Development of KP for the creation of a site on a combat example
Hello, Habr! Recently, we launched a large educational special project on sales and marketing for studios and agencies. As part of it, I prepared a text about preparing a commercial proposal using a military example - and wanted to share it with the Habr audience.
We write a lot of different theoretical materials, and they often ask me, “ Andrey, theory is good, but show me what a concrete proposal should look like, which you consider good? ”. This text is my detailed, almost 20 pages, answer to this question.
I chose a case that was as close as possible to the realities - and in the form of a semi-artistic narrative I led my lyrical hero Bublikov through all stages of preparing the CP and participating in the tender. Let's start:
So, in the framework of the case, we represent the invented company “Publisher Studio” , we work in Moscow, were founded in 2008, we have 17 people in our staff, we specialize in production services, work for UMI, for a couple of old customers we have a context and a little SMM, we work at an average rate of 1700 rubles per hour, we have good support (with built-in processes and allocated resources). We are in some ratings of web studios in the middle of the list, we make presentations a couple of times a year at medium-sized conferences, we are positioned as a good second-tier production with strong support. Our clients are services, ecommerce, several mining companies, a couple of real estate agencies. We do mainly corporate sites, shops, and sometimes promotional sites. Complex large services and portals are not particularly able.
I’m the same Bagels whose name our studio is named.
Sunny autumn morning, on Monday I come to my office with cool pictures on the walls, pour coffee, open a laptop, start watching mail. There are a couple of letters from current clients in the box, one from a partner with seals, a link to layouts for the current project from a freelancer. The layouts are nothing like that, I am writing a couple of comments in basecamp and I wind the list of letters further. Oh - here it is, a request for the development of a new site from a potential client. Chased.
I open the letter and see the following text there:
Everything seems to be clear. I go to the current site. The company is engaged in remote accounting services, HR management, focuses on small businesses and entrepreneurs who cannot or do not want to hire a dear person in the state. According to the information on the site, it seems like a rather large company, with 90 employees, founded in 1992, is in the top 5 in this market.
The site was made in 2009 by a third-tier studio. Then he looked at 4-, now at 3-. Several text sections by service lines, online order form, company section, contacts. On the iPhone, everything goes around, at high resolution it looks too small.
Okay Need to communicate. Let's start with the call, but before that, google the manual :
We call the customer. Mikhail himself answers the phone, within the framework of a short five-minute conversation, we find out that yes, the task is urgent, the new site should be published within three and a half months. To the question about the budget plug, Mikhail answers vaguely that he generally understands the price range in the market, that he knows that we have a fairly high level of work. When asked about the number and composition of bidders, he says that these are 4 companies, he does not specify the name. In a conversation, Mikhail manages to tell you that they have big plans for the Internet, that they are actively growing, he says confidently that he does not abuse terminology and does not go deep into details.
We do not insist on accurate answers, we suggest meeting in their office for acquaintance, questions to the customer and discussion of details. After a second hitch Michael agrees, and set the date and time for the briefing.
Then we go to a briefing and hold the first meeting with Mikhail. I will not separately dwell on the process itself, we will proceed immediately to the results obtained following the meeting.
Based on the results of the briefing, we find out:
So, we clarified the tasks of the customer, learned more about his business, found out the composition of competitors and what other agencies we can cross in the future work on the client account.
Now we need to carry out a series of preparatory work - before we begin the formation of the main commercial proposal for the development of the site.
Make a number of calls
We are thinking about a competitive strategy at this tender.
We carry out brainstorming with the design team
Call in the meeting room of our partner, a couple of managers and an art director. The project is quite simple, the industry is competitive, you need to cling to something. We write on the board a cloud of “synonyms” associated with the customer’s business and industry. We are trying to think about the “accounting agency of the future” in 50 years. We print layouts of the main pages and landings for 10 competitors. We spend an hour of time, ideas - at zeros. Artdir suggests making the main one in the form of a parallax flyer, drawn in the style of Mayakovsky’s poems. We take away the grass from him, we think further - we need clues.
After an hour and a half - still zero. Figo. Okay, you don’t know what to offer - talk about the crisis. We come up with a special section of the site for companies that are considering the possibility of reducing an accountant (which is unlikely) and HR (which is closer) in a crisis. We’ll make a landing with the text “10 facts you need to know when reducing your HR.” A bit of tin, of course, but on the lack of fish ...
While we are discussing this, we are still thinking up a mini-approach with infographics, which will reflect all three types of accounting approaches - SaaS in-house, outsourcing and staff. Norm, no matter how they talk about SaaS, it must be dangerous for them, and you must correctly position the advantages and USP of the customer.
A little, but it should be enough, since nothing else was invented. Now, finally, we can begin to formulate the commercial offer itself.
We proceed to the formation of the commercial proposal. And, of course, we take into account all the information that was collected at the previous stages.
Now we turn to the eight main sections of our CP. We will give in this material only actual squeezes, without mentioning various kinds of binding paragraphs, marketing water and other gluings - this is individual for each company.
At the very beginning, we need to convince the customer that we will solve the very problem that he faces - briefly and concisely. Insert the following paragraph:
In the previous paragraph, we convinced the client that we would do what he needed. Now we need to show that we can do this not in isolation from reality - but taking into account an understanding of the specifics of his business and the competitive environment.
We insert a small plate on its main competitors, a list of which we have prepared for brainstorming:
+ Insert quotes of startups we know that we requested at the preparatory stage.
