About The Proposal Guys
Since 2006, 'The Proposal Guys' has been the world's leading blog about bid / proposal management. It's written by Jon Williams and BJ Lownie, the principal directors of Strategic Proposals, the award-winning international consultancy and training firm - both Fellows of APMP. Read on, reach out to us, and enjoy!
Greetings folks... BJ here. The ‘older and wiser’ of the two ‘Proposal Guys’. I’ve been around proposals for a while now (nearly 40 years). I’ve worked on a few proposals (OK, hundreds) and presented to a fair number (OK, probably 10,000+) participants in proposal workshops. I’ve given keynotes and run sessions at most of the leading industry events over the years - APMP conferences, IIR, etc. And I suppose I’ve picked up a thing or two about proposals.
I suspect many of you reading this entry will know me. To those who do, “Yo, howdy how are ya, and nice to see you here." And if I've not yet had the meeting you: I look forward to our getting acquainted.
Those who know me will tell you that I have fairly strong opinions regarding proposals. I admit to being passionate about them. Jon is not short of opinions and can be rather passionate as well. As we’ve often said, “We agree on about 80% of our concepts, and 10% we’re willing to debate. And the other 10%? Well, let’s just say that Jon is entitled to his opinion, no matter how wrong or off base it may be. (This dynamic does make for some interesting conversations. It also makes for us occasionally being likened to ‘an old married couple’.)
I know I speak for Jon as well when I say I’m very excited about this blog and to having the chance to meet with you here to discuss 'all things proposal'. We love sharing our adventures in the world of proposals. This site was set up after one too many occasions when we often said – typically after an incident that provided insights, seemed to us to be useful to advancing the standard of proposals or was just downright surreal – “Wouldn’t it be great if we could share this experience with our fellow proposal professionals?” Such conversations often took place in places such as the airport in Bangalore India, the rail station in Sydney Australia or the hotel lobby in Stuttgart Germany.
Jon and I invite you to join us in our adventures. As Mark Twain might have said, “I reckon it will be fun and it sure ain’t going to be dull.
Greetings folks... BJ here. The ‘older and wiser’ of the two ‘Proposal Guys’. I’ve been around proposals for a while now (nearly 40 years). I’ve worked on a few proposals (OK, hundreds) and presented to a fair number (OK, probably 10,000+) participants in proposal workshops. I’ve given keynotes and run sessions at most of the leading industry events over the years - APMP conferences, IIR, etc. And I suppose I’ve picked up a thing or two about proposals.
I suspect many of you reading this entry will know me. To those who do, “Yo, howdy how are ya, and nice to see you here." And if I've not yet had the meeting you: I look forward to our getting acquainted.
Those who know me will tell you that I have fairly strong opinions regarding proposals. I admit to being passionate about them. Jon is not short of opinions and can be rather passionate as well. As we’ve often said, “We agree on about 80% of our concepts, and 10% we’re willing to debate. And the other 10%? Well, let’s just say that Jon is entitled to his opinion, no matter how wrong or off base it may be. (This dynamic does make for some interesting conversations. It also makes for us occasionally being likened to ‘an old married couple’.)
I know I speak for Jon as well when I say I’m very excited about this blog and to having the chance to meet with you here to discuss 'all things proposal'. We love sharing our adventures in the world of proposals. This site was set up after one too many occasions when we often said – typically after an incident that provided insights, seemed to us to be useful to advancing the standard of proposals or was just downright surreal – “Wouldn’t it be great if we could share this experience with our fellow proposal professionals?” Such conversations often took place in places such as the airport in Bangalore India, the rail station in Sydney Australia or the hotel lobby in Stuttgart Germany.
Jon and I invite you to join us in our adventures. As Mark Twain might have said, “I reckon it will be fun and it sure ain’t going to be dull.
Jon here. I let BJ go first. 'Age before beauty', that kind of thing.
Like BJ, I’ve been around proposals a fair while. I started (and here’s a confession) in procurement. Actually, that’s how BJ and I met – he was managing a proposal for which I was the customer. And it was love at first sight. Sorry, I mean, we struck it off immediately. So when I subsequently saw the light and moved to work on the sales side of the table, it was natural that we’d start to work together.
That was back in ’98. Since then, I’ve set up and run some of the most successul proposal centres in Europe, and now lead a wonderful group of proposal management consultants and trainers in Strategic Proposals in the UK. I've worked with sales teams in over 30 countries, from Sydney to Stockholm to South Africa to Shanghai. And I've been proud to see the impact our projects have had again and again on clients' proposal quality - and, hence, their win rates. You'll see us chatting about APMP too - the professional body for bid & proposal people, of which I'm proud to be a Fellow.
We use this blog to share perspectives on proposal development, throwing in anecdotes from our travels as we go. If you’ve heard our conference sessions - from 'The Fairytale Proposal' to 'The Church of Proposal Excellence' to 'Fifty Shades of Great' - you’ll know that we bring a distinctive (and sometimes somewhat irreverent) approach to our work; I trust that comes through in the blog. Not that we're frivolous: everything we do and say is underpinned by extensive real-life experience, and plenty of research with buyers and sellers.
We hope the site proves of interest to anyone who’s lucky enough to work on proposals. We hope it provides friends with whom we work with a cool way of keeping in touch with our latest thinking. And we love it when it provoke discussion and debate: please don't be shy, and do post your comments.
So, on with the show…!
Like BJ, I’ve been around proposals a fair while. I started (and here’s a confession) in procurement. Actually, that’s how BJ and I met – he was managing a proposal for which I was the customer. And it was love at first sight. Sorry, I mean, we struck it off immediately. So when I subsequently saw the light and moved to work on the sales side of the table, it was natural that we’d start to work together.
That was back in ’98. Since then, I’ve set up and run some of the most successul proposal centres in Europe, and now lead a wonderful group of proposal management consultants and trainers in Strategic Proposals in the UK. I've worked with sales teams in over 30 countries, from Sydney to Stockholm to South Africa to Shanghai. And I've been proud to see the impact our projects have had again and again on clients' proposal quality - and, hence, their win rates. You'll see us chatting about APMP too - the professional body for bid & proposal people, of which I'm proud to be a Fellow.
We use this blog to share perspectives on proposal development, throwing in anecdotes from our travels as we go. If you’ve heard our conference sessions - from 'The Fairytale Proposal' to 'The Church of Proposal Excellence' to 'Fifty Shades of Great' - you’ll know that we bring a distinctive (and sometimes somewhat irreverent) approach to our work; I trust that comes through in the blog. Not that we're frivolous: everything we do and say is underpinned by extensive real-life experience, and plenty of research with buyers and sellers.
We hope the site proves of interest to anyone who’s lucky enough to work on proposals. We hope it provides friends with whom we work with a cool way of keeping in touch with our latest thinking. And we love it when it provoke discussion and debate: please don't be shy, and do post your comments.
So, on with the show…!
