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How to Prepare Winning Competitive ProposalS , EVERYTIME

Friday, October 7 th , 2011 – 10:30 am Greater Washington Procurement Conference Mid Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Washington, DC 20002. How to Prepare Winning Competitive ProposalS , EVERYTIME. Excellent Team The Customer Knows Us RFP Compliant Response Responsible Vendor(s)

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How to Prepare Winning Competitive ProposalS , EVERYTIME

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  1. Friday, October 7th, 2011 – 10:30 am Greater Washington Procurement Conference Mid Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Washington, DC 20002 How to Prepare Winning CompetitiveProposalS, EVERYTIME

  2. Excellent Team The Customer Knows Us RFP Compliant Response Responsible Vendor(s) Strong Solution Features Excellent Past Performance Why Aren’t My Company Proposals Winning More Contracts? A WINNING Proposal - Necessary but Insufficient Conditions: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? This opportunity was ours to win; what happened?

  3. Section C– The Work Requirements – Basis for Solution(s) Section L – Format and Structure for Proposal Response Document (Volumes) Section M– Basis for Award Major rfp writing drivers The drivers for writing are contained in the SOW, Section L and Section M

  4. Excellent Team – Why? The Customer Knows Us – And do we know them? RFP Compliant Response – Minimal to Level the Playing Field Responsible Vendor(s) – As demonstrated by? Strong “Solution” Features – What’s in it for the Customer? Excellent Past Performance – Relevance … Crafting Proposals that Win A WINNING Proposal – Meets all the Necessary Conditions and SELLS A proposal is a technical document that SELLS, and sells Best Value throughout.

  5. The Business of Horses and Racing How are many horse races decided?

  6. The Business of Horses, Racing and WINNING Winning by a nose!

  7. Horse – One nose; on the face and that’s the one that will cause a WIN in a tight race Winning Proposal – Many noses, many places, and you never know which one will cause you to WIN Winning Proposal Strategy – Put in your proposal as many noses as you can And where do you start with your first nose? Winning Horses versus Winning Proposals

  8. A Proposal Nose (# 1) – The Cover, Your Initial Impression Who is this person? Reviewers are human: impatient; overloaded; want to make good but quick decisions and are short of time.

  9. A Proposal Nose (#3) - Acronym List Make the acronym definitions clear and easy to find and you’ll also make a friend of your proposal reviewer!

  10. A Proposal Nose (#4) - Professional Covered CD Sometimes asked for, never ignored.

  11. 1-2 pages (short) Initial greeting (hello) Conveys some highlights of proposal and interest Whom to contact for questions Amendment acknowledgement Period offer is valid Signed by top level person A Proposal Nose (# 5) – The Letter of Transmittal Say “hello” in a meaningful way that conveys valuable sell information. 11

  12. 2-5 pages Main theme Benefits of proposal Major sell themes Always include Follow flow of proposal High impact for lasting impression Replacement for introduction When written? A Proposal Nose (# 6) – The Executive Summary Grabs the initial reader and convinces the final reader.

  13. Section executive summary Major theme Graphic and caption Highlights of section Can be multiple pages A Proposal Nose (# 7) – “First Page” Lead-In The second trick to writing a skimable proposal is to tell the reader all the selling points at the start versus the end.

  14. A Proposal Nose (# 8) – Discriminators What sets you apart such that no one else can say the same of themselves?

  15. One sentence Boastful Feature-benefit A Proposal Nose (# 9) – Main and Major Themes Themes set the tone and expectation for writing that follows.

  16. Sprinkled throughout proposal Feature – what you bring to the government Benefit – value derived by the government A Proposal Nose (# 10) – Features and Benefits The features of a proposed solution are without meaning to the recipient unless the benefits are cleared stated.

  17. Right brain – left brain integration Text referenced Text enhancement Simple Caption message A Proposal Nose (# 11) – Graphics and Captions A relevant picture, enhanced by a relevant caption, enables the busy reviewer to skim your proposal.

  18. All RFP requirements Sections and title Response location in proposal Included with submission Typically follows table of contents Could be many pages – not usually part of the page count A Proposal Nose (# 12) – A Compliance Matrix Before all else, be compliant!

  19. Easy to find Readable Right Brain Stimulation Left Brain Integration Whole Brain Communication Skimable A Proposal Nose (# 13) – Making it Easier on the Reviewer Write to sell by writing to effectively communicate quickly and persuasively.

  20. Proposal Nose (#14) Create Reviewer Excitement • Get reader attention/stimulated • Be innovative • “We’ve done it before”; with examples • It will reduce/increase …. (metrics) • Show how solution/approach reflects industry leadership/commercial best practices • Focus on customers benefits (what’s in it for the customer) Be bold and back it up with facts.

  21. A Proposal Nose (# 15) – Less is Almost Always Better A well written proposal uses less words, more action verbs, short paragraphs and is replete with “show” versus “tell”.

  22. Century Planning Associates, Inc. www.centuryplanning.com 703-639-0623

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