We briefly talk about our profile experience:
+ Insert the recommendation of our client from the law firm, requested at the preparatory stage.
Now we need to show what kind of work we plan to carry out and how the project structure will look. Since the site is simple, you can restrict yourself to a simple structure on one slide + give a small comment on the functionality and requirements:
Now that we have described what we plan to do in the framework of the project, we need to explain to the customer how exactly we will do this, what is required of him and what risks exist:
Since the project is simple, we briefly outline the possible risks:
Timing shifts in case of delays on the customer side are prescribed at the level of X * 2 days, but not in the CP, but in the application for the development of the site.
Everything is quite simple here - we briefly describe our ideas developed within the framework of the brain storm (crisis page, infographics for various three approaches), give a link to an extended presentation, where they are presented in more detail.
The main sections, structure, process and ideas are described - you can move on to the budget and the work plan. This is best shown by the estimate combined with the Gantt chart.
This section should be placed on one sheet, and it should be "autonomous" - contain all the necessary information in case this page is printed out and put on the table for the director:
We pay special attention to the fact that we added the creation and implementation of the landing page to general estimate of work - with the launch already in the 5th week. Firstly, it will give us room to maneuver in case of a demand to lower the budget. Secondly, this will count towards us as a plus by the MayContext agency, which will be able to start attracting new traffic already in the 5th week, and not after the completion of the entire project.
Bets are made, now you need to tell the customer what will happen after the publication of the site in public and the signing of acts. Especially considering his problems in this area with the previous contractor:
+ a short list of services included in the base subscription.
Of course, if we make a call with a free month of service, before that we had to smudge it according to estimates - so as not to work for free.
As you can see, they threw another hook about teamwork towards MayContext.
In this block, we must sum up some results on our proposal, assure the customer of success and give some kind of positive emotional message. Note that before that we did not operate on the current conversion rates that we learned during the briefing, and did not give any predictions as far as we can increase it. Let's make it the last convincing argument:
Important - we are talking about cooperation on the development of the site as an accomplished thing. Important - we immediately increase the value of switching to our support not only in terms of “support”, but also in increasing target KPIs. It’s important - we make a reservation about “preserving the current quality of traffic” - otherwise we can get pretty.
KP is ready. I look at the clock, 21-00. You can, in principle, send it now to the client. But, firstly, it is better to present in person. Secondly, you need to look again at a fresh head. I'm going home, getting back to the offer in the morning.
First, let’s go through a typical checklist, which has been introduced for a long time both for ourselves and for sales managers. We look at the points.
It seems that everything is ok, they have not forgotten anything - except for a couple of points.
Knowledge of customer terminology and industry. Here it would be possible to make accents stronger: we showed knowledge of the industry, but with terms we can do better. Google. Add the phrase:
This, incidentally, draws on a full-fledged idea. It’s good that they google it. We do not insert it into the presentation and CP; it will be a separate trump card in the sleeve at the in-person presentation.
It turned out somehow dry.
The general impression is a bit dry. Okay, there’s a long-standing trick - we take pictures, mine and a partner, and insert their document with a couple of quotes from direct speech:
Now, along with quotes from those startups that we interviewed at the preparatory stage, and a quote from our law firm’s recommendation from our client, it’s already quite normal. Everything, the document is ready, exhale.
We will go to the meeting-presentation of the proposal not only from KP. We will need a number of documents that may come in handy.
Everything is ready for us, I call Mikhail and make an appointment. Important news - the general director plans to look at the meeting. We recall the information that we could dig into it. Apparently, he has a global economic mindset, like Mikhail. To me, a techie by character, it will be difficult for the two of them - I will take my partner to the meeting, who just loves to talk about the market, trends and other visionary activities.
Since the director actively talks about the Western market in his interviews, quickly before the meeting we take a couple of dozens of screenshots of the sites of large Western companies of the necessary industry affiliation - we will show our knowledge of the market and talk in the like / dislike mode.
We carefully print all the documents on a color printer and good paper, we take electronic copies for the projector - it is always better to combine electronic and solid media. We are going, going.
Emphasis on presentation
Surprise number once. The director will not be at the meeting, flew off on a business trip. The presentation on Western sites is not useful, I do not even get it out of my bag. Well, it happens.
Surprise number two. At the meeting, two young girls from the department of Michael. One is a marketer, the second is a PR manager. Not too good at first glance. But let's see what and how they will talk. Yes, it is, in the very first few said sentences: “engagement, gamification, instagram, brand platform”. Fak, they picked up students for production. This is not good - peppy guys from the full-cycle agency Major Digital will certainly make a greater impression on them than I with my dull techno approach and production. But it was not in vain that I took Vasily to a meeting - he quickly recalls a couple of some irrelevant videos from Cannes, then he tells a couple of stories from his experience working with large advertisers, gives several quotes from “99 francs” and “Mad Men” - and that’s all, they are ours.
We begin to go through the very essence of the proposal. Carefully talk about ideas. Mikhail seems to like the idea of the crisis, girls like references to infographics. Good. But they are few, they apparently expect creativity. They say that I would like more. Okay, we get the idea of imminent problems on the market with the USN from the sleeve - and a separate section about it - both in profile and it seems normal. And they pretended to be invented right at the meeting. Great, the questions are being removed.
We get to the estimate and work plan. We go through the stages and overlaps of the work on the Gantt chart in detail. There is a question about a separate line with the development of the landing page - we explain that this is a good way to test the concept, start introducing changes early, etc. It seems to be accepted.
