Business proposal example. Basic commercial offers. Basic rules for developing a business letter

Today, no introductions or preludes - just a dry summary of how to compose Commercial offer(compred, CP). We will consider the main approaches and principles on clear examples. Also, just below, I will provide templates and samples of the structure and text of a commercial proposal with links so that you can download them and adapt them to your needs. The purpose of this article is to teach you how to develop a CP that, first of all, will be read. And secondly, after reading it, they will respond and agree to the proposed deal. Ready? Then let's get started.

By the way, if it’s more convenient for you to watch a video, or you’re short on time, then I briefly talk about creating a CP in the 18th lesson of the course “Copywriting from scratch in 30 days”, take a look:

What is a commercial offer

Commercial offer is a marketing tool that is sent to the recipient by regular mail or email in order to get a response. A response is a transfer of a potential client to the next stage of communication (meeting, presentation or signing of an agreement). Depending on the type of CP, the specific tasks of the tool, as well as its volume and content, may differ.

Types of commercial offers

There are three types of comps: cold, hot and public offer. The first two types are used in marketing and sales. The third is in jurisprudence.

1. “Cold” commercial offer

“Cold” commercial proposals are sent to an unprepared client (“cold”). Essentially, it's spam. As practice shows, people don’t really like spam, but if it interests them, then... it becomes an exception to the rule. For this type of CP to work, you need a high-quality target list (list of recipients). The “cleaner” this list is, the higher the response. If the target list contains general addresses like [email protected], then the efficiency of the compressor is a priori reduced by 80-90%.

Let's take a spicy situation as an example. Let’s say the head of the sales department of company N has a plan “on fire”. A little less than two weeks before the report, he is tearing his hair out, not knowing what to do, and receives an email with something like this heading: “5 ways to fulfill the monthly sales department plan in a week.” Tada-a-am! This is the salvation of the situation! And the person reads the main text, in which the service we offer is hidden among the methods.

But that's just special case. The main task of a “cold” commercial proposal is to force the recipient to read it to the end. Make a mistake and the letter ends up in the trash.

This is why when developing a cold gearbox, three main risks of ejection are taken into account:

1. At the receiving stage. Costs to attract attention. This can be the subject of the email if the commercial proposal is sent by e-mail, or a custom envelope with a color or form factor if the delivery channel is physical, etc.
2. At the opening stage. It gets by with an attractive offer (it’s also called an “offer”), we’ll talk about it a little lower.
3. At the reading stage. It gets around using elements of persuasion and marketing tricks. We will also talk about them below.

Please note: the volume of a “cold” commercial proposal, as a rule, is 1-2 pages of printed text, no more. This is due to the fact that the recipient is not initially inclined to read the CP, and even more so he will not read it if the volume exceeds 10-20 pages.

The main advantage of a “cold” commercial proposal is its mass appeal, but practice shows that when the proposal is personalized, the response to it is much higher.

2. “Hot” commercial offer

Unlike “cold” analogues, a “hot” commercial offer is sent to a prepared client (a person who himself requested a proposal or who was previously contacted by a manager).

“Hot” CPs differ from “cold” ones both in volume (which can be 10-15 pages or slides) and in the approach to compilation. More importantly, they provide a person with information of interest for making a decision (on price, availability, conditions, etc.). IN Lately“hot” commercial offers, designed in the form of PowerPoint presentations or translated from PowerPoint to PDF format.

Read more about hot comps in.

3. Offer

This is a special type of comprades, made in the form of a public agreement that does not require signing. It is used on the websites of various SaaS services or in online stores. As soon as a person fulfills the terms of the contract (for example, registers on the site), he automatically accepts the terms of the offer.

Commercial proposal offer

Not to be confused with an offer. This is completely different. To create a truly powerful commercial offer, you will need a killer offer - the “heart” of your offer (English offer - to offer). That's the point. In other words, a clear statement of what exactly you are offering. In this case, it is advisable to indicate the essence at the very beginning (this especially applies to “cold” CP).

Please note: the offer is ALWAYS aimed at benefiting the reader, and not at goods or services! The easiest way to compose it is according to the formula: we offer you (benefit) due to (product)

Every day I come across commercial proposals, the authors of which step on the same rake again and again (don’t repeat it!):

• We offer you office furniture
• We invite you to attend the seminar
• We invite you to order website promotion from us
• We offer you to wash your floors

And so on... This is a gross mistake. Look around: competitors offer the same thing. But most importantly, there is no benefit for the recipient. Absolutely no way. What will he gain from this? What benefits will it receive?

At the same time, these sentences can be “flipped”, made more personal and reader-oriented. For example:

• I suggest you save up to $5,000 on furnishing your office with luxurious European furniture.
• I suggest you increase your company's turnover by 20-70%, thanks to the information you receive at the seminar.
• I suggest you attract hundreds of new potential clients at a price of 1.5 rubles per person.
• I suggest you reduce the incidence of colds among your employees (and the number of sick days, respectively) through daily wet cleaning.

