Previous installments have discussed the need to pre-sell a client prior to the announcement of a public bid and the need to write proposals in the voice of the customer. Adhering to these two principles is likely to produce a high percentage of winning proposals.
Company management frequently underestimates the consequences of writing losing proposals. The impact of a losing proposal effort is insidious and exceeds lost proposal-writing dollars. A loss can effect staff morale and have an impact on the quality of future proposals. Wins energize your organization. Everyone who worked on the proposal receives an ego boost, and your employees perceive the company as a winner--a good place to work, and a place providing a sense of job security.
The downsides to writing a losing proposal are considerable. The company has spent a significant amount of money to no avail, and the loss has a demoralizing impact on almost all your employees. They will ask:
- Why did we lose, when we were perfectly qualified?
- Are we ever going to figure out how to win these things?
- Should we stop trying to do business with the federal government?
Employees who have sacrificed nights and weekends to work on the proposal are particularly impacted. They ask:
- Is there something wrong with me or the company I work for?
- Is it time to look for a job with a company that can win?
- The sections of the proposal that I wrote were great. Did the pieces written by others obviously lack something?
- Was that a waste of my time and the company's resources, or what?
- I worked all weekend, missed my kid's soccer game, for what?
- I'm not sure I'm going to put in the same level of effort on future proposals; they can find someone else to beat their head against the wall next time.
Each successive loss raises more and more questions and results in organizational insecurity. No one likes losing.