Next is a standard question from Michael. As a new large customer, surprise surprise, they want a discount. Here I make a 5-minute speech about the same “overhead” coefficient, a profit margin of 15-20% in the agent market, quickly spread it out by expense and labor (I don’t understand anyone other than an accounting firm), and at the same time I tell the case about that a site cannot cost 100 thousand is a stone in the Homa Studio garden. Everything is clear to everyone, but they still want a discount. It happens.
Okay, we say, you can delete the landing page from the work pool, and also exclude one or two voiced additional ideas - this will reduce the cost of interest by 15. But they already liked the ideas. With the landing - they realized that it is possible as an option to exclude - they received their own field for maneuver (perhaps for the general director), the question is closed.
Separately, we mention that one of our strengths is support and development, remembering that it was in this that the previous contractor was pierced. We speak the final words, smile, shake hands, find out that they plan to make a decision within a week, go back to the office.
Waiting for the results
The next day after the meeting, we send a letter to Mikhail with answers to a couple of questions that surfaced at the meeting - we do not leave work. We ask how are you - everything seems to be ok. 8 days pass, no information yet. Alarming
As a result, after another two days of waiting, we receive a letter:
Hooray, we are great, we defeated fictitious competitors in a virtual tender =)
However, it is possible that with MayContext we still torment ourselves on this client account - although so far it does not bode well.
We won the tender, but now it’s important not to relax and competently enter the project. Practice shows that up to 30% of “won” tenders do not reach the start of work - due to problems with documents, jambs in the early stages and other trifles.
Remember that keeping the current customer is easier than getting a new one.
Be sure to carry out a debriefing with the team that participated in the tender: praise for the victory, tell us what the customer liked and what happened.
Everything, now you need to start work. After all, all this was, in fact, only a preparation.
Of course, this is just a fictional case, albeit as close as possible to combat conditions.
It is clear that within the framework of the artistic genre of narration on my lyrical hero, Bublyubov, ideas, clues and all kinds of coincidences poured from a cornucopia. And the concentration of various receptions and approaches went through the roof, usually they are less.
On the other hand, if Bagels did not do homework to prepare for the tender, was not attentive to details and did not connect the brain, then he could easily pass by all these tips - and ultimately lose the tender.
We will be pleased to discuss your thoughts and questions in the comments =) And we also recall that we have prepared a lot of other good free content about marketing and sales in our free " Digital Series"- join in!
* After the Habr’s division, a number of hubs about business and management / marketing studios were nailed, so we write in the two most relevant ones that remain -" web development "and" project management ".
We write a lot of different theoretical materials, and they often ask me, “ Andrey, theory is good, but show me what a concrete proposal should look like, which you consider good? ”. This text is my detailed, almost 20 pages, answer to this question.
I chose a case that was as close as possible to the realities - and in the form of a semi-artistic narrative I led my lyrical hero Bublikov through all stages of preparing the CP and participating in the tender. Let's start:
So, in the framework of the case, we represent the invented company “Publisher Studio” , we work in Moscow, were founded in 2008, we have 17 people in our staff, we specialize in production services, work for UMI, for a couple of old customers we have a context and a little SMM, we work at an average rate of 1700 rubles per hour, we have good support (with built-in processes and allocated resources). We are in some ratings of web studios in the middle of the list, we make presentations a couple of times a year at medium-sized conferences, we are positioned as a good second-tier production with strong support. Our clients are services, ecommerce, several mining companies, a couple of real estate agencies. We do mainly corporate sites, shops, and sometimes promotional sites. Complex large services and portals are not particularly able.
I’m the same Bagels whose name our studio is named.
Introductory
- I highly recommend reading our two materials on the theoretical part of the organization of participation in the tender for the development of the site: habrahabr.ru/post/112549/ and habrahabr.ru/post/112550/ . They were published several years ago, but have remained quite relevant at the moment.
- Design and decoration. This is a completely individual thing for each studio / agency, so in this material we do not focus on the appearance of documents and content, but give the information itself: squeeze in essence, not form.
- Of course, I do not pretend to create the only true version of the CP, there is no silver bullet. The document and the process can be broken down in a hundred different ways, use a different style, approaches, change the composition, presentation, etc. But, I am sure, the material presented below will be useful and practically applicable for 90% of the players in our agent market.
Customer request, first contact and briefing
Sunny autumn morning, on Monday I come to my office with cool pictures on the walls, pour coffee, open a laptop, start watching mail. There are a couple of letters from current clients in the box, one from a partner with seals, a link to layouts for the current project from a freelancer. The layouts are nothing like that, I am writing a couple of comments in basecamp and I wind the list of letters further. Oh - here it is, a request for the development of a new site from a potential client. Chased.
I open the letter and see the following text there:
Good day.
I represent the company “Accounting without worries”, and we invite you to take part in a tender for the development of our new corporate website instead of the current www.buh-buh-buh.ru .
The site should be implemented on one of the popular commercial CMS, contain information about our main areas of services, online order forms, look good on mobile devices. We have already prepared most of the texts and information for the new site. We also need to integrate applications from the site with our internal CRM system.
We would like to receive from you a commercial proposal for the development of such a project, to understand the terms and the possible implementation budget.
Sincerely, Mikhail Sergeev,
Head of Marketing Communications
“Accounting without worries”
sergeev@buh-buh-buh.ru
Everything seems to be clear. I go to the current site. The company is engaged in remote accounting services, HR management, focuses on small businesses and entrepreneurs who cannot or do not want to hire a dear person in the state. According to the information on the site, it seems like a rather large company, with 90 employees, founded in 1992, is in the top 5 in this market.
