How to Get Your Proposal in Front of the Real Decision Maker

Ask who else is involved before you write the proposal, not after you send it. Then write for the person who signs: put the outcome, price and timeline on one page they can read in two minutes, send them their own link, and offer your contact a short call with them. Otherwise it reaches them second-hand, stripped of context.

Why a proposal reaches the decision maker second-hand

Your contact is usually the person with the problem, not the person with the budget. They took the calls, they understand the scope, and they believe in it. Then they forward your proposal to a finance lead, a founder or a board with a one-line note, and the person who decides reads it cold.

What survives that trip is the price. What gets lost is everything you said on the calls that made the price make sense. It is the normal shape of a sale for a fractional executive, who almost always pitches a founder and is decided on by a board; see proposal tracking for fractional executives.

Find out who the decision maker is, early

On the first or second call, ask directly. Clients expect it:

• "Who else will be involved in deciding on this?"
• "Is there anyone who will need to sign off on the budget?"
• "How have decisions like this been made before?"

The answers change what you write. A proposal read by a founder and a proposal read by a procurement team need different first pages.

Write the proposal for the decision maker too

Most proposals have two audiences: the champion who asked for it, and the signer who has to approve it.

The champion wants the detail. They will read the methodology, the timeline and the team.

The signer wants to know what they get, what it costs, what the risk is, and when. They will give it two minutes.

So give the signer a page of their own at the front: the outcome in one sentence, the price, the timeline, and what happens if it goes wrong. If that page is all they read, it should be enough to say yes to.

Help your champion sell it for you

Your contact is going to present your proposal in a meeting you are not in. Make that easy:

• Send a one-page summary they can forward as it is.
• Offer to join the meeting for ten minutes, or to brief the signer directly.
• Ask what objections they expect, and answer them in the proposal before it goes upstairs.

A champion who looks well prepared in front of their boss becomes a stronger champion.

Send the decision maker their own link

If you know who the decision maker is, send them their own copy rather than relying on a forward. With a tracking tool you can then see whether they read it, what they read, and how long they spent on pricing, rather than inferring it from your contact's silence.

Closewatch lets you create as many share links on a proposal as you like, each labelled with the person it is for. A link for your contact and one for the finance lead tell you exactly who has opened theirs, and who has not.

One named link per person, so each read belongs to someone. Sample data.

Signs your proposal has reached the decision maker

On a tracked proposal, a new reader who goes straight to pricing and stays there is often the budget holder. So is a link you sent to the signer being opened for the first time. See how to tell if a client forwarded your proposal.

If weeks pass with only your contact reading, the proposal has probably not gone upstairs yet. Ask, gently, whether there is anything you can prepare to help them take it forward.

When your contact will not introduce you to the decision maker

Do not go around them. A proposal sent directly to someone's boss without their knowledge tends to end the relationship with the one person who wanted to work with you.

Instead, make the case for why a short call helps them: "I am happy to take the pricing questions off your plate so you are not stuck defending numbers you did not write." Some will still say no, and the right response is to equip them as well as you can.

What this cannot fix

Some organisations do not let vendors near the decision maker at all, and procurement processes can run on rules of their own. And a proposal that reaches the signer and is simply not a priority this quarter will not be rescued by a better summary.

Where Closewatch fits

Closewatch lets you send a separately named link to each person involved, and shows you who opened theirs, what they read, how long they spent on pricing, and when a new reader appears on a link. It is $19 a month, flat, and it does not identify a reader it was not told about by name.

For how to write the email that goes with each link, see how to email a proposal to a client.

Frequently asked questions

How do I find out who the decision maker is?

Ask on an early call: who else will be involved in deciding, and who signs off on the budget. Clients expect the question and usually answer it. How past decisions were made is also a useful question, because it tells you about the process as well as the people.

Should I send my proposal directly to the decision maker?

If your contact is comfortable with it, yes, ideally as their own link so you can see whether they read it. Ask first. Sending it around the person who brought you in, without their knowledge, usually costs you your best ally in the deal.

What should a proposal summary for executives include?

The outcome in one sentence, the price, the timeline, the main risk and how it is handled, and what you need from them to start. It should fit on one page and make sense to someone who was not on any of the calls.

How can I tell if my proposal reached the decision maker?

With a tracked link, look for a new reader, especially one who goes straight to pricing, or for the separate link you sent the signer being opened. With an emailed PDF, you cannot tell, and you are relying entirely on your contact to say so.

What if my contact wants to present the proposal themselves?

Let them, and equip them: a one-page summary, the likely objections with answers, and an offer to join for ten minutes if questions come up. Your contact presenting it well is often better than you presenting it at all.

What should every proposal include?

The client's problem in their words, the outcome you will deliver, the scope and what is excluded, the price with payment terms, and a timeline with the first step. Put the outcome, price and timeline together on one page at the front, because that page is often all the decision maker reads.

New to proposal tracking? Start with what proposal tracking is and how it works, or try the proposal tracking demo on yourself: read a sample proposal, then see the report your reading produced.