The biggest single problem in proposal writing is writers beginning their work without a tightly structured outline. Thousands and thousands of dollars are wasted by companies holding kick off meetings with billable technical staff members (un-billable for the meeting) and not providing them with the structural documents needed to write effectively. Even worse, without detailed guidance, they will leave the meeting and write uncoordinated and ineffective proposal content resulting in even greater losses of money.
Everyone on the proposal writing team must be told what to write, in what logical structure, and when it is due. Starting the writing effort without these elements will result in chaos, inconsistency, and wasted money.
You cannot prepare too much for the proposal Kick-off Meeting. Writing an effective proposal is about structure and advanced planning. The structural elements needed to start the proposal writing efforts are as follows:
- Draft Executive Summary
- Proposal Outline
- Requirements Matrix
- Proposal Schedule
Do not hold a Proposal Kick-off meeting without these documents. They provide the needed structure to keep everyone writing effective and consistent content.
The meeting should be Co-chaired by the Proposal Manager the person who wrote the draft Executive Summary.
A second breakout meeting may be needed after the Kick-off meeting for the technical writers and Proposal Manager to begin work on a detailed Technical Approach outline. See Technical Approach. INSERT LINK