The site was made in 2009 by a third-tier studio. Then he looked at 4-, now at 3-. Several text sections by service lines, online order form, company section, contacts. On the iPhone, everything goes around, at high resolution it looks too small.
Okay Need to communicate. Let's start with the call, but before that, google the manual :
- The founder and director, 52 years old, did not find in social networks, several interviews in the “Chief Accountant”, one interview in “The Secret of the Company”, which speaks about the market, staff, Western experience, and social responsibility of business.
- Our counterpart Mikhail Sergeev. 42 years old, found a profile on Linkedin, the company has been with the company for 6 years already, before that he managed a mid-sized PR law firm, a higher economic education, and a Russian MBA. They didn’t find an interview, but there were a couple of quotes that he did not see a threat from developing SaaS services for accounting, that different target audience, needs, market, etc. Okay, at least he knows what SaaS is, not bad.
We call the customer. Mikhail himself answers the phone, within the framework of a short five-minute conversation, we find out that yes, the task is urgent, the new site should be published within three and a half months. To the question about the budget plug, Mikhail answers vaguely that he generally understands the price range in the market, that he knows that we have a fairly high level of work. When asked about the number and composition of bidders, he says that these are 4 companies, he does not specify the name. In a conversation, Mikhail manages to tell you that they have big plans for the Internet, that they are actively growing, he says confidently that he does not abuse terminology and does not go deep into details.
We do not insist on accurate answers, we suggest meeting in their office for acquaintance, questions to the customer and discussion of details. After a second hitch Michael agrees, and set the date and time for the briefing.
Then we go to a briefing and hold the first meeting with Mikhail. I will not separately dwell on the process itself, we will proceed immediately to the results obtained following the meeting.
Based on the results of the briefing, we find out:
- The tasks of the customer, the current situation. Michael considers the current site to be outdated, but more than 30% of all orders come through it. He understands that the site needs to be redone and increase conversion. The main task is lidgen. The second most important is image support, branding. Social networks - he’s not sure.
- Functional. With the functionality, everything is clear, UMI as a customer platform suits, the only moment about integration with CRM. We ask what and how to integrate. Apparently, we were the first to come from the competitors, because Michael does not answer very confidently with the question. It turns out that CRM is just being implemented, and it is not yet clear what is there and how. To the direct question - whether to include work in the budget, Mikhail says that probably not yet, but the platform should be ready for the further development of this functionality. OK, that was important. Competitors may not ask this question - and reload the budget and deadlines.
- An agency that leads context and SEO. Michael hardly communicates with the current site developer. But he is actively working with the agency "MayContext", which conducts SEO and contextual advertising, the level of budgets - about 150 thousand per month. Good guys, says Mikhail, we have been working with them for 6 years.
6 years. Something was about 6 years ago just recently ... Right at the meeting, I open the MayContext website on a tablet. They specialize in context and SEO, there is nothing about production. I open a portfolio. So, construction, brokers, real estate, windows ... So ... Lawyers. Hmm ... Somewhere I saw these lawyers. In the next tab, I open the preloaded profile of Michael on the linkedin. Exactly, this is where I saw these lawyers - this is his previous place of work. And it’s just 6 years since he worked in “Accounts without worries”. Alarm-alarm-alarm!It seems that it was he who dragged the agency to a new client almost immediately after switching to another job. He has been working with them for a long time, in close good relations. Phew, it’s good that they don’t have production, otherwise our chances would become rather illusory. We ask Michael if these guys are aware that the site will be redone. Yes, in the know - and after launch he is ready to increase his budget. So let’s write it down, this is one of the most important facts that we learned at the meeting. - The agency that made the current site. Michael speaks reluctantly about them, problems with support, the site is out of date, they were not even invited to a new tender. We ask if they are aware of the tender. Yes, in the know. Okay
- The composition of the tender. Unlike a telephone conversation at a meeting, I manage to pull out the composition of the participants, arguing that this is a generally accepted transparent practice for our market and serious customers (at the same time I flashed an easy flattery).
- Major Digital. First echelon, top agency, serious guys. Much more and more expensive than us, FDS, all things. But you can’t say that production would have been a bit stronger than us, and they give a lot of subcontracting.
- The guys from Traffic Graph. We know them well. Approximately our level, but they focus not only on production, but also context - one of their flagship services. But support is clearly weaker than ours.
- Homa Studio. A small Moscow studio of 6 people, the third tier, the average price tag of 100-150 thousand per site. It’s not very clear how they got here, oh well.
Competitive intelligence and pre-training
So, we clarified the tasks of the customer, learned more about his business, found out the composition of competitors and what other agencies we can cross in the future work on the client account.
Now we need to carry out a series of preparatory work - before we begin the formation of the main commercial proposal for the development of the site.
Make a number of calls
- The agency that made the current site. As long as we know fairly general things, we need to clarify how adequate the client is. The first 5 minutes, the director of the agency does not really understand what I want from him. Then he reluctantly says that, on the whole, he is a normal client, but they expected to take them to context and SEO, and other guys are sitting very tight there. Well, the client seems to be nothing, but this only confirms our hypothesis about the "home agency".
