Podcasts about bidsketch

You don't need to have a huge audience or social following to start and build a successful and sustainable business. People have started companies this way for centuries. Jack and Paul speak with Ruben today on how marketing and sales work at his companies, how he's managed to succeed long term with two companies, what a lot of bootstrap founders get wrong and so much more.Ruben Gamez is the founder of Bidsketch and SignWell and can be found on twitter at @earthlingworks

In this episode I sit down with Ruben Gamez, founder of both Bidsketch and Docsketch. Ruben has been running Bidsketch for some time now, and along the way he’s developed quite a savvy approach to marketing and content marketing in some unconventional ways. Now with getting Docsketch off the ground in a competitive market Ruben […]

Ruben Gamez is a specialist in Bootstrapping, marketing, User Experience, and software development, he is the founder of Bidsketch, a professional web app focused on designing, tracking, and customizing proposals in no time. In the past, Ruben owned 9thSign, a small business specialized in web development and consulting, after that Ruben worked In Oasis Outsourcing as a Web development Manager, the largest privately-held PEO at the time, then Ruben decided to quit his job and founded Bidsketch where he's been growing and improving since 2009. During this interview we cover: Shifting from part-time gig to running a full time startup Clearly identifying your startup idea & problem you're solving VC vs. Bootstrapping your company Growth Strategies that worked well for Bidsketch Failures & how to use them as experience Key differences when comparing winning or losing business proposals Conceiving other ideas to integrate with your StartUp (Docsketch) Proposals for closing SMB's vs. Enterprise leads Trends in e-Signature Market during COVID-19 Making Docsketch Competitive Considering Merger or Acquisition as a way to grow Links and mentions: Bidsketch Docsketch Get in touch with Andy: Ruben's LinkedIn Profile Personal Blog More about Akeel:

Today Noah and Ben chat with Ruben Gamez. Ruben is the founder of Bidsketch and Docsketch. We have an amazing conversation about what he has learned on his bootstrapped journey over the last 10 years. Ruben is a very experience entrepreneur and we learned a lot from him. We think you will too!

Ruben Gamez is the Founder of Bidsketch, a web application that's used by freelancers, consultants, and agencies to create professional-looking proposals. Bidsketch helps cut down on proposal writing time.  Before that, Ruben Gamez was a Web Development Manager at a big payroll company. He has been in tech for more than 10 years and has been working on Bidsketch for about 5 years.

https://fizzleshow.co How do you drive traffic to a new website without doing heavy blogging or content marketing? Ruben Gamez is a serial entrepreneur and founder of Bidsketch and Docsketch. Bidsketch is a web application that helps people create professional-looking client proposals in minutes. Docsketch is an all-in-one electronic signature, approval, and document tracking solution. In this episode of The Fizzle Show, you'll learn exactly what techniques Ruben is using to drive hundreds of thousands of visits to his websites without blogging.

Show Notes In this episode of Startups For The Rest Of Us, Rob interviews Ruben Gamez of Bidsketch, about his 10 plus years of bootstrapping, lessons learned, improved decision making, and his new product. Items mentioned in this episode: Docsketch FounderCafe ZenFounder AppSumo Transcript Rob: Welcome to this week’s episode of Startups For the Rest […]       

Rob talks to Ruben Gamez, the founder of Bidsketch, about how he approaches his business methodically, despite the endless amount of content and advice out there constantly pulling everyone in different directions.

Ruben is the founder of Bidsketch, a bootstrapped SaaS app that’s used by thousands of freelancers, agencies and sales teams to create professional looking client proposals. He launched this top-rated proposal software on the side nine years ago, working nights and weekends, and grew it into a profitable product shortly after it launched. He’s also now starting a new SaaS called Docsketch, which is an electronic signature product that gets sales documents signed 40% faster.

