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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) - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Century Planning Associates
Friday, October 7th, 2011 – 10:30 amGreater Washington Procurement Conference
Mid Atlantic Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Washington, DC 20002
1
HOW TO PREPARE WINNING COMPETITIVEPROPOSALS, EVERYTIME
WHY AREN’T MY COMPANY PROPOSALS WINNING MORE CONTRACTS?
Excellent Team The Customer
Knows Us RFP Compliant
Response Responsible
Vendor(s) Strong Solution
Features Excellent Past
Performance
2
This opportunity was ours to win; what happened?
A WINNING Proposal - Necessary but Insufficient Conditions:
? ??
?????
??
??
?
??
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MAJOR RFP WRITING DRIVERS
Section C – The Work Requirements – Basis for Solution(s)
Section L – Format and Structure for Proposal Response Document (Volumes)
Section M – Basis for Award
3
The drivers for writing are contained in the SOW, Section L and Section M
CRAFTING PROPOSALS THAT WIN
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
…
4
A proposal is a technical document that SELLS, and sells Best Value throughout.
A WINNING Proposal – Meets all the Necessary Conditions and SELLS
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THE BUSINESS OF HORSES AND RACING
How are many horse races decided?
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THE BUSINESS OF HORSES, RACING AND WINNING
Winning by a nose!
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WINNING HORSES VERSUS WINNING PROPOSALS
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?
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WHO IS THIS PERSON?CPA-011
?
Reviewers are human: impatient; overloaded; want to make good but quick decisions and are short of time.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 1) – THE COVER, YOUR INITIAL IMPRESSION
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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!
A PROPOSAL NOSE (#4) - PROFESSIONAL COVERED CD
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Sometimes asked for, never ignored.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 5) – THE LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL 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
person11
Say “hello” in a meaningful way that conveys valuable sell information. 11
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 6) – THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
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?
12Grabs the initial reader and convinces the final reader.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 7) – “FIRST PAGE” LEAD-IN
Section executive summary
Major theme Graphic and caption Highlights of section Can be multiple pages
13
The second trick to writing a skimable proposal is to tell the reader all the selling points at the start versus the end.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 8) – DISCRIMINATORS
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What sets you apart such that no one else can say the same of themselves?
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 9) – MAIN AND MAJOR THEMES
One sentence Boastful Feature-benefit
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Length
Sing le Sentence
Specific ity
Q uantified Data
Benefit (Tied to C lient’sHopes, N eeds, Fears,B iases, Wants . . .)
Feature (Rela ted toCom pany)
Un ique to You
Boastfu l — M akes C la im ,Has Impact and EnticesReader to R ead O n
Can Be Substantiated(In P roposa l by Facts)
Re levant to ProposalEvaluation Crite ria
Them e Checklist
Themes set the tone and expectation for writing that follows.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 10) – FEATURES AND BENEFITS
Sprinkled throughout proposal
Feature – what you bring to the government
Benefit – value derived by the government
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Figure ES- 3 The Problem: Return to Duty Time
Deployed in forward f ield hospital and at home at end of rehabilitation cycle
Does not require medical professional to administer; nursing assistant can administer
1,000,000 treatments administered with few adverse events
Long shelf life—ease of logistics, does not need ref rigeration
Proof f rom randomized control trials (award of this contract) will save $$ for DoD—earlier release f rom hospital, rapid return to duty
BTI-008
Portable
Easy to use/non-invasive
Safe
No special storage considerations
Strong in-vitro science, credible real-life clinical data suggest clinical research
Features Benefits
Provant brings significant cost effective benefits to wound medical treatment, and patient pain management and healing.
The features of a proposed solution are without meaning to the recipient unless the benefits are cleared stated.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 11) – GRAPHICS AND CAPTIONS
Right brain – left brain integration
Text referenced Text enhancement Simple Caption message
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Figure 2-2 The Provant Therapy System
1. System2. Disposable
Cover
3. TreatmentPad
Three easy to use and understand components comprise the Provant Therapy System.
A relevant picture, enhanced by a relevant caption, enables the busy reviewer to skim your proposal.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 12) – A COMPLIANCE MATRIX
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
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Before all else, be compliant!
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 13) – MAKING IT EASIER ON THE REVIEWER
Easy to find Readable Right Brain
Stimulation Left Brain Integration Whole Brain
Communication Skimable
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Write to sell by writing to effectively communicate quickly and persuasively.
PROPOSAL NOSE (#14) CREATE REVIEWER EXCITEMENT
20
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.
A PROPOSAL NOSE (# 15) – LESS IS ALMOST ALWAYS BETTER
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Instead of… Use…In the event that If
The manner in which How
Due to the fact that Because
In regard to About
In the near future Soon
Subsequent to After
Are in a position to Can/Will
Whether or not Whether
It is possible that May
It is highly likely that Probably
At that point in time Then
At the present time Now
Currently in progress Going on
Never before in the past Never
The majority of Most
A well written proposal uses less words, more action verbs, short paragraphs and is replete with “show” versus “tell”.
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Century Planning Associates, Inc.
www.centuryplanning.com703-639-0623