9 things great proposal writers do differently

Proposal writing is very different from other forms of writing. The goals are different, the methods are different, and even the word choices are different. Extremely competent professional writers often produce copy that would be acceptable for other applications, but which amounts to rather ordinary proposal writing. Ordinary proposal writing is not enough to win. So I’m constantly looking for ways to show people how to get from ordinary proposal writing to great proposal writing. When I do proposal training, here are some of the things I focus on to help people break out of the ordinary so they can win in writing.

1. Make a point. Every sentence in a proposal should do two things: respond to the RFP and make a point that explains why it matters. Any sentence in your proposal that does not matter is one more step toward becoming a proposal that does not matter. Don’t simply tell the reader what you are offering, why you are qualified, how much experience you have, or how you will do what they asked you to do. Tell them how what you are offering achieves their goals, why your qualifications mean you will be able to deliver as promised, how your experience will lead to better results, or why the way you do things matters. Of course, when doing this, it helps to know what matters. If you don’t make the right points, your proposal will add up to nothing, even if you say how really and truly great your company is, how totally committed it is, how it's been that way for a long time. 
2. Differentiate. You can’t win if you don’t differentiate. Customers pick winners based on the differences that make one the best alternative. The points you make in your proposal writing must differentiate your proposal. Making points, even points that matter, that apply equally to everyone submitting, or that will be claimed by everyone submitting, do not help you win. In fact, they firmly fix your position as being ordinary, no matter how positive sounding you think they may be.
3. Write from the customer’s perspective instead of your own. It’s not about what you want to say, it’s about what the customer needs to read in order to make their decision. If you simply describe your company and your offering, you’re not writing from the customer’s perspective, you’re writing about yourself. The customer wants a proposal that is about them. Their decision will be made based on how your proposal will impact them. They aren't selecting you because you are special. They are selecting you because they see something special that will be done for them if they do. You have to twist your sentences around to be what the customer wants to see instead of just writing what you think sounds good. 
4. Use other people’s words. When there’s an RFP and a formal evaluation, you are being evaluated against the words in the RFP. That means your points have to match their evaluation criteria, and you have to make those points using the words of the RFP. Instead of writing things the way you want to say them, you have to use their words. It’s more like solving a puzzle or cooking than it is like speaking.
5. Have something to prove. Proposals provide the reasons why you are the customer's best alternative. The best reasons form a proof. All of your points about what matter that differentiate your company should prove that you are their best alternative. Without proof, your proposal is just a bunch of claims. A long, detailed list of claims will lose to a short definitive proof. You should approach every topic that you write about in your proposal as if you have something to prove.
6. Communicate visually. A great proposal writer doesn’t have to be an artist, but it does help to be able to doodle. A good graphic communicates better than good writing. A good graphic can be used to figure out and drive what you do write. Great proposal writers build what they write around great graphics. 
7. Have a process. Before you start writing you need to know what points to make. Before you use a graphic to drive what you write, you have to know what should go into that graphic and what messages it should deliver. Before you can use the customer’s words, you have to parse them. Before you can write to the customer’s perspective, you have to understand the customer. Without the right information delivered to the right people at the right time in a chain of events leading up to the start of the proposal, a great proposal writer won’t be able to achieve great proposal writing. Someone with the potential to deliver great proposal writing will fail without the input required to enable them to do what they can do. Great proposal writing only happens at the tail end of a process.
8. Make it add up to what it will take to win. Having a random collection of disassociated points will leave the customer wondering how to make sense of it all. Winning a proposal requires you to make all those points add up to being the customer’s best alternative. Winning in writing requires discovering what it will take to win. Proposal writing is about figuring out what to say and how to present it so that it adds up to what it will take to win.
9. Time management. I know you’re getting pulled in a hundred different directions, but there’s this thing called a deadline… Even if you have the skills and you have the information, you have to be able to deliver on time in spite of all the distractions. You have to prioritize, and this may mean some brutal choices. But keep your eyes on the prize. See “Makie it add up to what it will take to win” above. See “Have a process” above for the most significant thing you can do to support time management. The proposal process isn't just about making things easier or improving quality. The proposal process is a time management tool. You should build it that way.

What great proposal writers do is bring it all together at the same time. They do all of them and skip none of them. They do them all in every single sentence. When you put an ordinary proposal next to a great proposal, the difference is huge. Even when the RFP forces everyone to offer the exact same thing, a great proposal will clearly offer more value, be more insightful, and be more trustworthy.

Literature, technical writing, advertising copywriting, social media posting, journalism, blogging, report writing, studies, and correspondence do not have to accomplish all of these things in order to be successful. Great proposal writing requires a different approach, different goals, and different methods to do something that other forms of writing don't have to do. It's not the words chosen, style of expression, or anything related to eloquence that makes a proposal writer great. It's whether they overcome all competitors in order to win.