Professional Services
Professional services: keep proposals on the client
Proposals in slides and emails get lost. The client record should show what you offered, what they accepted, and what delivery is supposed to inherit.
6 min read
Advisory and agency work dies in versioning. The client asks for 'the proposal' and three people attach three files. Scope was agreed on a call six weeks ago and lives in a thread nobody searches. Delivery starts by asking the client to explain themselves again.
The CRM should point to the one that is live: who they are, what you offered, what they accepted, and what is still open.
Advisory and agency work dies in versioning. The client asks for the proposal and three people attach three files. Scope was agreed on a call six weeks ago and lives in a thread nobody searches.
Delivery then starts by asking the client to explain themselves again. That is how you burn goodwill you just spent a quarter earning.
If onboarding still starts with a blank questionnaire, the proposal never became the brief. Delivery should inherit the pitch, not restart it.
The enquiry is already a client story
Even before they sign, capture who they are, what they asked, and who else is in the room. Procurement, the founder, and the day-to-day contact are often three different people. If you only save the person who filled in the form, you will brief the wrong room.
The first conversations are the cheapest time to get this straight. After the proposal is out, everyone is already arguing from different notes.
Proposal and scope on the record
When scope changes, update the record. Do not rely on a thread from six weeks ago. Mark which file or quote is live. Write the extras in a sentence a delivery lead can understand without a decoder.
If the proposal lives only in slides, the slides will fork. Someone will present last Tuesday's version on Thursday.
- ✓What was offered, and which version is current
- ✓What was agreed, including anything that dropped out
- ✓What is still open: questions, legal, start date
“We won a piece of work and onboarding started with a blank questionnaire. The proposal had the answers. It was just in a deck in someone's sent mail. Keeping the live proposal on the client sounds like filing. It is how you stop charging people to repeat themselves.”
Handover to delivery
When work starts, delivery should inherit the same client record. Otherwise onboarding starts with 'tell us everything again', which is how you burn goodwill you just spent a quarter earning.
A handover meeting is fine. It should be a walk through the record, not a replacement for one.
Change of scope without a new archaeology dig
Mid-project changes are normal. The failure is a new email chain with a new attachment and an old proposal still circulating. Update the live offer, note the date, and make sure invoices will match what is now true.
Clients forgive a change. They do not forgive being billed to a document they thought was dead.
If you cannot find it from the client, it is not the system yet
Open the client. Can you see the live proposal in seconds? Can a colleague who was not in the pitch meeting brief themselves? If not, you still have a folder of files, not a system of record.
Capture the room before the deck
Even before they sign, capture who they are, what they asked, and who else is in the room. Procurement, the founder, and the day-to-day contact are often three different people.
If you only save the person who filled in the form, you will brief the wrong room. The first conversations are the cheapest time to get this straight.
After the proposal is out, everyone is already arguing from different notes. Late capture is how you rewrite the brief in the pitch.
One live offer on the client
When scope changes, update the record. Do not rely on a thread from six weeks ago. Mark which file or quote is live. Write the extras in a sentence a delivery lead can understand without a decoder.
If the proposal lives only in slides, the slides will fork. Someone will present last Tuesday's version on Thursday.
Clients forgive a change. They do not forgive being billed to a document they thought was dead.
- ✓What was offered, and which version is current
- ✓What was agreed, including anything that dropped out
- ✓What is still open: questions, legal, start date
Handover is a walk through the record
When work starts, delivery should inherit the same client record. A handover meeting is fine. It should be a walk through the record, not a replacement for one.
Onboarding questionnaires that ask for answers already in the proposal are how you look disorganised after a polished pitch.
Mid-project changes belong on the live offer, with a date, so invoices match what is now true.
The ten-second client test
Open the client. Can you see the live proposal in seconds? Can a colleague who was not in the pitch meeting brief themselves?
If not, you still have a folder of files, not a system of record. Fix the next five live clients this week. Then make the record the only place new proposals get saved.
Legal and extras on the same page
Open questions, legal, and start date belong next to the live offer. If they live in a separate thread, someone will start work on the wrong version.
When legal changes a paragraph, update the live proposal and date it. Do not leave Thursday's deck in circulation.
Delivery should not re-ask the brief
A walk through the record is a handover. A new questionnaire that asks for answers already in the proposal is how you look disorganised after a polished pitch.
If delivery cannot brief themselves, the proposal is still a file, not a system.
Foxtra keeps the enquiry, the proposal and the ongoing work on the same client so the firm does not restart the story each time. Capture the room, mark the live offer, and let delivery inherit it.
Capture the room, mark the live offer, and let delivery inherit it. The enquiry, the proposal, and the ongoing work should sit on the same client.
If you cannot find the live proposal from the client, it is not the system of record yet. Keep the offer, the agreement, and the open questions on the same page.
Keep the room, the live offer, and the open questions on the client. Then delivery can start without making the client explain themselves again.