Proposal Writing Tips » Proposal

15 Business Proposal Writing Tactics

Editor — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 17:08:54 +0000

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

With this in mind, if this is your first time writing a business proposal, use these guidelines to improve the writing style, format, and success rate of your bid.

Ask yourself the following questions:

Emotional Needs – Does your proposal identify a specific problem or set of needs? If so, how effectively does your solution address this?
Commitments – List the activities you commit to performing so the solution will succeed.
People – Identify the people (not ‘human resources’) that will be used to design, develop and implement your solution?
Results – What are the intended outcomes of your solution? How does this reduce the pain points currently experienced by the contract provider? Build themes around these points.
Assumptions – Make sure you understand the funder’s guidelines and that there are no assumptions. If you’ve read their guidelines and are still unsure, make a call, speak with their proposal officer and ask for clarification. Don’t leave it too late.
Proof – It’s not enough to say that your solution will be a ‘model’ for other programs; demonstrate how this will be achieved. Use case studies and white papers to build your credibility.
Framework – One of the limitations of the word ‘solution’ is that it implies the other person has a problem. While this may be true, other more complimentary terms can be more effective. Choose words carefully. Framework can serve as an alternative to the clichéd solution, providing you can demonstrate it is a framework.
Executive Summary – Develop an Executive Summary in plain English. Avoid the trap of resorting to clichés, jargon and industry speak. Remember, there’s a person on the other side of the document and they hate marketese as much as you. Write for people!
Where’s the beef? – In the conclusion section, dovetail all the main points into a single message that your reader can relate to. And, include a Call to Action, if possible. What does this mean? It means that after they’ve read the final section, they feel compelled to take some action, such as read more about you, download your white papers, check your statistics, or some other action. But, if they read to the end, put it down, and then move on to the next… you’ve left no real impression.
Footnotes – Instead of burying information in the appendix, learn how to create footnotes in Microsoft Word and add these to your document. This allows the reader to continue reading or scan the footnotes on the same page. Don’t make them dig around to find the answer. Use footnotes to explain line items in your budget, for example.
Transparency – If the funder asks you to identify contributors, include it directly after the budget.
Cultivate a relationship – Nobody likes to buy from strangers. Allow time to build a relationship with the grant-maker. Find ways to share information, whether through visits, phone, or email; accept that you may not win on the first application but by cultivating a relationship, you put yourself on the grid for the next set of contract awards.
Give Hope – As a dentist once said to me, ‘I try to remember there’s a person attached to the tooth.’ In the same way, develop themes in your proposal that touch the reader’s heart and evokes positive emotions. Don’t go overboard with positivity as this may feel insincere; instead find subtle ways to build trust and convey hope.
Create a Bridge – Once you have defined the problem or underlying needs, make a ‘bridge statement’ that shows how your project will help them overcome their problems.
Storytelling – Stories are powerful in ways that statistics, figures, and data are not. Use stories to illustrate your themes. Give examples of people you’ve helped and how their lives were improved as a result of your efforts. Highlight your story by using indentations to separate it from the rest of the text.

Proposal Writing Tactics

Psychology plays a key role in how business proposals are won and lost.

Even if you don’t use these fifteen guidelines, remember to write for one person.

While many people may read it, each one will read it one at a time. Keep this person in mind as you type… and you’ll see the results.

What else would you add? How do you try to influence proposal evaluators?

Free Checklist – Responding to Request For Proposals (RFPs)

Editor — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 14:24:10 +0000

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 a sample checklist to get you started.

Click here to download the RFP Submission Checklist template

Checklist – Submitting Business Proposals

You can use this checklist when responding to RFPs, ITTs and RFIs. Please note that this checklist does not cover all areas (ie non-exhaustive) but will ensure that all information required by the Request For Proposal is provided in accordance with it provisions.

Key Deadlines

ASAP – Confirm receipt of RFT document
Date – First deadline for sending queries
Date – Final deadline for sending queries
Date – Deadline for receipt of Tenders

Tender Documents

X printed, signed and executed copies and one electronic copy of Tender Documents.
Tender documents in envelope marked “Formal Title of Bid – Response to Request for Tender”
Tender documents delivered to the offices of [conform that this is the correct address] by the Closing Date for Receipt of Tenders (see paragraph X).

Confirmations and Certificates

Confirmation that Response complies with National law (see paragraph X).
Certificate there is no economic, legal, commercial or financial relationship with another Respondent (paragraph X).

Information

Furnished full details and identified licences, permits, permissions, including planning permission, authorizations etc required and have been obtained.
Provisions of details of ownership and group structures of Respondent or if joint venture or consortium, the members thereof and, the commercial and legal relationship among the members thereof and other agreements with required confirmations.

Compliance

Compliance with the provision of Section X.
Compliance with the minimum qualification requirements (paragraph X)

Response

Response completed in required format (paragraph X).

