How PropLIBRARY is becoming an ecosystem

PropLIBRARY is evolving. 24 years ago, it started as an online content resource with practical information about proposal management, capture management, and business development to help people win proposals. PropLIBRARY has evolved many times to expand the ways it helps people win. For example, we added the MustWin Process as an off-the-shelf, customizable starting point. Then we added online training to help people succeed as they implemented the process. Then we automated the process, but built in extensive guidance. Over all that time, PropLIBRARY became a resource that blurs the line between training and performance. Now it’s becoming something different. It’s becoming an ecosystem.

Over the next few weeks we'll be revealing more about the changes that are coming. We're even going to have a series of webinars to discuss them and not only to give you a chance to ask questions, but to engage with us on the direction we're heading. 

An ecosystem results from interconnected, interdependent contributions that add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. To become an ecosystem we have to grow larger than ourselves. We’re doing this by focusing on enabling people to work together and all the things they need to win proposals. We’re moving from an “us to you” publishing model to an “everyone to everyone” networking and engagement model. We’re opening up our platform to other contributors and turning into a community.

But that doesn’t really capture what we’re doing. We’re enabling our subscribers to get involved and we're sharing the spotlight. We're enabling employees, consultants, and others to work together and improve their ability to win proposals in more ways than we can provide on our own. We're doing this by using PropLIBRARY as a hub to facilitate how people network, discover, and inform each other. 

Our audience is huge and it is full of experts. PropLIBRARY users include:

• Employees of companies who want to learn and improve their win rate, and are open to new perspectives on the issues they face
• Consultants and services providers who are lifetime learners, and love opportunities to share and demonstrate their knowledge and skills

There are challenges, but we've got them covered

The consultants on our site and employees of companies in the B2B space may want to sell to the employees of companies in the B2G space. The trick with opening up like this is to provide the right balance between practitioners and sellers. But I’ve been running extremely large groups on LinkedIn for 20 years and understand how that works.

We're not even going to have advertising. As you have no doubt seen, sites that go down that road become all advertising all the time. What they really become is a platform for selling to their users and their customers are really the advertisers. What do you think LinkedIn is really designed to be?

What we want instead is a community based on discussions, finding resources, networking, and a constant focus on best practices. Sellers will have to learn how to talk about their role in supporting best practices instead of... selling. The goal is to enable both parts of our audience to engage like they would at a networking or association event.

None of the existing social platforms out there lend themselves to having ongoing conversations. Even LinkedIn. Most platforms are designed for reactions and encourage people to shout their retort and move on. It’s hard to get a question answered on LinkedIn because it’s lost in the endless stream of ads people call posts on LinkedIn. Most groups are just ads with no comments, frequented by people placing ads. Nobody is there to learn or engage. And just forget about the socials for a niche like ours.

PropLIBRARY won't become like that. PropLIBRARY will be developed so that a community of practitioners emerges alongside the resources they need to be successful.

What's not changing

Our huge library of content and focus on online training will remain the core of PropLIBRARY. In fact, they'll grow because our content and training libraries will be opened up to other contributors. It will be entirely possible to pay for your own subscription, or even to make money on top of it, by posting content. Having practical guidance at the core of the topics we discuss will help keep us all grounded.

What's next...

Instead of building it, it’s more like we’re turning it on. We have all the parts. We just need to let people know about it and provide the details. We don't want folks surprised, even though it will look more like reorganization and new features than it will look like drastic change.

We’re going to have a series of webinars, to discuss the changes that are coming and give you a chance to ask questions. Watch our newsletter for dates and times. I'm excited about it because I think you will like all the new treats and ways to engage.

And once you learn why we’re doing this, you’ll understand how strategic it is. The world is changing and so it’s time for PropLIBRARY to take the next step in its evolution. But all of you will be impacted by the same changes that we’re evolving to meet. It’s easier to do that as part of a community...