Notes for owners · Industry playbooks
How MSPs write a proposal the finance head will sign
A managed IT proposal is signed by someone who compares your per-user fee with a salary. Write down what it covers, what it excludes and how support is raised, and the comparison gets easier.
The GullySales team · Updated 6 Oct 2026 · 6 min read
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An MSP proposal gets signed when the finance head can put it beside an IT executive's salary and see what they are getting for the difference. So write down what the per-user fee covers, what it does not cover, how help is raised and who answers, and what happens when the person who normally helps is away. Say it in plain words on two pages, and leave the brand logos for the website.
Who actually reads a managed IT proposal?
Two people, two questions. The founder or operations head started the conversation because something changed: the IT executive resigned, the company outgrew the freelancer, a European customer sent a security questionnaire. They want to know that someone will pick up the phone.
The finance head decides. They are not weighing technology. They are asking whether this fee is cheaper than an in-house hire, whether it is fixed or will creep, and what they are exposed to if it goes wrong. A proposal written for the first reader alone often dies at the second.
What should the proposal say the fee covers?
Put it in a table the finance head can read in a minute.
| Item | Say plainly |
|---|---|
| Users and devices covered | Number of users, laptops, desktops, and which are included at the quoted fee |
| Support hours | Which days and hours the help desk is open, and what out-of-hours cover exists |
| How to raise a ticket | Phone, email or WhatsApp, and which one is the official channel |
| Response targets | What you will aim to reply within for urgent and routine issues, in your own words, agreed after discovery |
| Included work | Patching, endpoint protection, backup monitoring, account setup and removal |
| Excluded work | New office setup, hardware purchase, major migrations, projects, and how each is quoted |
| Admin access | Who holds the passwords and what the client receives on exit |
| Term and notice | The agreed term, the notice period and how renewal works |
The exclusions row matters most. Many disputes later come from something the client assumed was in the fee. If you write it first, you remove the surprise.
How do you handle the freelancer comparison?
You will be compared with a freelancer or a part-time engineer who costs less a month. Do not fight the number. Move the conversation. Ask the finance head to put four questions next to it. What happens when that person is ill? Who knows the admin passwords? Is there a record of what was fixed and when? Who is accountable if data is lost?
A written proposal can answer those four in a paragraph. A verbal pitch rarely does.
For example, a CA firm in Coimbatore with twelve staff calls a freelancer whenever printers or email fail. Then a client asks the partner how the firm protects their data. No answer. Your proposal states the user count, the backup arrangement, who holds the credentials and a simple record of issues handled, and the partner does not need to understand backup technology to see what the freelancer's setup lacks.
What should you ask in the first meeting?
Do not open with your services. Ask who looks after IT today and how they were found. Ask what broke last and what it cost the business that day. Count users, devices and locations. Ask whether any customer, auditor or insurer has requested something the company could not provide.
Write the answers into the proposal using the client's own words. A proposal that quotes their last outage back to them reads as written for them.
Where do these proposals stall?
Usually at the finance head. The founder said yes, the proposal went to accounts, and nobody has asked what accounts needs. Offer a short call with the finance head, or a one-page summary they can read without the founder in the room: fee, what it replaces, what it excludes, term.
Follow up on a date you set at the meeting, and record it. Your sales process should include a stage between "proposal sent" and "signed", so that quiet proposals show up on a list instead of being forgotten. See also how to follow up on a quotation.
How does the first agreement turn into a renewal?
Keep a plain record: tickets raised and closed, devices added, risks you flagged and what was done. Walk the founder or finance head through it before renewal, not after they have started asking questions. A client who has seen what the fee bought rarely goes shopping.
It is also where referrals come from. The CA, the co-working neighbour and the industry association chat are the places your next client asks who looks after IT. A pleased client will pass on a name if you have made it easy to say.
What to do next
Take your last proposal and read it as a finance head would. Does it say what is excluded? Does it say who holds the credentials? If either answer is no, rewrite that page first.
If you want a second read on where your proposals stall and how enquiries reach you, book the free audit. It is a 90-minute call, followed by a written, scored report ranking what to fix first.