Marketing Proposal Writing

RFP responses can be a real challenge. They’re often slow and inconsistent due to scattered knowledge and manual processes. This was the case for a global consultancy that wanted to speed up how it brought its offerings to market. Sales teams struggled to access past proposals, relevant case studies, and client-specific context. This customer was an early Glean Agent adopter, and we’re thankful for their feedback along the journey. To address this challenge, they deployed a suite of Glean agents. The goal was to unify content discovery and streamline proposal workflows, pulling from their company knowledge bases, CRM systems, and external research to support end-to-end RFP generation. This was paired with a methodical approach to enablement and adoption. Some examples of agents they built: • A Client Need Triage agent that maps client requirements to standard service offerings • A Research agent to pull together industry and company-specific insights • A Historian agent to surface past engagements and account activity right from the CRM • A Proposal Helper agent to accelerate proposal creation with standardized, offering-aligned drafts This foundation delivered real business value: • Proposal development time dropped from 4 weeks to just a few hours. That’s a 97% productivity gain. • A heuristic metric of deflecting over $150K if a single point enablement Saas solution was chosen. By embedding agents directly into the sales workflow, the consultancy improved both speed and precision in proposal development. Now, they’re looking to apply the same agent-driven approach to other parts of the business, like managed services and engineering, to bring that same efficiency and intelligence everywhere.

I've talked with over 50 teams last year - every one of them got this wrong. Here's how you can avoid their same mistakes: 1️⃣ Target audience = people relevant to your product solution For vertical products, this might seem easy if you're providing 1 solution to 1 type of demographic. But if you've got a horizontal solution, this quickly becomes "we're something for everyone". Pro tip: even horizontal products have target audience focus 2️⃣ Once you have your target audience, it's time to break it down into bite-size segments Segments allow you to organize your target audience into categories Typically these categories are either industry Verticals or Departments [for example, Marketing teams might be a segment for Sprout Social whereas Carta bucket their segments by vertical such as Healthcare and Finance] 3️⃣ Once you have your segment buckets, it's time to break down personas Personas are individuals within your segment Bouncing off the examples above, you'd want to target a Social Media Manager inside a Marketing team for the Sprout Social product 4️⃣ Lastly, it's important to understand how these roles show up in User vs Buyer roles Perhaps the Marketing Director is the official buyer while the Social Media Manager is the champion and user Now, this is where things get fun... use your target audience framework to identify the buying process Social media managers might prefer to try your product and see results first before they go asking their boss for budget Perhaps this means a self-serve product would be beneficial in the buying cycle Has anyone else used a similar framework before? #productmarketing #gtmstrategy #segmentation

I have scaled my agency SackBerry to $ 10K / month. And, I still don’t outsource my proposals. Not because I don’t trust my team. But because the proposal is where trust begins. It’s the first time a potential client sees: – How we structure ideas – How we think – How we listen – And how capable are we This is where people decide whether or not to trust you with their business. And that decision is rarely about pricing. It’s about precision, tone, and how easy you make the yes. Here’s what I always include in my proposals: 📍 A short insight into the client's current positioning or content gaps 📍 A clear breakdown of scope (no vague terms like “strategy support”) 📍 Tiered pricing—so they can choose based on priorities, not confusion 📍 Timeline with realistic buffers (because I respect everyone’s calendars) 📍 FAQs or “what this doesn’t include” section (to avoid assumptions) 📍 Top 3 of our relevant client case studies Every detail matters. So no, I’m not ready to outsource mine yet. Because every proposal is not a pitch. It’s a signal. If you're in the service business, what's one small thing you've added to your proposal that changed the game? #SakshiDarpan #ContentBusiness #ProposalTips #ClientExperience #FreelanceToFounder #CreativeSystems #BrandStrategy #TrustBuilding

