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We like to think that when someone didn’t fully complete an assignment on time even though they accepted it, it was just a problem with motivation. It’s easy to throw shade. But experience shows us that it’s more complicated than that.  It’s also easy to assume there’s an easy solution, like better deadline “enforcement” by The Powers That Be. Or that people should “just follow” the process. But experience shows us that it’s more complicated than that. The key to being able to make imp

The day you start a new contract should be the day you start preparing for the recompete. You build your past performance day by day. And you have the opportunity to learn about the customer's preferences. But if you wait until the end of the contract to start doing the things that will help you win the proposal, they’ll take far more effort. And some will no longer be possible.  Metrics. When you get to the proposal, you’ll want to be able to cite cost reductions, performance improvem

What do each of the following proposal problems have in common? Every one of the problems described below have something in common. There is a single solution that can address them all. All the overlapping and confusing needs have the same origin. To get good at consistently winning proposals, you not only have to realize what it is, you must make it happen. We'll share what it is, but for you to believe it you have to understand the issues first. Q) What is the fastest way to speed u

Figuring out what should go into your proposal is the most important part of the proposal process. It usually starts with an Request for Proposals (RFP) that can be intimidating if you don't know how to read it. Premium Content Planning resources for PropLIBRARY Subscribers: What to do when the RFP is released How to create a Compliance Matrix How to create the outline for your proposal Proposal Content Planning To prepare your proposal, yo

People bring their expectations to work with them. People form expectations while at work. Expectations run in every direction, between every stakeholder. Humans generally do a poor job of communicating them, and an arguably worse job of fulfilling them. It is a wonder that anything ever gets done. We can do better.  What if expectations were communicated more clearly? And accepted? What could we accomplish if we fulfilled all of our expectations for each other? What stands in the way of th

When you receive an RFP, study the evaluation criteria, how they relate to each other, and how they add up. Each RFP is different. Sometimes the customer is focused on experience, and sometimes on qualifications. Sometimes on capabilities, and sometimes on approaches. When they organize the evaluation criteria by proposal sections, you may find insights that tell you what it will take to win. It is easiest to do this when the RFP evaluation criteria are point scored. But even when the RFP u

Imagine that when the RFP is released, the customer already knows you, and they trust you and your capabilities because you've demonstrated that you have insight into what can help them. You've shown them how to get what they need. Along the way, you’ve made recommendations to ensure the RFP doesn’t contain anything that would be a problem for you, as well as inserting some things that give you an advantage. Most importantly, you’ve gained some insight into the outcomes they are trying to achiev

Before people invest in a pursuit, they like to know what their chances of winning are. They want to know the odds of winning are high enough before they commit. To make their estimate of their chances sound more scientific than it really is, they often call this estimate “probability of win (pwin).” The problem is that no one can accurately predict pwin Try this… Add up every pwin estimate your company has done over the last year and average them. Now compare that average to your win r

When I wrote Are you one of these 11 kinds of proposal manager? it was as a fun self-exploration with some interesting implications about the nature of proposal work. If you haven’t read that article, you should start there, because it defines the types discussed below.  Most people find that they are more than one type. But what types are appropriate for a given environment and for your future? I’ve seen great proposal managers fail because they clashed with the environment they found them

We all know that it’s a best practice to write proposals from the customer’s perspective instead of your own. So when we discuss preparing to win a pursuit or whether we should bid it, why do we usually do it from our own perspective? Why do we focus on our capabilities, our qualifications, what we can offer, and our advantages instead of what matters to the customer? It’s natural to start from self-assessment, but shouldn’t we be looking at whether to bid and how to prepare from the perspective

When you first get thrown into the job of being a capture manager, you’ll get told plenty of things you need to do. What you might not figure out for years is how to approach things so that you can successfully accomplish all those tasks well enough to win. Here are 8 areas that you can focus on that will help you be a better capture manager and increase your win rate. Focus on the areas where you are not comfortable. As a capture manager, most of your losses will come from the areas whe

Take a step back from proposal mechanics. Becoming a better proposal manager has more to do with understanding the goals and what’s required for people to improve their performance than it does with making the trains run on time. A conductor doesn’t just keep the musicians in synch. A conductor helps them be more than the sum of their individual parts. Here’s how to apply that to proposal management:  Decide on what kind of proposal manager you want to be. You may not realize it, but there

The purpose of this article isn’t to tell you how to be an executive. You already know that. And if you don’t, you’ll be hearing soon from all the needy voices. The purpose of this article is to share some insights and lessons learned related to business development, capture, and proposals that can help you grow your organization and be more prosperous. This article is not about the details of those functions, but what those functions need from their executive sponsor. This isn’t obvious stuff,

When you recycle proposal content, you can’t rely on people to simply tailor it. You can’t rely on them because you can’t count on them to be aware of everything that has changed. Unless you tell them. Re-using proposal content requires more than just updating it. It requires changing the context to reflect everything that has changed about the customer, your company, your offering, the competitive environment, and the external world.  People often think nothing has changed. Sometime

The RFP is just one source of requirements that drive what you should offer in your proposal. If all you do is design an offering that responds to what is in the RFP, it will be at a competitive disadvantage compared to a proposal submitted by someone with a deeper understanding of the customer and their requirements. To prepare the winning offer, in addition to the RFP, you need to consider: What matters to the customer? The customer will make their selection not only on what “meets the

Your proposal should not be about you. Compare these two approaches to proposal writing: Our approach is to do this and then we do that. We can do this well because we are so qualified.  You will get all this and as a result things will be much better for you and it will be easier for you to do so much more. If you’re talking to a salesperson about something you need, which approach do you want to hear? What does the customer really want? How should you say things in a

Sometimes why you are proposing something says more about the value than a description of what you are proposing. Simply claiming value is both easy and meaningless. How many times has every company bidding claimed to be the “best value?” Substantiating your value proposition is where you win or lose. While your approach delivers the value, the reason why you chose that approach is what explains and substantiates the value in what you are offering. “We deliver” or “Our approach delivers” F

These are some of my “go to” ways of expressing value, focusing on benefits, and differentiating during proposal writing. When I’ve decided what to write to achieve RFP compliance and am pondering how to take it further and win in writing, they often come to mind.  Winning by giving the customer something more The following phrases work like formulas that combine things in ways that raise the bar and help make your proposal more persuasive and more competitive. They help you establish t

Sometimes it’s good to put the proposal management process aside and just look at what is the minimum required to write a proposal. While there are a lot of logistical and other considerations for a proposal that should be addressed early, today we are just looking at it from the perspective of the proposal writer. The proposal writer just wants to focus on completing their assignment. So can we start writing now please? If you start by putting some words down on paper, anticipating that yo

You can't credibly claim thought leadership in a proposal. It’s too late. If the customer doesn't already think of you as a thought leader, what will they think about that unsubstantiated claim? At best it won't affect your evaluation score one bit. At worst it will hurt your credibility. Doesn't being a thought leader require providing leading thoughts? What does claiming leading thoughts and not providing any do for your image? Thought leadership is more about trust than knowledge and not