Jump to content
PropLibrary Content

10 signs that it's time to reengineer how your company reviews proposals

How do you know it's worth the effort to get everyone to change?

How do you know when it's time to take on the sacred cows, break old habits, and go through the effort required to change how everyone at your company reviews proposals?

10 signs that it’s time to reengineer your approach to reviewing proposals

Ask yourself if you see your company in any of the following, because you can't maximize your win rate if:

  1. You don’t have a written definition of what proposal quality is
  2. Your proposal process consists of writing in anticipation of a big review and then final production
  3. The only criteria reviewers have to assess what it will take to win is the RFP
  4. You rely on people to tell you whether your proposal is any good, instead of criteria
  5. Your reviewers show up unprepared, turning your reviews into exercises in proposal sight reading
  6. You don’t separate what to review from how to review it
  7. You review against the same criteria for every proposal, instead of criteria based on what it will take to win that particular pursuit
  8. Everyone defines the scope or criteria for each review differently
  9. Writers don’t know what to expect from the reviewers
  10. The goal of the review is something ambiguous like “helping,” “providing feedback,” or “catching mistakes” instead of validating the proposal against what it will take to win
See also:
Proposal Quality Validation

Whether to reengineer is really a return on investment (ROI) consideration, and that makes it worthy of executive-level attention. If you do the math, a small change in win rate is worth a considerable amount of effort. And we're talking more about changing culture than actual expense. How much does the company currently invest in finding new leads against its current rate, and what dose that return? How much better is the return if you increase your win rate against your current leads by improving your proposal reviews?

If you see your company in the list above, it's time to start asking that question.

 

Let's discuss your challenges with preparing proposals and winning new business...

Access to premium content items is limited to PropLIBRARY Subscribers

A subscription to PropLIBRARY unlocks hundreds of premium content items including recipes, forms, checklists, and more to make it easy to turn our recommendations into winning proposals. Subscribers can also use MustWin Now, our online proposal content planning tool.


More information about "Carl Dickson"

Carl Dickson

Carl is the Founder and President of CapturePlanning.com and PropLIBRARY

Carl is an expert at winning in writing, with more than 30 year's experience. He's written multiple books and published over a thousand articles that have helped millions of people develop business and write better proposals. Carl is also a frequent speaker, trainer, and consultant and can be reached at carl.dickson@captureplanning.com. To find out more about him, you can also connect with Carl on LinkedIn.

Click here to learn how to engage Carl as a consultant.

Proposal Help Desk
Contact us for assistance
In addition to PropLIBRARY's online resources, we also provide full-service consulting for when you're ready to engage one of our experts.

It all starts with a conversation. You can contact us by clicking the button to send us a message, or by calling 1-800-848-1563.


Our review services will show you the difference between a good proposal and a great proposal. We'll show you how a few simple changes can make a big impact and improve your win rate. We do reviews that are formal, detailed, and criteria based, as well as quick reviews just based on our experience. Either way, we focus on more than just personal opinions. We’ll show you what it means to assess a proposal against what it takes to win, and how to look at things from the customer’s perspective. What you learn from our review of this proposal can benefit all the proposals you produce in the future. It's one of the most cost-effective ways to use our consulting services. Click the Concierge Button to ask us more about it.

Has blue box

Sign up for our free newsletter and get a free 46-page eBook titled "Turning Your Proposals Into a Competitive Advantage" with selected articles from PropLIBRARY.

You'll be joining nearly a hundred thousand professionals.

Sign up
Not now
×
×
  • Create New...