.

We have two very powerful assessment tools but this one is going to help you figure out from that super high level what part of your business are you likely bottlenecked in.

Where could you increase performance inside of your business? Is it sales and marketing? Is it profit? Is it order? Which means like your processes, your systems, do you need to start really getting that dialed in to be more efficient? Or are you even at a place where you can start thinking about impact, legacy, and planning for the future?

This is a great way to answer some of those questions. Go to storybuilt.marketing/assessment and right there you can take the assessment. It takes five minutes. It's going to tell you where you can start looking for that bottleneck.

At this point in your business's journey, where do you need to be looking to shore up and help you get to the next level? Make sure you go take that assessment. If you fall into that sales and marketing category, a proposal might be a really great way to help you level up. Until next time make sure that you subscribe, make sure you leave a five-star review and we love it when you share our podcast as well.

Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of The Contractor's Daughter. If you liked what you heard, be sure to subscribe and review. But most of all, share this with all of your friends, partners, and customers in the highway construction business. Thank you for building the infrastructure that we all rely on.