All entrepreneurs, freelancers and small businesses will need to send out business proposals to ensure steady operation and growth.
But sending them out via PDF or Word documents could be hurting your close rate.
The PDF file type is an outdated model that was invented in the 90s. Today, we’re using much faster and more capable mobiles that can do a lot, including being able to optimize text-rich media into a readable form.
If you really want your business plans to have a higher rate of success, consider webpage proposals. They’re definitely more advantageous compared to the PDF in a number of ways:
Benefits of Using Online Business Proposals
1. Web-based Plans Are Ultra Responsive
Having future clients open a PDF file on their smartphone often leads to disastrous results.
PDFs haven’t evolved with the times, and as such they’re clunky, stiff and can’t scale on smaller devices such as mobile phones and tablets. The problem is, most of us have tablets and smartphones, and if it’s not viewable on these platforms, we usually close it out instead of reading it to the end.
But not web pages. They’re optimized to be viewed comfortably on your client’s device, whether it be tablet, notebook or smartphone. When you create a web-based business plan you have a good chance that it engages your prospects more and they’ll read it to the end (if combined with an effectively written email.)
2. Online Business Plans Are Secure
Sending out a proposal in PDF is like sending a file- once they download it, they can do what they want, e.g., share, upload to their site, forwarded, etc. This could lead to several marketing and sales problems when the client sends it to a competitor for positioning, pricing and negotiation purposes.
Web pages are more secure as you can easily set a password, a time when the client can view the proposal or a limit to the number of visits. You control how people see your plan and ensure utmost privacy and security at all times.
3. Web Pages Are Made For Interaction
Aside from being flat, PDFs are large, static and non-interactive. While you can certainly put in some pictures, they’re not as intuitive as a web-based proposal.
You’ll quickly find that trying to interact with your client in a PDF platform will prove to be impossible. All the ideas, upsells and packages you want to offer won’t make it to a PDF.
On the other hand, a webpage can have various interactive content, including spreadsheets, forms, audio, video and others embedded with just one click. Tools such as pricing calculators are a welcome sight if your client would want to find out the total price as they tally upsells without having to open a calculator app.
4. They’re Trackable
With PDFs, emails and Word docs, you’re left guessing whether or not your client has seen the proposal. It’s largely a hit or miss affair when you’re calling and doing follow-ups to secure their business.
PDF technology hasn’t caught up with the times, which means that there’s no way to interact or see if prospects have seen it. You miss the golden opportunity of a timely follow up and a chance to seal the deal right then and there.
This isn’t the case with web proposals. Every action, from knowing how long they viewed a certain section to finding what they clicked and what device they used will be at your disposal. From there, you can create mini-opportunities and improve your business plan the next time you want to pitch to a new client.
5. They’re Customizable
When you’re using business templates such as that from Qwilr, you’ll be able to customize the design, content and make it a professional and stunning piece to impress your clients.
Web-based proposals are the complete opposite of PDFs- they can be pleasant, convenient, professional and yet have exciting, modern elements at the same time. You can cater the content and embeddable accordingly, depending on your product, service or who you’re pitching the plan to.
What’s more, you can save time and still have a great proposal at the end of the day. Proofread and check for spelling or grammar issues, then upload it for the client to see.
Now that you know the advantages of going with an online web-based proposal, there’s no turning back in using outdated models such as PDFs and Word files. Impress future clients with your ability to create a professional-looking business plan that’s easy to view on any screen, interactive and comes with built-in tools so they can approve of it as soon as they finish reading.
You can also benefit by knowing whether they’ve opened the page (which sets the pace for the follow up) and analytics that allow you to improve your webpage proposal over time.
