Creating well written sales proposals is one of the most critical keys when it comes to getting new clients. This is especially true when it comes to getting hired off of freelance sites such as Upwork or Freelancer.com.

When a potential client posts a project on a freelance job board they are going to get inundated with sales proposals. This means that your proposal needs to stand out amongst the rest, especially if you are a domestic freelancer and have a higher hourly rate than offshore providers.

It's also important to treat your sales proposals like living documents. They should continually evolve based on the feedback you get from them and more importantly from their respective performance. For example, if you have 3 proposals and 1 of them is getting 10x the responses, there's a good chance that the other two proposals need to be updated.

Components of Successful Sales Proposals

Through the years I've been able to see very good and very poor proposals. And I've developed a list of four components that make for an effective sales proposal. And when I say effective, I mean a proposal that sparks a potential client's interest and leads to them hiring you.

A good sales proposal should:

1. Gain the potential client's trust
2. Showcase your skills
3. Prove that you're a fit for their specific project
4. Show how you're different than other freelancers

Let's take a look at each of these elements in detail.

Gain the Potential Client's Trust

One of the greatest challenges to getting hired as a freelancer is to earn a client's trust. If a potential client trusts you, they will send you more work than you know what to do with. However if a client doesn't trust you they won't even give you a test project. This idea makes sense. Imagine if you had to hire your own freelancer, would you hire someone that you didn't trust? Probably not.

So let's walk through what kinds of things you can do to earn a client's trust.

Clear and Concise Communication

First and foremost you need to demonstrate that you can communicate clearly. Whether you are working in the same region as the client or if they're remote, the client has to feel confident that they will be able to clearly speak with you.

If a client feels like you're not understanding the project that they're describing, they're not going to run the risk of paying you and you not delivering what they need.

On a practical side, make sure you take the time to thoroughly read through everything a client sends you, whether it's a set of requirements or a competitive analysis. Once they feel comfortable that they're going to be able to communicate with you, you're well on your way to earning their trust.

Public Profiles

Next, you can earn quite a bit of respect from clients based on your public profiles. This can include profiles such as:

• GitHub
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• And any other profile that showcases your expertise

I was once offered a 6 figure project from General Electric simply based on the work they saw on my GitHub and LinkedIn profiles. Make sure that you spend time building your online presence... because clients will Google your name to perform their own research.

So which profiles are the most important? It really depends on your goals. As a freelance developer I focus the majority of my time building out my GitHub and LinkedIn profiles since I've had the most success using those channels.

In addition to earning respect from clients, your public profiles can be a great way for clients to find you. I have had a number of clients that discovered me via my social media profiles and they sent me projects based on what they saw.

Online Skill Tests and Certifications

When it comes to earning a client's trust it may also be worth your time to take online skill tests and post a list of any certifications that you've earned. This is a much lower priority than communication and public profiles, however these types of criteria can be beneficial.

I say that these elements are a lower priority than others because they're more difficult to trust for clients. For example, online skill tests are very easy to cheat on, so they don't give you a great deal of credibility. However a naive client may care about them, so they're most likely worth your time. If there is a client who doesn't have much experience with hiring freelancers and they're comparing you with another freelancer who has a bunch of high scores on online tests you wouldn't want to lose the client simply based on something as trivial as tests.

Certifications are a little more tricky. Pretty much anyone can print out certifications, so I'd recommend only sharing them if they come from reputable sources. An example would be if you went through a well known bootcamp. Or if you earned your PMP certification for project management.

Just stay away from doing things such as saying you earned a "certification" from a 2 hour online Excel course. Clients will see right through these types of "certifications" and they'll actually detract from your credibility.

Showcase Your Skills

List Your Services

When it comes to sending out proposals you'd be shocked at how many freelancers neglect to clearly outline the services they offer. Many clients don't include 100% of the requirements in a request for proposal, so it's important to list out key services that you offer.

There are a couple ways to include your list of services.

1. You can be very explicit with your list. In other words you can simply list out the services that you offer in bullet point form.
2. Or you can list out your services and slide them into the proposal itself.

Examples of both options are below.

List format

I offer the following development services:

• Ruby on Rails development
• PostgreSQL and MySQL database management
• Deployment services for AWS EC2, Digital Ocean, and Heroku

Content format

I have experience working with a number of modern languages and frameworks and follow best practices. My specialty areas are Ruby on Rails development, leveraging both the MySQL and PostgreSQL database engines. I also work regularly with deployment engines such as Amazon's EC2, Digital Ocean, and Heroku.

I'm not going to say that one option is better than the other. I recommend that you try both out and see which one converts the best for you.

Hand Pick Portfolio Items

Next on the list is ensuring that your portfolio items are specific to the client needs. If the client submits a job request saying that he wants a social network developed, your proposal should highlight your experience with social networks.

Imagine that you're shopping for a truck. Would you appreciate it if the salesperson showed you ever car on the lot? Or would you prefer to only be shown the trucks? I personally would only want to be shown the type of car I was interested in.

Your clients are the same way. They have a specific project in mind, therefore your proposal needs to focus on portfolio items that show you have experience with those types of projects.

This doesn't mean that you have to have a portfolio item that's an identical match for what the client is asking for. If you did you wouldn't need to build anything! However the portfolio items you include in your proposal should illustrate that you have experience building the types of features the project will require.

Remember that your portfolio is going to be one of the most critical components that determine if you get a job or not. And you need to have more than a great looking set of applications, you also need to have worked on projects that will make the client feel confident that you can build their application.

Prove that You're a Fit for their Specific Project

So how can you prove that you're a fit for a client's project?

Discuss Experience on Similar Projects

Typically I'll start by discussing similar projects I've worked on in the past. For example, if a client is asking for an API to be built I'll give a case study of a previous project I've worked on that required similar skills.

This can include a similar programming language, framework, or a set of features.

In order for a client to trust you, they have to trust that you are capable of building what they're requesting. And if you can explain how you already solved a similar problem to what they're looking for, it will dramatically increase your credibility and your chances of getting hired.

Show How You're Different than Other Freelancers

Lastly your profile needs to clearly communicate how you are different than other freelancers. I personally focused on the project development process that I follow, including describing how I communicate daily updates on the work that I performed.

Only you are going to know what makes will make you stand out amid the pool of available freelancers. It could be:

• Your experience in a specific area
• How you perform project management
• Etc.

What's Next?

In the next guide we're going to walk through the proposals that I've used through the years that have proven to be the most effective.