Commercial Proposal: Too Negative?

Nice lay out, covers the scope of the job.

@Samuel I like your last version too, but I like @Matthew a tad more.

Either way it should work nicely.

Good luck on getting the bid approved!!

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Thanks! I sent my version before I saw what @Matthew had written up. I like his best.
Oh well. There is always next timeā€¦

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So assuming my proposal is approved, Iā€™m thinking I might want to put the specific terms in writing by means of a work order or some such. Then I can brief the facilities manager on what kind of cooperation I need from his staff, and have him sign off before the work starts.

Looks real good, Samuel! It is good that you eliminated most of the ā€œcannotsā€.

As a customer, I want to hear what you can do for me, not what you canā€™t, even if that ā€œcanā€ will cost me more money.

So, what if you noted that mildew, fundus, etc is extra charge, instead of ā€œcannot guaranteeā€ā€¦

The truth is, youā€™re an excellent window cleaner and the windows are going to look spectacular after youā€™re done, with the customer blown away by the results.

Your OP really got me thinking.

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Thatā€™s mostly where my inital conflict came from. I want to be a ray of sunshine for all my customers, large and small. But I also donā€™t want to kill myself over a nightmare job because of poor communication.

Why do you say that?

Just cause this is a bit of a complicated affair and it has the potential to be a huge pain/time sucker if certain stipulations are not spelled out.

Hm, ok.

Are you happy with the price you gave them?

Samuel, take this from a perfectionist in reform, lol. You will rarely be able to have all your ends tied up perfectly.

No matter what, there will usually be some unexpected bump in the road. Pricing exactly what you think it is worth will remedy most of your fears. In your heart, if you feel that you underbid, it starts the negative snowball rolling.

It sounds to me in reading your OP, you are setting yourself up and the job to be what you want it to be. You have the script already written in your mind, and itā€™s got an unhappy plot. You will create this reality for yourself and things will play out as you scripted.

Expect the best. Genuinely smile. Use their name(s). Maintain good eye contact. Shoulders back, head high. Breathe. Eat. Drink. Bathroom. Nurture yourself on the job and you will in turn nurture your customer.

These are the things I tell myself each day, each minute, each second. It works. :blush:

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Nice work. I like the look of the bullet points. Iā€™m going to copy this into Word and add it to my templates.

This has been Informative. @Samuel Iā€™m glad you threaded these concerns.

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Samuel, how did you plan to delivery this bid?

Do you file a hard copy or keep proposals in a computer file or program?

Beginning of each year is a good time send unawarded proposals to customers again.

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Yes I priced it right. I think I can get it done in 3 days, maybe 4, as long as everything goes reasonably smooth. Even if something goes awry Iā€™ve got padding.

I used to accept hindrances as a matter of course in my new business, but lately Iā€™ve been working at covering some eventualities in advance, like having resi clients remove knick knacks from sills and provide a clear path to the interior glass before I get there. It seems that most customers actually appreciate this and see it as a professional taking charge to make sure his valuable time is not wasted, and their valuable property is well cared for.

So Iā€™m currently finding my balance with commercial accounts that are much larger than Iā€™m used to. I do feel itā€™s important to lay out expectations plainly when coordinating events on this scale, probably a deeply ingrained behavior from my days at the restaurants. I want to maintain as much order as possible, but I donā€™t want to sound like a jerk.

At any rate, with help from the forum here I feel much more confident that I will not come across as too assertive, yet will show that I am expecting a measure of cooperation from the facility to get this job done right.

Bid has been sent to the property manager in the form of a .pdf, as pictured above

I am keeping all proposals in a folder, named and tagged with a date, sorted by status as accepted, pending, or rejected.

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