Controversial?? I believe your MSP’s sales proposals should be 80% templated

Couple of weeks ago I was chatting to one of my new MSP Marketing Edge members, and he shared his sales proposal on the screen.

I couldn't believe it. It was 27 pages long.

And I was even more shocked when he told me that every time he sent one of these out, he personalised every single page.

He wasn't using a tool like Better Proposals or anything like that. So each time he did a proposal (which admittedly was only once or twice a month), he would duplicate the previous proposal and then spend a couple of hours editing the information.

In his mind, that time investment was well worth it. Because of course any new client is an average six figure sum to your MSP over their lifetime, right?

And I can certainly see where he's coming from. But I have a different way of looking at it.

I believe your MSP's sales proposals should be 80% templated and 20% personalised.

And it's the 20% bit that wins the deal.

Let me explain why.

You don't need to reinvent your proposal every time. In fact, you really shouldn’t. Let's be honest, for most of your clients you deliver very similar services with standard SLAs and response times.

Am I right?

So why waste time rewriting that for every proposal, when each prospect is only going to see this once?

Much better to build a solid template that you just tweak over time as you improve your service. And instead focus all of your attention on the first page of the proposal.

Because the first page is everything

The first page should be about THEM, repeating back to them everything they've told you during the sales process.

And I do mean literally repeat their words back to them. Their hopes, fears, frustrations and goals. For example:

• “You told me you’re worried about ransomware and reputational damage.”
• “You said your team are frustrated with slow systems and inconsistent support.”
• “You want an IT partner who proactively improves your infrastructure rather than reacting to tickets.”
• “You’re aiming to grow by 25% over the next two years and need IT that scales with you.”

When you repeat a prospect's thoughts and words back to them, that affects them in a very powerful and emotional way.

I promise you 1,000% they will NOT feel as though they have been parroted.

Instead, they will feel understood. And they'll relax because it will feel that they've found someone who really gets them, and what they're all about.

This is SO powerful.

And here's the easy way to do it...

You'll love this. It's simple and clever.

You don't rely upon your written notes or your memory to write that first page.

In your sales meeting, you should be actively capturing what they're saying using an AI recorder.

I personally use a Pocket AI recorder. I picked that because there's no ongoing subscription. I also know a lot of MSPs that use a Plaud recorder.

After the meeting, get the AI to go back through the recording transcript and pull out:

• Their problems
• Their emotional drivers
• The risks they’re worried about
• The outcomes they want

Then write the first page of your proposal as a summary of that conversation. Almost like minutes from a meeting, but written in a way that says, “we heard you". You could absolutely train an AI to help you do this on an ongoing basis.

And that’s the 20%, right there. Boom!

What the other 80% should contain

The rest of your proposal will be different for every MSP, but should be structured along the lines of:

• Your recommended service level
• What’s included
• Response times
• Security stack
• Onboarding process
• Commercial terms (a link to an active document on your website is the smartest way to handle this)

Why this matters so much

Most MSPs try to win deals by proving how clever they are. But buyers don’t choose the MSP who sounds the most technical. Because ordinary business owners and managers don't have the ability to judge an MSP's technical abilities.

So instead, they choose the MSP who feels like the safest pair of hands.

And the safest choice is always going to be someone who feels like they have really listened to them and understood exactly what they're trying to achieve, what they're scared of, etc.

Let me put it this way... you're winning or not winning new clients based on how they feel about you. They're making buying decisions based mostly on their emotions (with the brain rubber stamping the decision).

And your sales proposal is the most formalised tool to influence this decision.