You get the idea. The main thing is to convey to the recipient the benefits that you offer him, and goods and services are a way to receive this benefit. Read more about the offer in .

In its structure, a commercial proposal is somewhat reminiscent of a selling text. And this is natural, since commercial text is a special case of a commercial text. But there is one element that sets compreads apart from the mass of other tools. This is an offer. However, let's talk about everything in order.

0. Footer

The footer most often includes a logo (so that the CP is identified with a specific company) and contact information with a mini-appeal. This is done to save time and space. One has only to look at top part document - he already knows what it is about and how to contact you. Very comfortably. The size of the footer, as a rule, does not exceed 2 cm. After all, for a cold compressor in A4 format, every centimeter counts. Look at how I would put together a proposal for, say, my blog. In this case, I sell content in exchange for readers' time.

1. Title of the commercial proposal

Vital element. Especially for a “cold” gearbox. Its task is to attract attention and immediately hook it with benefits.

Note: When we're talking about about a “cold” proposal, the heading “Commercial proposal” is not the best option. If only because it is uninformative, takes up space and is no different from dozens of others that your competitors send. In addition, if a person does not expect letters from you and receives something so abstract, he reflexively makes several clicks: “select” and “add to spam.”

At the same time, for a “hot” commercial offer, such a headline is more than appropriate if the company name is indicated next.

In my practice, headings work best (not to be confused with the subject cover letter!) according to the 4U formula. I talk about them in detail. In today's sample sales pitch, the headline is a combination of a headline and a subhead.

Lead (first paragraph)

The main task of a lead is to arouse interest in what you are saying. Otherwise, people simply will not listen to you. Well, or literally, then read your commercial proposal. The lead always talks about what is important to the client. To do this, four approaches are used:

1. From the problem (most often)
2. From the solution (if there is no problem as such)
3. From objections (if relevant)
4. From emotions (very rarely)

In my example, I used a “from the problem” approach, take a look. Below I will show a few more samples with other approaches.

3. Offer

I already talked about creating an offer a little higher. The offer should interest the recipient in the benefits so much that he continues reading your commercial offer. Practice shows that if the offer is not interesting to the reader, the commercial proposal goes straight to the trash can (the second wave of discarding).

For an offer you can use either general formula with benefit, or the so-called amplifier bundle:

• Product + product at a good price
• Product+service
• Product + gift, etc.

At the end of the offer, I recommend making a graphic anchor (if space allows). It thins out the text mass and adds “air”. In addition, it makes your business proposal easy to scan. Look at the offer and graphic anchor I made in the sample commercial proposal for my blog. In your commercial proposal, you can use as an anchor a visualization of the goods supplied or the main areas of services, plus prices (if they are competitive for you).

4. Benefits for the client

The next block is the benefits blog. In other words, this is a transfer of what a person receives when he agrees to your commercial offer. It is important to be able to distinguish benefits from properties and characteristics. I wrote more in .

For example, in a sample CP for readers of my blog, I can cite the following benefits. Please note: the benefit block has a subtitle that is always directed towards the reader.

5. Processing of objections

It is not always possible to insert all objection handlers into the commercial proposal. But even so, the main ones can be closed by simply answering the questions: “Who are you?”, “Why can you be trusted?”, “Who is already using your services?”, “Geography of presence,” etc. Look at my sample CP for the blog. I handle the objection by answering the question “Who is the author and can he be trusted?”

Blocks with social proof or authority triggers are often used as objection handlers. Finally, another powerful sales persuasive technique is guarantees. In this case, the guarantees can be as expected (12 months for office equipment), and unexpected (if something breaks down, the company makes repairs at its own expense, and provides a similar model of equipment for the duration of the repair).

To inspire even more trust, tell us about your company, without unnecessary praise - specifically and to the point. Just the facts.

6. Call to action

Another essential attribute the right commercial proposal is a call. In this case, there should be only one call (calling for one specific action): most often it is a call, but it can also be an application on the website or a visit to the sales department. The maximum is an alternative: call or send an Email.

Note: the call should be a strong verb, so the response will be higher.

Compare:

• Call me (strong verb)
• You can call (weak verb, the effect will be lower)

And one more important point. You will be surprised, but sometimes people who develop business proposals forget to include contact information in them. It turns out to be a comical situation: the recipient of the CP wants to order a product or service, but physically cannot do this because he does not know where to go.

In my sample, I put the call in the footer.

7. Postscript

The final one, and at the same time one of the most important elements of all “killer” commercial offers - this is a postscript (P.S.). At correct use The postscript becomes a very powerful motivating lever. Practice shows that people read postscripts most often (after captions under pictures). That’s why, if you want to strengthen your commercial offer, then the cherished letters P.S. It is advisable to take it into service.

