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In this podcast, I’m covering a common question which is : How long should a proposal be?

The rule of thumb for how long your proposal should be is to make it as long as you need to get your point across without overwhelming the evaluators. More is not better. Consider the effort it takes by the reviewers to slog through long proposals.

In the words of Dr. Frank Luntz, author of the book Words that work, “… brevity, clarity, and simplicity are simply the hallmarks of good communication.” Read the rest of this entry »

I reference four other books in my own book about writing better proposals because they provide excellent examples or lessons that proposal writers can use to improve their proposals. They mostly relate to getting your message across and persuading the reader.

In some cases, I had been using the techniques already in RFP responses and it was only after I read these books that I understood why they worked.

Here are some examples of how these books influence my approach to proposal writing. Read the rest of this entry »

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In this podcast, I wanted to discuss the most important part of a successful RFP proposal response other than a good price.

It’s about answering the damned question.

Ok, answering the question is a simple concept when responding to Request For Proposal questions, yet proposal writers frequently don’t answer the question the way the client intended. Since a proposal isn’t a two-way dialogue, you need to get it right the first time. Read the rest of this entry »

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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 »

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 4:49 — 4.4MB)

I’m sure many of you have had to rely on others for the content you need to write a proposal, whether it’s internal staff, subject matter experts, subcontractors or partners.

Getting content from others can be challenging. I think there are a few reasons for this. 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 »

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Welcome to another episode of the podcast ‘Write Winning Proposals”.  In this podcast, I’m talking about a sure way to lose credibility with clients and the evaluators – Weasel Words.

I have to admit, I’ve used them myself in the past and based on the RFP Responses I’ve reviewed, many others use them too.

Proposal writers use them because they’re easy, cheap and pretty useful when you don’t want to make a commitment or don’t really know what to say. Read the rest of this entry »

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Welcome to another episode of the podcast “Write Winning Proposals”. In this podcast, I’m revisiting the idea of asking yourself questions to prepare for writing your proposal response.

In episode #5, I also talked about asking questions, but the focus was on a series of probing questions specific to the questions they expect you to respond to and using a drill-down technique to ask questions about each subsequent answer.

There are, however, a few other questions you should also ask yourself about the client and the proposal as part of your strategy process before you start writing. 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.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:51 — 5.1MB)

Welcome to another episode of the podcast  ‘Write Winning Proposals”.  This time, I’m taking a look at RFP’s from the client side.

While I’ve been helping bidders respond to RFP’s, I’ve also assisted companies on the client side to develop and write RFP documents. It’s the other side of the equation – clients who issue proposal requests need to make it easier for bidders to respond and at the same time, make the bid proposal responses easier to evaluate so the best provider is chosen.

In the November, 2009 issue of Summit, Canada’s largest magazine on government and public sector procurement, I wrote about 5 things clients can do to get better proposal responses from bidders when they write their RFP documents.

Of course, even bidders can benefit from this advice so I’ve provided the original text below in addition to a podcast of the article. Read the rest of this entry »