02 Convert Cornerstone guide
A practical conversion process, from qualified opportunity to signed client
Most stalled proposals are not lost to a competitor. They stall because the scope was vague, the decision makers were unclear or the next step was never agreed. Here is a process that fixes each of those.
- 01DISCOVER
- 02SCOPE
- 03PROPOSE
- 04DECIDE
- 05COMMIT
A qualified opportunity is a promising conversation, not a client. Between the two sit discovery, scope, a proposal, a decision and a written commitment. Each is a place where good opportunities quietly stall.
Service businesses often treat the proposal as the center of conversion. In practice, the proposal is the visible result of work done earlier: understanding what the client needs, agreeing exactly what will be delivered and knowing who will decide. When that earlier work is thin, even a beautifully designed proposal waits in an inbox.
This guide sets out a five-part process: discover, scope, propose, decide and commit, followed by a commercial handoff so that the client never has to repeat themselves to the people who deliver the work.
Discover the need and how the decision will be made
Discovery has two subjects, and most conversations cover only the first. The first is the need: what the client wants to change, why now, and how they will judge success. The second is the decision: who is involved, who signs, what they need to see and by when.
- What outcome does the client want, in their words?
- How will they know the engagement worked? What would they measure or show?
- What has been tried before, and why did it fall short?
- Who else will be affected, consulted or asked to approve?
- Who signs, and what does their approval process look like?
- What date matters, and what happens if it is missed?
AvariHQ recommendation
Record discovery answers in a standard Discovery Record, not in meeting notes. A record can be reviewed, shared and handed off; notes usually cannot.
Scope exactly what will and will not be delivered
A scope statement is the most protective document in a service business. It sets out the deliverables, what is excluded, the assumptions you are relying on, the responsibilities on each side and the criteria for accepting the work.
The Project Management Institute defines acceptance criteria as the conditions that must be met before deliverables are accepted, and treats the scope baseline as the approved version of the scope against which changes are controlled.1
| Part | What it answers | Example (hypothetical) |
|---|---|---|
| Deliverables | What will the client receive? | A documented onboarding process and five client templates |
| Exclusions | What is not included? | Software configuration and data migration |
| Assumptions | What are we relying on? | Current templates are supplied in week one |
| Responsibilities | Who does what on each side? | Client names one approver for all feedback |
| Acceptance criteria | How will we both know it is done? | Templates approved in writing after one review round |
Exclusions and acceptance criteria are the two parts most often left out, and they are the two that prevent the most disagreement later. If you only improve one thing in your proposals, add them.
Propose one clear recommendation
A proposal that is built on an agreed scope is short work: it restates the client's need, makes one clear recommendation, shows the scope, the timeline, the investment and the terms, and states the single next step.
AvariHQ recommendation
Present one recommended option. Where options are genuinely useful, keep them few and explain the difference in outcome, not just in price. A proposal should make the decision easier, not open a new round of analysis.
- The situation and need, in the client's words
- Your recommendation and why
- Scope: deliverables, exclusions, assumptions, responsibilities
- Acceptance criteria and review rounds
- Timeline and first milestone
- Investment and payment terms
- The next step and the decision date
Support the client's decision
Once the proposal is sent, the work changes from persuading to helping the client decide. Agree a decision date during the proposal conversation. Ask what could prevent a decision, and resolve those questions directly rather than waiting.
The proposal nobody owned, a hypothetical scenario
A consultancy sends a well-priced proposal to an operations manager. Three weeks pass. On follow-up, it emerges that the finance director must approve any spend above a threshold and has never seen the proposal.
In the next proposal, the consultancy uses a Decision Plan from the first meeting: who decides, who approves, what each needs to see and by when. It offers a short call with the approver before the proposal is final. The decision is made in eight days.
Commit and hand off
Commitment should be written: a signed agreement or an accepted proposal, plus any deposit or activation payment your terms require. Then the commercial side hands the engagement to onboarding.
A good commercial handoff includes the signed scope, the acceptance criteria, the decision makers and contacts, anything promised in conversation, known risks and the client's success measures. Without it, onboarding begins by asking the client questions they already answered in the sale.
Healthcare safety guidance attributes hand-off failures to misaligned expectations between sender and receiver and to inaccurate, incomplete, untimely or misinterpreted information, and recommends standardized hand-off tools. AvariHQ applies the same idea to commercial handoffs by analogy only; the guidance does not study businesses.2
Continue with How to build a client onboarding process that makes delivery ready.
Put it into practice
Standardize discovery
Use one Discovery Record covering the need, success measures and the decision process.
Write the scope first
Deliverables, exclusions, assumptions, responsibilities and acceptance criteria before the proposal.
Make one recommendation
Build the proposal on the agreed scope and state one next step.
Agree a decision date
Map who decides and resolve blockers directly.
Commit in writing
Signed agreement or accepted proposal, with any required payment.
Hand off with evidence
Pass the signed scope, contacts, promises and risks to onboarding.
The takeaway
Proposals stall when scope, decision makers or the next step are unclear. Fix those before you redesign the proposal itself.
The free Service Scope Definition Worksheet helps you write deliverables, exclusions, assumptions, responsibilities and acceptance criteria for your next proposal.
Sources & further reading
Numbered notes in the text refer to these sources. Findings keep their original populations, dates and limits. Operating advice marked as an AvariHQ recommendation is our own guidance, not a research finding, and the scenarios in this guide are hypothetical.
Professional standard. Definitions of terms, not evidence about outcomes.
The Joint Commission, Sentinel Event Alert 58: Inadequate hand-off communication (12 September 2017).
Cross-domain standard. Healthcare and patient safety. Used only as an analogy for business handoffs.
Free tool Word
Service Scope Definition Worksheet
After discovery and before you write the proposal.
The complete method
02 / SYSTEMCONVERT
The Client Conversion System
70-page System Guide, 7 tools and editable records. $149, USD, one-time purchase.
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