Contract can often be a dirty word to creatives. Take five minutes in this episode to find out why they are not merely a necessary evil, but something that can benefit you (and your client) greatly! ==================== Episode Links: AIGA: https://www.aiga.org/standard-agreement Contract Killer: https://stuffandnonsense.co.uk/projects/contract-killer Bidsketch: https://www.bidsketch.com Media Surgery: https://mediasurgery.co.uk/blog/web-design-contract Legal Zoom: https://www.legalzoom.com/ Akron U Small Business Development Center: http://akronsbdc.org/

Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch, has built a business around strategic content marketing and he’s doing it again with DocSketch. Wondering what the ROI of content marketing is? Then this episode will show you how to maximize your efforts and increase the chances for your service to get the most ROI. Ruben saw a gap in the market when trying to help someone. He filled that gap through particular content around an ideal client to see if it’s something viable. Almost a decade later, Bidsketch is a multi-million dollar company. Putting a time and cost investment into testing and building content has proven what works and doesn’t work when it comes to converting leads into customers. Most people want it done for them, rather than do it themselves As a result of their testing, Ruben found how educated leads were more likely to convert from trial to customer than if he offered the trial right up front. So they went against the grain of conversion optimization and put a layer of friction in. In this episode Ruben generously shares how he’s building DocSketch from the ground up and insights into the freelance and consulting space. We dive deep into: How to get clients How to get quality feedback from clients What you should give away for free Why positioning is so important in selling your service The process Ruben does before he builds any product or service Make your service as close to a no-brainer as possible Getting clients obviously isn’t just about your skill set, but Ruben points out 2 things that freelancers struggle with most often. But understanding them will make getting clients easier. The 2 points about your business you should understand are: How did you get to where you are today? What are you doing differently than other businesses? Episode TakeawayRuben walks us through 3 steps in the show to help you craft the best content possible to validate an idea for a service, and the second step is to think about what someone may search for before they know that you and your service exist. Think about the problems, issues, questions your ideal client will have before they even know you. Jot down those down. Then, later on, go ahead and write a post about it and see how it works for you.

Rob and Sherry revisit their founder origin series. In this episode Sherry interviews Bidsketch founder, Ruben Gamez. The post Episode 117: Founder Origin Stories Part VI: Ruben Gamez appeared first on ZenFounder.

Rob and Sherry revisit their founder origin series. In this episode Sherry interviews Bidsketch founder, Ruben Gamez. Support ZenFounder

This is an extraordinary plus-size interview with an outstanding guest — Claire Suellentrop of Love Your Customer, previously Director of Marketing and employee #2 at Calendly. You'll hear her best advice on a range of topics: customer interviews, landing pages, user onboarding, gaining traction, content marketing, and much more. You'll also learn an intriguing story how she got started with Calendly. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes Love Your Customers — Claire's company Episode 30: Describing Customer Motivation (Jobs to Be Done) with Eric White Calendly — Claire's previous company where she worked as Director of Marketing Turning Thirty: Story of My Life — Jane's birthday post mentioned by Claire Eat Well. Party Hard. — Claire's old blog (full posts are not available, but you can still scan the headlines if you're curious) Unbounce Call To Action Conference — June 25-27, 2017 in Vancouver (Claire is speaking) Websites that Convert — Claire's upcoming book (launching April 17) The UI Audit — Jane's book on designing web applications Zencastr, Skype, Zoom — tools for conducting customer interviews Rev.com — Claire's favorite transcription service The 5 Elements of Every Successful Landing Page — Claire's video presentation where she talks about long form vs. short form landing pages, and goes deeper into the stages of awareness Basecamp, Calendly, Tiny Reminder — software products we're talking about Samuel Hulick — the guru of user onboarding The Scientific Marketing Strategy Behind Exponential Growth — fantastic Google Spreadsheet created by SumoMe (now Sumo), hugely helpful for planning and testing marketing channels Traction — a book by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares Claire's examples of things done right: Bidsketch (onboarding), Drift (content marketing), Unbounce (landing pages) Sign up for Claire's mailing list at Love Your Customers Follow Claire on Twitter: @ClaireSuellen Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Tiny Reminder. Tired of nagging people? Build a simple form, set a reminder schedule, and add recipients. We'll keep sending reminders until they submit a response. This tool is forever free! Sign up today at tinyreminder.com. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes (here's a brief guide).

Ruben's story with Bidsketch is a great example of how a simple small business can grow into something healthy sustainable on a reasonable timeline. He started out simply with very little in the way of expectations, and bootstrapped the business to profitability it on the side of a full-time job and now manages a remote team of four additional people. We talk about the challenges of growing and managing a remote team as an introvert, the process of recovering after he accidentally deleted all of the customer billing data, and much more. Special Guest: Ruben Gamez.

