It takes me about five minutes to write most of my proposals. Whether my fee is $200 or $100,000 dollars for the project in question, the proposal looks the same and communicates the same information. The difference in fee has to do with the value I am proposing, not the format of my proposal.
© 2011, David Stelzl
High Tech Business Growth 
How can that be? Each customer is different – no? Do you sell only one type of service? Even so, how can a $200 proposal and $200,000 take the same amount of time?
I sell several different things, but it’s the system that matters – notice I said most, not all. There are some things that are more complex or where the customer requires that I write it their way – this takes much longer. But most clients are fine with my standard agreement. This does not include listing out hardware parts and pieces – but rather the consulting and services aspect of a project. I’ve used the sames process while in the solution provider business as I do consulting and speaking….The difference is, most sales proposals are an attempt to sell the customer and therefore contain far more detail than is needed. The time is spent in discovery, not developing the agreement. If I spend less time discovering, I spend more time trying to figure out how to write the agreement. If I am selling something I have never sold before, this obviously requires more time.