Category: Tips&Tricks

Clearly defined service, deadlines, conditions and next steps are just as important as price. Check these 7 things before submitting the offer to the client.

The offer is often one of the last steps between a conversation with a potential client and an agreed deal.

However, a good offer is not just a document with a list of services and price. It should allow the client to understand quickly what it gets, how much it costs, when it can expect realization and under what conditions, but also what to do if the offer is to be accepted.

Before clicking ‘Send’, do a short check.

1. Is it immediately clear from the offer what you are offering?

You know what ‘business advice package’, ‘visual identity creation’ or ‘system maintenance’ means. The client may not know.

In the description of the service, please specify what it specifically includes and what the client will eventually receive. The less room for different interpretations, the less space there is for misunderstandings during the realization.

Quick check: Can a person who has not participated in a previous interview understand exactly what you are offering on the basis of the offer?

2. Does the offer match what the client asked for?

One offer does not suit every client.

Before sending, go back to the initial inquiry or conversation and make sure that you have responded to the actual customer's need with the offer. Additional services may make sense if they clearly contribute to the solution, but including them without explanation can increase the price and make the offer unnecessarily complex.

A good offer shows that you understand the problem that the client wants to solve, and not only that you have the service you want to sell.

3. Is it clear what is and what is not included in the price?

This is one of the most important checks.

The number of changes involved, additional hours worked, travel expenses, materials, post-work maintenance or additional services may become a problem if the two parties imply them differently.

Simple rule: If there is a realistic possibility that the client considers something included in the price, and you would charge it additionally, please specify this in the offer.

You don't have to predict every possible scenario, but what might later affect the price or scope of work is better defined before starting a collaboration.

4. Can the client easily understand the price?

The client should not add up the items himself or try to conclude how much the service will ultimately cost him.

If the offer contains several elements, clearly show the prices of the individual items, the additional costs if any, the total amount and whether VAT is included in the stated price.

If you offer several packages, the difference between them should be visible at first glance.

5. Are the deadlines sufficiently precise?

‘By appointment’ and ‘as soon as possible’ sound flexible but can create completely different expectations.

Whenever possible, define the deadline or expected duration of the realization. Equally important to mention from which point the time limit starts to run, e.g. from acceptance of the offer, advance payment or delivery of the necessary materials by the client.

6. Have you clearly defined the payment terms?

The price tells us how much it costs. Payment terms tell when and how to pay.

Please specify the payment deadline, any advance payment and the payment dynamics if the work takes longer or is carried out in stages.

Clearly defined conditions at the beginning reduce the possibility of unpleasant conversations later.

7. Does the client know what to do if he wants to accept the offer?

The client read the offer. Everything suits him. What now?

Should you reply to an e-mail, sign an offer, send an order form, make an advance payment or arrange an initial meeting?

Do not assume that the next step is obvious. Please specify it.

Make a test of 60 seconds

Before sending, try to look at your offer with the eyes of the person who sees the document for the first time.

Can you find answers to these five questions in one minute:

• What do I get?
• How much do I pay?
• When can I expect a realization?
• What are the terms of cooperation?
• What should I do if I want to go?

If you can, you have done a good final check before sending.

If you can't, a few minutes of finishing can now save you a lot of extra emails, clarifications and misunderstandings later.

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Need support in business development?

A good offer is only one part of a well-placed business.

If you need support in elaborating a business idea, designing services, setting prices or other issues related to business development, Contact us. We provide advisory support Entrepreneurs tailored to their specific needs.

August still tastes like summer. Clients are on an annual basis, the inbox is somewhat calmer, meetings move more easily for ‘when we all come back’, and a more serious business pace awaits September.

But September doesn't usually come slowly. In a few days, meetings, inquiries, projects, deadlines and everything that was on hold during the summer are back. That's why the last quieter weeks are not a bad time to think about what we want to do in the fall and whether we really have enough time, people and focus for it.

You don't need a new business plan or a big strategy. To begin with, it is enough to answer a few specific questions.

1. Do I have enough capacity for what I'm planning?

Autumn plans often look good as we look at them separately. A new project. A new campaign. A few bigger clients. The education we want to finish. A service that we have been planning to launch for months. The problem arises when we put it all in the same calendar.

