Using the MustWin Now Inspiration Libraries

The Inspiration Libraries we’ve added to MustWin Now can have a huge impact on your proposals, by changing how they get written in a way that can radically improve win probability. MustWin Now’s Inspiration Library helps people understand what should go into a proposal content plan and greatly accelerate creating one. It sets your proposal writers up for success by enabling you to rapidly describe what should go into each proposal section and how it should be presented.

The Inspiration Library is accessed through a new menu bar in the Proposal Content Planning tool:

• Simply click on a topic
• Select the instructions you’d like to add the content plan
• Save

Currently we have dozens of topics in the Technical Approach, Management Plan, and Other categories. Within those topics we have over 700 possible instructions, questions for proposal writers to answer, and options for consideration. And they can all be tailored to match the specific needs of the proposal you are working on. You can also add your own instructions to the Proposal Content Plan. Use the combination to drive your win strategies and guidance into your proposal content plan and help your writers figure out what they should write more quickly and more reliably.

Step by step use of the Inspiration Library

To try an example, click on "Other" and then "Win strategies."

Then select one or more instructions to drop into your content plan. This will provide a prompt to help shape the proposal when it is written. You may be tempted to select them all, but that could overwhelm your proposal writers. Just give them the minimum guidance they'll need to write the winning proposal. This may vary depending on the skills of your proposal writers.

Maybe spend a minute or so on each to tailor them after you click the button. For example, you might change “What does it all add up to” into an instruction saying “Explain how this all adds up to a lower risk solution” because the evaluation criteria in this RFP emphasize risk. If the RFP emphasizes quality you could say “Explain how our approach results in quantifiably better results.” 

The goal of the inspiration library is to inspire. Don’t take our suggestions as how you have to write your proposals. Instead, let our ideas prompt you to think of something better that helps you win your proposals. If you don’t use any of our suggestions but they help you articulate your own ideas for what your proposal should become, we consider that a success! 

In addition to picking items from our Inspiration Library, you can also provide guidance to your proposal writers by typing some instructions of your own into the entry fields. This also only takes a few seconds. Maybe a few minutes if you want to give it some thought (and you should).

Put in five minutes per section and you’ll end up with a content plan that greatly improves your chances of winning. Hold a review of your content plan prior to writing and you can eliminate unnecessary revision cycles and save many hours of proposal writer time. You can save more time doing this than you would starting from the text of a previous proposal. 

We have similar inspiration library items for the technical approach in areas like cybersecurity, training, administrative support, construction, and other topics. Plus we’re adding more over time. Our goal is not to replace your subject matter expertise, but to help inspire you to quickly figure out what to write and how to best present it.

Instead of a blank page, your proposal writers will get prompts, reminders, suggestions, and details to include. If you do a good job of planning the content of your proposals, your writers should be able to prepare a great first draft with a much higher probability of winning.

You must be a PropLIBRARY Subscriber in order to use the Inspiration Library. You can subscribe here.

Special note for consultants who are current subscribers to PropLIBRARY

We are going to be greatly expanding the breadth and depth of the topics in our Inspiration Library. If you have content or subject matter expertise and want to contribute, we'll add your name, phone number, email, and a link to your website to the topic page with the items you contribute. This will put how to reach you right in front of people working on proposals in the topic areas you can support. Reach out below and we can discuss it.