Your sow is not the pitch.

Back in 2013 when I entered the creative industry, I was hired at a boutique branding & design agency in Hollywood. This is where I first learned how to develop a proposal for potential clients.

The “standard” was 3+ pages, filled with flowery language of what we were going to create, timelines, hourly rates tied to individuals, images, & reasons as to why they should hire us. It wasn’t until the last page of the proposal where the straight-forward SOW actually lived with a signature slot. Completely buried if you ask me.

Over the years, I learned that these proposals I had been creating were a total time suck and had zero benefit to earning the trust of the client. After working with various companies globally, I discovered that the long-winded proposal days were inefficient – and in many ways lazy.

The secret sauce?

I save my pitch, questions, and negotiating for Zooms, phone calls, and emails. Only once the decision maker and I agree on a SOW do I send over the official document — or as I call it a “Deal Memo.” That’s when I know it’s likely a real deal.

Sure, the company may need to copy/paste it into their fancy schmancy corporate MSA with all the legal stuff… but by no means should your SOW/Deal Memo be your company’s pitch.

Here’s a template of mine for you to peek.

So the next time you get all pumped up to put together a SOW for a client, be sure you’ve already verbally agreed to the goals, workflow, budget, and terms prior to sending it over. Otherwise, you’re asking this document to do the selling for you. I know you’re better than that.

To being efficient & straight-forward!
-Ashley