The fact that some sellers don’t leverage this data in 2025 genuinely saddens me… It’s 2025 and MOST sellers still have no idea who views their proposal - nor for how long, what sections they really care about, and if they can be upsold... ...and it's costing them deals. Here are just a few of the ways that you can use proposal analytics for your benefit… 1. Understand what your prospects care about Using these analytics tells you exactly which sections of your proposals your prospects are interacting with. This is SUPER HELPFUL in improving the relevancy of your follow-ups. For example, if they're spending more time on pricing (especially if they're directly adjusting it), that’s an indication you should lead with value or ROI in your follow-up. 2. Know the best time to follow-up Following up on your proposal at the right time can make or break a deal. With proposal analytics, you can get notified when your prospect interacts with your proposal, so you can follow up at just the right moment and (hopefully) win that deal! This can even work with closed lost deals - when someone opens a dead deal in Qwilr you will be notified instantly. 3. Identify decision-makers early Analytics can show you exactly who is engaging with your proposals. Spot when new stakeholders get involved, and reach out directly to answer any questions or address any of their concerns. 4. Accelerate your sales cycle By understanding how your prospect engages with every section of your proposal, you can quickly adapt your follow-up to meet their needs, cutting down the time spent on decision-making. No more wasting time with irrelevant questions and details. 5. Improve every proposal Proposal analytics provide feedback on what worked, what didn’t, and what needs adjusting. You can use these insights to continuously refine your proposals for stronger results in the future. Want to learn more about the data you can get with Qwilr? Head to https://getqwilr.com

I was mentoring someone on my team today when I saw their proposal. The proposal had nothing factually wrong or even had all the key points. I messaged, “It does not have a character; it does not have a soul.” Can you please add some soul. She was even more confused and called. This is what I ended up saying—almost spontaneously without skipping a beat. Three things, I said - (now I am thinking of three things to say - with 30 years behind me. I guess I started well and was so happy I ended well, too. This is what I said - Communication in any proposal, discussion, or negotiation is as important as what we speak. Over the years, I’ve found that good communication—whether in sales, non-profits, or strategic partnerships—rests on three things 1. Setting the Context/Start with a Common Frame of Reference: Before diving into details or solutions, you must ensure that everyone who reads the proposal or participates in the conversation is working from the same frame of reference. Misalignment at the start—often unnoticed—can lead to vastly different interpretations, wasted effort, and usually a disaster (Trump—Zelensky example came in handy). A good context setting ensures clarity, reduces friction, and helps focus on the real problem. 2. Build your USP/ Brand / Key Identity: What makes you, you. What makes us us? She was puzzled. I asked about the brand keywords. Communication must carry a distinct identity, whether a personal brand, an organisation, or a movement. Without a clear and consistent character, recognition and recall diminish. Over time, staying true to this identity builds trust, credibility, and lasting impact. 3. Make it sound positive, optimistic and practical. Be enthusiastic about working together to make them a part of solving the problem. Every challenge has blind spots, but how they are framed makes all the difference. A good proposal acknowledges constraints without making them roadblocks. Write with practical optimism—one that energises, motivates, and inspires action rather than confuse it with complexity. So, if the proposal had to have a soul, all good proposals, discussions, and negotiations would be clear, distinct, and futuristic. They set the stage for the same frame of reference, establish a brand/ identity, and create momentum toward real solutions. Are your proposals structured for impact? I would love to hear how you approach this in your work. Let’s discuss it! #Leadership #Communication #Strategy Sameeksha Gupta Sonia Duggal Neha Bharti Anamika Sai Ravin Carr

Good decisions die in messy docs. If you want clarity and speed, compress it. One page. Five sections. No fluff. 1. Context – Why we’re here and what’s at stake. 2. Options – The real alternatives we considered. 3. Risk – Trade-offs, uncertainties, and what could break. 4. Choice – The decision, and the “why” behind it. 5. Follow-Ups – Who owns what, and by when. This format does 3 things well: Forces clear thinking. Speeds alignment. Leaves a record for future you. If your team debates endlessly or revisits decisions over and over, try the one-page memo for your next meeting. You’ll feel the difference.