- The agency that leads the context and SEO is MayContext.Wake-up call. If you can’t cut them out, you need to make friends. I say that we participate in the tender, that I understand that I will have to work with them to promote, and that I heard good reviews from friends. I say that we specialize only in production and support 0151 to reduce the level of potential threat. I ask if they are aware that Traffic-Graph and Major-digital are in a tender with us (I don’t ask about Homa, we will eat them ourselves). They are aware of the "Major", and the "Traffic-Graph" is a surprise, and rather unpleasant, given their competencies in the context - they definitely will not want to let them into their clearing. Well, with one call, I got an advantage in the fight against the most difficult equal competitor. A couple of times I declare assurances of eternal friendship and hope for cooperation - and say goodbye.
- The most relevant case from among current customers. We also have lawyers in our portfolio, whom Mikhail should know from his previous place of work - but they were larger, so they were unlikely to compete. I’m calling the manager who gave us feedback, and I ask for permission to electronically provide an accompanying quote on his behalf that “We recommend Accounting without Care to collaborate on the development of the site with Publishing Studios as a reliable and competent partner.” A trifle, but such personalization is very important.
- We are writing on FB three familiar startups. This is our client’s target audience. Of course, this does not attract research, but I ask 2-3 questions about their opinion from the point of view of remote accounting services. Two respond something bearable, one is silent. Okay, insert quotes into the KP.
We are thinking about a competitive strategy at this tender.
- Homa Studio is a template discounter. KP they will make a standard, set a low price. We’re not doing anything in this regard, but when we go through the estimates with the client live, we’ll make a remark about the profitability of the agent business, the “overhead” coefficient, and that if they put up for 100-150 thousand on the corporate website, they will work on it completely unskilled people. Or they will spend much less hours of work than is necessary to implement a high-quality project.
- "Traffic Schedule." The most difficult thing, but we will try to remove them with the hands of “MayContext” + we will try to work out the CP at the level of licking and small details better.
- Major Digital. Full Digital Service. They put up a price tag one and a half to two times more than us. The client is not too important for them; ordinary managers will be sent with a standard presentation. They will sell the company, not the project. Here we need to convince Mikhail that our production level is no worse, and we will focus on the client much higher than Major (and any major agency). In face-to-face communication, it will be necessary to very carefully screw in that we have experience working on a subcontract with other large FDS agencies. In this way, firstly, we will show that the final quality of work is the same as that of the tops, and secondly, the idea of the prevalence of subcontracting to such agencies (and therefore unnecessary overpayments) in his mind.
We carry out brainstorming with the design team
Call in the meeting room of our partner, a couple of managers and an art director. The project is quite simple, the industry is competitive, you need to cling to something. We write on the board a cloud of “synonyms” associated with the customer’s business and industry. We are trying to think about the “accounting agency of the future” in 50 years. We print layouts of the main pages and landings for 10 competitors. We spend an hour of time, ideas - at zeros. Artdir suggests making the main one in the form of a parallax flyer, drawn in the style of Mayakovsky’s poems. We take away the grass from him, we think further - we need clues.
After an hour and a half - still zero. Figo. Okay, you don’t know what to offer - talk about the crisis. We come up with a special section of the site for companies that are considering the possibility of reducing an accountant (which is unlikely) and HR (which is closer) in a crisis. We’ll make a landing with the text “10 facts you need to know when reducing your HR.” A bit of tin, of course, but on the lack of fish ...
While we are discussing this, we are still thinking up a mini-approach with infographics, which will reflect all three types of accounting approaches - SaaS in-house, outsourcing and staff. Norm, no matter how they talk about SaaS, it must be dangerous for them, and you must correctly position the advantages and USP of the customer.
A little, but it should be enough, since nothing else was invented. Now, finally, we can begin to formulate the commercial offer itself.
KP formation
We proceed to the formation of the commercial proposal. And, of course, we take into account all the information that was collected at the previous stages.
0. General points
- General style and presentation. As we found out at the preparatory stages, Mikhail and his leadership are more likely to have a global character base, prone to strategic things, rather than sinking into details. On the axis "techie-economist" - clearly economists. In this regard, it is necessary to adjust the general style of the presentation of information and try to mention less technical features that I, Bagels, really like.
- We cut out mentions about the context. Since it is likely that our KP will be sent to MayContext for evaluation, we cut out all references to our competencies in contextual advertising - so as not to unnerve them again.
- We focus on support. Since this is our strong point, and the previous contractor merged precisely on support - we try to mention more often how everything is fine with us.
Now we turn to the eight main sections of our CP. We will give in this material only actual squeezes, without mentioning various kinds of binding paragraphs, marketing water and other gluings - this is individual for each company.
1. A brief description of the goals and objectives of the project
At the very beginning, we need to convince the customer that we will solve the very problem that he faces - briefly and concisely. Insert the following paragraph:
The key goal of the project is to create an effective channel for attracting new customers for “Accounting without worries” in two key areas of services - remote accounting services and HR administration.
The following main points of application of efforts in the framework of creating a new site can be identified:
- Development of a resource showing a high conversion to new requests for company services across all CA groups and all types of services provided.
- Creation of a presentation platform containing comprehensive information about the company, its advantages, services and mission.
- Development of an effective emotional image of the company through the use of a creative project concept focused on key CA groups. Support and increase brand awareness of the company on the Internet.
- In the future - reduction of internal costs due to integration with the CRM-system and automation of related business processes.
2. CA and competitive environment, specialized experience
In the previous paragraph, we convinced the client that we would do what he needed. Now we need to show that we can do this not in isolation from reality - but taking into account an understanding of the specifics of his business and the competitive environment.
