CREATE PROPOSALS THAT SELL
5 TIPS YOU NEED TO KNOW
Writing offers is a standard procedure for any travel agent or booking manager working in a travel agency, whether it’s a MICE agency, team building agency or a DMC. What should your proposal be like in order to achieve its ultimate function, which is to sell? Here we bring you 5 tips to nail your proposal writing!
1. ATTRACTIVE AND LIKEABLE
Write one or two paragraphs describing your product, services or a specific feature. To be successful, your content needs to be useful to your readers.
Start with the customer – find out what they want and give it to them.
ATTRACTIVE FACTOR NR. 1
Load your proposal with mighty images of locations of your event or activities. Ideally, that’s between 3 and 9 images per location.
This is easily achieved by using Travel Ray: where proposal creation is quick, errorless and visually pleasing!
ATTRACTIVE FACTOR NR. 2
Whenever you can use an image with a smiling person on it – do it. Images with smiling human faces are more likely to generate interest than any HD photo of a location.
ATTRACTIVE FACTOR NR. 3
Authentic images or images that you got from Shutterstock?
While it is hard to resist the urge to feature picture perfect images you find on Shutterstock, make no mistake that your opponents do the same. For best results, find a balance between using images that are yours and authentic, and mix them up with the HD great-looking, attractive stock photos.
2. FUNCTIONALITY OF THE PROPOSAL
How long does it take to write a perfect proposal? Every MICE agent will tell you that it depends on the complexity of the request.
A proposal needs to be flexible – it should be easy for you to change elements of the proposal quickly.
A proposal needs to include prices – calculation should be transparent to the agent and acceptable to the client. With Travel Ray, achieve that automatically.
Needless to say your proposal needs to be exact and punctual. Are you using Excell and/or Word to draft your proposals and calculate margins and passenger expenses? That is fine and easy when you’re creating a proposal, but just imagine what happens when a client needs to change a number of passenger or even arrival dates. That is why your proposal needs to be responsive and flexible – it needs to be created in a system that allows for quick changes and updating your proposal in a matter of a few clicks.
MOST IMPORTANTLY: save the proposal as a template and be even faster and time effective the next time you create an offer.
3. MAKE THEM FEEL SPECIAL
Tourism is about experiences, so your proposals should reflect that. Are you going to have one proposal form that you will be sending to your clients?
Wrong answer. Each one of your proposals should sound as if you have created it for the first time – because it will speak directly to your client.
Make that easier for yourself by using proposal templates: which allows you to tap into the great work you have once done, and reuse or repurpose it for future similar prospects.
LIKEABILITY FACTOR NR. 1
Your descriptions need to be written in the tone and style of your prospective clients. What are they into? Follow that and give them what they want. To really win, give them what they don’t even know they want just yet.
LIKEABILITY FACTOR NR. 2
Proposals are read by two key figures in a company: firstly, those who are handling the event, and the decision makers. You need to please them both! Prices need to be neatly arranged and clear, and proposals should be concise and clear.
4. BRANDING
Does your proposal include client logos? It is a simple trick that aids the selling process. Everyone likes seeing their name-tag on something that looks good.
5. FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE BETWEEN FLUFF AND STUFF
In this fast-paced world we’re living in – time is our most valuable asset. To really win your clients, save time – yours and your clients’.
Research shows that 80% of people reads the title and watches the images and nothing else to determine whether they like something or not.
That means that you simply need to put the striking images in the front and name your proposal something striking.
Start with the customer – find out what they want and give it to them.
Story by: Ravijojla Novaković
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