Ruben Gamez is the founder of online proposal software BidSketch. We explore his work habits since starting his own business and "the resistance" which is a concept introduced by Steve Pressfield in his book The War of Art. Ruben's 2 Cents... Parenthood is like practice and every opportunity with your children is an opportunity to practice and get better

Today's Bootstrapped Web is going  to be an up-date episode. We both have a lot to talk  about with what we're working at the moment. Audience Ops and Carthook have new products and we discuss what is working for our sales respectively. We talk about transparency and some resources that will help you improve your sales game.  So tune in for the latest developments in Carthook and Audience Ops and what you can expect in the coming months. [tweetthis]Force the demo and you will get fewer sign-ups, but you will get into a lot of conversations. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Here are today's conversation points: Why we don't see the point to total transparency. When to ask for the credit card during a sign-up. Brian's plans to redesign the Audience Ops website. Getting ideas from Ruben Gamez from Bidsketch. Jordan's lessons from demos. Tweaking Audience Ops for a Resource Hub pivot. Brian's plan for launching Calendar for beta testers. [tweetthis]I feel like I can't launch anything else, until I have the new site up and running. -  Brian[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Carthook Securing the Five Figure Sale, by: Ian Landsman Product Demos that Sell: How to Deliver Winning SAAS Demos, by: Steli Efti Audience Ops Calendar As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

In Episode #117, Neil and Eric share 7 ways you can use Zapier and IFTTT to efficiently speed up workflow. Listen to discover new and effective ways to help you automate your business. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today's topic: 7 ways to use Zapier and IFTTT to speed up your workflow 00:36 – Zapier and IFTTT allow you to hook in and connect your web applications 01:08 – IFTTT is targeted more for the consumer while Zapier is more for a B2B 01:27 – #1 Zapier acts as a central location for content and pushes notifications if anything changes or comes up 02:09 – #2 Zapier automatically save tweets on a Google spreadsheet where you can go back to see which messages did well 03:02 – #3 If you're using BidSketch or Qwilr—when a new proposal is signed, Zapier will create an automatic Quickbooks customer account, notify you on Slack, send an on-boarding email and create a Basecamp project 03:47 – #4 IFTTT sends email notifications when you're mentioned on other websites 04:43 – #5 When there is a new Intercom email, IFTTT pushes it to our Salesforce and to Slack to notify us 05:15 – #6 With IFTTT, we get an email notification on what's trending. For example, we get notifications with what's happening on Giphy and Google Trends 06:27 – #7 Zapier and IFTTT can help you automate your social media 06:57 – That's it for today's episode!  3 Key Points: Zapier and IFTTT are both tools that can help you repurpose your content. Discover the possibilities you can use with Zapier and IFTTT by trying out new workflows. You can use Zapier and IFTTT to get notified on the latest trends. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

In Episode #117, Neil and Eric share 7 ways you can use Zapier and IFTTT to efficiently speed up workflow. Listen to discover new and effective ways to help you automate your business. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 ways to use Zapier and IFTTT to speed up your workflow 00:36 – Zapier and IFTTT allow you to hook in and connect your web applications 01:08 – IFTTT is targeted more for the consumer while Zapier is more for a B2B 01:27 – #1 Zapier acts as a central location for content and pushes notifications if anything changes or comes up 02:09 – #2 Zapier automatically save tweets on a Google spreadsheet where you can go back to see which messages did well 03:02 – #3 If you’re using BidSketch or Qwilr—when a new proposal is signed, Zapier will create an automatic Quickbooks customer account, notify you on Slack, send an on-boarding email and create a Basecamp project 03:47 – #4 IFTTT sends email notifications when you’re mentioned on other websites 04:43 – #5 When there is a new Intercom email, IFTTT pushes it to our Salesforce and to Slack to notify us 05:15 – #6 With IFTTT, we get an email notification on what’s trending. For example, we get notifications with what’s happening on Giphy and Google Trends 06:27 – #7 Zapier and IFTTT can help you automate your social media 06:57 – That’s it for today’s episode!  3 Key Points: Zapier and IFTTT are both tools that can help you repurpose your content. Discover the possibilities you can use with Zapier and IFTTT by trying out new workflows. You can use Zapier and IFTTT to get notified on the latest trends. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

