How Request For Proposals are Evaluated for Government agencies

by Jane Ripley

How much do you know about how government agencies evaluate request for proposals? If your business depends on government contracts, funding, or grant-giving, then it helps to understand how bids are: Reviewed Assessed Scored and Awarded Download Now for only $14.99 – Buy Here! In this series of tutorials, I will first look at how [...]

How To Create a Scoring System When Evaluating Request For Proposals

by Jane Ripley

How do you create a scoring system so that business proposals are scored fairly? One way to do this is to develop a scoring system and award points for each part of the bid. You can further refine this by adding ‘weights’ to the scores, i.e. as some parts of the bid are more important [...]

How to: Writing Risk Analysis for Business Proposals

October 23, 2011

Risk assessment creates problems for proposal writers. When responding to a Request For Proposal (RFP), you need to identify all known risks but also flag how these will impact other projects and deliverables. Your response also needs to discuss how you will mitigate against this; in other words, if you were awarded the contract, what [...]

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11 Guidelines For Scoring Business Proposals

October 21, 2011

Ever wonder how your business proposal gets evaluated? One of the problems when responding to Request For Proposals is that, unless you know how proposals are scored, you might focus your efforts on areas that have less value and win less contract awards as a result. With that in mind, here are some guidelines on [...]

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15 Business Proposal Writing Tactics

October 19, 2011

How does psychology affect your business proposal’s success rate? While most proposal writers focus on ‘hard’ data and ‘fixed’ costs, before you start your next tender document, consider other areas that typically get overlooked. For example? Look at underlying issues, pain points, and ‘emotional triggers’ that influence the proposal evaluation team. Business Proposal Writing Tactics [...]

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How to demonstrate Value For Money in Business Proposals

October 16, 2011

You can increase your business proposal’s success rate if you understand how evaluators determine Value For Money. Most proposal writers focus on the solution or cost. While both of these are valid, you need to examine your bid from the evaluator’s standpoint, in particular how they assess the ‘true’ cost. For example, the lowest bid [...]

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Free Checklist – Responding to Request For Proposals (RFPs)

October 14, 2011

Want to avoid last minute mistakes when submitting your business proposal? It’s easy to forget something when responding to an Request For Proposal (RFP) as there are so many activities to coordinate. One way to ensure your proposal gets delivered on time – and with all requirements covered – is to create a checklist. Here’s [...]

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9 Ways To Improve Your Business Proposal’s Executive Summary

October 12, 2011

Here are nine guidelines to help you write a better Executive Summary for your next business proposal. The Executive Summary creates difficulties for many proposal writers. Is it part of the business proposal or is it a separate document? How long should it be? Should it include costs? 1. Define the purpose of the Executive [...]

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4 Smart Ways to Write Business Proposals That Win Contracts

September 6, 2011

Why do you write business proposals? Same reason we do! We write proposals to win more business, pay our bills and send the kids to college.

Same as you, I guess! Right?

I’ve been in the proposal development game for eleven years. I don’t call myself an ‘expert’ but I have learnt a few things that might interest you. Especially if you want to avoid the mistakes I made…

What’s the best way to write a proposal?

There is no ‘one way’ that works every time. But here are some pointers to consider.

To make your proposal work, you need to persuade your client that your solution is significantly better than your competitors. Not slightly better, but so much better that is would be foolish not to accept it. What makes this happen? As you write your proposal, look at where and how you can persuade the reader to buy your product.

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18 Ways to Improve Your Case Studies

September 4, 2011

You’ve never written a case study before, right? You wish there was some nice, easy way to get a handle on this. So, wouldn’t it be very nice if someone –guess who! – put together fifteen of the best articles on case study writing? Well, you’re in luck, we have!

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RFP Checklist For Describing Functionality

September 2, 2011

How do you describe the website’s functionality in your RFP? The next section in your Website RFP is to describe how it works, i.e. functions. The functionality section of your RFP can be distilled to a few pages. Share sample sites that illustrate functionality you’d like to see on your site. Download Request For Proposal [...]

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37 Business Proposal Writing Tips

August 31, 2011

This short course on proposal writing reminds us that our business proposal does not stand alone. It is process of a larger process that involves planning, research, writing, editing, proofing, submission and acceptance.

This list gives 37 ways to improve your next proposal. Scroll through it and tell me what I missed.

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Proposal Writing: How To Increase Your Success Rate

August 30, 2011

What’s your success ratio with proposals? 25% is average. Very few get 50%. I help government agencies evaluate proposals. Most bids that come across my desk make the same errors, use the same flawed strategies and are never accepted. And the next time, they repeat the same mistake. Here are some ways to avoid this. It’s not painful, it just requires effort.

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RFP Checklist For Website Implementation and Support

August 28, 2011

The final checklist in the Website RFP is for the Implementation and Support requirements. The implementation chapter of your website RFP needs to cover: Timelines Budgets Resources Website RFP Checklist – Implementation and Support Describe the following:  Constraints – What timing, budget, and resource constraints exist? Project Management – Who and How will the project [...]

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How to Improve Your Case Study

August 24, 2011

Case studies and white papers are very effective marketing tools if you want to promote the benefits of your product or services. Case studies are the first most popular device used to promote the business. If you plan to write a case study, this article will give you a better understanding  about this type  of [...]

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RFP Checklist for Content, User Interface & Design Needs

August 22, 2011

If you’re writing an RFP for a website, you need to describe the content types and graphic. This enables the bidder to create a prototype that will manage the different content assets and present it in an attractive manner to your customers.   Download Request For Proposal Template for only $14.99 Website RFP Checklist – [...]

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RFP Checklist For Describing Website Technical Needs

August 20, 2011

How do you describe the website’s technical needs in your RFP? The next section in your Website RFP is to describe how it works from a technical standpoint. For instance, this helps bidders understand if it can be integrate with MS, Oracle, or WebSphere. Without this technical details, they will not be able to prepare [...]

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How To Get Your Proposal Accepted By Difficult Evaluators

August 18, 2011

What’s your success ratio with proposals? 25% is average. Very few get 50%. I help government agencies evaluate proposals. Most bids that come across my desk make the same errors, use the same flawed strategies and are never accepted. And the next time, they repeat the same mistake. Here are some ways to avoid this. [...]

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What is a Bid Manager?

August 16, 2011

What are the roles and responsibilities of the Bid Manager during the proposal development process? The Bid Manager’s role is like that of the Project Manager on an IT project. Their role is to coordinate the team members, analyze the Request For Proposal, allocate resources, define the schedule, keep the deliverables on target, and ensure [...]

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Defining Objectives in Your Website RFP

August 14, 2011

If you’re writing an RFP for a website or content management solution, you need to outline your online objectives and how the new site will drive your web site’s content, design, functionality, and technology.   Download Request For Proposal Template for only $14.99 Website RFP Checklist – Why Define Objectives? All of your business units [...]

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