Tender Documents for Lot X must include the following:

Completed Specifications Template (ref Appendix 1)
Completed Costs Template (ref Appendix 2)

Tender Documents for Lot Y must include the following:

Completed Specifications Template (ref Appendix 3)
Completed Costs Template (ref Appendix 4)

ALL Tender Documents must include:

Signed Confirmation and Compliance Statement (ref Appendix 5)

Document RFP Submission Template

Click here to download the RFP Submission Checklist template

Conclusion

Every proposal writer has different ways of organizing their bids. One thing to watch is you are responsible for delivering the response – and if you’re working with a team of writers – is to assume the something is missing.
If you have this attitude, you are more likely to spot an omission, error, or discrepancy in the final document.

Sometimes it looks trivial, for example, the footers may be different. Create checklists to capture before the leave your office.

So, if you’re working later, under pressure, and coordinating many documents, use checklists to assemble the proposal correctly and make sure it gets submitted with all the relevant information.

4 Smart Ways to Write Business Proposals That Win Contracts

Editor — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 22:24:02 +0000

“For your own good” is a persuasive argument that will eventually make a man agree to his own destruction. Janet Frame

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.

Business Proposals: Four Steps

Your can persuade the reader to consider (and hopefully award) the contract to your if you use the follow four tactics:

1. Understand Your Client’s Needs

How do you do this? You get the reader’s attention by highlighting a specific need or problem they have and then explain how you can solve this.

You need to show that you understand their need and approach this from many angles throughout the proposal.

Demonstrate to the client that you recognize their need. State it clearly.

2. Show The Benefits

Next, discuss the benefits they can expect to gain by accepting your proposal. Discuss the solution at a later stage.

Focus on explaining how the client can improve their:

Productivity
Profitability and
Success

with the solution you’re offering.

To support your argument, explain the consequences of inaction or selecting inferior products. You’ll establish credibility not so much by demonstrating your expertise, but by showing your understanding of their business needs.

3. Discuss Your Solution In Plain Language

Make sure that the reader clearly understands what you are proposing. Ask yourself – can they summarize in one sentence what you are proposing.

Make a firm, clear recommendation accompanied by specific action steps. Avoid vague statements.

Recommend a specific approach or application: “We recommend that the Client use our company to design, write and produce its corporate marketing brochure.”

Present it so well that the client believes that your solution will meet their needs.

4. Give Details, Recommendations and Endorsements

Provide the reader with sufficient details. Demonstrate your qualifications and competence to deliver the solution:

On Time
Within Budget
To Specification

This effort will show that you understand the costs involved, particularly the Return On Investment to the client.

Also, discuss related issues, costs, management issues, schedules, risks, future implications. Always return to your key selling point and recommendation presented in terms of a quantifiable benefit. Wrap up by give convincing reasons that the client should choose you over all others.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a recovering technical writer who now writes business proposals for clients coast-to-coast. He shares business writing tips for smart people like you at Klariti.

37 Business Proposal Writing Tips

Editor — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:24:00 +0000

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.

Show that your response is logical and organized

Make the information easy to find. Cross reference against the Request For Proposal
Include a table of contents for proposals over 10 pages in length
Ensure that your Proposal is in compliance with the RFP
Arrange material in order of priority
Arrange everything in the order that’s most important to the client
Arrange the response in accordance with their requirements
Number pages and sections consecutively; do not re-number each section
Use headings
Each section title should stresses the main benefits
Each section title should help readers orient themselves
If possible, express the key point of the section in the headline, or immediately after it.
Highlight important points
You can emphasize the most positive points by using bold, underlining, different fonts, spacing, titles, bullets and summaries
Content – Sell the Message
Respond completely
Answer every question in the RFP. Failure to respond correctly to the RFP may disqualify your proposal. The client put these questions in for a reason, and expect an answer.
Avoid banal headings and titles
Rather than say “Development Section,” say “Ten Ways to Improve Your Processes”
Use action verbs in heads, especially verbs that stress a benefit for the client
Avoid boilerplate
Don’t recycle resumes and corporate profiles from previous proposals; modify them in accordance for the proposal at hand. Using old, tired resumes will be perceived by the reader, and will count against you when they can making the final judgments.
Avoid hype, padding and other self-congratulatory drivel. Remember that the proposal is a legal document that becomes part of the contract if you win
Support your recommendations
By giving specific details and quantifying the benefits whenever possible
Don’t just say that you will comply with a requirement — say how we’ll do so
Don’t attack competitors. Refer to rival products if you must.
Point out the weaknesses of alternative solutions.
Use a strong closing statement
Ask for their business; tell the reader exactly what you want him or her to do
Remind the reader of the benefits of taking action
Avoid business cliché’s
Avoid hackneyed openings and closings that clients have read a thousand times. Avoid “I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for considering the enclosed . . .” Get to the point: “Here is your proposal.” Avoid “If you have any questions, please feel free to call.” That closing has been done to death, so avoid it and write something more genuine.
Make your proposal easy to understand
Use the same terms and jargon that appear in the RFP. Don’t try to impress the client with your own special brand of buzzwords or TLA (three-letter acronyms)
Use simple, direct language
Wrap up the Proposal with confidence

What did I miss?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a left-handed technical writer who writes business proposals for clients. He also shares business writing tips for smart people at Klariti.

