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We're adding features that will turn our huge library of incredibly useful content into online training courses with exercises, quizzes, videos, and more. But that's not all...  There will be special features for Corporate Subscribers. They involve customization, certification, live instructor integration, real proposal participation tracking, transcripts, mentorship programs, and more. It's not just about training. They turn PropLIBRARY into a strategic tool for developing a

So here's our plan for world conquest. First we developed software that lets us repurpose our huge content library as online courses, complete with videos, quizzes, exercises, transcripts, and more. Next we're going to develop about a week's work of training. The basic stuff needed to implement our recommendations will be included with a regular PropLIBRARY Subscription. Additional courses that explain how to customize our approaches, adapt them, or use them for organizational development will b

Honestly, it's an approach I just stumbled upon. I wasn't really looking for it. If I say that it has the potential to radically change how people go about winning proposals, that might sound a bit grandiose. But that is exactly what I think it can do. Just not in a way that anyone expects. Imagine combining what you see below with all of our process guidance, online training, proposal recipes, etc., into a single integrated environment. If you do complex proposals with multiple people involved,

All you need to do to produce a winning proposal is give the customer the information they need to decide in your favor. It really is that simple.   And that totally hides how difficult it really is. While what you need to do is simple to understand, it is hard to achieve. Here are six top problems that get in the way of keeping proposals simple: You have to know what information the customer needs. It’s not about you or your offering. It’s all about them. It's their decision. Wha

It’s often over before it even starts.  Except for the tragic part where people work long hours, struggle, argue, blame, and sometimes cry. Most proposals go bad right at the beginning, even if you don’t feel the pain until later. The reverse is also true. Proposals can be won before they start.  They can be straightforward to produce, or they can be like pulling teeth. It comes down to whether you start with an information advantage, and if you can figure out what to do

HAPD Week 12: Advanced Proposal Topics and the Rapid Proposal Writing Workshop All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 10-June-2019 Module 11.3 - Post Proposal and Protests.  In the afternoon, we'll review the module on post proposal activities and protests (due to scheduling conflicts, this module will actually be presented on Monday of Week 12).  Module 12.1 - Introduction to Federal Program Management. This module introduces students to project and performance manag

HAPD Week 11: Preparing for Gold Team and the Final Exam All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 03-June-2019 Virtual Red Team Recovery. Finish making final revisions and documenting your writer disposition for all red team feedback. Tuesday, 04-June-2019 Pens Down. Pens down for Gold Team at Noon Meet with Dan and Angela: Students meet with Dan and Angela from 1:00 PM ET - 3:00 PM ET. Module 11.1 - Gold Team. At 3:30 PM ET, we'll review the module on

HAPD Week 10: Red Team Review and Recovery All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 27-May-2019 Memorial Day Holiday. No class. Tuesday through Wednesday, 28 & 29-May-2019 Red Team Review Proposal Writers stand down Thursday and Friday, 30 & 31-May-2019 Combined Reviewer Consensus/Proposal Team Debrief - reviewers present feedback and deconflict opposing recommendations for the proposal team Recovery Planning - proposal writers revie

HAPD Week 8: Path to Red Team All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 13-May-2019 Pink Team Recovery Plan - Phil will facilitate a team discussion in the afternoon to agree to a uniform structure for all of the PWS Mission Area proposal sections Self-Study Modules - we have three self-study modules: 8.1 covers writing to the RFP requirements, 8.2 covers Red Team writing and planning, and 8.3 covers interviewing SMEs (note that Module 8.3 will be posted Monday) Q

HAPD Week 9: Red Team Preparations All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 20-May-2019 Cohort Past Performance Live Edits - You will meet in your cohorts today to perform live edits of your past performance documents - work to get into page count and resolve open issues Next Steps Review - we'll review final preparation next steps for Red Team Signup Sheet - Sign up for extended 1:1 reviews (here) during which we'll review gradebooks for the current period and r

HAPD Week 7: Pink Team Prep, Review, and Recovery All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 06-May-2019 Final Pink Team editing - we'll make the final edits to the pink team content plans - pens down is 2:30 PM ET Break before mid-term - we'll have a break before the mid-term exam begins from 2:30 PM ET - 3:00 PM ET Mid-term exam - the mid-term exam begins at 3:00 PM ET and closes at 5:00 PM ET. There are two parts - part 1 is multiple choice and part 2 is a short

HAPD Week 6: Path to Pink Team All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 29-April-2019 Module 6.1 Introduction to Writing Past Performance Results - we'll begin completing part 2 of the measles charts, which focus on the performance evaluation portion of Section M Monday is a half-day in the war room - afternoon is a remote work option Tuesday, 30-April-2019 Dan Marsh, COO of Hinz Consulting, will be presenting an overview of Hinz Consulting and best practices

HAPD Week 6: Path to Pink Team All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 29-April-2019 TBD Tuesday, 30-April-2019 TBD Wednesday, 23-April-2019 TBD Thursday, 25-April-2019 TBD Friday, 26-April-2019 TBD Quiz and Discussion Week 6 Quiz - TBD Week 6 Discussion - There is no discussion this week.  Where to find the Final DOE ORISE solicitation The ORAU RFP and final DOE ORISE solicitations have been released (O

HAPD Week 5: DOE ORISE Final RFP and Proposal Schedule All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 21-April-2019 John is presenting a review of the Rapid Proposal Writing presentation (review for the mid-term exam in Week 6) on Monday at 9:00 AM ET - 10:00 AM ET The ORAU RFP and DOE final RFP have both been released - see below for links. We will be reviewing the RFP and planning our next steps on Monday. Our first major milestone will be the Pink Team Review.  Dead

HAPD Week 4: DOE ORISE Win Strategy and Proposal Plans All bold red fonts are links. Monday, 15-April-2019 to Wednesday, 17-April-2019 We continue Module 3.2 Intro to Pre-RFP Planning and we will be finishing our proposal schedule, which is posted here. We will develop outcomes tables for our content plans - instructions are posted here. The outcomes tables are due in your content plans by COB Week 4 Tuesday. Post these to your Week 4 Writer Folder.  We will a

HAPD Week 3: Proposal and Response Planning Monday, 8-April-2019 to Tuesday, 9-April-2019 We continue Module 2.6 and Exercise 2.2, which introduce the beginner to the basics of the content plan: Formatting and how to plan your content for your assigned sections. There are references to additional sources of learning for desktop publishing and writing, including videos and articles. The second Week 2 Exercise is introduced – planning and writing your first compliant proposal secti

HAPD Week 2: Government RFP and Proposal Basics Overview of Week 2: This is a busy week! Monday, 1-April-2019 Module 2.1 introduces the world of federal acquisition and proposals. Emphasis will be on the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), acquisition planning, requirements definition, the acquisition process, and risk. This module will be presented via web lecture and includes reading assignments with links to selected readings. This week’s quiz includes a lot of questio

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Companies generally start to embrace a proposal process when the number of people involved grows large enough to become difficult to coordinate. It would be better if they began to embrace a process as soon as they start caring about their win rate.  The MustWin Process on PropLIBRARY enables a team of people to work together to maximize the company’s win rate. That’s great, but what if there’s no team? What if you are the team? Then doesn’t a proposal process designed to support large team

Put the RFP aside, just for a moment. Meditate or ponder on the following before you start typing. Ask yourself, "Why should the customer select my offering over their other alternatives." Reach beyond your company's experience and qualifications. Reach all the way to why the customer will be better off if they select you, and how what they will get will be superior if they select you. Consider what matters or should matter to the customer about what you are going to write about.