<!--
Author: Simon-Pierre Boucher
Contact: contact@spboucher.ai
-->

# Examples — Proposal House Style

## Contents
- Opening-section pairs
- Scope exclusion patterns
- Complete worked example (bad → house style, condensed)
- Tier table pattern
- Gotchas

## Opening-section pairs

**❌ Never (us-first):**
> About Us: With over a decade of combined experience, our team delivers
> best-in-class digital transformation solutions to clients across industries.

**✅ House style (them-first):**
> The problem. Your checkout abandonment sits at 71% — 11 points above your
> category median — and your team traced most drop-offs to the forced
> account-creation step. You told us: "we lose them at the login wall."

## Scope exclusion patterns

✅ Every scope section carries three lists:

```markdown
### Included
- Checkout flow redesign (5 screens) with two revision rounds
- A/B test setup and 4-week measurement

### Not included
- Payment-provider migration or new payment methods
- Copywriting beyond the checkout screens
- Changes to the mobile app (web only)

### Available separately
- Post-launch conversion monitoring: $2k/mo
```

❌ Never: an "Included" list alone — the client's imagination writes the
other two lists, in their favor.

## Complete worked example (condensed)

**❌ Bad version:**

> Proposal for Services
>
> About us: [4 paragraphs of credentials and logos]
> Our approach: We will conduct a discovery phase, followed by design
> sprints, followed by implementation and QA. Deliverables include wireframes,
> design system tokens, and up to 40 hours of development.
> Investment: $27,400.
> We're excited about the opportunity and look forward to hearing from you!

**✅ House-style version:**

> ## Cutting checkout abandonment at Northshoe
>
> **The problem.** Checkout abandonment is 71% against a 60% category median;
> your analytics show the account-creation step loses half of them. Every
> point of abandonment is ≈$9k/mo in lost orders at current traffic.
>
> **The outcome.** Guest checkout live in 6 weeks; target abandonment ≤63%
> within 60 days of launch, measured by your own GA4 funnel — worth ≈$70k/yr
> at the low end.
>
> **How.** Week 1–2 flow redesign (5 screens, 2 revision rounds); week 3–5
> build behind a feature flag; week 6 A/B rollout at 50%.
>
> **Scope.** Included / Not included / Available separately: [three lists]
>
> **Investment.** Essential $18k · **Standard $27k (recommended)** ·
> Premium $41k. Standard adds the A/B measurement that turns the launch
> into evidence; Premium adds the mobile app.
>
> **Assumptions.** GA4 access by day 2; feature-flag infra exists (it does —
> LaunchDarkly). If either slips, timeline moves day-for-day.
>
> **Proof.** Same intervention at Nordica: 71% → 58% in 9 weeks (case attached).
>
> **Next step.** Countersign by Aug 22 to hold the Sept 2 start. Pricing
> valid until Aug 29.

## Tier table pattern

| | Essential $18k | **Standard $27k ✓** | Premium $41k |
|---|---|---|---|
| Checkout redesign | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| A/B test + measurement | — | ✅ | ✅ |
| Mobile app screens | — | — | ✅ |

One sentence under the table says why the middle tier is the pick.

## Gotchas

- **Effort listed in hours** invites hourly negotiation; sell deliverables
  and outcomes, keep hours internal.
- **"Investment" vs "cost"** — use "investment" only when an ROI number backs
  it; otherwise it reads as spin.
- **Unpriced Premium tier** ("contact us") breaks the anchor; price all tiers.
- **Case studies without numbers** are decoration; every proof point carries
  a metric and a timeframe.
- **The expiry date you don't enforce** trains clients to ignore the next one.
  Pick a date you'll honor.