Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.6MB)

In this podcast, I’m covering an often overlooked issue that can sink your proposal – a simple thing called perception.

Perception can be a problem for you when writing your RFQ or RFP proposal response in two ways. First, your perception of the client and their requirements may not be true, and could taint your proposal response. Second, the client’s perception of your organization and your service may not be valid, yet it will influence how they evaluate your proposal. Read the rest of this entry »

I recently reviewed a number of Request for Qualifications (RFQ) submissions for a client. One of the proposals stood out, but not for the right reasons. They chose to use an odd sized paper format, not the standard letter size everyone else used and is the standard in North America. Read the rest of this entry »

While working on my upcoming book recently, I realized that the process of writing a proposal is exactly the same as baking a cake. Unfortunately, however, cake is a lot tastier than your RFP response.

In any case, for a successful proposal, here is the Recipe:

• You are asked to bake a cake
• Find a recipe
• Modify the recipe to suite their tastes
• Grease the Pan and heat up the oven
• Review the ingredients, put them in order
• Add the ingredients for the cake into the bowl
• Beat it until smooth. Test and repeat
• Pour it in the pan and level it out.
• Put the cake in the oven until done
• Test for doneness
• Put it back and cook some more if necessary.
• Let it cool and add some frosting.
• Serve it up
• Hope for positive reviews

If you have your own analogy or anecdote, feel free to leave a comment.

I recently helped a client develop the scope and evaluation criteria for a service related Request for Proposals they want to issue. Even though this was for a client, not a bidder, it emphasized how important it is for you to understand your client’s evaluation matrix when you are bidding and strategically positioning your bid and pricing to benefit from it. Read the rest of this entry »

This preamble was in a recent Request for Proposal:

“Please do not include marketing or sales materials in your response. Your company has been pre-qualified and we appreciate it if you will only focus on the information required to satisfy the specific needs of the RFP.”

It’s the best advice I’ve seen yet from a Client. In this case, each company had been selected to bid because they passed a pre-qualification phase, so the typical sales job about the company wasn’t needed – it had already been done.

That left the real sales job for the bidders – differentiating themselves. Read the rest of this entry »

It may have been a little slow over the last year, but as the economy picks up, more and more companies will be issuing RFP’s to buy new services or replace existing service providers.

For many companies, writing RFP bid responses is a tough job. You may not have the resources or the skills to meet the demand. If many opportunities come at the same time, they can’t respond to all of them.

Now is the time to prepare yourself for success, with these tips: Read the rest of this entry »

Recently, I’ve been reviewing RFP proposal responses and have come across some words and phrases that just don’t belong. These are words you should avoid when writing proposals. Often, they are words that are so overused or meaningless that they actually detract from your message. Read the rest of this entry »

The only reason you write proposals is to win more business.

Simply put, winning means getting your client to choose your proposal over your competition. While your financial proposal may sometimes be the deciding factor, the right proposal will tilt the odds in your favor. With the right techniques, you may even win more business without the lowest price. Read the rest of this entry »

Our upcoming book is packed with techniques, strategies and ideas about how you can write better proposals that win more business.

Whether you write proposals yourself or have a business development team to rely on, this book will make your life easier and get you better results from the analysis to the packaging of your proposal. Read the rest of this entry »