In addition, you can insert a restriction (deadline) into the postscript. Many people miss this point of the structure. And if, in the case of sending a “hot” commercial proposal, the manager can call and remind about himself, then in the case of a “cold” proposal, the absence of a restriction can deprive the company of more than half of the responses.

You can limit either in the context of time or in the context of the quantity of goods. For example:

• There are only 5 fax machines left.
• The offer is valid only until August 31, from September 1 the price will double.

It is worth mentioning that if you make a restriction, then you must keep your promises. And not so that you promise to double the price tomorrow, but the next day you don’t do this, but promise the same thing.

Ready-made commercial proposal sample

If we connect all the blocks, we will get this sample commercial proposal. It's universal. I adapted it for selling various goods and services: from logistics to rolled metal. In some places it worked better, in others worse. But everywhere it justified itself and paid for itself. The only thing is to remember to keep the target sheet clean.

Another one strong point this sample is easy to scan. A person understands what we offer him in a matter of seconds.

You can download this sample to your Google Drive using this link to adapt it to your task. There you can save it in RTF, MS Word or PDF formats. The compilation algorithm is below.

How to write a commercial proposal (algorithm)

To correctly draw up a commercial proposal, you need:

Step 1: Take the sample from the link above as a basis.

Step 2: Replace the logo, slogan and contacts with your own.

Step 3: develop a header using the 4U formula.

Step 4: Describe the client’s real “pain” in the first paragraph.

Step 5: Create an offer with a solution for the “pain”.

Step 6: Make a graphic separator.

Step 7: Describe the additional benefits of your proposal.

Step 8: Eliminate key objections or briefly introduce yourself.

Step 9: Make a call to action, write P.S. with a deadline.

Other commercial proposal samples

Based on the above structure, you can also compose purely textual comps. Let's look at samples of commercial proposals for the supply of goods and transport services. Despite the fact that they do not have graphic separators, the order of the blocks in them is identical. Pay attention to the objection handler “If you already have a supplier.” This technique is called psychological adjustment and is described in detail in the book “The Laws of Influence” by Susan Weinschenk.

a) Sample commercial proposal for transport services

Welcome to the magazine about business and finance “Rabota-Tam”.

The popularity of business commercial proposals (CP) is not unfounded, if we take into account the effectiveness indicators of such documents. In addition, today search services are simply bursting with requests from users of the format: “How to make a commercial proposal correctly?” In fact, no way.

Yes, because the commercial offer is a kind of Olivier salad, which has various variations of preparation: from sausage with peas to hazel grouse with capers. And it’s hard to call each of these recipes “wrong”.

However, now we will still dot the i’s so that you can write an impeccable business proposal in accordance with the high standards of modern marketing art!

So, a commercial proposal is one of numerous types advertising text, which is compiled in the form business letter or official appeal. Due to its simplicity and effectiveness, it is certainly the most popular way to attract target audience potential consumers. And also an equally common tool for interacting with regular customers.

There are several types of business proposals:

• "cold";
• "hot";
• standardized.

It is worth understanding that each of these CP options must be written taking into account the form, structure of the letterhead template, as well as the circumstances and goals that can be set not only by the writer of the letter, but also by the receiving party.

Cold offer

“Cold” commercial offers are sent impromptu. Therefore, the recipients of such letters are unprepared clients who perceive the CP as spam. But even it can have a response, although the likelihood of reflection on the part of the recipient is quite small.

Let's simulate the situation. For example, the organizers of the regional sports competition did not bother to purchase sports uniforms for the participants. There are only a few hours left before the start of the event. And then, out of nowhere, a letter arrives with the title: “Express delivery of sports uniforms at prices from the manufacturer.” This is where the potential client will probably carefully study the life-saving CP, and then place an order.

But this is just an exception to the rule. Everywhere, the fundamental functions of “cold” advertising come down to the distribution of interactive advertising. In view of this, you have to arouse the consumer’s interest in reading of this document. How to do it:

1. Come up with a catchy and catchy title.
2. Emphasize the attractiveness of the commercial proposal by correctly composing the offer.
3. Motivate the recipient to take action towards mutually beneficial cooperation using marketing techniques.

We will examine each of these elements a little later.

Important! Perfect example a commercial proposal of a “cold” type should not exceed 1 A4 page of exclusively printed text and 2 pages of an illustrated template.

If you have additional information, it is better to state it in a cover letter. And under no circumstances write “novels” in the style of Leo Tolstoy; business people simply do not have enough time to read them.

“Hot” – personal commercial offer

A personalized commercial offer differs from a “cold” one in that the client receives such a document only after an official request or preliminary verbal contact. Those. the guarantee of reading a personal letter is prohibitively high, so the main semantic load should fall on the offer and motivational component, and the title may be of secondary importance.

