In a previous installment of this proposal writing series, we strongly suggested you should only write those proposals you believe your company can win. This advice may seem trite, but that's exactly what you must do. Select carefully and write the proposals for only those procurements that you have pre-sold. Management should focus on making the best possible bidding. The decision as to whether to bid on an opportunity should be based on the information you learned about the customer and the competition during the sales process. If the decision is to go ahead and submit a bid, your company should make a one hundred percent commitment to writing the very best proposal.

The bidding decision should be made as early as possible. If your business decides to go forward, you must start the proposal writing immediately. If you and your colleagues wait until the last possible moment, you will probably lose to those competitors who got a head start.

Choose your proposal leader carefully. The leader should ideally be an experienced proposal writer/manager and should know the most about the customer. If you can't find this all-in-one superstar, go with your most experienced proposal writer and support this person with the people who know the customer best.

Have the proposal leader prepare a proposal outline in the greatest possible detail. Not enough can be said about the importance of a detailed proposal outline. It will become the guiding framework for managing the project and for the writing process itself.

Selecting the best possible staff (technical/scientific/operational) to write the solutions' section of the proposal is critical to success. If the staff assigned to draft the proposal's solutions' section doesn't already know the customer, you must quickly and thoroughly educate them. It goes without saying that the section of the proposal outlining your company's solutions must fully address and solve the customer's needs. Chances are good that your technical/scientific/operational personnel will not be experienced writers. Use the detailed proposal outline to guide their efforts and to show them exactly what is expected of them in terms of organizational structure, content, and format.

You must spend ample time on planning the proposal-writing project. Preparing a complex and large proposal will involve a large portion of your staff. Management of the proposal's preparation involves organizing project tasks, assignments and proposal content in as much detail as possible. In fact, company management should be involved in all aspects of the proposal-writing project. Management personnel should be fully prepared to continually monitor the status of the proposal and personally review the content and quality of the results.

In summary, management must make a commitment to each and every proposal the company writes. Assign the best people to write the proposal and support them in every way possible. Give the proposal leader the authority and resources to produce a winning proposal.