Welcome back to Bootstrapped Web. Our guest today is Ruben Gamez, the founder of Bidsketch.com. We are talking to Ruben today because Bidsketch is getting ready to launch a new product. Since we both are launching new products we thought it would be good to compare notes. Bidsketch's main product has been a proposal tool. Now they want to add a signature app to their brand. Today we discuss how to research for a new product and how to handle expanding when there are competitors. We compare notes about our own product lines and how to get the customers to notice. [tweetthis]I think there are plenty, well established competing companies who just have feature bloat. - Brian[/tweetthis] Here are today's topics: How to find positioning and distribution for a new product. Why begin a separate product line. Finding the “why” when people don't use your product. How to focus on two product lines. Creating a good elevator pitch. Finding your hook. Asking the right questions of new customers. How to reach people outside of your network. Ruben's timeline. How to find the gaps in your competitor's products. Why you shouldn't copy just to copy a competitor. If you are interested in Bidsketch and their new product, you can go to bidsketch.com or find Ruben on Twitter. [tweetthis]There is all this lead up that goes into it [switching apps] that you don't see it beneath the surf. - Jordan[/tweetthis] Resources Mentioned Today: Audience Ops Calendar Bidsketch Carthook Ruben Gamez's Twitter As always, thanks for tuning in. Head here to leave a  review in iTunes.

In Episode #116, Neil and Eric list the 7 ways you can optimize your marketing proposals. Listen to learn more about optimizing proposals so you can ace that deal you've been aiming for. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today's topic: 7 ways to optimize your marketing proposals 00:31 – #1 Don't talk about how great your company is 01:02 – #2 Don't assume the decision maker will talk to you 01:23 – Make sure to have case studies in the proposal 01:38 – Show screenshots where the business is messing up 02:00 – #3 Use Qwilr or Bidsketch—this will help you make nice proposals 02:43 – #4 Learn from the people you don't close 03:27 – #5 People want something customized for them 04:07 – #6 Don't send people proposals right away 05:16 – #7 Don't just send the proposal—walk them through it 06:00 – That's it for today's episode! 3 Key Points: It's not about you or your company, it's about them! Get feedback from the people who didn't close a deal with you—learn from it. Talk to people in detail before sending your proposals. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

In Episode #116, Neil and Eric list the 7 ways you can optimize your marketing proposals. Listen to learn more about optimizing proposals so you can ace that deal you’ve been aiming for. Time Stamped Show Notes: 00:27 – Today’s topic: 7 ways to optimize your marketing proposals 00:31 – #1 Don’t talk about how great your company is 01:02 – #2 Don’t assume the decision maker will talk to you 01:23 – Make sure to have case studies in the proposal 01:38 – Show screenshots where the business is messing up 02:00 – #3 Use Qwilr or Bidsketch—this will help you make nice proposals 02:43 – #4 Learn from the people you don’t close 03:27 – #5 People want something customized for them 04:07 – #6 Don’t send people proposals right away 05:16 – #7 Don’t just send the proposal—walk them through it 06:00 – That’s it for today’s episode! 3 Key Points: It’s not about you or your company, it’s about them! Get feedback from the people who didn’t close a deal with you—learn from it. Talk to people in detail before sending your proposals. Leave some feedback: What should we talk about next? Please let us know in the comments below. Did you enjoy this episode? If so, please leave a short review. Connect with us: NeilPatel.com Quick Sprout Growth Everywhere Single Grain Twitter @neilpatel Twitter @ericosiu

01:41 - Curtis McHale Introduction Twitter GitHub Blog Write Proposals that Win Work 02:21 - Discovery Phase The Freelancers’ Show #096: Value-Based Pricing with Brennan Dunn 03:48 - Proposal Format Current Problem Objectives Gauging Success Options Timeline Accountabilities 05:33 - Options (Cont’d) 06:44 - Getting to the “Why” The 5 Whys Method Curtis' Effective Questioning Archives 11:57 - Objectives (Cont’d) 14:53 - Forming Options 9 Questions Getting on the Phone Calendly Pricing and Estimation Bidsketch 26:22 - Common Mistakes 29:06 - Subcontracting 30:46 - Proposal Length 17hats 31:33 - Paying Up Front 33:01 - 9 Questions (Cont’d) 34:04 - Measuring Success   Giveaway Tell us the best proposal you sent in the comments section and get a copy of Curtis’ book: Write Proposals that Win Work   Picks Superchondriac (Philip) Start With Why by Simon Sinek (Chuck) Baron Fig (Curtis)