We insert a small plate on its main competitors, a list of which we have prepared for brainstorming:
As part of the preparation of the proposal, our analytical department conducted a brief analysis of the sites of the closest competitors “Accounts without worries”. It is worth noting a fairly average level of project implementation (with the exception of the site of Competitor 3).
Our competence will allow us to implement a project that can show the best conversion rates among all the key competitors of the company.
Competitor Site Visual Content Pay attention chips Competitor 1 www.url1.ru four 3 Startup service landing page. Competitor 2 www.url2.ru 3 3 The “Accounting Herald” newsletter, 14,000 subscribers, comes out twice a month. Competitor 3 www.url3.ru five four High level of site implementation. Availability of video cases with customer reviews, a blog updated every day. Competitor 4 www.url4.ru 2 3 General weak implementation level. Competitor 5 www.url5.ru 3 3 A table comparing the benefits of remote service and staffing.
+ Insert quotes of startups we know that we requested at the preparatory stage.
We briefly talk about our profile experience:
“Publisher Studio” has excellent profile experience in implementing projects in the service sector and financial topics. Our portfolio includes works for such brands as Lawyers, XXX, YYY and ZZZ.
+ Insert the recommendation of our client from the law firm, requested at the preparatory stage.
3. The structure and composition of the project
Now we need to show what kind of work we plan to carry out and how the project structure will look. Since the site is simple, you can restrict yourself to a simple structure on one slide + give a small comment on the functionality and requirements:
We see the following project implementation structure, which will allow us to achieve all the business tasks set by the customer:
Functionality and technical requirements / features:
- The site will be developed on the basis of the UMI.CMS 3.0 platform. The architecture of this platform and the solutions laid down at the design stage will allow for further rapid integration with the CRM system, which is planned for implementation in Accounting without worries.
- The site should open correctly and maintain high conversion on all types of mobile devices (iOS, Android, WP) and all popular types of screen resolutions.
- The site design should support the developed brand platform and comply with the general ideology of the customer’s marketing media.
- It is necessary to implement a convenient automatic A / B testing mechanism for key selling pages and site landing pages. It is also necessary to work out tight integration / configuration with current systems of traffic analytics, conversions and key traffic requests from contextual advertising and SEO.
4. Description of the project production process (by stages) and interaction with the client, risks
Now that we have described what we plan to do in the framework of the project, we need to explain to the customer how exactly we will do this, what is required of him and what risks exist:
The main stages of the project and customer participation:
Stage "Publishing Studio" “Accounting without worries” Development of technical specifications x List of edits, acceptance of the document within 2 days Designing Page Layouts x List of revisions, acceptance within 2 days Visual concept development x Meeting presentation, revision list within 2 days Design x Prompt acceptance of developed layouts Functional assembly x Possibly - providing information about the CRM system API Processing and filling content x Discussion on the missing content, operational improvements Testing and implementation x Final testing of the project before launch, a list of adjustments within 2 days. Access to the domain and hosting
Since the project is simple, we briefly outline the possible risks:
We do not see critical risks in the process of project implementation. Important points include:
- Providing all available content on the customer side before starting work on the project.
- Prompt acceptance of intermediate work results and signing of relevant acts.
- Macro factor, possible amendments to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation during the development of the site, followed by a change in the composition of the Customer’s services. In case of occurrence, it will require a shift of 10 working days and an additional budget of 90,000 rubles.
Timing shifts in case of delays on the customer side are prescribed at the level of X * 2 days, but not in the CP, but in the application for the development of the site.
5. Squeezing ideas (with reference to the presentation)
Everything is quite simple here - we briefly describe our ideas developed within the framework of the brain storm (crisis page, infographics for various three approaches), give a link to an extended presentation, where they are presented in more detail.
6. Estimate + plan (Gantt chart) of the project
The main sections, structure, process and ideas are described - you can move on to the budget and the work plan. This is best shown by the estimate combined with the Gantt chart.
This section should be placed on one sheet, and it should be "autonomous" - contain all the necessary information in case this page is printed out and put on the table for the director:
We pay special attention to the fact that we added the creation and implementation of the landing page to general estimate of work - with the launch already in the 5th week. Firstly, it will give us room to maneuver in case of a demand to lower the budget. Secondly, this will count towards us as a plus by the MayContext agency, which will be able to start attracting new traffic already in the 5th week, and not after the completion of the entire project.
7. Description of further cooperation, project support format and possible points of interaction
Bets are made, now you need to tell the customer what will happen after the publication of the site in public and the signing of acts. Especially considering his problems in this area with the previous contractor:
After the publication of the site, we provide a free month of its maintenance at the basic subscription service rate. Within this period, our analysts will measure key indicators, conduct an audit of the project in combat conditions (together with an agency conducting promotion activities), and a comprehensive report is generated based on the results.
The project will be assigned a personal manager from the support and development services, who will deal with the further development of the project. Its functions will include monitoring the implementation of operational tasks, proactive generation of ideas and improvements, regular analysis of the competitive environment and the formation of analytical reports on the results of the work.
The support and development department is a dedicated structural unit of Publishing Studios with a staff of 6 people. We work on SLA (basic response time to circulation is 30 minutes). Currently, there are 18 sites in the department that serve more than 12,000 new customers to our customers.
The cost of a basic service package after the first month will be 40,000 rubles / month, the volume of work hours included is 30.
+ a short list of services included in the base subscription.
