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by Nick Wreden
Just as important, it’s the start of a relationship and its ultimate success may well depend on what is said in the proposal. Successful proposals require both effectively communicating prospect understanding and following a process that ensures accountability and performance—well before FedEx is on the doorstep. The seeds of failure are often planted before the proposal is generated. Many proposals are written with the attitude and perspective of a cocky fourth-grader with his hand in the air yelling, “Pick me! Pick me!” The proposal focuses on all the glowing reasons why the firm should be picked—but that’s not what the prospect is looking for. While companies think proposals are a fast track to selection, prospects view it as a road to rejection. When prospects review a stack of proposals, all making indistinguishable and unprovable claims about “success,” “commitment” and “satisfaction,” they first look for reasons to disqualify proposals. Didn’t follow the RFP (request for proposal) guidelines? Trash. Too long? Life’s too short. Full of boilerplate? Next! To avoid being sidelined, put yourself in the prospect’s shoes as soon as work starts on the proposal. Essentially, all successful proposals fall into two camps. Either they create an opportunity or they solve a problem more easily or cheaply than prospects could themselves. The entire proposal should be conceived, written and presented as if a member of the prospect’s staff were making a case to senior management. This eliminates the most common amateur mistake—beginning a proposal with a recap of personal/corporate capabilities or history. (An easy test: Compare the number of times “we” and “you” are used. If “we” outnumbers “you,” be sure to make a plea for recycling in the cover letter.) The proposal process often starts with an RFP. Read it carefully, not once, but twice or even thrice. Then follow its guidance carefully, down to the font, margin and binding requirements. Pay particular attention to the order of the requirements. Prospects use this order to speed development of a matrix that compares offerings and capabilities side by side. In fact, a useful tip is to develop a response matrix illustrating prospect requirements, your own capabilities/solutions, a proposal page reference and space for a check-off or comments. If no RFP is available, call for additional information or requirements. Be wary of prospects who won’t provide such data; it’s probably a harbinger of a troubled relationship even if the contract is awarded. Spend as much time in research, planning and analysis as you do writing the proposal. Be sure to include a go/no-go decision. Generating a proposal can cost tens of thousands of dollars, and sometimes the outcome or prospect is not worth the effort. The planning should include budgets (proposal development should never exceed 3% of the potential win), responsibilities and timetables. Several vendors offer hosted solutions or software that facilitates information collection, speeds reviews and workflows and tracks revisions. These “virtual proposal” offerings are best suited for high-volume proposal generation where the bid is likely to be won or lost on price. Despite all the work spent on a proposal, it’s likely that only three elements will be read initially: cover letter, executive summary and pricing.
Sometimes it helps to divide a project into phases, with future payment dependent on previous performance. Other tips:
In the long run, success rates will increase significantly if there is a process behind proposal generation. Although debate continues about whether proposals should be generated inside or outside the sales department, 60% of the responsibilities should center around proposal development and submission, 20% to a proposal “library” for research and generation, 10% to pipeline and proposal tracking, and 10% to analysis, including post-mortems, win rates and proposal development costs. Nick Wreden Nick Wreden Profile: Nick Wreden is the author of FusionBranding: How to Forge Your Brand for the Future. Reach him at nick@fusionbrand.com This article appears courtesy of www.MarketingProfs.com, a key resource for great ideas about business and marketing.
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