Proposals: What's Included and Why You Should Do One

Send us Fan MailWhat do Cleaning Proposals look like? What is a proposal and why should you do one? In this episode, I dive into proposals, why we do them, and how you can use them to increase your perceived value to make more money.At Universal Janitorial Services, we view proposals as a sales document. It’s meant to continue to sell to the prospect long after you do the walkthrough. There's no right or wrong answer on proposal formats. Long, short, web-based, or even a PDF, there are many ways you can create a proposal. There's no right or wrong answer provided you're addressing your prospect's needs and winning new business.Universal Janitorial Services includes the following into our proposals:1) Cover page (incld our biz name, address, the prospect's name and address, both of our logos, contract period, proposal version number (in case we have multiple revised copies), expiration date, and a mention of services provided, like "Janitorial Service proposal for...").2) Cover sales letter (brief intro and we cover 3-4 unique selling propositions).3) Our brochure converted into letter-size paper4) If over 20 pages, we included a table of contents.5) Services offered company-wide and our mission statement6) An info page with our affiliations, certifications, contact info, and executive summary.7) 3-6 pages of solutions for them (staffing solutions, employee selection process, background checks, uniforms, green cleaning, insurances, supplies, training program, quality control program, org chart, employee benefits, safety program, and pandemic response).8) Client reference page filled with logos of recognizable clients and the services we provide for them.9) References filled with 2-4 examples with contact info, pictures, and client profile, and what we do to help them.10) White paper doc with a client success story and testimonial.11) Cleaning Specs (SOW)12) Pricing summary13) ContractWe put these proposals together with Microsoft Word and format over to an Adobe PDF. We send that PDF as an email attachment with a cover.There are software you can consider, like Route, CleanGuru, CleanlyRun, Clean Proposals, Houscall Pro, ServiceTitan, Responsibid, Pandadoc, and Proposify.Looking for proposal examples? Check out:1) Google - simple searches like "Cleaning proposal", "Janitorial Contract" or "Janitorial PDF" can supply you with several examples. 2) Pinterest 3) RFPs - Many requests for proposals clearly spell out what that client wants to be included in pricing.  Google  "janitorial RFP" and I bet you'll find a few.4) Software - Software like PandaDoc and Proposify do include free janitorial proposal templates. You can sign up for free and download these copies.Resources Mentioned:Google MapsGoogle EarthRouteCleanGuruCleanlyRunClean ProposalsHousecall ProServiceTitanResponsibidPandaDocProposifyThis episode is sponsored by MyCleanPivot janitorial coaching. You're wearing 17 hats in your business and most of them probably don't even fit. You're juggling too much and stepping on too many mines in the minefield in your business journey. Hiring the right coach is a critical piece of success. Don't go at it alone