Before starting a more intense period, try to realistically estimate how much work you can take with the people, time and resources you currently have. Ask yourself if in September all planned jobs are launched simultaneously, where will the problem first arise? The answer can show you should something be postponed, redistributed or prepared in advance.

2. What brings me the most income?

Not all customers, products and services are equally valuable for business. Some bring a lot of traffic, but they take a lot of time and generate high costs. Others may look less significant, but they have a good margin, are repetitive on a regular basis and are easy to deliver.

So before autumn, take a look at the last few months and try to answer:

• What do I earn the most income from?
• What do I really make the most money on?
• Which takes a lot of time and financially brings a little?

Traffic alone doesn't say enough. Sometimes it is more important to recognize which part of the business is worth further development, and which only creates the feeling that we are constantly employed.

3. Where does my time disappear every day?

Try to pay attention for a few days to small tasks that interrupt work such as searching for documents, manually transcribing data, sending the same information to different clients, checking the status of tasks, making the same offers or reports from scratch. Individually, it may only take a few minutes. When we repeat them every day, they become hours.

Make a simple list of everything you repeat often and mark tasks that you could automate, standardise, delegate and completely remove. You don't have to change the whole way of working. One removed repetitive task can free up more time during the year than you expect.

4. Does everything have to go through me?

This is especially important for small businesses. Initially, it is normal for the owner to do almost everything – sell, communicate with customers, administer, procure, market and make decisions. As the business grows, the same model quickly becomes a constraint.

If a job stops every time you're on a meeting, vacation, or simply don't have time to respond to a message, the problem may not be the amount of work, but the way the job is organized. Look at your responsibilities and ask yourself What do you really have to do with this?? Maybe the answer isn't a new job right now. Sometimes it is enough to share responsibilities more clearly, to use an external associate or to give someone more autonomy.

5. What do I want to do differently by the end of the year?

From September to the end of the year there are only four months left. This is enough time for a concrete shift, but not enough for ten major priorities.

So instead of a long list of everything you'd like to do, choose One to three things that would make the biggest difference to your business by the end of the year.

This can be:

• increase sales of a particular service,
• find a few new clients,
• change the price list,
• introduce a new tool or automate part of the business;
• solve a problem that has been recurring for months,
• start a product or service that has been in preparation for a long time.

The more specific the priority, the easier it is to decide what you will say yes and what not during the fall.

Don't wait until September to start thinking about September

A good preparation for autumn does not mean filling the calendar until the last free term. Exactly the opposite. The goal is to enter the more intense part of the year with a clearer picture of it what is important to you, where you want to direct your time and what problems you do not want to carry with you again.

August is a good time for such a check because there is still enough distance from the daily crowd. You don't have to solve everything before September. But you can decide what to do differently when the pace speeds up again.

Summer for many entrepreneurs is a period when business slows down at least for a short time. There are fewer inquiries, some clients are on vacation, and the pace of everyday life is not as intense as during the rest of the year.

And while at first glance this may seem like a lull, it is precisely such periods that often open up space for what we are constantly postponing throughout the year. Not necessarily for big strategies and serious business cuts, but for small, practical things that make us messy, waste time or make work more difficult every day.

When the calendar is not full, it is easier to stop, look at the business from a wider perspective and solve things that have stood by for months. Sometimes the greatest relief in business comes not from a new big idea, but from finally putting together what we already have.

Smart entrepreneurs do not see these moments as a break, but as an opportunity.

1. They do what they keep delaying.

Each business has its own “list of things for later”. Unfinished documentation, unanswered e-mails, unregulated records, old papers, unregulated contracts or simply things that are not urgent but create a mess. During the busy months, such things easily fall into a different plan.

Summer is the perfect time to get them off the list. Not because they will immediately bring income, but because they relieve the burden of everyday business.

2. Review clients, collaborations and price lists

Sometimes it is only when we stop that we see how much energy we invest in collaborations that may no longer make sense.

• Are all customers equally profitable?
• Do all projects bring real value?
• Are the prices you set a year or two ago still realistic?

This is not only a matter of profit, but also of business sustainability. Summer is a good time for an honest review.

