Comments on: When Looks Matter

By: Lori

Lori — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:05:37 +0000

LOL! Allena, I think I'm the one who needs more caffeine. It's my habit to call hubs "he", which created that lovely pronoun gaffe. 🙂

By: allena

allena — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:25:25 +0000

well, I probably shouldn't admit this publicly, but I had a moment of thinking "how's a dog look through a birding scope..." So I think that earns me another cup of coffee?

I have done proposals when they were called for and for companies/websites. But for individuals, nah. I don't take the time. I slap it in an email.

Gosh, everything I do seems to come down to time. My kids are only in school 6 hours a day....

By: Lori

Lori — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:55:33 +0000

Anne and Damaria, I think there are projects that just beg for them.

There's a new twist on the proposal, Devon! Nice.

By: Devon Ellington

Devon Ellington — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 13:37:08 +0000

I LOVE formal proposals. I think they're fun to write, and a chance to show both my range and enthusiasm for a particular project.

I've been hired to write formal proposals for companies -- on the basis of my formal proposals TO them!

By: Damaria Senne

Damaria Senne — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:32:51 +0000

Yes, I use formal proposals for some projects (e.g. if a client is considering to do a web site, newsletter or book for them.)

By: Anne Wayman

Anne Wayman — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:44:27 +0000

Yes, I use formal proposals for some things… makes me look good.

By: Lori

Lori — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:00:16 +0000

Good way to use them, Cathy! Love it.

Paula, it comes in useful when they're asking for a price and you want to impress them. It's not for everyone, like I said. If I were bidding on a small job of say 500 words, that would be in email. It wouldn't benefit me to dump an extra hour into putting that together.

By: Paula

Paula — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:16:16 +0000

I haven't (yet) had occasion to do a formal proposal, but I'm going to check out the ones in Word. Who knows when it might be useful? Thanks for the tip.

By: Cathy Miller

Cathy Miller — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:44:19 +0000

Yes, I use a formal proposal. I don't use them for every prospect. They take time to do right so if I think someone is just tire-kicking, I probably wouldn't go the proposal route.

The other thing I like to use them for is to provide options. There's the high-end option with more services (meaning more $$) :-) and then a lower-cost option with fewer services.

I don't provide an option on every type of service. Just where it makes sense. For the client where I landed a retainer fee arrangement, the proposal gave them an idea of what I offered and helped them decide where they wanted to spend their budgeted money. We finalized it with a Statement of Work that outlined the services selected.