Are you overlooking the most important thing to talk about in your proposals?

There are so many ingredients that go into winning a proposal that we developed a whole methodology to account for them all. But one stands out. It is an attribute that should be a part of every other ingredient. Everything about your strategies, approaches, qualifications, writing, aspirations, and goals should revolve around it. Understand it and you gain a key to unlocking the secret to winning in writing. Nothing else you do will have as much impact on winning as this one, crucial ingredient.

The way most people approach proposal writing is not competitive. Or at least not reliably so.

Most people try to enhance their offering by piling on features. If they are smart, they’ll even describe the benefits to the customer of those features. They'll claim to be better than their competitors at everything conceivable that the customer might want. But that’s not the best strategy for winning a proposal.

When the customer evaluates your proposal, they compare it to their other alternatives. A feature that all of your competitors also have is not going to help them choose you instead of them. 

The aspects of your proposal that differentiate you from your competitors are what the customer needs to make their decision. No matter what the evaluation process or scoring criteria, the differences will have a bigger impact on the winning score than all of the undifferentiated features you can pile on. Once you have achieved RFP compliance to avoid getting thrown out, differentiators are the most important thing to talk about in your proposal.

You can pretty much assume any real competition will submit a compliant proposal. You can pretty much assume that everyone who is compliant also has experience, and those who will get seriously considered will have enough of it to be eligible to win.  You should also assume that they are all just as committed to the success of the project as you are.

Saying that you are compliant, that you have experience, or that you are committed does not help you win. Saying that you have more experience, are fully compliant, or are more committed than anyone else can possibly be does not make it so. These can keep you from getting thrown out. But they won't help you win a competitive proposal. And bidding a lot of proposals so you can win the ones that aren't competitive is a terrible strategy.

What helps you win is when you show that your experience results in benefits that no one else can deliver. What helps you win is when you offer features that no one else does or when you offer the same features in a way that delivers benefits no one else delivers. What helps you win is dumping the lame promises about commitment and writing about what differentiates your proposal instead.

Sometimes it can be tough to figure out what you can offer that is different. This is especially true when the customer has set up the RFP to tell everyone to bid the exact same thing. You can always differentiate your offering:

• Even if you have to bid the same thing, you can offer unique ways of creating it, delivering it, or making sure it is without defects.
• Even if everyone has the same approach, the reasons why you do things and the way you approach the inevitable trade-offs can show unique insight.
• Every proof point you write in your proposal that goes answered is a differentiator. Drop the claims. Focus on the proof points.
• If you can prove that you are better, faster, stronger, etc., you will stand out from the crowd that merely claims it or has a good slogan.
• If you can show better alignment with the customer’s goals, then you can show better results, even from the exact same offering.

The easiest way to differentiate your proposal is not based on what you offer. It's based on why you chose to offer it that way. Each additional reason is a potential differentiator.

Consider: The customer is considering two proposals for the exact same thing at the same price. One focuses on differentiating how the offering is delivered and how those differentiated approaches better achieve the customer’s goals. The other proposal is fully compliant. Both deliver the exact same thing. But the two will score differently and the one that focuses on differentiation will score higher because the features will deliver more apparent value to the customer. This will be true even if the deliverable or service is exactly the same.

Now, take a bunch of non-proposal specialist proposal contributors. Ask half to focus on the strengths of your approach. Ask the other half to focus on strengths that differentiate your approach. Without any special training or coaching, which group is more likely to produce a higher scoring submission?

The secret to winning is differentiation and not piling up the same features and claims as everyone else out of hope that their list will be shorter than yours. Everything you say in your proposal should be a differentiator. Every. Single. Thing.

Differentiation should be the top criterion that you measure the quality of your proposal writing against.

That is how you outscore the competition. When the customer starts comparing features and strengths, it is the differentiators that enable them to make their selection. Take a very critical look at all of your positive attributes. How many of them will other companies claim (rightly or wrongly)? Meeting the requirements will not differentiate you when the customer has narrowed it down to compliant, qualified companies. A feature that everyone has is not a strength, no matter how positive it sounds. A strength that everyone has will not enable you to outscore the competition. You need to make your features into differentiators for them to count as strengths and give the customer a reason to select you over your competition. Your differentiators will give the customer a reason to select you instead of your competitors.