Turning proposal best practices on their head

Enough of all these best practices already. While we write a lot about them, it’s a lot more fun to write about how to cheat. What do you call it when the best practices no longer apply? Worst practices? That's not right. Best practices for adverse circumstances? That's too long. We call it cheating.

But it's not the dishonest kind of cheating. It's the get out of your box and break the rules because that's the only way to survive kind of cheating. When you can't do proposals the right way, you have to do them the wrong way. You have to cheat.

Sure, if you want to win you need to do everything you can to achieve the best practices. But what about when you’re starting late on a bid where you don't know the customer, aren't sure what to bid, can't get the information you need to write a winning proposal, have to bid because someone in authority says you must, and it's all you can do just to survive the experience let alone win it? When people tell you that you should “no bid” an opportunity like that, it really doesn’t help you at all. It’s not like it’s your choice.

When you're caught in a circumstance like this, the best practices aren't going to help. You have to know how to cheat.

Remember, we're not talking about lying, breaking laws, failing to comply with regulations, or ignoring ethical standards. We’re talking about what you can do when the best practices simply don't apply.

If the best practices say:

1. Avoid passive voice. This is great advice, but it doesn't apply when you aren’t sure who is going to do what but the RFP asks for your approach. When that's the case, then embrace passive voice and use it on purpose. Let them know that things will happen. Let them know that software will get written, results will be achieved, and requirements will be met. It will sound very business-like while lacking the pesky details that you just don't have.
2. Be direct and specific. You can't be specific about things you don't know. When you know you can't be specific or cite the facts, then it's time to talk about numbers without providing any, have a plan to have a plan instead of providing the plan, and avoid commitment. But when you do, make sure you also sound flexible and enthusiastic.
3. Talk about the benefits of your approach. Which benefits? What matters to this customer on this procurement? If you don’t know what matters to the customer, then just try to sound beneficial. Sound like someone who will work hard to do good things. Whatever they may be.
4. You should exceed compliance, because compliance is not enough.  While this is true, how do you exceed compliance when the scope is vague, the RFP is ambiguous, and no one can explain the requirements? If you have no idea how to exceed compliance, then just cite examples from the past where you have exceeded compliance and talk about applying your experience exceeding compliance to this project.
5. Show insight into the statement of work beyond what’s in the RFP.  You know you should, but it's hard when you all you have to work with is the RFP and you don’t know anything about the customer or the project. That's when it's time to talk about the kinds of things you do instead of what you actually will do.

This stuff is so much more fun to talk about than best practices. It's fun to write too, but only if you've given up on winning.

Mandatory warning label. The worst possible outcome for a proposal specialist is not losing. People lose all the time and just blame it on the pricing. The worst possible outcome is failing to submit the proposal on time. Cheating can help you submit on time against an impossible deadline. Just never forget that cheating on a good proposal, one that is winnable, will probably ruin it.

Cheating, by definition, means turning the best practices on their head. Cheating means turning your back on the best way to win, in order to get something submitted. If by some quirk of circumstances you cheat and win, that’s just luck. Or having the lowest price. Don't fool yourself into thinking it's anything more than that. You can’t cheat on every proposal and be competitive. At least not against companies that are employing the best practices. The odds favor them, every time.

On the other hand, when all the best practices in the world won’t save you, all you can do is cheat. Just have fun with it and don’t be consumed by the dark side.