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Welcome to another version of The AI Business!
Today, we have:
● What 742,000 proposals reveal about the ones that get signed
● 4 small changes that nearly double your close rate
● A prompt that rewrites your proposal (Free prompt)
● How to write AI prompts that go past "be specific"
● Is AI recommending you or your competitors? (Free check)
Hey legend,
You did the hard part. The call went well, the buyer asked for a proposal, and you sent it.
Then nothing.
Proposify looked at 742,137 proposals sent in 2025. Their customers close 34% of proposals. The average they compare against is 20%.
The gap isn't the price. It's a few small things in how the proposal is built and sent, and you can fix all of them before your next one goes out.
This issue ends with a prompt you can use on your own proposal. Before the four changes, a free session on writing prompts that get better answers.
Most prompting advice stops at "be specific."
What’s the key to maintaining brand integrity at scale? A lot goes into it, but the teams that get it right have one thing in common: they know how to talk to AI models.
As teams speed up and the required creative volume balloons, communication matters more than ever— both with LLMs, and with the people around you. Creative teams need to focus on ideas, concepts, craft, while technology augments their manual execution demands.
Join our discussion on this evolution with Ari Murray, Chief Digital Officer at Salt and Stone, and get 5 tips for expert LLM prompting with ready to run prompts.
— THE PROBLEM
Most Proposals Lose After the Buyer Reads Them
It's not the price page. It's everything around it.
Most teams think the buyer flips straight to the price and decides. The data says otherwise.
Buyers open 93% of the proposals they sign, and 80% of the ones they reject. So the losing proposal usually got read. It just didn't convince anyone.
And the winners get read again and again: 12 views on average, against 8 for the ones that lose. A winning proposal gets passed around inside the buyer's company. A losing one sits in one inbox.
So, what happens after you send a proposal?
What happens after you send a proposal?
— WHY IT HAPPENS
Three Reasons Good Proposals Go Quiet
None of them is your price.
1. It reads like a price list. A scope and a number, with no reason to pick you over doing nothing.
2. One person sees it. Your buyer has to sell it inside their company, alone, without you in the room.
3. Saying yes takes effort. Print, sign, scan, chase. Every step gives doubt time to creep in.
Quick check: open your last proposal. If it went to one person, as a PDF, with one price, all three apply.
— THE FIX
4 Small Changes That Nearly Double Your Close Rate
Make them in this order. All four fit in one afternoon.
These numbers come from Proposify's own customer data, so read them as what winning proposals have in common, not a guarantee.
CHANGE 1 · SIGN IT BEFORE YOU SEND IT
Why it works: Proposals the seller signed before sending closed 65% more often, and 25% faster. It tells the buyer the terms are settled and you're ready to start. They're adding the second signature, not opening a new decision.
THE FIX · 1 MIN
1. Sign and date the acceptance page before it goes out.
2. Add one line above the signature: Signed on our side. Add yours and we start on [date].
3. Use an e-signature, not a PDF to print. E-signed proposals close 15% more often and 60% faster.
Rule: your buyer should be able to say yes in under a minute, from their phone.
CHANGE 2 · GIVE THREE OPTIONS, NOT ONE PRICE
Why it works: One price asks "yes or no?". Options ask "which one?". Teams that let buyers choose and adjust their pricing win 2× more proposals, and buyers who build their own version tend to spend more.
THE FIX · 30 MIN
Option 1 → the smallest version that still solves the problem
Option 2 → what you'd actually recommend (label it "Recommended")
Option 3 → option 2 plus whatever gets results faster
Rule: build option 2 first, then cut down and build up. If option 1 doesn't solve the problem, don't offer it.
CHANGE 3 · ADD A 2-MINUTE VIDEO
Why it works: Your proposal gets forwarded to people who never met you. Only 20% of proposals include a video, but when the buyer watches one, the proposal is 3.3× more likely to close. Part of that is because serious buyers watch, but it also lets you pitch in rooms you're not in.
THE FIX · 10 MIN
Record your screen while you scroll the proposal, in four beats of about 30 seconds:
1. Their problem, in their words
2. What you'll do about it
3. Why option 2 is the one you'd pick
4. What happens the day they sign
Rule: put it at the top of the proposal, not at the end.
CHANGE 4 · GET IT IN FRONT OF A SECOND DECISION-MAKER
Why it works: When more than one person views a proposal, the close rate goes up 20%. Your buyer will have to sell it to someone else anyway. Bring that person in before the proposal lands, not after.
THE FIX · 5 MIN
Before you send, ask your buyer:
Who else will weigh in on this? Happy to send it to them too, or walk them through it in 15 minutes.
Rule: send it to everyone who signs off in one email. Don't rely on forwarding.
AFTER YOU SEND IT
Won deals close in about 2.5 days on average once the buyer opens the proposal.
Opened, no reply after 3 days → ask which option is closest, not "just checking in"
Opened many times → it's being passed around. Offer the 15-minute walkthrough
Never opened → resend to the second decision-maker
WORKED EXAMPLE
Made-up agency and numbers, to show the method.
Before: a 14-page PDF sent to the marketing lead. One price: $8,500 a month. Unsigned. A week later: "Just checking in."
After: an 11-page online proposal sent to the marketing lead and her CFO. A 2-minute video at the top. Three options: $5,500 / $8,500 (Recommended) / $11,000. Already signed by the agency: "Add yours and we start on 3 November."
What changed: same agency, same price. The buyer now has a choice, a second person on side, and a one-minute way to say yes.
THE PROMPT
You are a B2B proposal editor. My proposal summary: [paste]. My pricing: [paste]. Who the buyer is and the problem they want solved: [paste]. Rewrite the summary in under 120 words, starting with their problem in their words, not with us. Turn my pricing into 3 options: the smallest version that still solves the problem, the one I'd recommend, and a fuller or faster version, each with one line on who it's for. Then write a 4-beat script for a 2-minute video walkthrough, and one line I can send my buyer asking who else should see the proposal.
— SAVE THIS
The 4 Changes
Before your next proposal goes out.
1. Sign it first → "Add yours and we start on [date]"
2. Three options → small, recommended, full
3. A 2-minute video → problem, plan, pick, day one
4. A second reader → "Who else will weigh in on this?"
These four changes fix the proposal. But sometimes the leak starts earlier: the offer, the buyers you go after, or who AI recommends when they search.
Sending proposals but not closing enough?
I've been working on this for a while. It's called The GTM Readout.
It covers your whole go-to-market: your offer and who you sell to, your marketing, your sales process, and your data and AI tools.
I also check whether AI tools like ChatGPT recommend you. You get every leak ranked by what it costs, with the fix already written and ready to hand to your team. It's a one-time service that takes only two hours of your time.
It's built for B2B services & software companies with 10–200 people.
If that sounds useful, let's book a quick call and see if I can help. On the call, I'll show you how AI tools answer when your buyers ask for what you sell, and whether they name you or your competitors. That's yours to keep, whatever you decide.
Have a question first? Just reply to this email with whatever's on your mind, and I'll get back to you.
That's it for today. Thanks for reading till the end. 😊
Cheers,
Mo Sakr
The AI Business
Sources: Proposify, State of Proposals 2026 (742,137 proposals sent through Proposify in 2025, 30 industries). Linked where it's first quoted above.