01:41 - Curtis McHale Introduction Twitter GitHub Blog Write Proposals that Win Work 02:21 - Discovery Phase The Freelancers’ Show #096: Value-Based Pricing with Brennan Dunn 03:48 - Proposal Format Current Problem Objectives Gauging Success Options Timeline Accountabilities 05:33 - Options (Cont’d) 06:44 - Getting to the “Why” The 5 Whys Method Curtis' Effective Questioning Archives 11:57 - Objectives (Cont’d) 14:53 - Forming Options 9 Questions Getting on the Phone Calendly Pricing and Estimation Bidsketch 26:22 - Common Mistakes 29:06 - Subcontracting 30:46 - Proposal Length 17hats 31:33 - Paying Up Front 33:01 - 9 Questions (Cont’d) 34:04 - Measuring Success   Giveaway Tell us the best proposal you sent in the comments section and get a copy of Curtis’ book: Write Proposals that Win Work   Picks Superchondriac (Philip) Start With Why by Simon Sinek (Chuck) Baron Fig (Curtis)

Hi, my name is Jeremy Reeves. Through my various products and services, I help business owners increase profits, gain more time freedom and get more consistent cash flow (among dozens of other benefits) by building sales funnels. I've worked with the worlds leading entrepreneurs, adding literally tens of millions to their bottom lines... I've been asked to speak at private, "invite-only" marketing events for industry leaders... I've written for the top blogs in the marketing industry such as Visual Website Optimizer, KISSMetrics, CrazyEgg, Social Triggers and countless others... But but before we get into that, let's start at the beginning... On the day after I asked my wife to marry me, I sat next to her and made a promise. I promised her that no matter how hard I had to work... no matter what it took or what we had to go through... I was going to become successful enough to support her so she could raise our future children. At this point - I had NO idea how I would do it. We were flat broke. We could barely afford to put food on the table, let alone have kids and let her stay at home to raise them. But I made her a promise... and I keep my promises. She's worth every second of struggle we went through in the early days... Since I had a degree in human psychology, I realized that wouldn't cut it. I've always been fascinated by how the mind works and why people make certain decisions, so wrapping my life around that strength seemed like a good idea. So I Became A Direct Response Copywriter... My typical day looked like this: Get up at 5:30 a.m., working on my business until I had to leave around 7:30 for work. Work all day, bringing salesletters with me so I could edit them during down times Get out of work, shower, and leave for job #2 Work until about 10 p.m., again working on my business during down times at my day job Eventually I left my job and made the leap to making my business full-time. Within my first full year as a direct response copywriter, I was outperforming people charging 5x what I was. Within 2 years I was outperforming people charging $15,000, plus royalties, for a single salesletter. Needless to say, I fulfilled my promise to her. She's able to stay home and raise these amazing little boys below (and the crazy dogs) and focus on THEM, with zero money worries But Becoming A "Copywriter" Was Just Step 1... One day after analyzing my strengths and weaknesses - it clicked. I realized that my strength wasn’t just keeping people glued to my writing, it was combining innovative marketing strategies and positioning tactics (like building a sales funnel) with world-class copy. While most "copywriters" focus on writing - I focused on the things that made more of an impact. The big ideas. The positioning. The congruency between products. The back-end. Simple followup systems. Today, I'm considered one of the worlds leading authorities on building sales funnels. Some most well-known marketing blogs in the world ask me to write for them about building sales funnels. A few of them include Visual Website Optimizer, KissMetrics, CrazyEgg, BidSketch, Social Triggers and many others. I've been asked to speak for private, "invite-only" marketing events... I've worked with some of the world's leading entrepreneurs (listed below) and have a blast doing it. I run my own side business - www.Kinowear.com - which gets over 500k visitors per year and is ranked 1 of the top 10 websites in the industry by one of my own competitors. So the question is... can I help YOU grow your business? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our guest, April Dykman, is a content marketing expert and skilled copywriter. She learned years ago that the more she wrote with her personality infused within her content, the more she connected with her audience, her buyers. Creative writing is a talent that many copywriters and marketers posses, but that is not always the best way to earn trust and establish credibility. For April, that comes from being real and honest, and writing as if she were marketing to herself.  No matter how you are marketing and promoting, I encourage you to listen to April share her perspective, and how you can bring more of you into your own marketing. The best part of this process is that it really resonates with the content creator, making it easy for them to do more, thus building a greater following. April Dykman spent years as a feature and content writer until she discovered the world of copywriting: a way to combine writing with measurable results. She has a unique background in feature journalism and in working with data-driven startups (KISSmetrics, Bidsketch, and Mixergy) which helps her write engaging stories that drive sales. Her work has appeared on Lifehacker, MSNBC, The Huffington Post, Fox Business, Forbes.com, and in Inc. Magazine. However, these days, she’s 100% focused on helping health and wellness entrepreneurs sell more with copywriting. Learn more about April Dykman's approach by following her at copysprout.com. We highly recommend you opt-in for her free "copywriting tips" email series. It's powerful content that she provides to her loyal fans, which we are definitely included.

