[thelist] Paying for proposals?

Chris George chrisg at gsnet.com
Wed May 1 14:56:00 CDT 2002


Hey all.

Me again.  We're putting up some rather large proposals (large for us) and
the package we put together, the custom folders, the questionnaire,
evaluation, goals, etc. etc. takes approx. a day of my time (give or take a
few hours)... What I'm finding is there are a few prospects that ask for
quotes just for curiosity's sake... Or they're completely not aware of how
much all they're asking for could set them back...

There are some industries that charge for quotes, or approvals... Which
seems to be just legwork (time).

Do any of you charge for proposals?  Is this a bad idea?  What are your
results in doing so?

What I was _thinking_ about implementing is something along the lines of a
nonrefundable deposit of a couple hundred... If they decide not to go for it
then at least we've gotten paid for our legwork (or, if they say no-way to
begin with maybe we've cut out the chaff?), and if they DO go for it, then
we could turn around and just deduct the cost from their overall bill...

Thoughts?  Ideas?

Thanks!

Chris.




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