I've read "The Well-Fed Writer", and there's hardly anything in there about when proposals are necessary and/or how to write one. Are they really necessary for small/medium-sized projects? Let's say you've just pitched your services over the phone for a small copywriting project. If the prospect is interested and agrees to the price, is it appropriate to just send over a contract at that time? Or is it generally understood that the next step is a written proposal? Also, are there any books/articles that give more info on how to write a proposal or samples? I can't seem to find much of anything on google. I'm a newbie, so sorry if these are dumb questions. Thanks!
If the prospect has agreed to the price, and defined the work adequately, I'd go with the contract. "Gilding the Lily" can be fatal.
Submit proposal soon, do it quickly as soon as you've been given at least an orange light. When you write your proposal be sure not to brag or exaggerate your talents. Don't go on too long about how good you are. I've received proposals like this and it turned me off. Never assume your client is naive or you could end up insulting him/her. Don't argue when the client contacts you or come across as aggressive. Deliver your cost estimate while explaining in a professional manner the value to the client. Make sure the proposal is polished and accurate. You can use a template document.
Just to be clear, the proposal doesn't take the place of the contract, right? You'd still want to send along a contract, assuming they like the proposal? It sounds like a proposal just goes into general detail about how you would approach the project and why you're a good copywriting choice. However, this would not be the place to includes specifics on methods of payment, kill fees etc. That would be the contract, am I right? If this is all a proposal includes, it sounds like it won't be longer than a page or two. Does anybody have a sample of proposal or know where I can find one?
To me, a proposal is more of a "we could do this, this and this" sort of document rather than a binding "we are doing this but we are not doing that" agreement between customer and vendor.
Proposals are usually done on large and complex projects they are usually a waste of time on small projects but standard on large ones. One thing about proposals is many times your proposal will go on a stack of dozens of others, some companies will send out proposal requests to large lists of companies. So you spend 1-3hours writing one and you have a ?% chance of getting the job. You can waste a large amount of time on proposals if you are not careful. Personally I don't write them unless I know the people are very serous about buying my services and their is a good amount of money involved.
averyz, do you not document deliverables for small projects? I learned quickly, fortunately not the hard way, that it's often the small projects that suffer from scope creep. Even for a fairly straightforward brochure-style website for a small business, I outline each deliverable (site page, article or marketing piece) along with a list of things that we discussed but may save for a second or follow-up project. That way there's no, "Oh, but I thought you were going to write..." once the work has started.
Now that's sound advice. YMC is rightly pointing out that if it isn't in writing, it didn't happen... As he also points out, the number of clients who suddenly 'seem to remember' that you 'said this or that' when you didn't is roughly 100%.
For small sites like your average $500-$750 Wordpress I have "packages" listed on my websites that go into detail on what the client gets for that amount. I got tired of explaining over and over.. lol So I make sure they know what package they are getting and what it includes, I like to make it clear in an email so I have it written down in case their is a disagreement in the future. I like to start with a package that covers a basic site then add to them if the client wants extra then the "extra" can be separated and clearly outlined so it is hard to say "I thought it included this..". I do get clients that try to milk more out of the deal from time to time and they can be hard to deal with.