Of course, if we make a call with a free month of service, before that we had to smudge it according to estimates - so as not to work for free.
As you can see, they threw another hook about teamwork towards MayContext.
8. Conclusion
In this block, we must sum up some results on our proposal, assure the customer of success and give some kind of positive emotional message. Note that before that we did not operate on the current conversion rates that we learned during the briefing, and did not give any predictions as far as we can increase it. Let's make it the last convincing argument:
Bublikova Studio has all the necessary experience, competencies and strategic vision to implement a successful project in the interests of “Accounts without worries”.
We guarantee (in the case of maintaining the current quality of traffic) an increase in the overall average site conversion from the current 1% to 1.5%.
If we continue our cooperation in support and development of the site over the next three months after the launch of the project and the implementation of improvements and improvements, we can guarantee an increase in conversion up to 1.75%.
We perfectly understand the specifics of the accounting services market and see in “Accounts without worries” one of our key clients, to whom we always ensure the highest quality of all rendered services.
Important - we are talking about cooperation on the development of the site as an accomplished thing. Important - we immediately increase the value of switching to our support not only in terms of “support”, but also in increasing target KPIs. It’s important - we make a reservation about “preserving the current quality of traffic” - otherwise we can get pretty.
We go through the checklist and make adjustments
KP is ready. I look at the clock, 21-00. You can, in principle, send it now to the client. But, firstly, it is better to present in person. Secondly, you need to look again at a fresh head. I'm going home, getting back to the offer in the morning.
First, let’s go through a typical checklist, which has been introduced for a long time both for ourselves and for sales managers. We look at the points.
- Have you formulated the goals and objectives of the project? Did they describe the expected result?
- Have you described the structure and scope of the project?
- Have you shown knowledge of the industry / terminology / competitors of the customer?
- Are there any answers in the KP to questions that arose outside the brief - in the results of personal communication.
- Have you shown knowledge of the customer’s company? Do you speak the same language with him?
- Have you shown your profile experience in the subject area of the project?
- Have you described transparently the process of interaction, tasks on the client side, separation of responsibility?
- Have you shown ideas / solutions designed specifically for the project?
- Have you fully and transparently shown the budget and plan for the project?
- Did you indicate the risks of the project?
- Have you described the format for further interaction?
- Did you indicate the competitive advantages of the company in the context of the customer / project?
It seems that everything is ok, they have not forgotten anything - except for a couple of points.
Knowledge of customer terminology and industry. Here it would be possible to make accents stronger: we showed knowledge of the industry, but with terms we can do better. Google. Add the phrase:
Given the initiative of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the possible introduction of an additional tax on real estate for companies operating on the simplified tax system, we recommend developing an additional section on the website that contains complete and current information on upcoming changes to the Tax Code of the Russian Federation - both for current and for potential customers of the company.
This, incidentally, draws on a full-fledged idea. It’s good that they google it. We do not insert it into the presentation and CP; it will be a separate trump card in the sleeve at the in-person presentation.
It turned out somehow dry.
The general impression is a bit dry. Okay, there’s a long-standing trick - we take pictures, mine and a partner, and insert their document with a couple of quotes from direct speech:
- Andrey Bublikov: “Bublikova Studio perfectly understands the specifics of the market for remote accounting services and HR administration. In our work, we use both full-time specialists and SaaS solutions to automate the relevant business processes. Therefore, we know for sure how to correctly show the advantages of “Accounts without worries” in this competitive market. ”
- Vasily Adzhaylov: “The situation from the point of view of tax legislation, as well as the market for accounting services, are changing very quickly in Russia. One of the strengths of our Studio is ideally built processes for the development and support of projects. Therefore, we guarantee regular work to develop possible improvements, changes and adjustments to the project - promptly and without reminders from the customer - as part of the basic package of subscription services. ”
Now, along with quotes from those startups that we interviewed at the preparatory stage, and a quote from our law firm’s recommendation from our client, it’s already quite normal. Everything, the document is ready, exhale.
Other documents in the shared pool
We will go to the meeting-presentation of the proposal not only from KP. We will need a number of documents that may come in handy.
- Presentation of ideas. A presentation with a detailed transcript of the ideas described in the CP. Since we have only two ideas (and one more “in the sleeve”), we get a short document of 5 slides, where we give a few references on infographics.
- Team presentation. We have a basic presentation with a slide for each employee - photo, quote. But I want to sharpen more for the project and the client. We go into our own accounts department, take folders, accounts and other attributes there, go to the meeting room, and within 10 minutes we quickly take pictures of the employees who are planned to work on the project. We set the task to the technical expert - and after an hour and a half at the exit we have a presentation " Publishing Studio will find creative even in accounting matters . "
- Studio profile. A standard PDF document of 7 pages that describes our positioning, services, team, approach, important facts and achievements. We already took it with us for the first briefing, and Mikhail glanced at it briefly.
- Customer reviews. One and a half dozen printed reviews. Before fastening the printed document, we pull up the review of our client lawyers. So more relevant.
- Portfolio Presentation. Healthy beautiful Talmud of two hundred pages with pictures. In no case will we show it in its entirety - just put it on the table so that you can look through it as a background activity.
Presentation and summing up the tender
Everything is ready for us, I call Mikhail and make an appointment. Important news - the general director plans to look at the meeting. We recall the information that we could dig into it. Apparently, he has a global economic mindset, like Mikhail. To me, a techie by character, it will be difficult for the two of them - I will take my partner to the meeting, who just loves to talk about the market, trends and other visionary activities.