In turn, the complexity of drawing up “hot” commercial proposals is burdened by the need to adjust the text to the individual needs of each customer.

For example, if during a conversation the client was interested in the advantages of your organization over competitor firms, write about the advantages by specifying the lion's share CP form for this structural element.

Standardized commercial offer

In fact, a standardized business proposal is one of the types of “hot” proposals. However, due to its strictly regulated structure and methods of influencing the customer, it falls under separate species business letter.

The thing is that the client can attach to the official request standard form, which limits the compiler in terms of describing goods and services, principles of cooperation, advantages over competitors, etc.

In standardized CPs, dry numbers play a decisive role: price-quality ratio, warranty service and contractor experience.

It will not be possible to write something on your own initiative, because the attached sample form is designed to filter out marketing information that is unnecessary for market monitoring.

In such cases, the only thing you can do is offer the lowest price. It is enough to even make a 1-5% discount in order to have a significant chance of winning the competitive selection.

Covering letter

We have already touched on the topic of the cover letter above. It serves as a complement to the business proposal, pursuing the following goals:

• familiarization with the main document;
• proportional distribution of large amounts of information.

Moreover, the cover letter may contain attachments: price lists, descriptions of terms of cooperation, invitations to trade shows or any other marketing events.

Secondly, with the help of an accompanying notice, you can also remind yourself and indirectly encourage the recipient to study the template of the original document.

Commercial proposal samples and templates

Better to see once than hear a hundred times. You can't argue with that. Therefore, you can’t do without samples and templates. However, never repeat the classic mistakes of irresponsible authors of commercial proposals - 100% copying of information or 50% compilation from two sources. After all, if stolen content is exposed, who will then want to cooperate with a company that has proven itself in this way?

The commercial offer plays an important role in the promotion and development of the company.

With a correctly drawn up commercial offer, the volume of orders and sales increases, which, accordingly, increases profits.

Types of commercial offers

There are two types of them: “cold” and “hot” commercial offers.

• With a “cold” commercial offer, the shipment is made to an unprepared client. In other words, it's spam. People most often are not particularly enthusiastic about such mailings, but the main task of a commercial proposal is to interest a potential client and get the letter to be read to the end. The most important advantage of a “cold” commercial offer is its mass appeal and large audience reach. However, in practice, responses are more responsive from commercial offers coming to a specific, specific person.
• The second type of commercial offer is a “hot” offer, which is sent at the request of the client himself or with whom negotiations have already been conducted. Recently, a commercial offer in the form of a presentation has become increasingly popular.

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Commercial offer structure

It is advisable for each company to have its own commercial proposal template.

1. Title. It plays a huge role, especially with a “cold” commercial offer. The title should be catchy, intriguing, attract maximum attention and make you want to read the entire letter.
2. Offer. On at this stage It is necessary to arouse the interest of the recipient of the letter with the potential benefit for him so that he continues to read the offer letter.
3. Belief. Here you need to convince the client that he needs this particular product (service), and he must place the order through the company that sent the letter.
4. Limitation. Many people forget about this point, but it is necessary. On a subconscious level, it forces a person to study the product more carefully (if the quantity of goods in the commercial offer is limited) or to immediately focus on the timing (if the commercial offer is valid only for a certain period).
5. Next comes the call. It should be short but strong, calling for a specific action.
6. Don't forget about your contacts and provide as complete information as possible.

In your commercial proposal, try to include reviews of the company’s work, visual images, and photographs.

And remember that a correctly drawn up commercial proposal is already half the success!

Below is a standard form and a sample commercial proposal template, a version of which can be downloaded for free.

The first document, based on the content and design of which the client forms an impression of the seller, is Commercial offer. Based on its competent preparation, a potential client judges the professionalism of employees, the maturity of the company and their own benefit. Whether or not the relationship between the supplier and the client will develop in the future largely depends on the unique commercial offer.

Alas, sometimes one glance is enough to understand whether to read the proposal further, or immediately send it to the trash as spam. The Russian proverb “One meets people by their clothes” is more appropriate in this case than ever. Hence the conclusion: the sales manager’s task is to create a readable, competent, attractive commercial proposal, beautifully designed and beneficial to his client.

In this article, a commercial proposal is understood not only as a document with the same name, a seller’s companion in sales negotiations, but also a selling article on the website, and an oral presentation of the proposal, which would also be good to write and rehearse in advance.

What is a commercial offer

This is a working tool for absolutely any sale, a kind of business card every company. A commercial proposal differs from a price list or description in that it does not just contain some information, its purpose is to encourage a specific action. After reading the commercial offer, the client must do something: pick up the phone and arrange a meeting, ideally be ready to buy.

A commercial proposal is a kind of marker that reveals the professionalism of the manager.

A commercial offer is main document any company that talks about an offer in a short or detailed form, the main goal of which is to sell, increase the average bill, attract the largest number clients, as a result - increased profits.

