You spent 45 minutes uncovering a problem that was costing the business money.
Your buyer took 45 seconds to explain you to their partner.
“I found someone who can help. It’s $10,000 a month.”
You can guess which part their partner wanted to discuss.
The problem, the urgency, and the outcomes you talked through never made it into the room.
Your fee did.
Then the buyer goes quiet. You follow up. They say they are “still discussing it internally.”
You start questioning your price.
But the person questioning your fee may never have heard the case for hiring you.
Your buyer attended a different meeting
During your conversation, the buyer explained what was happening. You asked questions. They connected problems they had been treating separately. Together, you explored what needed to change.
Their confidence grew through that conversation.
Their business partner, CFO, or board member experienced none of it.
That person may receive a forwarded proposal with a brief note: “What do you think?”
They have questions.
Why do we need outside help? Why now? Who owns this internally? What would actually change? What else could we do with that money?
Those are reasonable questions.
But your contact may be no better prepared to answer them than they were before speaking with you. Understanding your value and explaining it to someone else are different skills.
You are asking someone to make your business case without checking whether they can.
Enthusiasm does not tell you how the decision gets made
A buyer can like you, trust you, and want your help while still needing someone else’s agreement.
Even a CEO may consult a co-founder, investor, finance lead, or executive whose team will be affected.
If you only explore the problem and the budget, you can miss the conversation that determines whether the engagement moves forward.
Before you prepare the proposal, ask these four questions.
1. Who else needs to be comfortable with this decision?
“Are you the decision-maker?” can produce an answer that is technically correct and commercially incomplete.
Someone may have signing authority while still needing support from other people.
Try:
“If we decide this is the right approach, who else would you want involved before moving forward?”
Then ask what role each person plays.
Do they approve the investment? Own the team that will execute? Need confidence in the approach? Have the ability to stop the decision?
You need to understand whose questions remain unanswered.
2. What will matter most to each of them?
Your contact may want relief from a problem that consumes their week.
Their CFO may want to understand the financial impact. Their business partner may question whether the team has capacity to support the work. A department head may worry that you are being brought in to replace them.
The same proposal can land very differently with each person.
Ask:
“When you discuss this with them, what do you think they will want to understand first?”
Follow with:
“Is there anything about bringing someone in that they may be concerned about?”
That gives you a chance to address the real concerns while your contact is still engaged.
3. How would you explain why this is worth doing now?
This is where you find out whether the business case is clear enough to travel.
Make it collaborative:
“When you explain this internally, what would you say is the strongest reason to move forward now?”
Listen carefully.
If the answer is “We could use someone with your experience,” there is still work to do.
You want clarity about the problem, what it is costing or preventing, and the outcomes that would justify the investment.
Help the buyer put that into their own words.
If neither of you can explain why action matters now, more persuasive proposal language will not fix it. You may need more discovery, or the opportunity may not be ready.
4. What is the best way to help the others evaluate it?
A joint conversation can be useful, but your contact may want to speak with their colleagues first.
Ask:
“Would it help to bring them into a short conversation, or would you prefer something concise you can share first?”
If they prefer an internal discussion:
“What would you need from me to make that conversation useful? Let’s also agree on when we’ll reconnect afterward.”
You are helping them lead the decision inside their business.
Give them a business case they can forward
A long proposal is a poor substitute for a clear explanation.
Before sending it, prepare a short decision summary your contact can share. Build it from what you have actually established together.
Include five things:
The problem: What is happening in the business?
The stakes: What is it costing, delaying, or putting at risk?
The outcomes: What needs to change, and how will progress be assessed?
The reason for this approach: Why does fractional leadership fit, and what will the internal team still own?
The decision: What commitment are you asking them to approve?
Keep it short enough to read before a meeting. Use the buyer’s language. Confirm any financial figures rather than turning estimates into facts.
For example, an illustrative summary for a fractional sales leader might read:
The problem: The company cannot rely on its sales forecast. Deals repeatedly move between quarters, making hiring and spending decisions difficult.
The stakes: Leadership is planning against revenue that may not arrive when expected. Finance and sales need to agree on the financial exposure.
The outcomes: Establish clear deal stages, consistent pipeline reviews, and manager accountability. Agree on baseline measures and targets for forecast accuracy and deal slippage.
The approach: Provide fractional sales leadership to establish and lead the process. The existing managers remain responsible for their teams and daily follow-through.
The decision: Approve a three-month engagement at $10,000 per month, with an executive sponsor and agreed access to the team and data.
That gives the next person something concrete to evaluate.
It also exposes gaps. If the client cannot provide the team access, sponsorship, or execution support required, that needs discussing before the agreement is signed.
A good business case helps everyone decide whether the engagement makes sense.
This week: look at one opportunity that has gone quiet
Choose a proposal that is supposedly “being discussed internally.”
Can you answer these questions?
Who is discussing it?
What does each person need to understand?
What case is your contact making?
What happens after that discussion?
If you cannot, another “just checking in” message is unlikely to give you much clarity.
Try this instead:
“You mentioned discussing the proposal with [person/team]. What questions have come up so far? I’m happy to help clarify the business case or join a short conversation if that would be useful.”
If their priorities have changed, you need to know that too.
Silence alone does not tell you that your fee is wrong. It tells you that you do not yet understand what happened after the proposal left your hands.
Your buyer should not have to rebuild 45 minutes of discovery from memory.
Help them carry the problem, the stakes, and the agreed outcomes into the next conversation.
Give your value the same chance of reaching the decision-maker as your fee.
While they discuss your proposal, where is your next conversation coming from?
Helping your buyer make the case internally is part of winning work. So is keeping your pipeline moving while that decision unfolds.
In this video, I rank six ways to find consulting and fractional clients using one question: Can you take action to create opportunities when you need them?
Referrals don’t take the top spot. Watch to see what does, and why.
Watch the video: Six client acquisition channels ranked.
For more practical ways to find clients, price your expertise, and build your fractional business, subscribe to FractionalOS on YouTube.
Fractional powerhouses are not born. They are built.
— Sue
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