 Trying to avoid center stage? You can get all the benefits of building an audience without putting yourself in the spotlight. In fact, you don't even have to be the center of attention to connect with your peers and build relationships with your clients. Allowing your brand to take center stage can bring your business the returns you're looking for and the email list you want.Ruben Gamez is here to tell us how you can stand back and let your work and your products speak for your brand. He is the creator and lead marketer for his website BidSketch.com, but you'd never know it. He and his team put together professional business proposal templates for freelancers, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to find work and build a business online, but you won't see him speaking at conferences or selling on tv spots. That's because he prefers for his business – his tool – to speak for itself. Find out how he built his audience through his own specially designed content marketing campaign, and how he designed a product that practically sells itself.Topics Discussed Creating and using drip campaigns to your advantage Using your email list to your advantage for pre-sales and promotions How to build an efficient contract team Developing your skills and uncovering your skillset How you can do content marketing for your blog Find out why we don't always trust Google ResourcesCheck out ConvertKit.com/blog for conversion tips and tricksGet a proposal template from Ruben at bidsketch.comFollow along with all of the great things Ruben is putting together @bidsketch and follow him personally @earthlingworks on Twitter.

01:46 - What is a Proposal? 3 Tier Options Budget Middle High-value Statement of Work (SOW) Alan Weiss Sample Proposals PO (Purchase Order) 15:18 - Legal Situations? Reuven’s Cautionary Tale Arbitration Mediation 19:31 - The Proposal is NOT a Pitch (80/20) RFP (Request For Proposal) Negotiations and Agreements Have Someone On Your Side (Work With the Right People) Value-based Pricing 27:45 - Recycling Proposals vs Starting From Scratch Use Templates Modify Text as Needed 30:34 - Things NOT to Put in a Proposal Never Change the Price or Give a Discount (Prevent Haggling) Write Everything Down => Meeting Notes 33:39 - Sales Conversations Are Everything 36:44 - Proposal-Writing Tools Bidsketch Nusii 40:11 - Understand Client Wants and Needs Picks Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life by Stuart Diamond (Jonathan) The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin (Eric) Workflow (Eric) YouCanBook.Me (Reuven) Calendly (Reuven)

01:46 - What is a Proposal? 3 Tier Options Budget Middle High-value Statement of Work (SOW) Alan Weiss Sample Proposals PO (Purchase Order) 15:18 - Legal Situations? Reuven’s Cautionary Tale Arbitration Mediation 19:31 - The Proposal is NOT a Pitch (80/20) RFP (Request For Proposal) Negotiations and Agreements Have Someone On Your Side (Work With the Right People) Value-based Pricing 27:45 - Recycling Proposals vs Starting From Scratch Use Templates Modify Text as Needed 30:34 - Things NOT to Put in a Proposal Never Change the Price or Give a Discount (Prevent Haggling) Write Everything Down => Meeting Notes 33:39 - Sales Conversations Are Everything 36:44 - Proposal-Writing Tools Bidsketch Nusii 40:11 - Understand Client Wants and Needs Picks Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life by Stuart Diamond (Jonathan) The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin (Eric) Workflow (Eric) YouCanBook.Me (Reuven) Calendly (Reuven)