How many commercial proposals do you need to write? Much, moreover, this document cannot be static, drawn up once, once and for all. The company is growing, its product line, product matrix, terms of cooperation are changing, and the professionalism of the team is increasing. Along with these changes, the commercial offer is constantly supplemented, formed and changed many times. Moreover, it is written for each target audience separately, in a language that only they understand.

The commercial offer for cold and warm contact will differ dramatically. Each person making a purchasing decision also needs a separate offer. A business owner cannot write the same sales letter as an employee - these people have different goals and objectives, which means that the proposal will focus on their own points of persuasion.

Rules for making a commercial offer

The commercial proposal is written either on letterhead company, or is issued according to the following rules:

A small company logo is placed on the main page, but everything Bank details there is no need to write in the header, it overloads the page and distracts from main goal document;

All text is maintained in the same style, written in the same font and color, it is only possible to highlight the main subsections of the sentence in bold;

The appeal to the potential client is written in the middle of the page and is specific and personalized;

The recipient of the commercial proposal is reflected in the upper right corner, where his position, company and last name, first name, patronymic are indicated;

The signature in the proposal is clear, deciphered, indicating the position of the person drawing up this document, his telephone number, email address, actual address of the company, website and operating hours;

All information must be in strict form, aligned along the edge;

Abbreviations, slang expressions, and acronyms are not allowed in the text;

Commercial proposals for the cold market do not indicate product prices, do not include long diagrams, detailed applications and price lists. All this information is sent only to the interested client upon his separate request.

Rules for drawing up the text of a commercial proposal

1. Benefit for the client. Any text itself important document The company's introduction must answer the client's question, “Why should he buy the product from you?” That is, in the very first lines of the text you need to indicate the benefit for the client. The most common mistake in writing business proposals is to start your story with a long and detailed description own merits. I call such texts a “board of honor”; the question always arises after reading: “so what?” What should I do after reading this iconostasis of regalia? Feel respect? So what is next? As practice shows, the client most often skips these offers and automatically looks for his own benefits and benefits with his eyes.

This means that the task of a smart manager is to help the client quickly find attention hooks in the text, highlighting the headings “Advantages of working with us”, “It’s beneficial because...” into separate subsections. In these sections you can add your own merits: “Our company has a market share...”, “We have been providing services in this segment of offerings for the second ten years...”.

2. Second rule - be able to speak the client's language. Every business environment has its own internal lexicon. Knowing and using them is the task of a professional. At the same time, it is important to adhere to the norms, avoiding excesses.

An example from the practice of the owner of a business newsletter with more than 40,000 subscribers, providing paid services for everyone who wants to notify the world about their offer: “A serious Moscow business center turns to us for this service, sends a commercial offer to the mailing list with an invitation to a paid seminar. I open the text and... have difficulty understanding what it is about. The text is replete with special terms borrowed from English technical language. I’m trying to convey the idea to the customer that most likely there will be no feedback on such a proposal: not everyone wants to admit their own misunderstanding. Moreover, the proposed service of attending a seminar is quite expensive, and not everyone can afford it.

The correspondence with the customer reached a dead end, because I received a firm and specific decision: “We don’t need people at the seminar who don’t understand what we’re talking about.” It’s a matter of business, I tried to help him, to translate the text into the language of the reader of our audience. As a result, the customer did not receive a single response from the forty thousand consumer mass.”

In a commercial proposal, it is important to learn to speak three languages ​​with your potential client: the language of facts, the language of benefits and the language of benefits. Try right now, after reading the article, to break down your own commercial proposal into these three components.

Language of facts- these are all the company’s achievements (how many years on the market, how many retail outlets, what is the assortment matrix, service capabilities, well-functioning logistics, professional training of the team, and so on).

Benefits language- this is what distinguishes your offer from competitors’ offers, in fact, it is unique trade proposal. If a company is a home for giants, provides services only to blondes, or sells products exclusively to astronauts, this is already unique in the market. If a company is similar in its offering to thousands of others, you need to look for uniqueness, creating it in the service or product offering in order to differentiate yourself from a competitor.

Benefit language- the most important aspect for the client, which can tip the scales towards accepting your offer. This is beneficial because it allows... What follows is a clear and specific list of benefits: it saves nerves, money, resources, and the like.

In this case, the language of facts is always transferred to the very end of the text of the commercial proposal.

What not to write in a commercial proposal

A commercial proposal is an official document, therefore humor and jokes are inappropriate in it, especially banal, flat, vulgar ones. True, there is one exception to this point: if the proposal is written as an invitation to an evening of humor, or services are offered whose purpose is to create a festive, cheerful atmosphere, humor can play a decisive role in influencing final decision client. However, tact, dose and timeliness, freshness are important here.

