I lost a big project last month. Not because of my price or my work. Because of a text block I sent over email.
An interested prospect liked a website I built and booked a call.
The call went great. I helped him without trying to pitch anything.
At the end, he told me he’s already talking to a few builders, but asked me to send him a proposal. So I did what I mostly do: sent an email with a short list of what I can do and the price.
He ghosted me. Even after the follow up, it was just a cold “I need to think about it.”
I felt like I provided quality service that I couldn’t communicate in that email. He evaluated multiple proposals at the same time, and I lost that battle.
Your proposal is your first deliverable
I knew that other agencies and freelancers had a template for this. Something well designed and professional.
The first call was great, but I didn’t continue the professional journey after it. My proposal didn’t show him what product he can expect at the end. I sell websites - visual trust, first impressions, conversion - and my own first impression after the call was an undesigned wall of text.
I thought about how many other prospects got that same email and made the same decision.
So I spent three days building a new proposal. From scratch. Here’s what I wanted it to nail:
1. Looks like something I’d actually deliver
Design wise, it should feel clean and premium. I went with a serif font and kept it restrained, no overwhelming images or colors.
2. Feel personalized, not copy pasted
I wanted the prospect to feel like this was made for him. That I listened. That I cared about his specific problem.
So I included his name on every slide and dedicated the first pages to his specific challenges and the results we’re going to deliver for his business. Not a generic PDF sent to everyone.
3. Short and clear
Prospects don’t read long proposals. I wanted to be short and sweet, but still give him the confidence that I know what I’m doing and that he’s getting value worth his investment.
The system under the template
During the process, I had ideas for other resources that could be useful throughout a website project, things like a stylescape and a kickoff presentation. More on those in future newsletters.
That’s why I built a reusable system in Figma with styles, components, and variables. If I want to change my color palette or update the spacing, I can do it in one touch.
This took three days and made me zero money. But the foundation is there now. Customizing this proposal for the next client takes 10 minutes, and the building blocks for the rest of my project resources already exist.
Question for you
Go look at the last proposal you sent to a prospect.
Does it match the quality of the work you’re promising?