Ruben is the founder of BidSketch, a web app which helps freelancers, consultants and agencies to create professional-looking proposals in minutes. Ruben launched Bidsketch as a one-person company in 2009. Since then, it's grown to help over 1000 paying customers earn over $261M in revenue. Links & Resources Mentioned Bidsketch Failing to Get Traction and (Almost) Giving up on the Road to My First $1,000 in Revenue Noah Kagan Freshbooks Enjoyed this episode? Subscribe to the podcast Leave a rating and review Follow Omer on Twitter Need help with your SaaS? Join SaaS Club Plus: our membership and community for new and early-stage SaaS founders. Join and get training & support. Join SaaS Club Launch: a 12-week group coaching program to help you get your SaaS from zero to your first $10K revenue. Apply for SaaS Club Accelerate: If you'd like to work directly with Omer 1:1, then request a free strategy session.

Ruben is the founder of BidSketch, a web app which helps freelancers, consultants and agencies to create professional-looking proposals in minutes. Ruben launched Bidsketch as a one-person company in 2009. Since then, it's grown to help over 1000 paying customers earn over $261M in revenue.Links & Resources MentionedBidsketchFailing to Get Traction and (Almost) Giving up on the Road to My First $1,000 in RevenueNoah KaganFreshbooksEnjoyed this episode?Subscribe to the podcastLeave a rating and reviewFollow Omer on TwitterNeed help with your SaaS?Join SaaS Club Plus: our membership and community for new and early-stage SaaS founders. Join and get training & support.Join SaaS Club Launch: a 12-week group coaching program to help you get your SaaS from zero to your first $10K revenue.Apply for SaaS Club Accelerate: If you'd like to work directly with Omer 1:1, then request a free strategy session.

Are you going wrong when it comes to creating proposals and the proposal percentage you give your clients? In this episode of The Smart Agency Master Class, I chat with Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch, about what agencies are doing wrong on their proposals and you can do to win new business. Bidsketch is a web application that helps create professional looking client proposals in minutes. Common Proposal Mistakes Most Agencies Make The #1 mistake is talking about yourself in the proposal. If you're not talking about the client, the client's problems, and solutions you can offer, then you're proposal isn't doing you any favors. Clients want to know that you understand their problems and that you have actual solutions for them. Those are the kinds of proposals that have the most appeal. You also need to take the time to understand the buying process from the other side. Most companies go out and get a lot of proposals, meaning they talk to several agencies at the same time. It's not the ideal place for you to be but it's pretty easy to change that conversation. Tell the client that, in order to help them, you need to talk about their problems and get as much information as possible. This will help you better determine if this is the right kind of client for you, as well as what solutions you can offer. How to Increase Your Proposal Percentage in Closing Ruben puts the average closing proposal percentage somewhere between 30-40%. If you fall into this range (or below), here's a tip from Ruben for increasing your closings: Give pricing options. Don't just have one set price in your proposal. The only answer to one price is a yes or a no. By offering pricing options, you may be able to avoid getting a hard no. Plus, your conversion rate will go up if you have multiple options. However, steer clear of having too many options; Ruben advises somewhere between 2 and 4. My feeling on pricing options is different. If you're asking the right questions and communicating with the client throughout the process, you'll have already agreed on a price along the way. For me, you should pretty much have a “yes” by the time you get to submitting the proposal. My advice is to use B-A-N-T: Budget Authority Need Timing Using B-A-N-T to prequalify clients will save you so much time. Do you want the EXACT PROPOSAL TEMPLATE that won clients like AT&T, Legal Zoom and Hitachi? Writing a winning marketing proposal is key to winning new business. Over the past 12 years, I have created the ultimate web and marketing proposal template. This proposal is unlike other people's proposal templates for sale because this is the actual template that won big name clients for our web, technology and marketing engagements. If you want to be able to use a proven template for getting bigger projects, that are well over $10,000, check out this proposal. This proposal template will give you insights to winning even more proposals. Check out the Marketing Proposal Template now! Discover the best Digital Agency Strategies today. Get Online Training to help you setup the right systems and strategies to help you grow faster. Creating the Best Agency Creating a strong client proposal with the best proposal percentage for your agency is a step forward in creating the best best agency. Through my own career and professional life, I have more than likely experienced all if not most of the different struggles you have and can help you with what I have learned. From bad agency clients, developing agency products as well as how you can build authority for your agency. If you want to grow your agency even further, I have agency growth hacks, the best ways to improve management of your business as well as why building a remote team can be beneficial in the long run. As well as this, you can learn more about my career as well as tips, tricks and insights by checking out my blogs that cover a wide variety of topics. I also hear the experience and advice from other successful agency experts in my Ask Swenk series and more of my videos on my Youtube channel.