Since the director actively talks about the Western market in his interviews, quickly before the meeting we take a couple of dozens of screenshots of the sites of large Western companies of the necessary industry affiliation - we will show our knowledge of the market and talk in the like / dislike mode.
We carefully print all the documents on a color printer and good paper, we take electronic copies for the projector - it is always better to combine electronic and solid media. We are going, going.
Emphasis on presentation
Surprise number once. The director will not be at the meeting, flew off on a business trip. The presentation on Western sites is not useful, I do not even get it out of my bag. Well, it happens.
Surprise number two. At the meeting, two young girls from the department of Michael. One is a marketer, the second is a PR manager. Not too good at first glance. But let's see what and how they will talk. Yes, it is, in the very first few said sentences: “engagement, gamification, instagram, brand platform”. Fak, they picked up students for production. This is not good - peppy guys from the full-cycle agency Major Digital will certainly make a greater impression on them than I with my dull techno approach and production. But it was not in vain that I took Vasily to a meeting - he quickly recalls a couple of some irrelevant videos from Cannes, then he tells a couple of stories from his experience working with large advertisers, gives several quotes from “99 francs” and “Mad Men” - and that’s all, they are ours.
We begin to go through the very essence of the proposal. Carefully talk about ideas. Mikhail seems to like the idea of the crisis, girls like references to infographics. Good. But they are few, they apparently expect creativity. They say that I would like more. Okay, we get the idea of imminent problems on the market with the USN from the sleeve - and a separate section about it - both in profile and it seems normal. And they pretended to be invented right at the meeting. Great, the questions are being removed.
We get to the estimate and work plan. We go through the stages and overlaps of the work on the Gantt chart in detail. There is a question about a separate line with the development of the landing page - we explain that this is a good way to test the concept, start introducing changes early, etc. It seems to be accepted.
Next is a standard question from Michael. As a new large customer, surprise surprise, they want a discount. Here I make a 5-minute speech about the same “overhead” coefficient, a profit margin of 15-20% in the agent market, quickly spread it out by expense and labor (I don’t understand anyone other than an accounting firm), and at the same time I tell the case about that a site cannot cost 100 thousand is a stone in the Homa Studio garden. Everything is clear to everyone, but they still want a discount. It happens.
Okay, we say, you can delete the landing page from the work pool, and also exclude one or two voiced additional ideas - this will reduce the cost of interest by 15. But they already liked the ideas. With the landing - they realized that it is possible as an option to exclude - they received their own field for maneuver (perhaps for the general director), the question is closed.
Separately, we mention that one of our strengths is support and development, remembering that it was in this that the previous contractor was pierced. We speak the final words, smile, shake hands, find out that they plan to make a decision within a week, go back to the office.
Waiting for the results
The next day after the meeting, we send a letter to Mikhail with answers to a couple of questions that surfaced at the meeting - we do not leave work. We ask how are you - everything seems to be ok. 8 days pass, no information yet. Alarming
- We make a call to Michael. We ask how you are doing and when you can expect results. He says that everything is fine, right now. We try to do his work for him - and ask if help is needed, for example, in preparing some kind of certificate for his leadership, squeezing, something else. It doesn’t roll - but it was worth a try, it often works.
- We make a call to the MayContext agency. We ask how you are doing, we remind you that the results of the tender should be on the verge. They are in the know. Fine. We go with a trump card - we say that we included the development of the landing page in the design work at an early stage, which will need to be tested in context, which means that they can get an increased budget not after the site is launched, but earlier. They say a good idea (well, still). All of them worked out everything they could. We wait.
As a result, after another two days of waiting, we receive a letter:
Andrey, good afternoon.
We have selected you as a contractor to create our new site.
Send the contract, application and invoice for the payment of the first stage of work.
I propose to hold a trilateral meeting with the MayContext agency on Tuesday to discuss plans, projects and cooperation.
Sincerely, Mikhail Sergeev,
Head of Marketing Communications
, Accounts without worries
sergeev@buh-buh-buh.ru
Hooray, we are great, we defeated fictitious competitors in a virtual tender =)
However, it is possible that with MayContext we still torment ourselves on this client account - although so far it does not bode well.
Afterparty
We won the tender, but now it’s important not to relax and competently enter the project. Practice shows that up to 30% of “won” tenders do not reach the start of work - due to problems with documents, jambs in the early stages and other trifles.
Remember that keeping the current customer is easier than getting a new one.
Be sure to carry out a debriefing with the team that participated in the tender: praise for the victory, tell us what the customer liked and what happened.
Everything, now you need to start work. After all, all this was, in fact, only a preparation.
Some comments
Of course, this is just a fictional case, albeit as close as possible to combat conditions.
It is clear that within the framework of the artistic genre of narration on my lyrical hero, Bublyubov, ideas, clues and all kinds of coincidences poured from a cornucopia. And the concentration of various receptions and approaches went through the roof, usually they are less.
On the other hand, if Bagels did not do homework to prepare for the tender, was not attentive to details and did not connect the brain, then he could easily pass by all these tips - and ultimately lose the tender.
We will be pleased to discuss your thoughts and questions in the comments =) And we also recall that we have prepared a lot of other good free content about marketing and sales in our free " Digital Series"- join in!
* After the Habr’s division, a number of hubs about business and management / marketing studios were nailed, so we write in the two most relevant ones that remain -" web development "and" project management ".