How Many Hours Per Week Do You Spend Writing?

Editor — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 22:28:48 +0000

How much time do you spend working every week? I don’t mean being in the office, but actually working. You have 37.5 hours every week, but how much is actually spent doing what you’re paid to do? When I say working I mean developing real outputs (e.g. content); this includes illustrations, diagrams, publishing etc – whatever goes into the final deliverable.

Christine, my former manager, kept a record of all the tasks she did during the week. Here’s a breakdown of how much time was actually spent writing.

Writing – 15 hours (includes all writing tasks, such as release notes, developing videos, converting material from Word to FrameMaker and screen capture work)
Email – 12 hours (includes correspondence to programmers, team members, sales, customers, mgt)
Project Management – 6 hours (includes status reports, scheduling, document distribution & include feedback etc)
Timesheets – 45 min (including revisions that need to be made so we can bill the customer correctly and allocate resources to the correct ‘bucket’)
Internal Meetings – 6 hours (Mon & Fri office meetings, Tech Publishing Thursday meeting & meetings with HR (assessments) and project coordination meetings with Development)
Customer meetings – 4-10 hours (this includes conference calls, status reports, emergencies, monthly conf calls with global depts, and project handovers. Mostly status updates)
Travel – 6 hours (i.e. to customer sites or downtown to our HQ)

Total – 43-49 hours (50+ if you add in the travel)

Does this surprise you?

Less than 15 hours (30% approx) was spent on documentation. The rest was sucked up with email and meetings. While there are ways to reduce time spent on these, other areas are outside her control.

5 Mandatory Tasks

She has to:

Go to customer sites
Submit Status Reports
Attend conference calls
Deliver updates
Create documentation

There is no wiggle room there.

How about you?

How much time do you spend actually doing what you want to do? How do you stop others from wasting your time and pulling you away from your goals?

Posted via email from Technical Writing Tips

Consultancy Proposals – Supervising the Consultant

Editor — Sat, 06 Aug 2011 22:00:33 +0000

Use the Supervision section to identify who will monitor (i.e. supervise) the consultant. This person is responsible for ensuring that the consultant meets their objectives and performs their activities in line with the Work Breakdown Structure.

In most projects, the supervisor will also work as the government agency’s Project Manager, coordinating communications, budget controls and report generation activities.

Here is sample text for this section of the proposal:

‘A Consultant is required to prepare a Strategic Plan under the supervision of the Operational Group responsible for the implementation of the Waste Management Plan.

[Name of County Council], being the lead authority for the implementation of the Waste Management Plan, shall be the contracting authority for the proposed service.’

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Deliverables.

How Business Proposals Are (Really) Evaluated

Editor — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:45:00 +0000

If you’re new to proposal writing, either for Sales, Grants, or Government procurement, you’re chance of having your bid accepted increases when you understand how proposals are evaluated.

Business Needs Statement Checklist

How Business Proposals are Assessed

For most large-scale Request For Proposals, the proposal evaluators will create an Evaluation Grid against which they score proposals bid. Most government Request For Proposals provide an evaluation grid in the Appendix.

If the Evaluation Grid is not included with the RFP, you can assume that is will be based on the tender submission format. It is for this reason that you need to prepare your response exactly as per the submission format.

An evaluation grid is a matrix with the key criteria on one side and the weighted scores on the other.

Criteria	Weight	Score
Understanding of Requirements	2.0
Technical Capability	2.0
Proposed Solution	2.0
Project Management	1.5
Fixed Price Cost	5.0
Other Factors etc	1.0
Total

Sample Evaluation Grid

How RFP Requirements Are Scored

The evaluation team generally allocate the weight according to each respective criterion, e.g. the fixed-price costs.

However, in European Union contracts, the RFP may stipulate that most economically advantageous tender (M.E.A.T) will win the contract.

Conversely, they can also state that they are NOT bound to accept the lowest bid.

Nonetheless, you need to get the cost right. Pre-sales and business development functions should assist you in ‘guess/estimating’ where to pitch your bid.

When bidding, this should be the very first activity to undertake. Do not leave costing to the end!

Write Your Proposal To Get Higher Scores

Evaluators use different formulas to determine financial criteria, such as Value-For-Money, hidden costs and change control.

For this reason, you need to outline your costs very clearly.

Any attempt to disguise costs, e.g. bury them inside the terms and conditions, will raise suspicions and erode any trust between the bidder and the evaluators.

Conclusion

These points must be examined in depth to ensure your grant application or business proposal is heading in the right direction. For new proposal writers, it can be very difficult to see your bids rejected, when you know that the price is good value for money and the team is qualified.

In the next article, I will show you how to address this and position your Proposal in the eyes of the funding agency.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

Request For Proposals: Writing the Format Section

5 Ways to Increase Your Business Proposal Success Rate

Editor — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 14:29:00 +0000

What’s the hardest thing about writing proposals? Maybe it’s responding to RFPs under tight deadlines, submitting bids on time, and getting each part of the proposal in line with the RFP guidelines.

