Critiquing a Consulting Proposal

1
Critiquing a Consulting Proposal

• First, think the way the client does
• Then, make sure you produce what the client
  expects, only better.

2
Is it clear what the client will receive?

• Think about what you will do
• Think about how the client will benefit
• Think about what the client will actually receive
• Then make sure all of these are described as
  fully as possible.

3
Is it clear what the client has to provide?

• Time of managers and/or other employees
• Expertise, lists, past reports, past records.
• Money
• Patience how long do they have to wait for an
  interim report? Final report?

4
You need familiarity with their marketing
environment

• Thats one reason for the background section
  it lets you speak in their language.
• If you have never worked on a problem of this
  kind, how is it like problems on which you HAVE
  worked?

5
You need to appear careful

• Sloppiness with numbers is usually fatal.
  Proofread everything, of course, but proofread
  numbers even more carefully did you mean
  million or billion? Did you mean 2008 or 2009?
  Its not just math errors, in other words.
• And your grammar, spelling, etc. need to reflect
  care as well. The standard is perfection.

6
You need to diagnose before you prescribe

• What does this organization need? Why do you say
  that?
• THEN how are you proposing to improve things in
  a way that meets that need?

7
Anything that doesnt come out of your own heads
needs a citation

• It is not enough to list references at the end.
• The reader has a right, when reading a statement,
  to immediately look at the source that the
  specific statement came from.
• Superscripts1 are OK so is 1 so is (HP
  Website, 2008), with the full reference either at
  the bottom of the page or end of the paper.

8
You MUST state the breakeven scenario justifying
your project

• This project will cost 500,000. If a new
  business buyer buys 50 units per year on
  average for two years.
• and if you sell a unit for about 10,000 with an
  estimated gross margin of 20, a new customer is
  worth roughly 200,000, and gaining three
  justifies this project.

9
Estimating is FINE. Just explain.

• We estimated 50 units per year for two years per
  new buyer based on.
• We estimated a 10,000 per-unit cost based on
• We estimated a 20 gross margin based on

10
Dont cheerlead -- please

• Overstating the benefits of results is a big
  mistake.
• Saying, in effect, we will make you successful
  kills your credibility. So does ANY projection
  of how much more they will sell thanks to your
  help.
• Your basic stance is conservative Here is what
  we can do here is how we expect it to help.

11
Presenting the Proposal

• As in the written version, consider what the
  client is seeking in this proposal
• What makes individuals in this class say Yes,
  buy it!? Remember that one reason you are asked
  to vote on which supplier to select is to learn
  what it feels like to choose, so that you learn
  by experience what managers consider.

12
Your task is to reduce perceived risk

• Risk of taking on a huge time commitment
• Risk of taking on a financial commitment with
  little or no payoff
• Risk of having the interaction with unknown
  people turn out to be unpleasant
• Risk of the buyers looking bad for any of
  these reasons