Environment

1
(No Transcript)
2
What makes a Great Proposal - The view from both
sides

• Mindy S. Goeres, CFCM, CPCM

3
Faces of a Proposal

• Marketing tool
• Sales presentation
• An offer to contract
• A part of your new contract
• Take-away Take the time to do it well

4
Types of Proposals

• B2G
• B2B proposals
• Internal project proposals and reports
• Employment applications and resumes
• Academic projects and papers

5
General Business Environment

• Intense competition
• Most are squeezed in the muddle
• Shorter turnarounds
• Reduced marketing/business resources
• Single data points that may be wrong
• Awards made without discussions
• Whats in the binder is what works -- or not

6
Federal Business Environment

• LOTS of wannabes
• And maybe some preferences to help competitors
• Lots of effort made to limit the subjective
• Interdisciplinary, integrated evaluation teams
• Consider internal vetting and documentation
  processes as a parallel

7
Show me the Services!

• Service society in government too
• Services contracting now 50 of spend
• Up over 25 from 1990
• Service contracts differ from supply contracts
• Performance-based
• Varied contract type
• Continuous surveillance vs. batch inspection
• Best Value evaluation

8
Best Value Evaluation
Lowest Price Technically Acceptable (LPTA)
Best Value

• Govt. has wide latitude in Best Value
  evaluations
• Tougher job to document Best Value trade-offs
• Must still say what well do and do what we say

9
Proposal Quality/Volume
Proposals that earn awards
Vo l ume
Minimal compliance
LOW
HIGH
QUALITY LEVEL
10
3 Cs of Great Proposals

• Customer-focused
• Writes to the customers needs
• Compelling
• Translates features into benefits
• Transition from engineering to customers
  perspective
• Complete
• Wears the readers shoes

11
Customer-focus is Great!

• Compliant
• Read the RFP
• Point-by-point answers (mechanical)
• Lack demonstrations of performance
• Says what you have to offer
• gt Answers the mail

• Customer-focused
• Read understood RFP from customers point of
  view
• Demonstrates value
• Inspires confidence in delivery
• gt Connects the dots

12
Compelling is Great!

• Compelling
• Has a value proposition and demonstrates how its
  is accomplished
• Tells a story well even if its not the right
  story

• Compliant
• Meets RFP requirements
• Builds the box, but not much attention to the
  value proposition of whats inside the box.

13
Complete is Great!

• Complete
• Sync of word and number picture
• Few if any typos or gaps that distract

• Compliant
• Answers the questions
• Doesnt explain why that information is relevant

14
Nits that Not!

• Lots of typos
• Unclear connections
• Often with Resumes
• Unanswered questions
• Leave the point open to interpretation instead of
  drawing the conclusion
• Too many exceptions to terms and conditions

15
Debriefing Lessons Learned

• Overestimates of marketing intelligence
• Low understanding of Best Value evaluations
• Same for integrated evaluation teams
• Assume no one reads the cost volume
• Lots of effort spent knowing no chance of a win
• The big question was never asked

16
Goal Look like a good Partner

• Follow the guidelines in the RFP
• Submit a professional looking document
• Establish credibility early, esp. if a new
  relationship
• Devote time and space to where your value is
  supported
• Demonstrate that you can do the job well

17
1 Take-Away

• Customer-focused content is needed to win
• Wont guarantee a win, but cant get there
  without it
• Ask
• How important is this to the reader?
• Whats my value proposition?
• Is my message compelling?
• Does this make me look like a good addition to
  the team?

18
Developing a Great Proposal

• Do your homework
• Know your customer and what they need
• Make the best first impression you can
• Make it professional
• Make it complete
• Talk to whats important to the audience
• Be clear on what you can deliver
• Back it up with examples or demonstrate from
  related experience