These are all critical to getting your grant, sales, and government proposals accepted. But in such situations, mistakes are bound to happen. Even more significantly, difficult working conditions may compromise the quality of the bid. Nonetheless, you can improve their position by considering the following questions before starting your next proposal.

1. Identify The Most Important Pain Points For The Proposal Evaluators

From the evaluator’s point of view, they’ll be looking to see if you have identified their main problem, such as:

Describing the issues needs to be solved
Understand what goals need to be accomplished
Addressing which issues have the highest priority and
What recommendations you have made to resolve this

As covered elsewhere on this site, proposals need to be client-centric.

These proposals pinpoint the client’s specific issues (stated and unstated) which help you write a more effective proposal.

2. How do proposal evaluators see your company?

Before bidding, your sales team should have prepared the groundwork with the prospective client.

Pre-sales activities will ensure that the client has an idea of who you are—though maybe not as well as you would like—so that you are not submitting a ‘cold’ bid.

A ‘cold’ bid is sent from a company who has had no previous contact with the government agency. Like their telephone equivalent, the ‘cold call’, they tend to have low success rates.
If you are bidding to an agency for the first time, you can rectify this by submitting high-quality product brochures, cases studies and white papers.
In addition, you can ‘get-to-know’ the evaluators during the clarification questions, briefing sessions and during the presentations.

3. How does the evaluator’s opinion affect the contract award?

As mentioned previously, if you are new to them then they will generally remain neutral until proved otherwise. Opinions about your credibility, and potential as a winning candidate, will arise when they question your references, meet you in person, and examine the finer details of your bid, such as the terms and conditions.

Evaluators know that references (e.g. referees) are unlikely to speak poorly about the bidding company and may not give much importance to this area—but they will contact the references anyway, as this is part of the formal evaluation procedure.

To make sure you’re represented in the best light, speak to the references in advance and remind them of key areas to emphasize, such as how you delivered on budget, your reliability, and other value-ads.

4. Do the evaluators have preferred competitors?

When you know that a competitor is in a preferential position with the evaluators, you need to consider if you can:

Outbid them, both in execution and on price
Offer a more convincing solution, i.e. technically superior solution
Explore the competitor’s perceived weaknesses i.e. where you can score points.

If you cannot find solid arguments to dislodge the preferred competitors, you might want to re-consider the bid/no bid strategy.

A typical area where competitors have an advantage is when the incumbent is bidding for an extension of an existing project. In this situation, the incumbent can identify certain areas where you cannot compete, e.g. knowledge of the existing systems.

But, you can counteract this by stressing that your rates, flexibility, competitive bid, SLA, and value-ad make you a worthwhile candidate.

Smaller companies can emphasis their speed, nimbleness and flexibility when competing against vast IT powerhouses.

5. How to position your proposal bid?

When IT personnel write proposals, they often get sidetracked into detailing the system innards. If this is required, then fine. But otherwise, you need to keep these sections in check as they deviate from the proposal’s main objectives.

Likewise, when Sales executives write proposals they can be guilty of adopting a writing style often referred to as ‘marketese.’ Most evaluators are not impressed with this, especially when the copy is snowed under with outlandish claims to product superiority etc.

Essentially, you need to position your solution so that it is aligned exactly with their requirements. To be fair, you sometimes have to work very hard to unearth these requirements as not all Request for Proposal’s are well formulated—but that’s part of your job as a Proposal Writer.

Conclusion

Once you understand this, write the solution description ‘point-by-point’ inline with their submission form. Don’t deviate one iota from the submission form as otherwise you will be disqualified.

Be very careful when suggesting a solution that goes above or beyond the requirements. Most evaluators will interpret this as an attempt to out-wit the client.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

34 Ways to Check Your Request For Proposal Submissions

Editor — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 11:30:00 +0000

If your next Business Proposal is for an important client, and you’re working under pressure to get the document submitted on time, it’s easy to get confused and forget something which determines whether you win or lose the bid. One way to avoid this is to use a proposal checklist to identify each requirements in the Request For Proposal.

Request For Proposal Checklist

Use this checklist when proofing your bid and, especially before sending your proposal to the printer:

Official Request For Proposal Documentation

Is the following information correct?

