Consultants and service businesses · One-week pilot
From client inquiry to an approved proposal
Turn a clear intake brief into a scoped proposal, then hand off the work without losing approvals.
Start with a safe sample
Download the fictional input and acceptance checklist. Use the same material with both finalists. This is a teaching exercise; vendor features and end-to-end integrations have not been tested here.
Step 1
Collect the facts
Use the fictional brief below. Separate confirmed scope, assumptions and questions before drafting.
Step 2
Draft a bounded proposal
Ask for scope, exclusions, timeline and unanswered questions. Require the draft to quote the supplied fee rather than invent one.
Step 3
Review the commercial details
Check price, deliverables and dates against the input. The account owner approves the final proposal.
Step 4
Hand off after approval
Create an onboarding checklist with an owner for each action. Keep unanswered questions out of automated commitments.
What counts as a pass?
- The fee is $1,200, not a generated estimate.
- The proposal includes a three-page website copy draft, not design or development.
- The June 15 deadline is conditional on receiving approved inputs by June 8.
- No client email is sent without approval.
If a critical check fails, keep the current manual process. Record the failed output and correction time. Faster output is useful only when it meets the agreed standard.
Compare actual cost and review time in the trial scorecard. Read how we distinguish research from testing.