Proposal Writing
Solving the Proposal Dilemma
By Richard White
Dec 26, 2005, 15:39

Our last installment discussed the haphazard and disjointed federal proposal writing efforts that take place in most companies and why they occur. This installment presents concrete steps that can be taken to minimize the problem.

1. You have heard this one before. Have top management actually get seriously involved in the proposal-writing process. Recognize the immense waste that can occur and the less-than-top-quality proposals that go out the door. It's all about revenue, profit and writing proposals that are both defensive and customer centric. Submitting winning proposals can have a major impact on revenue and the survival of a federal services company.

2. Integrate the sales and proposal-writing process. We have said a great deal about the importance of this before and will discuss it again in the next installment. This critical component is what creates winners.

3. Hire an experienced, full-time proposal manager who has mastered the art of minimizing the chaos. It is essential to make sure that your proposal manager likes to write and edit rather than just manage.

4. Implement a structured, documented and automated proposal-writing process. Make sure that it integrates sales and proposal writing (there will be more about this subject in a later installment).

5. Invest in building a database of up-to-date resumes and corporate experience and actually keep it updated. The proposal manager can oversee this provided he or she has the right software. However, as will be discussed later, management must implement the right carrots and stick to actually get the technical staff to do it.

6. Automate and "version control" your old proposals and Management Plan boilerplate. Once again, the proposal manager can do this but management must invest in effective software and staff support to accomplish the task. This, too, will be discussed more in a later installment.

7. Write the Executive Summary before the proposal kickoff meeting. Make sure that it includes winning themes and salient selling points. The person who drafts the Executive Summary should be the sales or management person who knows the customer best. We suggest tackling this task ahead of time even if the first draft of the Executive Summary is only an outline with critical selling points as bullet points.

8. Use an incentive system to compensate your best technical writers when you win. I can feel you cringing about this one but it works. After all, why do most of us come to work? Yeah, I know it's the creative challenge but money helps.

Stay tuned for more in-depth discussions about Points 2, 4, 5, 6, and 7.

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A proposal writing tool and a strong understanding of government proposals can help your company from falling into the proposal-writing money pit. Fedmarket.com developed its "Proposal Architect" to assist companies in completing business proposals in a streamlined manner along with eliminating as much chaos as possible.

As our clients attest, the Proposal Architect will help your company win more contracts by making your proposed solutions more compelling.

"We have successfully used Proposal Architect on several major competitions and have found it to be a fabulous investment. On our most recent competition, we had only 48 hours to develop and deliver a proposal for a contract that would almost double our revenue base. Our experience working with Proposal Architect enabled our staff to tightly structure our development process and produce the winning proposal within a near impossible timeline."

Thanks!
Joe Hawkins
Kepler Research

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Sharpen your proposal-writing skills by attending one of Fedmarket.com's seminars at the Federal Sales Academy in Bethesda, Maryland. We offer two proposal courses: "Writing and Managing Winning Proposals" and "Capture Planning/Advanced Proposal Writing." Visit our seminar calendar for upcoming dates and locations or call seminar coordinator, Suzie White, at 301.652.9504.

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Thanks for reading and, as always, best of luck in your business. Call me at 434.962.9508 with questions about the Proposal Architect and our new, about-to-be-announced CRMFederal product.

If you need help with any other product sales, call or write as follows: (888) 661-4094 x8 or sales@fedmarket.com.