Request For Proposal Name
Document Owner
Request For Proposal Description
Received date
Closing Date
Date Submitted
QA Completed (Yes/No)

Proposal Writing team and Contributors

Do you have all the necessary information from the writing/bid team:

Content Required from:

Date Content Required by:

Content Required from:

Date Content Required by:

Content Required from:

Date Content Required by:

Content Required from:

Date Content Required by:

Proposal Quality Control Checklist

As the Proposal Manager, complete the following quality control checklist:

Identify contributors to the bid document
Confirm dates for receiving documents
Confirm Sign–off dates
Confirm File format e.g. Word, PDF
Confirm Number of hardcopy and softcopies required

Proposal Format, Style, & Grammar

The Proposal Manager can use the following checklist for each Business Proposal, when you check the bid for grammar, language, writing, technical details, cross-references and other information that relate to the bid:

Cross-Reference the Proposal against the Request For Proposal for:

Spelling
Grammar
Language (UK or US English)
Publication Date on Document
Each Chapters / Section has intro text.
Footer has Date & Time
Header and Footers have Titles
Header has Version Number
Graphic Layouts are correct
Figures/Tables are numbered
Correct Fonts e.g. Headings, Body Text etc
Supporting Docs are included, e.g. CVs
Remove Comments/Remarks
Remove Blank pages
Check Cut-and Paste data from other docs
Page Layout set to A4
Page Sequence is correct
Tables layout is consistent
Lists are consistent
Bullets, Diagrams etc print Correctly.
Print Draft Document(s)
Circulate copies for review
Collate all contributions
Monitor Version Control
Highlight gaps to Project Manager and/or Contributors
Highlight issues to Project Manager and/or Contributors
Make Backup copies of Working Docs
Make Backup copies of Finished Version
Graphic Designer Role in Proposal Development
Ensure the Graphic Designer completes the following:
Design/Print Request For Proposal Cover and Back
Design/Print CD ROM Jewel Case Graphics
Design/Print CD ROM Graphics
Package CD

Proposal Print and Assembly Checklist

Even when you have finished all these steps, you can still trip up if you don’t have material to print, assembly and post the Proposal.

Ensure you have the following:

Spare cartridges in stock
Correct Paper in stock
Check Spelling on Design Literature
Burn CD and Package
Check CD for correct contents
File Graphics in Project Folder
Check Printers are functioning

What else is needed to make sure each Proposal is submitted on time?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

Proposal Software Skills for Bid Managers

Editor — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Let’s look at the software Proposal Managers use to write, track and monitor their responses to Request For Proposals. The Proposal Manager’s role also includes the development of Proposal software, Microsoft Word templates, checklists, forms and Excel spreadsheets to track all aspects of the bid process.

Proposal Software Skills for Bid Managers

For example, Business Proposal software will help you, the bidder, to:

Maintain a database of questions and answers for each bid
Maintain boilerplate text for each proposal
Create the award-tracking database
Prepare budget support documentation for all submissions
Ensure the bids are evaluated for compliance
Ensure that each requirements is responded to in the final bid
Establish development milestones
Managing the project calendar and team tasks
Review the proposal team at different stages
Schedule bid/no-bid meetings
Organize the graphic designers, proposal coordinators, and technical writers
Maintain proposal files, legal files and other related documentation
Track the status of multiple bids and coordinate the presentations if necessary

Do I need Proposal Software to write Bids?

I’ve worked in different size firms as a Proposal Manager. Some have been very successful with well-designed Microsoft Word templates, with good checklists, forms and spreadsheets the bid process.

Others used very complex and expensive procurement software. A lot depends on your budget and also what works best for you.

Sometimes the more expensive software can creates problems as you need to train staff, create new workflows and ensure everyone knows how to use the system. The learning curve may defeat the overall purpose.

What do you think?

Software or templates? Which works best?

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

Proposal Manager: Starting a Career in Procurement

Editor — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 16:23:00 +0000

So you’d like to start a career as a Proposal Manager but not sure what’s involved. This role is actively involved across the Proposal development lifecycle. You need good Project Management skills and knowledge of how Request For Proposals are written, evaluated, and awarded. And the pay is very good!

Proposal Manager’s Role in Proposal Planning Development

If you’d want to know what Proposal Managers (aka Bid Managers) do, then this tutorial will help.

The Proposal Manager works like a Project Manager in that they organize all aspects of the response to the Request For Proposal and ensure that it is submitted on time. To do this, they are responsible for the following:

Proposal Planning

Directing proposal team and all individuals involved in sharing information
Coordinating proposal activities, such as printing, production, and delivery
Controlling proposal development process so that all bids are entered into the IT system and tracked as they are accepted, written, and evaluated
Ensure bid is compliant with Request For Proposal guidelines
Increase Proposal win ratio, i.e. number of bids you win

Proposal Manager Tasks

Depending on the size of the firm, the Proposal Manager may be involved in the following steps:

Conducts proposal cost kick-off meetings
Leads team through the proposal writing process
Conducts proposal reviews
Obtains management signoffs
Overseas the submission of the proposal
Gets the proposal submitted on time

This also includes teaming decisions, process refinement, developing bid theme, and making bid/no-bid decisions.

Proposal Manager Responsibilities

The Proposal Manager will also provide status reports and other communications to the project stakeholders.

This means they may also be involved in:

Creating proposal management processes
Implementing proposal preparation methodologies
Assisting the technical staff in the production of proposals
Managing the writing, editing, graphics, and production resources for all bids
Participate in the writing and editing of proposals where necessary

About the Author: Ivan Walsh provides business proposal writing tips, tutorials, and templates on the Proposal Writing Course every week. Get his free proposal writing newsletter here.