You sent a price. They went silent. Happens all the time. Why? Because price without context feels like cost. And buyers can’t sell cost internally. Now compare that to collaborating with your buyer: • Clarifying the problem • Quantifying the business impact • Defining desired outcomes • Building an implementation and risk plan • Assigning owners and dates The result? A proposal they helped shape - anchored in value, not just price. It’s no longer your proposal. It’s theirs. Collaborate on what they need to sell internally - with conviction..

"We don't have a marketing budget - we're open to your ideas!" Often, this statement translates to, "I don't know how to value our goals, so I'm unsure about what to spend to achieve them." Yet, 99% of agencies respond with, "No worries! We'll draft a proposal with various cost options." This approach is as ineffective as a chocolate fireguard. Instead, here's a more productive approach: ask the right questions upfront. When a brand says they don't have a budget, you might respond with: "Could you share the results you're aiming for?" They might say: "My boss wants us to gain 15,000 new customers in the next 12 months. Our average order value is about £90." You can then say: "Great! So, £90 x 15,000 new customers equals £1.35M in additional revenue. What do you think would be a realistic spend to achieve this in the next 12 months? Typically, investing 10-15% of the desired outcome is a good benchmark. So, a budget of £135,000 - £200,000 should give us a strong chance of hitting your targets. Does that sound fair?" If they reply: "That's more than we're willing to spend right now," You might respond with: "Our priority is your success. Would you be open to adjusting your targets? Spending 10-15% of the desired outcome is a realistic approach for potential returns." They might say: "I can get approval for £100,000, but I'll need to discuss lowering our target with my boss." And voilà! You've established a marketing budget. It might not be the ideal budget for the desired outcome, but at least you've had a mature discussion about expectations versus budget. Now, you can decide whether to work within that budget or help them understand the need for a larger investment. If you can't align, it's okay to walk away. But if they're open to discussing budget and setting achievable KPIs, proceed. This process doesn’t have to be complicated. Keep it simple and straightforward.

6 months ago, this consultancy wasted 20 hours on ONE proposal and thought it was normal. Today, it takes 4 - and they're on track to 2X ARR without a single extra salesperson. Here's how the @Incepteo team built the agentic AI solution that drove their success: In October 2024, I got an email from John (name hidden), the sales director of a London consultancy who specializes in public sector cost reduction. PwC and Deloitte – his primary competitors – were integrating AI into their sales and operations. He wanted to know how he could leverage it too. To help, I took him through our signature @Incepteo process: 1) Hosted a Discovery Workshop I hosted a quick discovery workshop to help John identify areas in his business workflow that could leverage AI. As we were brainstorming ideas, I asked him how much time his team spent on proposals. John told me it had been a huge pain point for years: • Each proposal required over a month to complete • Every word was written manually If AI could help them create high-quality proposals faster, they could focus more on closing deals. Using this information, we… 2) Built the System My team and I built a custom agentic AI proposal writing system with the aim of taking off the majority of his team's workload. This task wasn't something that simple GPT could handle. GPT (and other LLMs) can talk and generate content, but they struggle to • Process large, complex business documents • Understand structure & context beyond generic training data To fix this, we used Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), a method that helps LLMs pull answers from specific knowledge (in this case, business documents). We trained the system on 5 years' worth of John's best proposals to ensure accuracy and consistency. Then, we added an agentic approach on top —a multi-step AI workflow where specialized AI agents work together to handle critical steps:   → Researcher – Gathers insights, analyzes documents, and understands requirements. → Writer – Structures the proposal, aligns it with the right templates, and drafts the content. → Reviewer – Reviews, validates, and flags inconsistencies in a checklist. → Finalizer – Organizes everything into a Word document for human review.   It's like having a team of clever assistants working together! 3) The Result John has just gone live with this system. Using this system, his company: • Cut proposal creation time from 1 month to 1 week • Reclaimed 50% of their time for their sales team • Gained potential to 2x revenue AI didn't replace his writers. It made their lives easier so that they can build relationships & work on high level tasks. This project even inspired us to rebuild our own proposal system. More on that soon :)