No jargon, sexual innuendo or obscene language. What cynical person can afford it in a narrow circle, it is prohibited to transfer it into the text of the commercial proposal. Otherwise, the client may regard it as an insult, stupidity, or flirtation.

Deliberate lies and empty promises are not allowed in a commercial offer. Once you lie, who will believe you? If for some reason the company cannot, does not want, or does not know how to do something, there is no need to promise it in the text. You cannot write such sentences in the text: “We will increase the level of your sales significantly.” Will everything depend on your efforts? If the client’s company does not have established business processes, staff are not trained and there is no serious marketing support, it is unlikely that your offer will be able to significantly increase the client’s profit.

It is forbidden to write anything negative in the text of a commercial offer. I recently received the following sentence by email from some esoteric magician: “Did your loved one leave you? Is your business falling apart? Are you tormented by aging diseases? Are you constantly having troubles at work? We will help you, even from a distance, we will solve all your problems." What should a client who does not have such problems do? What feelings and emotions does this text evoke?

Another prohibition in writing the text of a proposal is touching on issues of nationality, religion, race and gender. For any company, all clients are equal; chauvinism and discrimination have no place in sales. This is a taboo in any negotiation practices when building long-term relationships with clients.

The most important thing is that after sending your commercial proposal, you do not receive an anecdotal response from your potential client: “We carefully studied your commercial proposal and decided to buy a batch of the weed you smoke from you.”

To whom should I send a commercial proposal?

Direct marketing, fan distribution of commercial offers by email, is a serious science that also requires certain knowledge. Therefore, it is not recommended to send out your proposal to everyone without special preparation. A much greater response will be given by mailing to specific client bases of potential customers, or those consumers who have ever contacted the company.

Where can you get such a client base? These can be independently generated lists of the company’s clients, or thematic client databases purchased on exchanges. To understand who will be interested in your product, your offer, it is important to create a portrait of your consumer. When my clients tell me that consumers, say, drinking water That's it, I'm smiling. It is clear that everyone needs clean drinking water, but some consumers drink only spring water, melt water, and some are already clients of others brands drinking water, and some prefer not to spend money on water that can be drunk from the tap. Each segment of these consumers can become a client of this company, but you need to work with them point-by-point; just sending a commercial proposal cannot do it.

There is a proprietary “excuse” for potential clients: after a cold call to the company, they ask the manager to send them a commercial proposal by fax. Many sellers know a similar trick; in professional slang it is called “send by fax.” The client cannot refuse immediately by coming up with such an excuse. Therefore, it is recommended that all managers resort to a tiny deception, saying that the fax does not work, and arrange a live meeting at a time convenient for the client.

A commercial offer can become a selling tool in in capable hands, and a waste of time with unqualified handling.

Zhanna Pyatirikova specially for the business portal BZZN.ru

Today, no introductions or preludes - just a dry summary of how to draw up a commercial proposal (compred, CP). We will look at the basic approaches and principles using illustrative examples. Also, just below, I will provide templates and samples of the structure and text of a commercial proposal with links so that you can download them and adapt them to your needs. The purpose of this article is to teach you how to develop a CP that, first of all, will be read. And secondly, after reading it, they will respond and agree to the proposed deal. Ready? Then let's get started.

By the way, if it’s more convenient for you to watch a video, or you’re short on time, then I briefly talk about creating a CP in the 18th lesson of the course “Copywriting from scratch in 30 days”, take a look:

What is a commercial offer

Commercial offer is a marketing tool that is sent to the recipient by regular mail or email in order to get a response. A response is a transfer of a potential client to the next stage of communication (meeting, presentation or signing of an agreement). Depending on the type of CP, the specific tasks of the tool, as well as its volume and content, may differ.

Types of commercial offers

There are three types of comps: cold, hot and public offer. The first two types are used in marketing and sales. The third is in jurisprudence.

1. “Cold” commercial offer

“Cold” commercial proposals are sent to an unprepared client (“cold”). Essentially, it's spam. As practice shows, people don’t really like spam, but if it interests them, then... it becomes an exception to the rule. For this type of CP to work, you need a high-quality target list (list of recipients). The “cleaner” this list is, the higher the response. If the target list contains general addresses like [email protected], then the efficiency of the compressor is a priori reduced by 80-90%.

Let's take a spicy situation as an example. Let’s say the head of the sales department of company N has a plan “on fire”. A little less than two weeks before the report, he is tearing his hair out, not knowing what to do, and receives an email with something like this heading: “5 ways to fulfill the monthly sales department plan in a week.” Tada-a-am! This is the salvation of the situation! And the person reads the main text, in which the service we offer is hidden among the methods.

But this is just a special case. The main task of a “cold” commercial proposal is to force the recipient to read it to the end. Make a mistake and the letter ends up in the trash.

