Feb 2026

Why I stopped writing "we" in proposals.

Every proposal I wrote for the first two years of consulting used "we." We will deliver. We recommend. We propose. It sounded professional. It sounded like a firm.

It was also a lie. There is no we. There is me, on a call, doing the work, sending the deliverable, accountable for the outcome.

I switched to "I" about eighteen months ago and the response from clients was immediate. Close rates went up. Pricing pushback went down. The conversations on intro calls got more direct because the buyer was no longer wondering which junior account person was actually going to show up.

The reason "we" is so common in consulting language is that it lets the writer hide. Hide the team size, hide the experience level of the person doing the work, hide the fact that the engagement will be staffed differently than the pitch. None of those things help the buyer.

If you are a solo operator, "we" is just bad writing. It's puffing up to sound bigger than you are, which buyers can smell. They've sat through enough boutique-firm pitches to know what a solo shop sounds like, and the language gives it away faster than the team page on the website.

If you are a small team, "we" is sometimes accurate, but it's still worth interrogating. "We will design the workflow" usually means one specific person on the team will design it. Naming that person, or at least their role, makes the proposal more honest and the buyer more comfortable. "Sarah, our process lead, will design the workflow" is a real sentence. "We will design the workflow" is a deflection.

The deeper point is that consulting buyers are buying a person, not a brand. Even at the largest firms, the partner on the engagement is the asset. Pretending otherwise in the proposal stage just delays the conversation about who is actually going to show up.

I write "I" now because I am the one doing it. If I bring in a subcontractor for a piece, I name them in the proposal. If a client asks about scaling, I tell them what that would look like and what it would cost. The whole exchange got less ceremonial and more useful.

Nate Valentin runs Innovation Department, a one-person B2B consultancy out of Tampa Bay. Get in touch.