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6 Mistakes to Avoid When Writing Deliverables

Editor — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 15:47:31 +0000

The next part of the Business Proposal to write is the Deliverables section. The Deliverables section should be simple to understand but many Proposal Writers fall over themselves here.

Where to start with Deliverables

Let’s play good cop, bad cop for a minute.

In the Request For Proposal, it asks that you deliver the following:

Understanding of project scope and requirements
Description of the proposed research methods and rationale
Project team and references (and that of sub-contractor if applicable)
Work plan and schedule
Detailed budget estimate
Final written report (expected to include an executive summary,
conclusions, supporting charts, analysis and recommendations).
Printed and electronic submission of proposal in both Spanish and English

What the RFP writers want to see if your response is two things:

Confirmation that you will do (deliver) these
Examples of how this will be done.

If you don’t give some examples, then it’s hard for them if you can genuinely do this or… are simply saying Yes to get your foot in the door.

Common Mistakes When Responding to Deliverables

One of the difficulties in writing the deliverables section is that you’re trusting the project manager to ‘deliver’ these requirements.

In some situations, this section is given to the PM to write. This makes sense up to a point. However, you need to be careful that the PM, in his/he eagerness to please the team lead will commit the following mistakes.

1. Too Much Detail

An inexperienced project managers may become enamored with his work breakdown structures. Instead of keeping things simple, they may design the WBS so it becomes almost impossible to manage.

For example, we worked on a project in Shanghai where the PM created 275 work packages; some were broken down into minutes rather than hours or days.

Unless you know a little about PM, it’s hard to know where they’ve gone wrong. This “micro-level” WBS is excessive. Not only was it impossible to manage but it made our partners doubt the ability of the PM to oversee such a complex project. The takeaway is that your Project managers must establish an appropriate WBS level from which to manage, otherwise get a second opinion

2. Lack of Experience

As above, if the PM is new to this area, consider getting another PM to check their figures. Many young PM will pretend they have worked in an area to avoid been exposed as inexperienced.

3. Ignoring Risks

All projects have risks. An inexperienced project managers may not see potential risks in the project. If the necessary contingencies are not put in place (or at least acknowledged) then your project costs could escalate if an unexpected event arises.

4. Agreeing To Unreasonable requests

Most project managers want to please the customer. But, there are limits. Make sure the PM is not bullied into agreeing to new deliverables without consulting other team leads. Likewise, make sure that scope creep is addressed upfront so the client does not try to squeeze in new features without paying the full price.

5. Not Understanding Stakeholders

It is critical that, as part of stakeholder management, project managers interview the stakeholders to learn what information they deem as important and then act accordingly.

They also need to understand the tracking metrics or key performance indicators (KPI) so they can design an different performance dashboard for each stakeholder.

6. Jumping to Conclusions

Novice project managers, with little hands-on experience, may jump to conclusions or interpret requirements based on a limited understanding of how these will impact the project schedule. You need to monitor these project manager and ensure that they consult with subject matter experts to get the correct figures.

How to Write Better Deliverables

The best way to write the deliverables is to:

Include descriptions of the types of reports that will be used in the project.
Show Status Reports and detailed information on risk, vulnerabilities, and the necessary countermeasures and recommended corrective actions.
Include sample reports as attachments to the proposal to demonstrate that you’ve supplied these types of reports to other clients.

Then, break out the key deliverables and work through each one individually. In other words, instead of agreeing to provide these deliverables, paint a picture in the reviewer’s mind so they can see how you will do this.

The key is to see every page on the proposal as an opportunity to build more trust with the reviewers. Use each section to demonstrate your competence and how your understanding is greater than the other bidders.

Remember, to add the deliverables to the project plan with an estimated delivery date. More accurate delivery dates will be established during the scheduling phase, which is later in the proposal.

Next up, we’ll look at how to schedule meetings.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a Proposal Writer who develops Business Proposal Plans. He also shares Business Planning Strategies on IvanWalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.

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6 Ways To Write a Better Executive Summary

Editor — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:15:09 +0000

photo credit: Dicemanic

This is part 2 in our Proposal Writing Course. Yesterday, we looked at why you need to make the Table of Contents that central hub from which all information flow. Today, we’ll go a step further and examine the Executive Summary. Most Proposal Writers are intimidated by the Executive Summary. There’s something daunting about writing this chapter.

And it should be. The Executive Summary and the Finances are the two most critical sections in your proposal. For this reason, I’ll talk about these more than others and show you how to refine these sections and overcome the pitfalls associated with them. Let’s start.

What goes into the Executive Summary?

Use the Executive Summary to place the proposal in context.

This section should be one or two pages max. Don’t over-whelm the reader with background material. They can find more details about your organization on your website and in press releases.

So, what goes into this section?

In this example, we’re looking at submitting a bid for a government contract, say to do with Waste Management. To frame the bid correctly, look at how you can introduce the key topics as soon as possible. Think of these as pillars upon which the rest of the proposal will be written.

