Pricing Your Proposals Without Leaving Money on the Table

Overview

The proposal is where most deals are won or lost — and it is the most over-thought step in the advisor workflow. Advisors either over-itemize into a 40-line spreadsheet, or under-itemize into a vague lump sum. Both patterns cost bookings.

This guide covers the structure that actually closes.

The Three-Option Rule

Show three options. Always three, never more.

Good / Better / Best tiering

Why three works:

• One option feels like "take it or leave it" — the client has no sense of control
• Three options lets the client self-select and creates comparison shopping inside your proposal instead of against other advisors
• Four or more creates decision paralysis and "can you redo this with the middle one's hotel but the cheap one's activities" endless-loop requests

The "Better" tier is where most clients land. Price it where your margin is best.

Show vs. Hide: What Goes on the Proposal

Show

• Trip title and dates
• Number of travelers
• Destination summary with one-paragraph overview
• Key components per tier: hotels (named), flights (class), transfers, signature activities
• Total per tier at the client-facing price
• Deposit amount and due date
• Final payment date
• Supplier cancellation terms (in summary — full terms in the linked supplier docs)
• Your planning fee (if separately listed)

Hide

• Your commission percentages
• Your net-to-retail markups
• Supplier-specific negotiating notes
• Every individual resort fee, bed tax, and service charge — roll these into the line totals
• Other clients' pricing

The client does not need to know what the hotel pays you. They need to know what they pay the hotel.

The Commission Disclosure Question

The recurring advisor community debate: should you tell the client what you earn?

In almost all cases, no.

• Commissioned pricing is transparent from the supplier's end — the client pays the published price either way
• Disclosing commission invites the client to ask why you should also charge a planning fee
• "What is your commission on this?" is a qualifying question the wrong type of client asks; you are better off not attracting them

Exception: fee-only advisors who explicitly rebate commissions operate on full disclosure. That is a different business model, not a pricing tactic.

Structuring the Proposal Document

A proposal document (Google Doc, PDF, or a Plan Harmony trip link) should read top-to-bottom:

1. Header: Client name, trip title, dates, "Prepared by [your agency], [date]"
2. One-paragraph pitch: The vision of the trip, not the logistics. "A ten-night slow-travel tour of Tuscany focused on food and village life, with flexibility to wander."
3. Option A (Good): Summary + itemized components + total
4. Option B (Better): Same structure
5. Option C (Best): Same structure
6. What is included in every option: Planning, booking, 24/7 support, pre-departure documents, any standard inclusions
7. Terms: Deposit amount, final payment date, cancellation and change policies, planning fee
8. Next step: One clear CTA — "Reply with your preferred option, and I will send the deposit invoice."

Avoid ending with "let me know if you have any questions." That is a prompt to stall. End with the next action.

How to Present — Email Then Live

Do not send a proposal cold and hope the client reads it.

1. Send the proposal link via email. Short note: "Here is your proposal. Take 15 minutes to look it over. I have 20 minutes on [day] at [time] to walk through it — would that work?"
2. Book the walkthrough. This is where you close.
3. Walk top-to-bottom in the call. Do not ask "any questions?" Ask "which option feels closest?"
4. Handle objections in the call, not over email. Pricing concerns that turn into a three-email chain almost always die. The same concern addressed in 90 seconds of conversation closes.

Pricing in Plan Harmony

1. Create the trip on the client record
2. Add each booking component with its client-facing price
3. Generate an invoice for the option the client accepts, including:
   • Trip total line item(s)
   • Your planning fee (credited if applicable)
   • Deposit amount and due date
   • Terms and cancellation notes
4. Share the invoice link — the client pays the deposit online via Stripe
5. Once deposit is received, book each supplier component

For the proposal document itself, many advisors generate a simple PDF or Google Doc with three options, and use Plan Harmony's invoice only for the option the client selects. Either approach works.

Revisions: Set the Limit

Include two revisions in your planning fee. Define a revision as:

• Changing destinations
• Swapping major components (hotels, flight class)
• Changing dates by more than a few days

Not a revision:

• Small tweaks (adding one dinner reservation, switching room type within the same hotel)
• Clarifying questions

Past two revisions, charge an additional $100–$200 per revision or $100/hour. State this in your planning fee language up front so it is never a surprise.

What a Well-Priced Proposal Looks Like

A proposal that closes:

• Three options — not one, not five
• Clean itemization at the component level
• Client-facing prices only — no commission, no net rates
• A clear deposit amount and due date
• Cancellation terms stated in summary
• Sent by email, closed on a live call
• Two-revision limit baked in

Do this consistently and your close rate on qualified proposals should sit in the 50–70% range. Anything below that points to a qualification problem at the intake stage, not a proposal problem.