Articles

Over the years we have turned some of the most important content on PropLIBRARY into training materials. Only instead of combining all that content into lengthy courses, we've kept them modular so that we can mix and match as necessary to solve your particular challenges. For full coverage, you can combine topics and make a nice, long, comprehensive course covering the topics. To quickly address a challenge you face, you could choose a single topic and focus like a laser on it. Or you could pick

AI won't enable you to win a proposal simply by asking the AI to create it for you. But it can give you ideas that could give you a competitive edge. First you have to know what to ask for. And the way you figure that out using AI is remarkably similar to following the same process you already use, only including AI as a participant. AI will not replace the process, it will just become a contributor instead of a replacement. AI makes it even more important to have an effective process in place,

Even though branding applies to all of our interactions, in writing it mostly serves to introduce who and what you are. It's the opening line before you get to the substance of the conversation. It sets a tone. It declares your aspirations and projects the reputation you want to have. And it can hurt your proposals and damage your win rate. If your branding is minimal and consists primarily of your logo, color scheme, and a uniform appearance, that's (probably) not going to hurt anything. A

If the goal for both you and your company is to win new business, then people will remain indispensable even as AI becomes amazingly helpful. The reasons people will remain indispensable will be that while AI can write, AI can't write competitive proposals on its own. Even with the entire Internet to learn from, AI will not have insights into the unpublished desires of the customer. People at your company will need to interact with people at the customer to understand them. And then people

The Impact of AI on Business Development The goal of business development is to qualify a lead, primarily by developing an information advantage. Don't assume an AI will be good at that just because it uses the word “information.” Developing an information advantage is most effectively done through relationship marketing. In fact, it's the information that hasn't been published that's usually the most valuable. You'd think AIs would be good at prospecting for leads. However, current A

Preparing government contractors for AI and radical organizational and competitive changes... I just started a new LinkedIn group and would like to invite you to join it. The changes that artificial intelligence is brining are going to affect your company even more than you anticipate. How will you remain competitive when all the rules change? Join us as we try not only keep up, but stay one step ahead...

AI can very easily enable you to make the same strategic mistakes in volume... You can write a lot of bad proposals quickly, with or without AI. Getting good at writing bad proposals isn't going to help your win rate. AI makes it so much easier and we are attracted to that. But they are still bad proposals. Why are the proposals bad? Because they: Are written from your perspective instead of being written from the customer's perspective. Describe the topic instead of showi

Proposals are deep. Understanding them and getting good at them requires skills that go beyond just getting words on paper. And the skills that you develop to write great proposals apply throughout life. This may be true of every profession. But here are some of the things I have learned from mine. I find no depth in simple rules for living. I'm not trying to write memes. Simple rules often gloss over important things and tend to be self-contradictory. I like to look at the core, at the ro

When I'm working with people who are inexperienced writers and are struggling, I often tell them to not worry about style and just write conversationally. I've written on how to have conversations in writing before. Writing is easier when you're not trying to sound like someone else or how you think something is “supposed” to sound. It's easier to just drop all that and talk. Communicate. Make your points. But some people struggle with their conversation skills. And when people are

Every proposal milestone and every review require communication before, during, and after. While recycling your proposal content is a terrible idea that will hurt your win rate, recycling your communication pieces can enable you to make them more frequent and better. Let's use the proposal kickoff meeting as an example. The preparation for a proposal kickoff meeting will be similar on every proposal. Details may change, but that's okay. You can template the emails or other communication re

What is the learning curve for using MustWin Now? MustWin Now makes managing complex proposals so much easier. But a complex proposal is still complex, even if the software makes managing it easier. In MustWin Now, if you are there to write, you don't need to understand how to import and cross-reference the RFP. If you are there to review, you don't need to know how to configure or tailor all the tool options. If you are the Proposal Manager you'll need to know how everything works. And

What is the learning curve for using MustWin Now?MustWin Now makes managing complex proposals so much easier. But a complex proposal is still complex, even if the software makes managing it easier. In MustWin Now, if you are there to write, you don't need to understand how to import and cross-reference the RFP. If you are there to review, you don't need to know how to configure or tailor all the tool options. If you are the Proposal Manager you'll need to know how everything works. And i

The best way to improve your win rate is to improve the flow of information to the proposal so you can write it from the customer's perspective. You can't start at RFP release and accomplish this. So what can you write about to maximize your chances of winning the proposal? Results that exceed the requirement. All of the competitors who matter will meet all of the requirements. If you want to win, you have to do better. What will make your approaches deliver results that are better than

A good friend of mine, Mark Amtower, recently wrote a book in collaboration with a bunch of authors all experts on marketing and government contracting. A wealth of great discussion has resulted from the many useful nuggets of wisdom the book contained. Full disclosure: I'm one of the authors. Here's a great quote from the book by Mark: A thought leader is something very different from an influencer. An influencer is a promoter. A thought leader is an inventor first and then a promo

Writing from the evaluation criteria and your win strategies are really just proposal writing basics. They are mechanics that tell you what to write about. They are vital, but minimum skills for writing a proposal based on what it will take to win. I have come to realize that the skill that I find myself leaning on the most to figure out what words and phrases to use to present things in writing is translation. We normally think of translation between languages, but translation applies to i

There are two dimensions to time management. One is managing yourself. It's not always easy, even though it's completely in your own control. The second is working through other people, who have to manage their own time. This is much harder. The combination is extremely challenging. The time management strategies for each are similar. But working through other people requires a variety of techniques. It is not as simple as needing discipline and authority. In fact, those are the least of th

Does the RFP ask for one? If it does, you have to provide one. If it doesn’t, you might want to think twice before you add an “Understanding” section. Are you making the customer read a patronizing section about stuff they already know about themselves before they get to find out what you’re going to do for them? A better approach may be explaining what you are going to do for them in a way that shows insight and demonstrates your knowledge and understanding (as opposed to claiming it). N

Your company is losing proposals because your people are afraid to lose proposals This is true even though most companies lose more proposals than they win. Maybe it's the large value and huge amount of effort that's on the line. Maybe it's the fear of being blamed.  Unhealthy fear The people you most need to grow your business often live in fear. And it’s not a productive fear. It’s an accountability avoiding I don’t trust you to watch my back I’m not going to take a risk win rate li

Proposal management is not just about implementing the proposal process. Procedural oversight is an archaic view of the primary role of management. Proposal management should be about accomplishing the goal of submitting a winning proposal. Having a process does support that goal, but a more important part is looking beyond the process to what is required for people to be successful and guiding them to achieve it. Proposal management is more about things like training and problem solving than it

If you don’t sell a commodity, starting unprepared to win at RFP release is an organizational failure. You’ve missed your chance to develop an information advantage and are about to spend time and money on a proposal that you (by definition) aren't prepared to win. It is an organizational failure because it has failed at resourcing, planning, prioritization, and ROI calculation. Now that I’ve said that, let’s talk about starting at RFP release and winning anyway. Because it happens. If you