One tactic to help convince a prospect in a proposal or presentation of the merits of your solution is to provide evidence of how you have helped organisations that faced similar challenges.
Evidence is important because...
It builds the prospect's trust in you, which is important as people buy trust first and products and services second
It gives the prospect the required confidence to make the decision to move ahead with you
It differentiates you from the organisations that make unsubstantiated claims about themselves; take a look at any industry and notice how many organisations describe themselves as "industry leaders"
Types of evidence to use in your proposals or presentations
Use testimonials that describe not only the experience of working with you but more importantly the results that were obtained as a result of working with you and quantify the results where possible. The key with testimonials is not to wait for them to come to you, as you could be waiting a long time, but to ASK FOR THEM
Use case studies that talk in detail about the challenges and needs a particular client or sponsor had, outline the solution that you provided and the results that were obtained.
How to use evidence
The evidence must be relevant to the specific problems that your prospect faces. To use an analogy it's no use providing a bald man a testimonial about the merits of hair dye!
In your proposal or presentation address each of your prospect's challenges and needs in turn; outline your solution for each and then provide the relevant evidence to back up each solution
Evidence can also be used at the start of a presentation to whet a prospect's appetite e.g.
"This is the outcome that company x obtained, I am now going to show you how your organisation can achieve a similar outcome"
Alternatively, use evidence at the end of the presentation to really ram home what the prospect will be getting or missing out on.
So start collecting your evidence today and help yourself to attract your prospects.