This is why when developing a cold gearbox, three main risks of ejection are taken into account:

1. At the receiving stage. Costs to attract attention. This could be a subject line if the quote is sent by email, or a custom envelope with color or form factor if the delivery channel is physical, etc.
2. At the opening stage. It gets by with an attractive offer (it’s also called an “offer”), we’ll talk about it a little lower.
3. At the reading stage. It gets around using elements of persuasion and marketing tricks. We will also talk about them below.

Please note: the volume of a “cold” commercial proposal, as a rule, is 1-2 pages of printed text, no more. This is due to the fact that the recipient is not initially inclined to read the CP, and even more so he will not read it if the volume exceeds 10-20 pages.

The main advantage of a “cold” commercial proposal is its mass appeal, but practice shows that when the proposal is personalized, the response to it is much higher.

2. “Hot” commercial offer

Unlike “cold” analogues, a “hot” commercial offer is sent to a prepared client (a person who himself requested a proposal or who was previously contacted by a manager).

“Hot” CPs differ from “cold” ones both in volume (which can be 10-15 pages or slides) and in the approach to compilation. More importantly, they provide a person with information of interest for making a decision (on price, availability, conditions, etc.). Recently, “hot” commercial offers, issued in PowerPoint view presentations or translated from PowerPoint to PDF format.

Read more about hot comps in.

3. Offer

This is a special type of comprades, made in the form of a public agreement that does not require signing. It is used on the websites of various SaaS services or in online stores. As soon as a person fulfills the terms of the contract (for example, registers on the site), he automatically accepts the terms of the offer.

Commercial proposal offer

Not to be confused with an offer. This is completely different. To create a truly powerful commercial offer, you will need a killer offer - the “heart” of your offer (English offer - to offer). That's the point. In other words, a clear statement of what exactly you are offering. In this case, it is advisable to indicate the essence at the very beginning (this especially applies to “cold” CP).

Please note: the offer is ALWAYS aimed at benefiting the reader, and not at goods or services! The easiest way to compose it is according to the formula: we offer you (benefit) due to (product)

Every day I come across commercial proposals, the authors of which step on the same rake again and again (don’t repeat it!):

• We offer you office furniture
• We invite you to attend the seminar
• We invite you to order website promotion from us
• We offer you to wash your floors

And so on... This is a gross mistake. Look around: competitors offer the same thing. But most importantly, there is no benefit for the recipient. Absolutely no way. What will he gain from this? What benefits will it receive?

At the same time, these sentences can be “flipped”, made more personal and reader-oriented. For example:

• I suggest you save up to $5,000 on furnishing your office with luxurious European furniture.
• I suggest you increase your company's turnover by 20-70%, thanks to the information you receive at the seminar.
• I suggest you attract hundreds of new potential clients at a price of 1.5 rubles per person.
• I suggest you reduce the incidence of colds among your employees (and the number of sick days, respectively) through daily wet cleaning.

You get the idea. The main thing is to convey to the recipient the benefits that you offer him, and goods and services are a way to receive this benefit. Read more about the offer in .

In its structure, a commercial proposal is somewhat reminiscent of a selling text. And this is natural, since commercial text is a special case of a commercial text. But there is one element that sets compreads apart from the mass of other tools. This is an offer. However, let's talk about everything in order.

0. Footer

The footer most often includes a logo (so that the CP is identified with a specific company) and contact information with a mini-appeal. This is done to save time and space. As soon as a person looks at the top of the document, he already knows what is being discussed and how to contact you. Very comfortably. The size of the footer, as a rule, does not exceed 2 cm. After all, for a cold compressor in A4 format, every centimeter counts. Look at how I would put together a proposal for, say, my blog. In this case, I sell content in exchange for readers' time.

1. Title of the commercial proposal

Vital element. Especially for a “cold” gearbox. Its task is to attract attention and immediately hook it with benefits.

Note: When it comes to a “cold” proposal, the title “Commercial proposal” is not the best option. If only because it is uninformative, takes up space and is no different from dozens of others that your competitors send. In addition, if a person does not expect letters from you and receives something so abstract, he reflexively makes several clicks: “select” and “add to spam.”

At the same time, for a “hot” commercial offer, such a headline is more than appropriate if the company name is indicated next.

In my practice, headlines (not to be confused with the subject line of the cover letter!) work best using the 4U formula. I talk about them in detail. In today's sample sales pitch, the headline is a combination of a headline and a subhead.

Lead (first paragraph)

The main task of a lead is to arouse interest in what you are saying. Otherwise, people simply will not listen to you. Well, or literally, then read your commercial proposal. The lead always talks about what is important to the client. To do this, four approaches are used:

1. From the problem (most often)
2. From the solution (if there is no problem as such)
3. From objections (if relevant)
4. From emotions (very rarely)

In my example, I used a “from the problem” approach, take a look. Below I will show a few more samples with other approaches.

