Yesterday I received a go-ahead on a wood floor refinishing, repair, & installation job I made a proposal on three weeks ago. The proposal was about $6500, of which in the vicinity of $1500 is for me. The balance will go to my wood floors guy, Jack, whom I found on AngiesList, where membership and access to their files of highly recommended contractors costs just $50 per year. It's definitely money well spent.
During the time when I only offered my own services in wood floors recoating, I had to pass on many such jobs as well beyond my own skill set. Now I can do the recoat jobs that come along myself, or turn them over to Jack, who will do them quite nicely and bill me .50/s.f. I have the same type of relationship with a guy (Joe) who does ONLY upholstery cleaning, and is probably the best of his trade in the New England states. When I am presented with a sofa or loveseat which makes me nervous for some reason, I put these people directly in touch with Joe. If they call him, and he does the job, he sends me a check for 15% of what he bills the customers.

Just had another phone conversation with my customer for the job under discussion. She wanted to add 2 flights of stairs and a family room to the original job description. (We can do that.) I asked her how she happened to select my proposal (she had made earlier reference to two other proposals she had in hand). Was it the least expensive? No, she said, it was the highest priced of the three. But she liked how professionally written my proposal was - how it went into a good degree of detail, and took the time to show her the various options for the different parts of the job. (It was just an e-mail.) She was also impressed with my company's reputation for doing its work in the lowest-chemical way. Neither of the other two proposals offered her a water-based finish. They only said "oil is the only way to go" because that's what their comfort zone was. So it pays to be willing to adapt to what the market is looking for. And when writing something up, take the time to write clearly and completely. If writing isn't your best skill, see if you can find someone talented in this area to help, or even to write it for you.