Identify the Government bodies involved in this procurement process, for example.
The Health Department encompasses five counties in the greater London region. These are…
Identify any strategic plans that relate to the success of this project
The London Region, which encompasses the administrative areas of counties X, Y, Z, adopted a Strategic Management Plan in 2002.
Identify significant data that the bidder must be made aware of, for example,
The administrative area of this region has a combined population of 500,000 and covers 10000 sq Kilometres.
Outline your over-arching goals and the key people on the bidding team
We now wish to review and replace 2002 Strategic Management Plan in compliance with the Waste Management Act 2003 and the Waste Management Regulations, 2005.
Identify other preliminary work that has been performed:
The new plan shall make reference to the existing Waste Management Plan, existing preparatory work, the recently commissioned Waste Management Study, EPA National Waste Database, EU Waste Management Plans and all other relevant documentation and legislation.
Close with reference to legal documents and supporting materials.
The new Plan should take account the Government policy statements, such as Recycling Waste and Waste Management Moving Forward

The pillar concept is worth considering as it gives you a framework to write your proposal around.

The most successful proposals are those that develop themes and then use these to press emotional triggers that influence the assessors.

If this doesn’t make sense, think of it like this.

The team who wrote the RFP have a checklist of things they’re looking for in the bids. For example, costs, ability and experience.

But, they are also looking for bidders that feel right, who are on the same wavelength, and who get it.

These are emotional factors play a key role in their decision-making process.

As you write your proposal, step back from it occasionally and ask yourself, ‘Does this feel right? Does it strike the right notes? Does it come across as though we feel their pain or are we just in it for the money.’

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Supervision section.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a Proposal Writer who develops Business Proposal Plans. He also shares Business Planning Strategies on IvanWalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.

Why The Table of Contents Is The Heart of Your Business Proposal?

Editor — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 13:43:31 +0000

This is Part 1 of a 20 part series on writing Business Proposals. What we’ll look in this course is how to get started, format the proposal, and submit it. Once we’ve done this, we’ll look at how to improve your chances of getting the bid accepted, for example, by giving presentations to the Assessors. I’ll also show you how to improve your business writing techniques.

And before you say I HATE GRAMMAR, I can guarantee you it’s not about grammar.

Ok, some parts will be, but they’ll be painless.

Instead I’ll show you how to use psychological tricks to get into the reviewers mind. To close the gap between what they need and what you offer. It’s very interesting. If you want to stay one step ahead of me, read Chip and Dan Heath’s Switch. That will get you started.

Example of Consultancy Proposal

There are different types of business proposals. Each type has its own requirements.

In this course, I’ll look at how to write a consultancy proposal and how to avoid the most common mistakes proposal writers make.

For example, this will be of use to government agencies or other bodies that want to procure the services of a consultancy firm, such as an advertising agency, Public Relations or Recruitment firm or another type of company that provides specialist services.
This type of proposal differs from contracts where, for example, you want to use a specific product, piece of equipment or have very exact specifications in mind.
In a proposal for Consultancy Services, you want to determine the most appropriate firm based on their expertise and capacity of deliver based on your needs.

Define the Table of Contents First

To get started, I will create a table of contents for each of the main sections and then drill-down into each sub-section.

Here is the table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. Supervision
3. Deliverables
4. Consultation – Meetings schedule
5. Reports & Presentations
6. Programme
7. Award Criteria
8. Information to be submitted
9. Fee Proposal
10. Conflict of Interest
11. Terms of appointment
12. Ownership of Documents and Copyright
13. Termination of appointment
14. Dispute Resolution
15. Tax Clearance Certificate
16. Withholding Tax
17. Professional Indemnity
18. Confidentiality
19. Submission of proposal

That’s it for today. No homework! You get the weekend off.

In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to write the Introduction.

About the Author: Ivan Walsh is a Proposal Writer who develops Business Proposal Plans. He also shares Business Planning Strategies on IvanWalsh.com. Follow him on Twitter & Facebook.

How to Analyze the Buyer’s Mindset When Writing Proposals

Editor — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 11:58:14 +0000

One of the most difficult challenges for any Proposal Writer is to figure out what the buyer is really interested in. Is it cost? Is it value-for-money? Is it innovation? Maybe it’s a combination of factors. Think of each RFP as a set of requirements that you, the bidder, have to answer for your proposal to be reviewed.

How to Analyze the Buyer’s Mindset When Writing Proposals

Let consider the following scenario:

“As the RFP’s author, with a significant stake in the project’s success, I am very anxious that I could select the wrong partner and jeopardize both my own position and also the agency that I represent.

It is for this reason that you, as a prospective contractor, need to convince me that you possess the ability to address both my immediate (and long-term) requirements as captured in the RFP and also those that I may have overlooked or omitted, for whatever reason.

Therefore, when you respond to my RFP, it is imperative that you answer every point in the document correctly but also consider the possibility that there are areas to need to be explored for this project to succeed.”

In the competitive world of government contracting, it is not enough to merely answer the requirements as set out in the RFP.

