They asked for a proposal: three things to know first
“Send me a proposal” can mean they’re ready to buy, or that it was the easiest way to end the call. Before you write one, find out who reads it, what they’ll compare it against and where it goes after it lands.
Updated
They asked for a proposal on the first call. Should I send it?
Usually not yet. A proposal written before you know who signs, what they’ll compare it against and what happens after it lands is mostly a price with a cover page. Say you’ll send it, then ask for twenty minutes first so it answers what they actually need.
Is “send me a proposal” a brush-off?
Sometimes. It’s also the politest way to end a call. You can usually tell by asking what they’ll do with it: a buyer who means it can say who reads it and what happens next. One who can’t say probably hasn’t thought past the call, and the proposal is likely to sit unread.
Why do deals go cold after the proposal?
Often because the proposal reached someone who wasn’t in the conversation. The person who signs reads it without the context, holds it up against a list you never saw, or it waits on a step nobody mentioned. Each of those is a question you could have asked before you sent it.
If it has already gone quiet: why the buyer went quiet, and the one message to send.
What should I know before I send a proposal?
Whether the person who signs will read it with you or without you, where you stand on what they’ll compare you on, and what happens to it after it lands. Each row below has one question to ask on the call, and what a good answer sounds like.
Once you know the steps, send them back as a close plan the buyer can correct, alongside the proposal.
Economic Buyer
Who reads it, and whether you’re there when they do
engaged
“Would it help if I put the numbers in front of them directly, or would you rather take it?”
Tests access without asking for it — and a refusal is itself information about your champion.
What a good answer sounds like
A yes, or a reason for no that names the person who signs. If your contact would rather take it alone, ask what that person is likely to question first, and write the proposal to that. If they can’t say who signs, the proposal probably isn’t the next step yet.
Decision Criteria
What they’ll hold it up against
positioned
“If we lost this, where do you think we would have lost it?”
Asks for the losing criterion directly, while it can still be worked on.
What a good answer sounds like
One thing, named plainly, and whose worry it is. That is what your proposal answers first. “Nothing comes to mind” this early usually means they haven’t compared you with anything yet, doing nothing included.
Decision Process
Where it goes after it lands
listed
“Walk me through what happens after you decide you want this — who sees it, and in what order?”
Gets the sequence in their words, including the steps that never appear in an RFP.
What a good answer sounds like
Steps in order, with a name or a meeting against each: a budget review, a committee, a second signature. If the answer stops at “I’ll share it with the team”, you don’t know yet where your proposal goes, and they may not either.
SalesWolf doesn’t write the proposal or the price.
What it shows is how far each of these three has got. On the deal, the economic buyer, each criterion and each step to a decision shows the rung it has reached, from what you’ve accepted or added. A dimension with nothing on it yet shows as a gap.
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