3. Offer

I already talked about creating an offer a little higher. The offer should interest the recipient in the benefits so much that he continues reading your commercial offer. Practice shows that if the offer is not interesting to the reader, the commercial proposal goes straight to the trash can (the second wave of discarding).

For an offer, you can use either a general formula with benefits, or the so-called amplifier link:

• Product + product at a good price
• Product+service
• Product + gift, etc.

At the end of the offer, I recommend making a graphic anchor (if space allows). It thins out the text mass and adds “air”. In addition, it makes your business proposal easy to scan. Look at the offer and graphic anchor I made in the sample commercial proposal for my blog. In your commercial proposal, you can use as an anchor a visualization of the goods supplied or the main areas of services, plus prices (if they are competitive for you).

4. Benefits for the client

The next block is the benefits blog. In other words, this is a transfer of what a person receives when he agrees to your commercial offer. It is important to be able to distinguish benefits from properties and characteristics. I wrote more in .

For example, in a sample CP for readers of my blog, I can cite the following benefits. Please note: the benefit block has a subtitle that is always directed towards the reader.

5. Processing of objections

It is not always possible to insert all objection handlers into the commercial proposal. But even so, the main ones can be closed by simply answering the questions: “Who are you?”, “Why can you be trusted?”, “Who is already using your services?”, “Geography of presence,” etc. Look at my sample CP for the blog. I handle the objection by answering the question “Who is the author and can he be trusted?”

Blocks with social proof or authority triggers are often used as objection handlers. Finally, another powerful sales persuasive technique is guarantees. In this case, guarantees can be both expected (12 months for office equipment) and unexpected (if something breaks down, the company makes repairs at its own expense, and provides a similar model of equipment for the duration of the repair).

To inspire even more trust, tell us about your company, without unnecessary praise - specifically and to the point. Just the facts.

6. Call to action

Another essential attribute of a good commercial proposal is an appeal. In this case, there should be only one call (calling for one specific action): most often it is a call, but it can also be an application on the website or a visit to the sales department. The maximum is an alternative: call or send an Email.

Note: the call should be a strong verb, so the response will be higher.

Compare:

• Call me (strong verb)
• You can call (weak verb, the effect will be lower)

And one more important point. You will be surprised, but sometimes people who develop business proposals forget to include contact information in them. It turns out to be a comical situation: the recipient of the CP wants to order a product or service, but physically cannot do this because he does not know where to go.

In my sample, I put the call in the footer.

7. Postscript

The final, and at the same time one of the most important elements of all “killer” commercial proposals, is the postscript (P.S.). When used correctly, the postscript becomes a very powerful motivating lever. Practice shows that people read postscripts most often (after captions under pictures). That’s why, if you want to strengthen your commercial offer, then the cherished letters P.S. It is advisable to take it into service.

In addition, you can insert a restriction (deadline) into the postscript. Many people miss this point of the structure. And if, in the case of sending a “hot” commercial proposal, the manager can call and remind about himself, then in the case of a “cold” proposal, the absence of a restriction can deprive the company of more than half of the responses.

You can limit either in the context of time or in the context of the quantity of goods. For example:

• There are only 5 fax machines left.
• The offer is valid only until August 31, from September 1 the price will double.

It is worth mentioning that if you make a restriction, then you must keep your promises. And not so that you promise to double the price tomorrow, but the next day you don’t do this, but promise the same thing.

Ready-made commercial proposal sample

If we connect all the blocks, we will get this sample commercial proposal. It's universal. I adapted it for selling various goods and services: from logistics to rolled metal. In some places it worked better, in others worse. But everywhere it justified itself and paid for itself. The only thing is to remember to keep the target sheet clean.

Another strength of this sample is that it is easy to scan. A person understands what we offer him in a matter of seconds.

You can download this sample to your Google Drive using this link to adapt it to your task. There you can save it in RTF, MS Word or PDF formats. The compilation algorithm is below.

How to write a commercial proposal (algorithm)

To correctly draw up a commercial proposal, you need:

Step 1: Take the sample from the link above as a basis.

Step 2: Replace the logo, slogan and contacts with your own.

Step 3: develop a header using the 4U formula.

Step 4: Describe the client’s real “pain” in the first paragraph.

Step 5: Create an offer with a solution for the “pain”.

Step 6: Make a graphic separator.

Step 7: Describe the additional benefits of your proposal.

Step 8: Eliminate key objections or briefly introduce yourself.

Step 9: Make a call to action, write P.S. with a deadline.

Other commercial proposal samples

Based on the above structure, you can also compose purely textual comps. Let's look at samples of commercial proposals for the supply of goods and transport services. Despite the fact that they do not have graphic separators, the order of the blocks in them is identical. Pay attention to the objection handler “If you already have a supplier.” This technique is called psychological adjustment and is described in detail in the book “The Laws of Influence” by Susan Weinschenk.

a) Sample commercial proposal for transport services