  Welcome to Episode #29 of the WP Elevation Podcast. Our guest this week is Ruben Gamez from Bidsketch, absolutely beautiful proposal software for sending proposals to your clients. If you are a web designer, freelancer, or consultant of any sort, you should definitely be checking out Bidsketch to send beautiful proposals to your clients. We always talk about the lean startup approach to developing products but Ruben actually uses the lean startup approach for developing free content based on what his customers have told him they want. Stay tuned, I'm sure you're going to get a lot out of this interview. The post Episode #29 – Ruben Gamez from Bidsketch appeared first on WP Elevation.

Ruben Gamez, founder of Bidsketch, shares how he was able to leverage integrations with other apps into promotional opportunities that skyrocketed Bidsketch’s early growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  In Episode 10 of the WP Elevation podcast I spoke with Andrew Dumont, business development manager at Moz and founder of the awesome Stride CRM App. Andrew gave some great insight into how Moz are growing, what growth hacking actually means, why “Guru” is a dirty word and how he balances his job at Moz and building his own app in his “spare” time. Andrew blogs frequently on the Svbtle platform where he published this post about avoiding burnout – it. is. a. must. read. He describes himself as addicted to the startup thing. You can reach out and thank Andrew on his blog or on Twitter. Andrew suggested I interview Neil Patel from KissMetrics and Ruben Gumez from Bidsketch. Boys, you’re on the list. Hint: to enter the competition, leave a comment below telling us the #1 feature you’d like to see in the Stride CRM app. The post Episode #10 – Andrew Dumont appeared first on WP Elevation.

Ruben Gamez is one of the most thoughtful and wise entrepreneurs I've met. Learn how he built Bidsketch.

Hi there! To help Chasing Product grow, please take a moment to visit iTunes and give the show a 5-star rating. Thanks! Ruben Gamez of Bidsketch joins me on this second episode.  We discuss his journey from freelancer to day job and on to product. We learn what Ruben did right from the very start. Read More The post Episode 2: Delegating Your Bootstrapped Product Efforts w/Ruben Gamez appeared first on Chasing Product.

Hi there! To help Chasing Product grow, please take a moment to visit iTunes and give the show a 5-star rating. Thanks! Ruben Gamez of Bidsketch joins me on this second episode.  We discuss his journey from freelancer to day job and on to product. We learn what Ruben did right from the very start. Read More The post Episode 2: Delegating Your Bootstrapped Product Efforts w/Ruben Gamez appeared first on Chasing Product.

Ben Orenstein is joined by Brennan Dunn, author of double your freelancing rate and planscope.io. Ben and Brennan discuss transitioning from a freelancer to a consulting company, the issues he faced doing it, and how he overcame them. How he promoted someone to replace him in his consulting company and is focused exclusively on products now, where Planscope came from, how it works, and how he more than doubled the conversion rate. How content marketing was slow to work for him, and how he fixed it. How to effectively pitch and sell products, what victory looks like for him and what he's working for, and so much more. Double Your Freelancing Rate in 14 Days Planscope, Project Management for Independents Kalzumeus Podcast 3: Growing Consulting Practices, with Brennan Dunn Workshop: Start Your Own Multi-Million Dollar Consultancy Ramit Sethi, I Will Teach You To Be Rich The Brain Audit: Why Customers Buy (And Why They Don't) Bidsketch Freckle MicroConf Follow @thoughtbot, @r00k, and @brennandunn on twitter.

Justin and Jason interview Ruben Gamez, solo founder of Bidsketch, about the mistakes he made and the lessons he learned on his path to building a successful bootstrapped web application.