3. Clean digital mess

Too many tools, too many folders, too many versions of the same documents. Digital mess is often not visible at first glance, but it is very time consuming.

• How many times are you looking for the same document?
• How many times do you enter the same data?
• How hard is it for you to find what you need?

These small changes in the organization of digital business can significantly facilitate everyday work.

4. Close small “open loops”

Every company has small things that last for months.

• An offer that has never been finalized.
• A website waiting for an update.
• The service you plan to introduce “when the time is right”.
• A process that everyone knows doesn't work very well.

The problem is that these little things eventually become a mental burden. Summer is a good time to finally finish them or consciously decide to let them go. Both bring relief.

5. Thinking about what no longer makes sense

What do I do in business just because I'm so used to it?

Each business over time collects processes, tasks, clients and obligations that once made sense, but today may no longer bring value.

Smart entrepreneurs are not only looking at what else they need to add, but also what they can remove. Growth does not come from adding new activities, but from removing those that no longer bring value.

Summer can be the most useful part of the year.

Not every period of deceleration has to mean stagnation. Sometimes that's when the best foundation for what's to come is created.

When the daily pressure is reduced, it is easier to see what works in business, what wastes time unnecessarily and what can be simplified. Small decisions, such as editing processes, reviewing price lists, or removing tasks that no longer bring value, often have a greater effect than they seem at first glance.

Summer doesn't have to be a big time for business. It can be a time of useful clean-up, refocusing and preparation for a period in which the pace will rise again.

Because when autumn speeds up the pace again, it is much easier to grow when the business is already arranged.

A job never again. Phones ring, queries arrive, calendar is filled weeks in advance. At first glance, it seems that the business is growing and everything is going in the right direction.

However, in such a situation, many entrepreneurs are faced with the same question: If we're doing more than ever, why can't we see it in the account? An increase in the amount of work does not necessarily mean an increase in earnings. On the contrary, sometimes it is the increase in the scope of business that reveals weaknesses that until then were hidden.

There are several reasons why a full agenda doesn't have to mean more profit.

1. Not all customers bring the same value

When there is a lot of work, it is easy to fall into the trap of accepting every project that emerges.

Not all clients are equally profitable. Some projects generate a solid income with relatively little time spent, while others require numerous meetings, additional modifications, administration and communication not foreseen in the initial agreement.

This is why it is useful to periodically analyze:

• which clients bring the highest income
• how much time you spend on individual projects
• which projects earn the most

The results often show that part of the time goes to jobs that bring the lowest value.

2. Revenue growth is often accompanied by rising costs.

More work usually means more resources.

These can be:

• external contractors
• Additional software tools
• Higher material costs
• more administration
• More time for coordination

If business expands without clear processes and organization, costs can rise almost as fast as revenues. Therefore, it is important to regularly monitor not only how much you earn, but also how much really remains after all the costs.

3. Time is also a cost.

Entrepreneurs often accurately track money, but rarely track their own time.

How many hours per month go to:

• making bids
• administration
• replying to e-mails
• meetings that do not result in concrete work
• Correcting avoidable errors

Although such costs are not visible in the account, they have a direct impact on the profitability of the business. Time spent on activities that do not generate value is often one of the biggest hidden costs.

4. The problem may not be in sales.

When earnings stagnate, the first instinct is often to find new customers. But the problem isn't always in the absence of work.

Sometimes the cause is:

• vaguely defined service
• too low a price
• Too many different activities
• Ineffective processes
• excessive dependence on the owner

Before you start looking for new customers, it is worth checking if there is room to improve the existing way of working.

5. Growth is not the same as sustainability.

Business can grow while becoming increasingly demanding to manage. If every new client means more stress, more overtime and more operational problems, it is worth asking yourself if the business is growing in a sustainable way.

The goal is not just to have more work. The goal is to create a business that brings value in the long term, enables development and leaves room for strategic planning, not just extinguishing everyday fires.

It's time to step backwards.

If you feel like you're doing more than ever, and the results don't follow that growth, maybe it's not time for more work. Maybe it's time to analyze the existing business. Sometimes the greatest opportunities for growth lie not in finding new clients, but in a better understanding of what you are already doing.

That's why it's worth stopping from time to time, looking at the bigger picture and asking if every hour of work really brings value to your business?