| I never read banner ads. That's why I was
surprised to find myself clicking on a banner the other day. The ad intrigued me because
it offered to fulfill a pressing need I had.
Over the years, I had developed what I thought was a fairly
slick proposal template for my search engine optimization business. But still the document
lacked an edge. I knew I had lost a couple of recent pitches to my competitors and I
wondered if there was something about their proposals that I was missing in mine.
You know that a good proposal can make or break a sale.
This is particularly the case when your only communication with potential clients is via
the Internet. But how do you know you've covered all the important aspects of your
services? How can you be sure you've covered all project estimates? What if you need to
include some legal contract information in your document but you can't afford to hire a
lawyer?
How do you make your proposal stand out from your
competitors if you don't have any graphic design skills? Are you forgetting an important
section in your proposal that your potential client was expecting? I found myself asking
all these questions when preparing quotations for potential clients.
The banner ad from Proposal Kit
http://www.proposalkit.com/kits/pkhelp.htm offered a solution to my problem. It advertised
"Turn-key contract, estimating and proposal kits for today's Internet
professional". That's exactly what I was looking for, so I clicked on the banner ad,
fully expecting to find some ultra-hyped, over-rated, disappointing backyard software. Boy
was I wrong!
What I found was probably the most cost-effective and
useful tool for online business that I have EVER come across. Seriously!
Proposal Kit takes the guesswork out of drafting a proposal
or contract. It automates the chore of putting together a complex business proposal.
Basically, Proposal Kit provides a comprehensive range of templates to suit any business
requirement and helps you build a framework for your proposal to match virtually any
product or service offering. You then flesh out the templates with your own data and
contact details. Templates are particularly suited to online businesses and include
documents for the initial sales pitch, the planning stage, estimating, contracting,
project timelines, analysis and even invoicing.
Want to include a Cost/Benefits analysis in your proposal?
How about a Production Schedule or a Web Site Design Storyboard? With Proposal Kit, you
have a huge range of professional documents available within instant reach to make up your
perfect Proposal, tailored specifically for each client. You can even choose a color
scheme or graphic design theme to match your corporate image or that of your client. The
style you see in the screenshots on this page is just one of almost 30 different styles
available.
But Proposal Kit is not just about creating "knock 'em
dead" proposals. Purchase the supporting Contract Pack and you have access to legal
binding contracts, sign off forms, copyright agreements and more. Find a web site stealing
your content? Use Contract Pack's "Cease and Desist" letter template to draft
your response. Want to provide users of your software with a easy way to report bugs? Use
Contract Pack's Bug Report Template. Once I read the Quick Start Guide, it took me less
than 5 minutes using Proposal Kit Wizard to set up a sophisticated Master Proposal
framework to suit my business, incorporating 31 different templates from the recommended
list.
Here's a summary of the different products Proposal Kit
offers:
Proposal Kit Pro and Proposal Kit Standard
Proposal Kit Pro and Proposal Kit Standard are bundles of
several products, including the most commonly used packages. Each collection (proposal,
contact, estimate, planning, samples) can be purchased separately, or together in a bundle
at a lower cost. These are designed specifically for web, CD-ROM, multimedia and tech
professionals. Current retail price for Proposal Kit Pro is USD 197 (a stripped down
starter kit is available for USD 97).
Proposal Packs
Proposal Packs contain hundreds of templates designed for
general business use (both tech and non-tech) by any company selling a product and/or
service to another company. Use Proposal Packs by themselves or as add-on graphic styles
with Proposal Kit. Current retail price of each Proposal Pack is USD 57. Foreign language
versions in Spanish, French, German and Italian are also available.
Sample Proposal Collections
Sample Proposal Collections include examples of finished
proposals. Samples illustrate how proposals have been created using various Proposal Pack
styles. Sample Proposal Collection Volume 1 and Volume 2 are already included in every
Proposal Pack and Proposal Kit and are also sold separately. Pricing ranges from USD 27 to
USD 87 per pack.
Contract Pack
Contract Pack is a large collection of contract and
agreement documents for web, CD-ROM, software, computer, multimedia and other computer
software and hardware related work. Contract Pack is available in a stripped down
"starter" version (Standard) and a complete version (Pro). Contract Packs are
included in the Proposal Kit bundles. Pricing ranges from USD 47 (Contract Pack Standard)
to USD 97 (Contract Pack Pro).
Proposal Kit Wizard
Proposal Kit Wizard is an optional add-on software
interface for use with Proposal Kit templates. Proposal Pack Wizard must be used with a
Proposal Kit and/or one or more Proposal Packs. Proposal Kit Wizard works as a Word Macro,
automating common tasks that are usually performed manually using the proposal templates.
Drag and drop your chosen templates into your Proposal Master document or simply merge
them from multiple PDF docs to create your final Proposal, ready to send. Use the Mail
Merge feature to integrate your client's details. Add an attractive border or a custom
logo or graphic using the global replace tool. Automatically create a Table of Contents
and page numbering based on your merged document. Regular retail price of Proposal Pack
Wizard is USD 97 but because it's a new release, they've set introductory pricing at only
USD 47 for a limited time.
I've only touched on the products here, but plenty more
information is available on the web site and their product comparison chart is, quite
frankly, the best I've ever seen.
Proposal Kit requires Word 6+ for Windows/Mac or higher and
supports Office XP, Mac Office and Office X. The only negative aspect of the product (and
it's not actually a negative, just a necessary restriction) is that the legal contracts in
the Contract Pack should not be viewed as binding legal documents. Because every business
has different products, services, clients and operates in different geographical
environments, legal requirements vary widely. By all means use the contract templates to
draft your contract, but make sure you have the document carefully reviewed by your
company law firm to ensure it meets your specific legal requirements. This is emphasized
within the templates.
Proposal Kit has been available since 1999, Proposal Packs
were introduced in 2002 and the Proposal Pack Wizard was just released last year.
Developers of the product, Cyber Sea Inc., claim that Proposal Kit has customers
world-wide, primarily in the US, Canada, UK and Australia. A large number of customer
testimonials for Proposal Kit are viewable from http://www.proposalkit.com/kits/pkhelp.htm
and I can understand their enthusiasm.
I was so excited by my discovery of Proposal Kit that I
immediately wrote to the company asking permission to write a review and share my
excitement with my newsletter and web log subscribers. Here's an extract from my gushing
email to them:
"The huge range of proposal and international contract
templates offered on your site seem to be ideal for persons in my industry - what a
delight to find them! I would love the opportunity to tell my readers and SEM colleagues
all about your products".
So am I still excited? Absolutely. I've created a new
Master Proposal, incorporating some of the professional templates such as Company History,
Non-Disclosure Agreement, Production Schedule, Cost/Benefits Analysis, Testimonials and
List of Acronyms into my client proposals. I was so impressed that I've even become a
Proposal Kit affiliate. Judging by the feedback I'm receiving, the use of Proposal Kit has
already made a huge improvement in the quality and impact my proposals have on potential
clients.
So if you run an Internet-based business and want to more
accurately quote your projects, impress your clients, brand yourself as a top professional
and close the sale, I highly recommend you check out Proposal Kit
http://www.proposalkit.com/kits/pkhelp.htm. Just don't tell my competitors about it!
Copyright © 2005 by Kalena Jordan. All rights reserved
under U.S. and international law. |
