inluminent

I just finished reviewing a proposal that one of my sales reps is sending to an agency and here are a few notes that I sent him… simple stuff, but useful. (Sometimes it amazes me how un-polished people’s Office skills are).

1. Use ‘tabs’ to space things out in Word vs. spacing things out manually using the ’space bar’. Using the ’space bar’ might align text in columns sometimes, but generally it won’t because letters aren’t the same width on each line that you’re trying to line up, and that’ll make the columns your trying to create appear ‘wrong’ to the reader. Tabs will save you a lot of time and guarantee that things are lived up better.
2. Use commas in dollar figures: $2,000 vs. $2000. Much easier to read.
3. Set pricing in round dollars per unit. Agencies (and clients for that matter) hate getting pricing like “$35.28″ per thousand impressions, or per inch, or per spot. Just round up if you have to. It makes it much easier to calculate things.
4. Adjust the margins on the document properly. Don’t use a 0″ margin at the top of documents and a 1″ margin at the bottom… It might affect display of the proposal on the recipients computer, or more likely, affect display of the document when it’s printed on a printer that has different settings that your printer.
5. In advertising sales, when an agency is involved, always quote prices in NET or GROSS terms. Most of the time, an agency will require GROSS quotes, but when they don’t, make sure you specify which way you’re quoting. They might reply to the proposal asking you to requote the way you didn’t quote, but at least they’ll know where you stand on your pricing.
6. If a graph or picture will help convey information, make sure you include it in the proposal, but try not to over do it. Proposals need to be short but actionable also.
7. Always attach technical specifications if the agency says they’ll be creating their own advertisements for an online campaign.
8. Send proposals as PDFs if possible to ensure the display of the proposal is the same for all recipients regardless of platform being used to view.

So, there are a few tips for you if you’re sending out a proposal… by all means that’s not all of the tips I’ve picked up over the years and I’ll try to share more in the future.