You have to go much further than this; to win this contract you need to convince me that you understand WHY I have prepared this RFP and are sensitive to my needs, both spoken and unspoken, during this project.

After all, I am expecting that your expertise will uncover areas that I have overlooked and you can resolve these without exploiting me financially.

Most proposals that an RFP evaluation team receive are very similar in tone, content, style, and cost.

For the most part, they are dull, formulaic, and repetitive.

Almost all are congested with jaded business clichés, the buzzword of the month, and resort to pseudo-jargon whenever possible.

Though I have years of experience in my industry sector, the proposal’s authors frequently speak down to me, avoid the key ‘pain points’ highlighted in our RFP and attempt to impress me with new technologies, many of which they have not even implemented themselves.

In short, despite what their executive summary may profess, they make no real effort to understand my needs and even worse, don’t appear to grasp the urgency behind this proposal nor the months of effort my team put into it. It feels that we were simply another proposal on their lengthy to-do list.

Question: Do you know how a proposal is typically evaluated in your country?

If not, contact your national procurement agency and ask for the guidelines on proposal evaluation. If none are available, contact the government agency who issued the RFP and ask if they have guidelines. You can do this either before you submit your proposal or during the clarification stages.

With this in mind, if you sincerely want to win my business, you need to differentiate your proposal from the rest of the pack as otherwise they are politely refused. Future submissions from your company will not be anticipated with much enthusiasm.

So, if you acknowledge this and want to raise the profile of your submissions, consider the following.

Identify the individuals in my team who will ‘buy’ this project.

After all, I don’t make the final decision on my own. On the contrary, I will consult with my colleagues through-out the entire procurement process.

Making an impression involves analyzing the buyer’s interests. In other words, you need to consider what types of buyers are involved in the procurement process and then write your proposal around their needs. For example:

Technical

What does the technical buyer look for?

Is it a track record of similar deployments or is s/he interested in a particular skill-set?
This person’s role is to screen out technologies that do not align with their strategy.
It’s also to determine if you really have the expertise you claim you have.

This person(s) may be in the business for many years and could be (read: will be) suspicious when dealing with unproven consultants. S/he has been burnt before and does not want to engage another ‘cowboy’ who will ruin their project.

How do you prove you are trustworthy?

Finances

What is the financial controller interested in?

This person will have the final word on the project’s go-ahead.
They are solely concerned with the bottom line and how you will impact their profit margin. This person is afraid that you will exploit grey areas in the contract to your advantage, such as forcing the project into extended change control and accumulating additional man days.

How do you reduce these fears?

They will ask colleagues (i.e. due diligence) to get an idea of how you operate and will listen to those who have worked with you. If you are new in town, they may make them more nervous as you could potentially disappear in mid-project or prove to be a totally unsuitable match.

Operations

How does your proposal go down with the Operation buyer?

This person will work with your team on a daily basis and could be concerned with ‘rumors’ that you will try to bully or intimidate staff during projects. Some consultancies come with a very tarnished name!
This person is concerned that s/he may be excluded from the project’s success or blamed if it fails. After your team has left, this person will have to use the solution that you will have implemented. Remember: one reason you are being contracted is because this person’s team do not have the skills to implement the solution by themselves – this area can be a very sensitive!
Now that we know that there is a ‘team’ of buyers, each of whom may have a different appreciation of your proposal, you need to prepare all communications with this in mind.
The buyers know that their proposal is not perfect and that there are gaps, inconsistencies, and errors in its construction. But they expect you to accept this and patiently help them to remedy the situation.

What I’m emphasizing here is that you need to build trust with us, the buyers, and unless you have a physiological profile of us in mind, your proposal will probably miss the mark.

You see, we have never met face to face. You don’t even know my name. But, I may know quite a lot about you – and some of what I’ve heard may not be very nice.

If you take this on board, your proposal needs to go to great length to assuage these fears and demonstrate repeatedly that you are not just going through the motions with this bid but have a very compelling argument that will justify us in awarding you with this business.

Profiling the buyers

Keeping in mind that we are a team of buyers, you need to prepare profiles for each role. You won’t get it 100% right the first time, but you will definitely be moving in the right direction while your competitors are laboriously cranking out the same ‘boiler-plate’ proposal as per usual.

To understand the buyers:

Classify the team members based on their role and estimate their input (i.e. influence) into the final approval.
Define each member as a buying type. Note that some buyers may have more that one role, e.g. the CTO may have a role in the technical evaluation and signing off the project budget.

For each buyer, identify their fears, hopes, anxieties and what they would consider to be major success factors.

Put these in a matrix and cross-reference this when evaluating your own proposal. Apply weights and values if appropriate.

Once you have completed this task, the next

step is to write your response with these buyers in mind. Remember: you are not writing to an anonymous disembodied entity – there is a very real person examining your proposal.

With these profiles at hand, you can blend into your proposal all those points that answer all the unspoken requirements not laid out in the proposal.

Warren Buffet Guide to Plain English Business Writing