3. The medium

How you deliver the message is perhaps even more important than the message itself

Self-determination theory

The self-determination theory is grossly underused in the creation of sales proposals. But understanding this behavior is fundamental to the success of your ability to persuade someone to take your preferred action. In psychology, self-determination refers to every person's ability to make independent choices and manage their own life. The theory suggests that we are all motivated by three innate psychological needs:

Competence

When people feel they have the skills for success, they take actions that will help them achieve their goals.

Relatedness

People need to experience a sense of belonging and attachment to other people and things.

Autonomy

People need to feel in control of their own behaviors and goals, not external pressures

We can satisfy the need for competence by keeping our sales proposals as personalized as possible so that our prospects feel comfortable in their area of expertise.

We can build relatedness by using plenty of visuals that provide emotional context to our arguments.

But how can we help prospects feel autonomous in their decision-making?

Click to watch and learn more about self-determination theory

"The medium is the message"

This phrase was coined by the Canadian philosopher, Marshall McLuhan. He proposed that people are not only affected by the content delivered over a medium, but also by the characteristics of the medium itself.

If you think about the reading experience of traditional formats like the PDF, you'll notice it's a very linear journey. To progress through the document, you have to scroll until you reach the end. There is virtually no choice available to the reader other than that.

Static scrolling documents dictate the reader's journey. Because of this, they fundamentally don't satisfy the autonomy aspect of self-determination. Your proposal feels like a lecture, like you have the power and they don't. This will always be a disadvantage when you want someone to make an intrinsically motivated decision.

By comparison, when you offer up your proposal in an interactive format (like what you're reading now), readers are given more choice and more freedom to engage on their own terms, satisfying their need to make independent decisions.

In which format do you send your sales proposals?

PDF
Word Doc
Powerpoint slides
Turtl Doc
Other

Autonomous pricing

Offering pricing options might feel like you're opening yourself up to a loss, but by providing different deals, you hack into the human need to make autonomous decisions.

When prospects are given multiple options, they feel more confident in their decision because they feel like they've had more context and information in the decision-making process. When there's only one pricing option, prospects are more likely to look to your competitors to find the context they need to assess your offer, so providing a multi-price offer can set you up as your own competition.

Setting several prices also allows you to include a higher price, which when compared with the reduced features of the cheaper options, can encourage more prospects to see the value in the premium option.

Choice paradox

In a study on choice, consumers were more likely to buy when offered a choice of six jars of jam (40%) instead of a choice of twenty-four jars of jam (3%). They also reported greater buyer satisfaction.

When we give too much choice, it can delay a decision from being made and maybe even put people off altogether. It's best to limit options to only a few.