3SD handbook

Proposal process with existing clients

The aim of this section is to outline the stages of the proposal process we go through with existing clients.

Why work in a proposal oriented way with clients?

Working in a proposal oriented way with clients is part of our general approach to client work - read more about this. But in a nutshell, having a proposal that summarises the work we plan to carry out for the client not only helps us communicate clearly with the client and manage their expectations, but more importantly it enables us to be strategic and focus on impactful work. This way of working also goes hand in hand with incorporating discovery and design into epics.

The time it will take to go through the whole proposal process will vary from client to client, however it can take up to 3 months. So if work on an existing proposal is due to end in December, we want to begin planning for the next proposal already in October in order to start that work in January.

It is also worth noting that we don’t need to put work on hold while working on a proposal.

How can we make this process as efficient as possible?

Although we should set the expectation with the client that they should apportion some budget towards project management that we can use to do the review and planning exercise for the proposal, it is inevitable that some time spent on this process will be non-billable. For the sake of the client and ourselves we therefore want to be as efficient at putting together proposals as possible.

The more experience we have the better we will get at this, and tracking time spent against each stage of the process will let us be more realistic in planning in this process, as well as seeing where efficiencies can be made.

The most time-heavy stage of this process will probably be the ‘Draft proposal’ stage, as it requires collating all the information gathered, understanding the client’s requirements well, translating this information into a practical and structured plan, suggesting a budget that is in line with their expectations, and writing a clear and concise proposal.

But even with guidance, there is no hard and fast rule on how long to spend on each stage and it will depend a lot on the situation. For instance, if we are writing a proposal for an existing client whose loyalty and custom is highly valued, investing more time in putting together a good proposal will be worth it as it not only reflects the relationship we want to maintain with them, but it also allows for a more productive and effective project, that will most likely save them, and us, money in the long run. If, on the other hand, it is a low income client who has asked for a proposal for a small amount of work, we probably don’t want to spend much of our non-billable time on this.

Toolkit

Note: this template is only for draft purposes. Once the document is ready to be sent to a client, it gets put into a branded PDF template.

Stages

[Diagram]

Read about the first stages of preparing for a proposal, covering Kick off and Information gathering.

Read about the later stages of writing the proposal, covering drafting the proposal and getting feedback on that proposal from the client.

The final stage of contracting.