In commercial real estate, it is common to prepare marketing proposals for just about every sales and leasing job that you come across.
Importantly the marketing proposal must be significantly different and better than the rest of the competition agents in your marketplace.
Expect that the invitation from a client to submit a proposal will involve a number of agents and the competition will be fierce.
You should not base your proposal around discounted fees, low commissions, or agency paid advertising.
Whilst the client may initially think this is a good idea, it does not produce the quality campaign that the property deserves.
Commercial real estate is an investment property product and proposals to sell or lease the property should only be based on clear business strategies, not emotions.
Leave the emotional decisions to the owners of residential property.
With commercial investment property the days of the generic marketing proposal are totally gone.
Today the clients that we deal with are very aware of the marketplace and the choices that they have available.
That means that we must be the best choice of agent to market the property and our marketing proposal should reflect that.
They are powerful words, yet not easy to do.
The marketing proposal should be a document that speaks to the specific property and deals with the particular challenges that it presents.
If the marketing proposal adopts this format, the client or prospective client will see that you completely understand what they need.
They will actually read your proposal with greater interest.
This then says that the details of your proposal at the front of the document should be all about the property and the client in every respect.
Here is a format and order of a great marketing proposal that is worth considering; particularly if you want to win more listings and generate more commissions.

• Always use an executive summary at the front of the document.
  This should be no more than one or two pages using dot point's format and highlighting the critical issues about the property and the strategy you wish to adopt.
  The executive summary is designed for one reason only, and that is to get the client to read the rest of the document.
  
• Next you provide a complete summary of the property itself listing the improvements, location, leases, and market status.
  It is essential that the client understands the trends of the current property market.
  Without this awareness, they are likely to have an inflated view of price or rental.
  
• Clarify the services that you believe the client requires.
  This is a useful process in that the client can see that you understand exactly what they want, and they know how you will move ahead on their project.
  
• Provide a detailed analysis of the target market that is relative to the property and how you will attract the target market in your marketing campaign.
  
• Tell the client how you will inspect the property with prospective buyers (or tenants) with due regard to the property features.
  Explain how you will give them critical feedback, both good and bad.
  They need to expect both as that is the only way they can conceive value when you later negotiate with them.
  
• Provide a detailed marketing programme using the best media channels available in the target market.
  These should also be supported with an indicative budget.
  
• It is useful to provide a marketing plan time line in graphical format so that the client can see how the property will be released to the target market.
  
• Provide samples of marketing material that will be used in the campaign.
  Indicative adverts and alternative promotional plans are useful.
  Sometimes the client prefers to make a choice on the marketing that is available.
  This says that you should provide three levels of marketing with supporting costing.
  
• Give the client an understanding of the commissions and charges that will be involved in the campaign.
  Get away from the problem and the thought that you should be cheaper than your competition.
  It is the value that you bring to the property that is far more important than being cheap.
  Any client that bases the decision they make on cheapness is not the client you require.
  
• Provide clear recommendations so that the client has a specific set of choices made by you as their agent of choice.
  The strategies that you provide will give greater credibility to you and your office in your proposal.
  
• Give details of comparable properties that are on the market at the moment and which will be direct competition for the subject property.
  Explain how you intend to remove their impact from your campaign.
  
• Give the client any evidence of recent sales and leasing campaigns that support your choices and recommendations for the subject property.
  
• At the rear of the document provide testimonials and details of the staff that will be involved in the property promotion.
  

The above details are specifically about the property and the client's needs.
Very little is said about the agency until the end of the document.
This format is far more successful in closing the business than the proposal that is centered on the agency and how good they think they are.
One final comment in the document layout is that it should be biased towards less words and more images and graphs.
This will sustain the client's interest as they scan the document.
If you retain their interest in the first review, they will then take time to read the words and understand what you have to say.
If you remember this principle in your proposal design, you are likely to have a document that is far more user friendly and will convert more business for you.